Bob Wilson is the singer of Mother of Mercy and was the singer of Let Down.
Mother of Mercy just toured with Agnostic Front. How was hanging out with Stigma every night?
It was pretty cool. He is definitely a ridiculous guy and kinda just like an old drunk Italian uncle or something. Kimball had to text girls for him cuz he didn’t know how to use his cell phone. He couldn’t remember anyone’s names so he had nicknames for everyone; he would call me "Young Clot” (as in young John Bloodclot) and I was like, “Oh cool, I remind him of a young JJ, that’s cool with me.” Then the last night of tour we were hanging out backstage and he called me that, and the girl next to him was like "Uhh what, as in JJ?" and he said "yeah" and she said "He knows that ain't a compliment, right? That dude sucks." And Stigma said, "Na he’s just a kid, he don’t know that I’m insulting him when I say that shit," so that kinda pissed me off ha. But yeah as a whole, a pretty ridiculous character who loves talking about Italian food and making bad jokes.
On a whole, how was that tour? Like, even though they aren't really as relevant as they used to be, it is still Agnostic Front. What was it like playing with them every night on a tour when they were playing all of the good stuff?
The tour was about what I expected. A lot of 18/21+ shows that kind of killed any draw we might have had. Coupled with the fact shows were around 15-20 bucks, it was more of a tour geared towards older dudes who don’t have anything to do with hardcore anymore/poser punks who only like Epitaph-era and on AF. We held our own and did pretty well but it’s not like the people who saw us are gonna go out of their way to come see us when we come around again. Seeing AF play my favorite songs of theirs was awesome though. Victim In Pain is my favorite record of that era so seeing them do that plus songs like “Toxic Shock,” “The Eliminator,” etc. was cool. They sounded good with Pokey (Leeway) and shit playing for them. Every night it would be like, some opener, POW would play and people would come in, we’d play a little more would come in, then AF would come on and 400 people would come out of nowhere and fill out the venue. A lot of older guys don’t wanna give younger bands a shot and assume everything that is newer sucks so it’s hard to break through to them when you’re putting everything into your set. The best show was the house show we set up on a day's notice in Louisville, where we played in Tyler from ANOTHER MISTAKE's living room and 100 people came out. It was one of the most memorable shows I’ve ever been a part of and his band is awesome. How many people can say they saw AF play in a living room?
How stoked were AF that they were playing in a living room?
At first they were kinda iffy about it, I don’t blame them. They had concerns about security, how safe it would be, if it would be cool, etc. But at the end of the previous night’s show, Roger came up and was like, "Yo, see you tomorrow, we’re down with the show." Afterwards they were all pumped on how cool it was.
Yeah, sounds cool. How glad are you that you aren't going to miss a Phillies parade this year because you are going to be on tour?
I mean, on one hand I’m glad I don’t have to suffer through being all the way in Texas when they win like I was the last time, but I’d make do if it meant that they could have won. I’ve loved Philadelphia sports my whole life and have yet to take part in a celebration and that sucks. I don’t even know who the hell I want to win the World Series because you have the Rangers, with that poser edge CJ Wilson (poser Wilson also), but then you have a bunch of idiots from San Francisco and had some guy/girl singing the National Anthem or whatever. So I hope they somehow both blow up and no one comes out on top.
On a scale of 1 to 500, how much does Brian Wilson suck? I honestly don't think I've hated a baseball player more than I hate him.
He’s a douche. He’s that quirky "funny" jock kid I hated in high school that would take time out of my English class to do a rap he made up or something. I love sports but I hate athlete equivalent to mysterious guy hardcore bands. You’re not different, you just suck. Another embarrassment to the Wilson name.
Mother of Mercy just finished a new LP coming out on Bridge 9. How does it compare to the last record?
It's heavier and the songs are more actual songs then the last record. I dunno how to explain it, but it’s just better. There’s some stuff about 3 that I look back on and am mad at myself for how it turned out, but this is darker, the mosh is better, everything about is way beyond what we did with 3. We didn’t do anything like add melodic vocals or soften it up or whatever, it’s just harder and I'm siked on it
What are the songs about? Same type of stuff as the last record?
There’s been a lot of fucked up shit that’s happened since the last record so it reflects that. My dad died, my sister stole a ton of money from me, basically everyone in my family turned their back on me and left me to deal with shit on my own and struggle just to get by so it’s mostly about those things/the effects those things had on me (depression, daily drawn out daydreams about suicide, etc). A lot of the record is just an extension of me dealing with grieving and trying to figure out where the hell my life is going. I had a hard time writing stuff since I’ve written over 50 songs between bands I was in now so Kimball actually wrote 4 of the songs, but I wouldn’t have sung them if I didn’t agree with the lyrical content. He knows what I’ve been through the past year and a half and wrote things that correlated to that in a way that I would.
When's it coming out and what is it called?
It comes out January 25 and its MOTHER OF MERCY IV: SYMPTOMS OF EXISTENCE.
Top 3 frontmen of all time and why.
Like live? Or recorded
Combo unless you think that they should be two lists
Yeah, I’ll just do 2. Live, it’s Timmy No justice, Dave Byrd, and probably John Brannon. Timmy and Dave Byrd were just absolute madmen when I saw them and even the last Striking Distance show Dave Byrd was out of his fucking mind. There’s no frontmen now that do/can do what they did. Brannon just looks nuts/sounds like a fucking psychopath when they play still.
3 favorite ever besides that would probably be Skip (Turning Point, Godspeed, Memorial Day), Mark Ryan (Supertouch), and Richie Birkenhead (Underdog, Into Another). Everything Skip ever did, I loved and his voice was awesome. Richie in Into Another was on another level, and Mark Ryan hasn’t ever had anyone replicate what he was able to do on the Supertouch stuff.
Who would win in a race: me, Uriah (Dead End Path) or Ambrose (DC hardcore megastar) and why?
Jesus Christ. Uriah would be wearing those sweat shorts which might give him the advantage. Ambrose I’ve actually seen run and he’s quicker then you give him credit for. You would probably hurt your leg again like at that CIRCLE TAKES THE SQUARE SHOW YOU BROKE IT AT.
So Uriah would win?
Yeah I guess. Can’t deny those sweatshorts.
Yeah, I agree that they probably give him the advantage. Ambrose is a wildcard, though.
He would probably get sidetracked and think of a Usurp Synapse song he used to love and go home and download it.
Ok, Let Down has been broken up for a year. Now that it's been a while, how do you look back on the band? Happy how it turned out and what you accomplished? Regrets?
I regret making Sacrifice Me because that record was terrible. I wish we had stayed with how Crossed Off sounded and not tried to do whatever the fuck we were trying to do with that one but whatever. I'm happy about the fact that we aren’t liars and all have sustained our edges well after the breakup. Let Down allowed me to leave Bucks County, which I never thought I’d be able to do. I somehow managed to gain friends because of it that I’d otherwise not get to know.
I like that we never backed down from anything we said or did and didn’t have lame copouts about what actually happened, what I actually said, etc. I wish Kimball was able to do more touring with us and not had to use fill-ins so much towards the end. It really just wasn’t the same without that little freak bangin on the drums. I’m proud of the fact that we started off just wanting to be an in-your-face edge band and 6 years later we still had the same mindset, didn’t change what we were about just to appease people, all that. I definitely fucked up my body for the rest of my life from being a complete asshole at every single show we ever played but I don’t regret that at all. Shit’s too safe and corny. I’d say at most Let Down shows, there was a dangerous feeling that we’d give off that anything could happen. I have a lot of good and ridiculous memories from my time in Let Down and I’m glad that I got people to sing "drinking is bullshit" into the mic.
We got to play a song with Dave Byrd singing, a Failure Face song with Bob Suren singing, play with Negative Approach, play with One Life Crew, play with Floorpunch, play Judge covers with Robby, play tons of crazy Philly shows, play with the Atari’s, play the last Think I Care show, basically every band I really like/grew up liking we got to play with or see just because we played shows and that rules.
Chances of a real last Let Down set ?
Not looking good. I tried to set up a show this past summer since I’m cool with Ogden again and we never did a real last Doylestown show, but Drew bailed/doesn’t remember how to play the songs for some reason and doesn’t want to put in the time to learn them. I'd 100 percent do one and not think twice about it though, what the fuck do I care?
Best straight edge band of all time
Judge is probably my favorite band ever and they’re also the best edge band ever. People say Youth of Today, but Mike Judge would never say anything dumb like "physically strong morally straight." What the hell do I care if I’m in shape, and I don’t really know what's moral about fucking a bunch of hookers in Europe like Ray did. The stretch of songs where it’s "Hear Me,” “Like You,” “I’ve Lost,” “Where It Went" is unbeatable.
Plus, Youth of Today is still trying to milk that cash cow in Europe
Yeah, I mean Robby wrote a song about them cashing in in like 2000 and it’s still true. Mike Judge is probably somewhere in Jersey playing poker, hanging with his wife listening to Danzig, and starting bar fights. Way cooler than being a glorified Richard Simmons fronting a hc band.
What was it like growing up in hardcore near Philadelphia in a scene that was separate than that of the city?
Strange for sure. We had to make our own scene and figure things out for ourselves and not have the guidance of a bunch of actual hc dudes telling us what shit sucks and what shit we should check out. So much trial and error, it’s ridiculous. It’s cool though because nobody ever tried to suck the Philly dudes' dicks and make them accept us. We gained respect for doing our own thing and Joe always did and still does integrate us as part of the Philly scene. For years, the Philly scene was mostly made up of DTown kids and other suburban areas going to Philly. Eventually Doylestown got a rep of its own as opposed to just an extension of Philadelphia, which is cool. The fact that the two "scenes" blend so well is awesome to me and something I'm really proud to be a part of doing. There are so many kids from outside the city that try so hard to be a "Philly " kid and those are the same kids who burn out and are shown to be full of shit. I just hope we don’t end up like Lansdale or something where a bunch of 32 year old dudes are waiting patiently for the 15th Strikeback reunion and getting siked on A Life Once Lost playing soon.
Favorite wrestler of all time and why
When I was younger, it was without a doubt the Ultimate Warrior because he was such a psycho and all his matches were entertaining. I'm probably still gonna go with that as my answer just because he brought so much excitement every time he wrestled. I don’t care about the technical aspects of the shit, I just wanna be entertained. Undertaker circa early 90s is up there as well.
Plus, Ultimate Warrior is still batshit crazy and causes riots at colleges and stuff.
Yeah see, that’s awesome.
How many times are you going to get beaten up when Mother of Mercy goes to Europe?
Haha. Who knows? I don’t really see who would possibly care that much to take it that far but who know, I guess I’ll find out. It’s hard for me to believe that someone would beat me up, and then also have to fight the 2 other bands/the rest of my band up at the same time. Once I use my mustache and "Rob Wilson" persona I think I’ll be safe though.
Excited to go to Europe with MoM this time? Expectations?
I’ve learned not to expect anything from anything I do. If it’s cool, cool. If it sucks, it sucks. We had to submit a list of foods we prefer to eat so hopefully that works out like it should.
Why is straight edge still cool?
Apparently it’s not if you asked the majority of the idiots around here. It’s not hard to stay edge. It’s cooler to not be full of shit and pretend to be something just to fit in. There’s nothing mature about smoking cigarettes or getting drunk and pissing yourself. If you’re that eager to grow up, you’re a dork and I have no time for you.
Best band: Poison the Well, Eighteen Visions, or From Autumn to Ashes (only talking about the GOOD records)
FATA records were tough to get through the whole way, 18 visions the same. PTW was the shit, would still mosh to those songs if I saw them. They should have broken up in 2002 or something and saved themselves years of disappointment from not being able to top the first couple things they did no matter how good it was.
New bands people should listen to that are actually good (from this area and not from this area)
Another Mistake from Kentucky is cool early 2000s style. Stick Together is the best youth crew band around. Daylight is awesome. Lifeless has that heavy thing going on and have parts that make them cooler than the average band in their genre. Disengage. United Youth. Face Reality from Detroit I like a lot. That’s probably about it
Cool, thanks, anything else you want to say or address?
Perkasie straight edge is a joke, Philly has the best shows, MOM record release January 29th in the city.
Thanks Bob.
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