Stout is a band near and dear in the hearts of fans of gritty metallic hardcore of the groove-driven kind. Throughout the '90s and '00s, the Baltimore, Maryland dropped a slew of releases and toured whenever the opportunity arose.
Today, A389 Recordings (Cold As Life, End Reign) just released a remastered (at the mighty Audiosiege) version of Stout's second album, Sleep Bitch. Originally issued in 2007 by Rucktion Records, this marks the first time the album is being made available on vinyl.
To commemorate the Sleep Bitch reissue, I interviewed Stout guitarist Josh Hart to get some context on where the band was during the making and release of the album back in 2007, and I also got his thoughts on their influence on today's hardcore scene.
Take us back to the time around Sleep Bitch. How active was the band at that point?
We were definitely playing out as much as we ever did around then. Mostly in Baltimore. It’s funny, you meet people who find out you’re in a band and they always ask, “Oh, you’re in a band? Where do you play?” I would always answer with, “The Sidebar and England,” which honestly, was pretty much the truth around that time.
Since Stout already had several releases out by that point, was there anything specific that you wanted to get across on Sleep Bitch that you felt might have been missing on previous records?
Well, the first album was a pretty even split between songs by the original Stout lineup and material that Doug and I wrote. When we joined, we were just adjusting to what the band was about and still figuring out our writing with them. Sleep Bitch was all of our own songs.
I came from two different scenes in Maryland, hardcore and doom metal and I played in bands from both genres. I think some of that influence came into our writing on 'Sleep Bitch.' Bands like Pentagram and The Obsessed were as big an influence on me in the '80s and '90s, as bands like Sheer Terror and Agnostic Front were.”
I think there was just enough of a taste of that big, dark Sabbath vibe that made Sleep Bitch interesting. We might’ve stepped a little far into that zone on the follow-up e.p. on tunes like “The Mark” and “Black Desert” but you keep progressing I guess. Who knows what the next album would’ve sounded like.
Who was behind Rucktion Records, and how did the band connect with that label? How did it all go when it was said and done?
Rucktion is a kind of collective label run by some of the guys in Ninebar and Knuckledust. Just a group of friends putting out releases by bands they dig. Matty, Tom, Pierre, and those guys were the best and were there for Stout all the way when no one else really gave a shit. Nothing but love for our London friends.
I think London heard about Stout when Wake Up Cold toured over there in the early 2000s. Some of those dudes we met through the East Coast Hardcore Message Board too. But yeah, they released the albums, brought us over for tours and got us on fests and stuff. They believed in what we were doing and we’re grateful for their support and friendship.
How did this collaboration with Dom Romeo (A389 Recordings) come to be? Tell me about your relationship with him and how it all started.
We’ve known Dom since he moved to Baltimore from Canada. If you know Dom then you know he’s got this pervasive energy. He used to come up to me at our shows and call me "The Mysterion," for reasons I still don’t understand (laughs). That was his way of breaking the ice and making it light, I guess.
We clicked on our love for a lot of music outside of hardcore. Particularly the Scorpions. We used to go back and forth on which album was their best. For the record, it’s Lonesome Crow by a landslide. Still.
He always supported Stout even when he stole our rhythm section for Slumlords. Just kidding. Kinda. Dom is the guy who won’t allow you not to be friends with him.
Dom and I have talked about a Sleep Bitch vinyl release a few times in the past. He’s been really enthusiastic about it and it just made sense to do it now. I can’t think of a better label than A389 for it.
Of all the songs on Sleep Bitch, which one do you think captures the essence of Stout best?
The title track for me, hands down. I think it represents everything we do best. I think it’s our most dynamic song. It’s raw, heavy and fast. Tad’s lyrics on that one might be my favorite too.
In the 10 years since I’ve been doing No Echo, Stout is one of those bands that gets referenced often by newer, up and coming bands, as a prime influence. How aware have you been of Stout’s impact on that side of things? It must be surreal.
It is surreal. Definitely. I honestly had no idea that was the case until very recently. Some of my grumpy old friends and I dragged ourselves down to Disturbing the Peace fest to catch Gut Instinct. When Suburban Scum covered a piece of “Gods of War,” the place went insane. I was like, “What the hell is going on with this?”
That’s how it goes though, isn’t it? Enough time passes and anything is possible.
I’m stoked to hear that newer bands appreciate what we were doing back then. We loved making the heaviest, gnarliest hardcore we could and it’s really cool to hear that people are getting something out of it this late in the game.
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Sleep Bitch is available on streaming sites and vinyl via A389 Recordings.
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