"I WON'T SIT HERE AND SAY I'M NOT F_CKED UP, BECAUE I AM"
WALLS OF JERICHO'S CANDACE KUCSULIAN SPEAKS OUT
by Don Sill
Candace Kucsulian is one tough chick. The front-woman of the Motor City hardcore outfit, Walls Of Jericho, caught a spinning fist to her face during a recent performance in Memphis and despite the pain she carried on with the show. "I was taken back a little bit," she recalls, "But it wasn't too bad."
The front-woman, who was out in front of the monitors took the blow in stride and finished four more songs before the band ended their set. Kucsulian suffered from her nose being knocked out of alignment, severe
facial swelling and broken blood vessels around the eyes. "My cartilage was moved over and my septum went the other so they were not able to re-inline it," Kucsulian says with a laugh. "I have to let it heal and see how it turns out. I'll definitely have a crooked nose for the next six months."
Yes, Kucsulian is indeed one tough chick and it'll take more then a shot to the nose to take this vixen down. She's lived a difficult life and has been through the ringer more than once. Her rough exterior and fiery angst were spawned out of a personal tragedy she endured when she was very young. Kucsulian was a victim of multiple rape by a family member and this would traumatize and haunt her for the rest of her life. "People tend to forget that rape isn't just a violent thing and it can happen when you are young and it could happen with people you know and care about. Like anything in life, this has effected me and my sexual experiences for the rest of my life and I can't change that," explains the vocalist. "The weird thing is that people expect you just to deal with it and get over it- like it hasn't done shit to me, like it's not an issue."
As hard as it was, Kucsulian found solace and therapy through her music. She discovered strength in hardcore's straight-forward ideology and, through a blistering verbal arsenal mixing heated emotion with hard,
crunch melodies, she found a way to cope and let loose of her inner fury and Walls Of Jericho was born.
"All the crazy emotion and anger attracted me to hardcore. Not just the music and the lyrics, but everything about it, people moshing and everything it was just so directed towards how you're feeling at that
moment. It's definitely a great outlet." Kucsulian continues, "I won't sit here and say I'm not fucked up because I am, [laughs] but there's many other ways I could have been worse." Kucsulian doesn't just vent about rape for her own personal therapy but for the therapy of other rape victims as well. She makes sure to add at least one song about the horrific issue in all of her work.
"In every CD we have one song about rape," Kucsulian said. "Over the years the songs have been different. The first one was more of story, like this is what happened, that 's how I dealt with it. The second was
about the repercussions and how it effected me mentally and how my anger was coming out from it." "See, You always hear all these things like, 'end rape!' and 'kill rapists!' but, everybody forgets about the actual victim and helping them. I'm not gonna sit here and lie that I don't hate rapist's and those types of people and that I don't want them to go through some torturous thing. I don't believe in saving their fucking souls. But people forget about the other person, the victim and how are they going to survive in life? You have to understand that this is gonna snowball through their life and through other peoples lives with the way their gonna react to them."
These days Kucsulian explains that she is not as angry and is becoming more self-aware of what has happened to her in the past and understands clearly how that horrendous incident has effected her. She has turned her focus to other victims and through her music lets them know that they are not alone.
"All Hail The Dead," their latest on Trustkill Records, is the much anticipated follow up to 1999's "The Bound Feed The Gagged" and is overflowing with Kucsulian's heavy insight sown into a brutal barrage of thrashing guitar riffs and machine guns drums. "All Hail The Dead" bravely confronts all types of personal issues ranging from
relationships to the hardcore scene in which Kucsulian ultimately gives us a more mature perspective. The track "Another Anthem For The Hopeless" specifically talks about taking back the life that was stolen form her as a child. In the song she confronts the rape issue with an insightful eye and salty wisdom where in the end she overcomes and carries on. "That song is about coping and dealing," Kucsulian explains. "This is how, through my relationships, I realize how this has effected me over the years and how it effects my life everyday and how I have to change that. It's not all about the violence of it or the anger of it, it also has to do with rebuilding what you lost and that's really the only true way to make any kind of change."
Kucsulian is head strong and determined to state her case. She said that she sees pedophiles within the hardcore scene as well and refuses to put up with it. "Some of these guys think that if they're 29-years old it's okay to date a 15-year old girl and that's fucked up." She vents, "I don't support that shit. I won't play their venues or whatever. I don't care who I piss off.Sometimes you have to piss people off to make a point."
Walls Of Jericho, including Alexi Rodriguez (drums), Aaron Ruby (bass), Chris Rawson (guitar) and Mike Hasty (guitar), are currently out touring with God Forbid and Blood Has Been Shed. "We just want people to fell
they' re a part of something, something they can relate too. Feeling like you're not alone and feeling like you're a part of something - that's one of one of the most important things." For updates and more info log to: www.trustkill.com |
