INTERVIEW WITH PORCELL / PARAMANANDA DAS (NEVER SURRENDER)

By Dhruva das 9/9/2003

1..who is Porcell and what makes you busy these days.

I'm a guy who's been active in the hardcore scene for many years and was in a bunch of bands. These days I'm very busy singing for my new band Never Surrender, running my record label Fight Fire with Fire, doing a straight edge website truetilldeath.com and being a dad. Rad.

2.tell us something how Never Surrender was formed and introduce it's members and why you arrived at that name.

Never Surrender formed last year after I had been writing poems and lyrics in my journal for some time and felt that I wanted to turn them into songs. I wrote a bunch of songs and then went into my friend's Ken Olden's studio and recorded them. Currently it's me and a few friends from upstate NY in the band. We got the name from a Blitz song, in fact we covered the song on the ep.

3.do you consider this a Krishnacore or sxe band

I'm the only devotee in the band although all the lyrics are definitely inspired by that. The lyrics are very personal for me so it's more about what's in my head at the time.

4. regarding lyrics and music, how does it differ when you were still in >shelter

Ray wrote all the lyrics in Shelter, so this is basically my first time fronting a band (besides Project X). The music is much more heavy than Shelter. When I wrote the lyrics I was thinking that I'd need to write really powerful music to go along with them.

5. do you experience kids asking you to play shelter songs when your band is on stage? does it bother you or what?

Actually no one's ever requested a Shelter song. It's usually Judge songs kids want to hear. It doesn't really bother me, I'm proud of all the bands I did, but I really want Never Surrender to stand on our own merit and not be some kind of hardcore cover band.

6. how does it feels during YOT reunion, are you still amazed how kids are still into YOT,

Yes, it blew my mind that 15 years later people are still so into that band. It's very humbling. Youth of Today was a special band and I'm glad I could've been a part of it.

7. i'd like you to comment on this "religion has no room in hc"

Hardcore is about speaking your mind, not about censorship. If someone is inspired by spirituality, why shouldn't he or she have the right to sing about it? That's not punk, that's fascist.

8. tell us something about your label, the reason behind its name

The label is doing great, so far I've released the Never Surrender ep, the Rise Up compilation, Coalition "Breaking Point", Bone Brigade "I Hate Myself When I'm Not Skateboarding" and Heartbreaker "Turn the Channel" cds. Next up is a full length by a band from Sweden called the Change. The name is about meeting resistance with determination.

9. you were a monk before, living in temple, whats your realization now that you're were a married man with a son

I'm glad I spent the years I did in the temple. It taught me a lot about renunciaton and living a simple, spiritual life. Traditionally in India people up to the age of 25 will study spirituality in an ashram under the guidance of a guru, and then get married, taking what they've learned into the so-called "real world."

10. any great memories during brahmachari days?

All the preaching programs that Shelter did were wonderful. We would put on these straight edge retreats at a farm community called Gita Nagari, and I actually met many kids that became devotees that I'm still great friends with today.

11. things that you missed during your temple days

Mangal arati, Bhagavatam class every day, the constant association and inspiration of senior devotees... Life is different now but I really think I'm better situated living outside the temple and incorporating spiritual life into my present situation. Plus my wife is a nice devotee and she has been everything to me. And my son is my life and soul, so these gifts are priceless.

12. best temple you've been to and why

Philadelphia, because my guru is there.

13. how long have you been a practicing Krsna devotee?

Since 1992.

14. after all those years of screamings, please tell us your views of what's HARCORE for you and how it affects your life

Hardcore is an incredible form of music because it's real. It's real kids singing and venting about real things that affect them. Honestly, being in a band has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.

15. until when we will see Porcell on stage?

Never Surrender is touring Europe in January with Face the Enemy.

16. message you want to tell to the readers?

There's no need to search the world for happiness, all the satisfaction you've ever wanted is within.

Porcell