Tell us about yourself!
I’ve been into music my whole life, My first band I ever loved to death was One Direction and that sums up everything you need to know.
I have a zine I’ve been doing since a bit over a year ago, Hold It Down I’m currently working on Issue 5 and I’m super excited about it. Other than that I do some photography at shows very off and on, if I’m injured that’s what I’m usually doing, or if it’s one if my friends shows and they ask me, mainly just whenever I feel like it, the choice to take pictures or mosh will be the actual death of me. Otherwise I’m in school for collision repair and just hoping I end up as a painter. I want to be a stay at home mom but it’s unrealistic.
What’s currently on your playlist?
A lot of twitching Tongues, they grew on me after months of HATING THEM. Haywire is always on my playlist I’ve loved them since they dropped And I’ve been listening to a lot more Liferuiner recently
How do you define straight edge?
To me straight edge is not only being sober, but doing whatever is best for your mind and body, outside of just substances. I lost so many friends when I quit, they claim it wasn’t because of that but I wasn’t invited to hang out anymore and stopped talking to me, they are obviously no longer in my life.
How important is music to your relationship with straight edge?
To a degree I think so, I’m not too deep into the straight edge music to be honest, I have my mains and surface level bands, I think being completely disconnected from the music would feel weird for me. I’m always trying to listen and find new straight edge bands, it just depends on the style.
What’s your straight edge story?
I’ve only claimed edge just under a year ago, It’ll be a year come January, I already slowed down on smoking and just wasn’t enjoying it anymore. I was dating someone at the time who was addicted to drugs I don’t even know the name of, and he relapsed while we were together and I was tired of going to sleep with the worry that he might not be here when I wake up. I told him I was thinking about quitting and he said he would break up with me if I did, so then I quit and he broke up to me and I thought “I’m not going through a breakup for nothing”. I also know people outside of that who have had so many issues with hard drugs, and I never wanted that to be me.
How straight edge influenced your relationships?
My family has always supported me obviously, most of my friends from home I’m not friends with, not necessarily because I went edge, I definitely think and feel that contributed to our falling out. All my friends within the scene and hardcore have always been supportive.
Looking back, is there anything about path into and through straight edge that you would do differently?
Definitely wait longer till I claimed edge, I claimed edge the day I quit. I knew if I publicly claimed edge I’d feel more inclined to stick with it. I still think that was stupid, but I didn’t break and don’t plan on it, so I’ve been able to get over it.
True or False: “If you’re not now, you never were”?
This hasn’t happened to me, but I think it depends, everyone has slip ups, I’m never gonna hate or hold anything against people for breaking, I get sad/upset especially if they helped me going through the hard parts, but these people are adults ane can make decisions for themselves.
Do you feel that your gender or age has influenced your experience within the straight edge and hardcore scenes?
I think so, being more on the younger side so many people said I shouldn’t claim edge until I’m older and have my time to do all the stupid shit. I think that’s a dumb way of thinking.
