SCS: Tell us how Use One's Fist started as a band.

Dofo: Miles and I wanted to start a punk band. He played bass and I had some singing/performing experience, so we did. We called Tyler and Fuzzy the next day and they were on board.

Tyler: At the beginning of my senior year of high school I met this bawdy twat, Miles Roper. We were both into being loud so we jammed high and low as well as traded punk records. Around the time that I graduated Miles said he wanted to put together a more traditional hardcore band, which he had mentioned several times previously. Since we had jammed before - we got out instruments and squeezed out a few fat licks. Before long, we added Fuzzy and Dofo, whom he'd jammed with as well.

Miles: Tyler probably came up with something that makes us sounds cool and intricate, but I would say we're a groups of twits that have a lot of fun playing hardcore punk, otherwise we wouldn't be doing it.

SCS: How would you define your band or your sound to someone who’s never heard or seen you

Dofo: Hardcore punk that occasionally has a unique, dancy sprinkle of rock in it.

Fuzzy: Old school punk that you can jump around and dance to.

Miles: Well.......if it's a house show it'd probably be mass chaos, me trying to look cool jumping off things and fucking up, and Dofo might headbutt somebody, and if nothing else it's us pouring our hearts into playing fast and hard.

Tyler: I'm afraid to tie UOF down to any mediocre report I could give you. People should come see us play with an open mind.

SCS: What about one of your shows? -- If people come to see you live, what can they expect?

Dofo: Me making an ass of myself with full support from the other guys. People thrashing around a bit. Plenty of trash, plenty of guns, and plenty of chaos.

Tyler: As we've learned, every live show is a completely unique experience. But you can be sure it'd be too loud and too fast.

Fuzzy: That all depends, if the show is at a venue, you should expect a few people standing and bobbing their heads while we play. If it's a house show, then you should expect a raging mass of bodies flying everywhere.

SCS: What types of music and which musicians/groups influenced the band members?

Dofo: Main influences include straight-edge punk from the 80s and 90s, some old school hardcore punk, and even a little indie rock.

Miles: For me I suppose it was originally a japanese thrash band I discovered called Face of Change, but mainly hardcore punk and old school straight edge hardcore like Minor Threat, Youth of Today, Uniform Choice, Gorilla Biscuits, and 7 Seconds.

Fuzzy: Well, Miles came to me one day with a 7 inch by a band called Youth of Today and told me that he wanted to start a punk band. I personally was influenced heavily by the danceability of Gang of Four.

SCS: What are your goals for Use One's Fist, touring, just playing around town?

Dofo: I would like to see us go on a national tour someday, but that may be a long way in the future. For now, just playing local shows and having too much fun when the guys come back over winter break and stuff.

Tyler: Unfortunately, Miles is leaving for New York, and Fuzzy is just leaving, so it's going to be difficult to continue as a band like we have been.

Miles: Unfortunately with Fuzzy moving to Iowa and myself moving to New York I don't think U.O.F. will continue, but hopefully we can record something decent for everyone to listen to and have a kick-ass last show.

Fuzzy: My goal for this band was already fulfilled when we played that house show at 29th and holdredge with her flyaway manner and reverso benigni.

SCS: What experience did you have in bands before UOF got togehter?

Fuzzy: I've been in a country music band with my family since i was two, but other than that i was in a horrible "hardXcore" band called deadalive, and pretty much hated every minute of it.

Dofo: None.

Tyler: Before I played for UOF I played drums for… some… other band. More importantly, I played guitar and sang for a band I assembled in order to play some of my music.

Miles: None.

SCS: Where did the bands name come from?

Fuzzy: It was a manifestation of Miles Roper our beloved bassist.

Tyler: It's a play off of this band Face of Change's complete English-as-a-second-language grammatical correctness that they employ in several of their song titles (it's REAL Japanese hardcore).

Dofo: Me and Miles were watching some Japanese film with English subtitles, and he paused it, the subtitle on the screen was something like "Don't forget to use one's fist" or some bad translation like that. It fit perfectly. Also what Tyler said.

Miles: Howl's Moving Castle while I was taking a piss.

SCS: How have you grown, musically and creatively, since the band first started?

Dofo: I can yell more.

Tyler: I would like to think that I am constantly growing as a musician and everything that I hear has a lasting effect on my creativity. My new band, Stabbats, with Joe from Reverso Benigni, is very technical and math based. We have a good time with it.

Miles: meh..... I might have physically grown a few inches.

SCS: Who writes the songs and how do you work them from the idea stage to finished product?

Dofo: Normally, a song starts with Miles's bass riffs. Then he or occasionally I write lyrics, and I fit them to the riffs. Then Fuzzy figures out some beats, and Tyler brings his guitar prowess into the mix. It's sort of a layering process, and I think it works.

Tyler: This band was Miles' dream baby and is treated as such between the band members. Generally, he comes up with the melody, presents it to me and we hash it out.

Miles: Dofo and I might think of something we've casually talked about and I just kinda turn them into lyrics that support our general philosophy or ideas. Then we dick around untill shitty noise sound like less shitty noise and eventually sounds like good noise.

Fuzzy: Miles and Dofo write lyrics, Miles writes a bass line, Tyler writes a guitar part, Miles and Tyler bicker over the guitar part for a while, and then I add the drums.

SCS: When and where was your first local show, and how did it go?

Dofo: Our first show was in the basement of Miles's apartment building. It went well for only having four songs. There were maybe 12 people there, but it was a great time.

Fuzzy: Our first local show was last year in Miles' old basement apartment. It was Reverso Benigni, Solemn Faces, and Use One's Fist. Each band played in a different room in the apartment, and it was the second best experience i've had with this band. The kids went pretty crazy, and our friend and photographer BJ Birkel was bleeding from the face by the end.

Tyler: Our first "real" show was in the basement of Miles' apartment with Reverso Benigni and Dean of Omission (my old band). That show was back in September of last year, I think. It rocked pretty hard.

Miles: It was in the basement of my apartment complex and we played with Dean of Omission and Reverso Benigni. It was alot of crazy fun and I'm sure we sounded a little rough but I know Fuzzy hit our friend BJ in the face with a drumstick by the end of the show, accidentally of course.

SCS: What was your most memorable live performance and what made it that?

Dofo: Definitely this house show last fall fondly referred to as Octoberfest. We played with Reverso Benigni, Dean of Omission, and Her Flyaway Manner. It was cool to play with HFM, and it was just a really energetic, wild, out of control show with plenty of teenage naughtiness.

Tyler: My most memorable live performance was this show we played at a friend's house in North Lincoln. Her Flyaway Manner played with us too and they were the real reason that show rocked. Now there's an underappreciated group of guys.

Miles: A house show at our friend's house where anyone could do anything and about 5 bands played, including our friends from Reverso Benigni and Her Flyaway Manner.

Fuzzy: As I mentioned earlier, the house show at Stephanie Tanner's old place on like 29th and Holdrege. We played with Reverso Benigni, and my favorite local band ever, Her Flyaway Manner. The room we were in was packed with people all too inebriated to feel the pain of the mosh pit. There are pictures of the madness somewhere on the internet.

SCS: What do you like and dislike about the music scene in Lincoln?

Dofo: The music scene in Lincoln is pretty decent. I wish there were more people that came out to shows. Also there should be less screamo bands. They all have three-word names, like "An October Tragedy", or "A Lost Romance". It gets repetitive.

Fuzzy: I like that we have bands like Reverso, HFM, Mr. 1986, etc. All these bands put on amazing live shows. The problem that i have with our local scene is that it is soo small, there are few bands and seemingly even fewer people to listen to them.

Tyler: There really isn't "a" music scene here. Everything is discombobulated in every sense of the word. There is definitely a variety of music but there's not a bit of intermingling of music cultures here. It's a fucking shame.

Miles: If we're talking about the punk scene I would say it's pretty scattered, but after playing with alot of other local punk bands it seems like everyone is starting to know everyone and unity is a beautiful thing.

SCS: Have you learned anything in your experiences in a band that you feel newer local bands could learn from, or made any mistakes they should avoid?

Dofo: Just go to a bunch of local shows and get to know the people in the scene.

Tyler: If you want to play, play; if you don't, don't. But don't waste people's time and don't ask for their money.

Miles: Know where your other bandmembers are before you play, no matter what state of mind they're in.

Fuzzy: Well Darren Keen once told me something to the effect of "Don't worry too much about making the perfect recording, you'll end up hating in a month anyway."

SCS: Who are some local bands or musicians that you admire or feel should be recognized?

Dofo: Reverso Benigni, Boycaught, The Killigans, and a lot more.

Fuzzy: Our local punk scene in general is pretty underrepresented. Recently we've played with some pretty sweet bands at Duggan's, who made me realize that there really is a punk scene out here, it's just so underrepresented.

Tyler: Brian Piontek. He's a good friend of mine

Miles: Reverso Benigni is the band we played with for our fist four or five shows and I really enjoy seeing how fucking good those guys got through this year. Also Billy Knuckles is a kick ass band with kick ass members, along with other punk bands I really admire like the Killigans, Hooligans, Youth in Asia, Boycaught, Speech Impediments, Bloody Stump, and those twits from Take Charge.

SCS: Who’s your favorite local band to play with?

Dofo: Reverso Benigni. Billy Knuckles are some great guys too.

Tyler: We've played with a host of great bands such as Reverso Benigni, Her Flyaway Manner, and The Show Is the Rainbow. They're all ultra righteous.

Fuzzy: Reverso Benigni, They are all good friends of ours, and we kind of grew up on the scene together.

SCS: Do you think growing up/living in Lincoln influences your music in any way?

Dofo: Growing up in a conservative, wealthy, white town like Lincoln just makes you more pissed off at society and gives you more energy to make music.

Fuzzy: Yes, Had I lived anywhere else, I never would have had the pleasure to be captivated by bands like Mr. 1986 and HFM. When I see these and other bands live, it not only makes me proud to be from Lincoln, but it makes me proud to be human.

Tyler: How could it not? We're all a product of our environment. I think it makes sense that I grew up here and I like really angry, aggressive, destructive, anarchist punk music.

Miles: Probably.

SCS: Was there one defining moment that lead you to a life of rock & roll?

Dofo: The Octoberfest house show.

Tyler: When I was a freshman in high school I had a serious tendon injury and subsequent surgery that prevented my continuance in band, so my grandfather sent me his guitar. He rocked pretty hard in his day.

Fuzzy: When I was a freshman in high school I had a serious tendon injury and subsequent surgery that prevented my continuance in band, so my grandfather sent me his guitar. He rocked pretty hard in his day.

SCS: What song would each band member like to cover the most?

Dofo: The Big Rock Candy Mountains.

Miles: "Anthem" by Highscore.

Fuzzy: I don't know, but I always wanted to cover some Buddy Holly UOF style.

Tyler: Off the top of my head I guess it'd be pretty sweet to cover Costello's "Pump It Up" as a hardcore piece.

SCS: You should check out The Monroes version next time they play in town! So if you could tour with any band in history, who would be your dream band to tour with?

Dofo: GG Allin and the Scumfucs.

Fuzzy: Iggy and the Stooges. Seeing Iggy Pop bleed everywhere and sing "I wanna be your dog" has always been a dream of mine.

Tyler: Iggy Pop. Whenever.

Miles:

SCS: What was the first album/CD you bought?

Dofo: I think it might have been a Weird Al Yankovic record.

Miles: How the fuck should i know.

Fuzzy: I think it was Spice Girls, Spice World. What can I say, I was just discovering girls when that came out, and they were hot.

Tyler: Weird Al's Food Album.

SCS: The most recent?

Dofo: The Old Scratch Revival Singers.

Tyler: Hero of a Hundred Fights "Remote the Cold"

Fuzzy: The last album I bought was a collection of Elvin Jones recordings.

Miles: Old Scratch Revival Singers - Oh Didn't He Ramble.

SCS: What other bands do you reccommend people check out?

Dofo: The Old Scratch Revival Singers, the World/Inferno Friendship Society, Mischief Brew, and any old oi punk.

Tyler: Big Black, Cul de Sac, Battles, June of 44, Polvo, Rodan, Giant's Chair, Black Eyes, Butthole Surfers, Drive Like Jehu, Guitar Wolf, Thunderstandable, the Locust, OXES, Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel, T. Rex, Yes

Fuzzy: DJ Muggs vs. GZA, Billy Knuckles, the Speech Impediments

SCS: List off your top five albums of all time.

Dofo: