Reviews/Interviews, ETC..
REVIEWS:
APPLIED KNOWLEDGE is the new band of former DAG NASTY singer Peter Cortner. The guitars are interwoven, the bass striking, the arrangements are less sleek than last time at FIELD DAY. Would have been comfortable at home on Touch and Go. "Chevy brakes" is the opening of the EP that offers APPLIED KNOWLEDGE on Bandcamp. Feedback, a sample, bass, and the first line is “My old school”. Associations, anyone? Regrets fill the air like the smell of chalk and the Stulle, which was forgotten in the sports bag in the summer months. An ethereal choir of damned souls then gives us the rest. It follows "Applied knowledge", the song. Flexible guitars, a bouncy bass and a seemingly self-confident singer who ponders self-doubt, shortcomings and the course of time. Gradually, subliminal anger seeps into Cortner's voice. Age mild? Not here. The third song is "Litmus test", in which repeated and quite mysteriously asks: "Which one is Johnny?". "Reminds me of this party / Two hours south and years ago / Thought I was making headway". Thoughts that you might have if you don't have a real estate portfolio. Or so. "Not too far" concludes the EP, a singling song with arpeggias. "Take it wherever you want to / If you want to / Wherever you want / But not too far". Here, too, the topic - the ominous "it" - remains vague, subtly hints at many things, but offers no solutions. Why also, because "We won't notice it anyway, so fuck 'em!" Confidence or defiance? No matter! "Applied Knowledge", the EP, is as short as it is disturbing, as catchy as it is brittle. And for some aging punk rockers in the absence of naive ambitions perhaps quite inspiring.
— Daniel Hector, OX Fanzine. Issue #174
INTERVIEWS:
“Put it in perspective," Peter Cortner sang in that song, which is exactly the same name as the band he had just joined: DAG NASTY. Because he was following in the not exactly small footsteps of Dave Smalley, many followers of the Revolution Summer were only too willing to do just that. What was immediately apparent at the time and can be underlined in retrospect from today's point of view: Cortner did his own thing and established new perspectives on something that would only be commercially successful years later as "emo".
At that time, however, Cortner had more or less disappeared from the scene, which only changed in 2019, when he entered with bassist Doug Carrion as FIELD DAY to present live those songs that had fallen under the table at the DAG NASTY reunion with Shawn Brown: selected pieces from the albums "Wig Out At Denkos" and "Field Day". Instead of resting on decades-old laurels, FIELD DAY soon wrote new songs that promoted PMA and picked up PENNYWISE fans rather than reinterpreting the more nerdy Dag songs. One may not want to speak of a disappointment, but of an underrepresentation of certain Cortner qualities, which he gave to a small circle of die-hard fans in the early 1990s with LOS VAMPIROS and later with the GERUNDS: rather quirky arrangements and above all texts that indicate stories and abysses that decisively lack a positive mental attitude.
With his new band APPLIED KNOWLEDGE, he is now back there and released a 4-song EP in August 2023. When FIELD DAY took a break at the end of 2022, Sam Pinola encouraged me to continue making music. In his New Sofa studio in Philadelphia, I had recorded the FIELD DAY vocals. He not only gave me the opportunity to try out ideas that I couldn't realize with FIELD DAY, he also put together the band I'm singing in. As for my texts, it took me a long time to present my approach to this. Not that this is complicated or complex, it's just that I'm not very aware of my own motives, no matter how obvious they are. Nowadays I see my songs as my closest friends. There is something comforting about the songs that reflect the entire content and context of my dreams and nightmares. What I mutter in my sleep. I'm aware that I'm sounding like a madman or at least pretentious. But that's the way it is. The texts of the GERUNDS and of APPLIED KNOWLEDGE are not particularly positive, although I do not deliberately avoid this perspective.”
For the musical implementation of his lyrics and melodies, Cortner needs collaborators. What Brian Baker was for DAG NASTY and Hunter Bennett (DOT DASH, JULIE OCEAN, STABB) for the GERUNDS, is now Sam Pinola (BLACK FRIDAY DEATH COUNT) for APPLIED KNOWLEDGE, who should also have his say at this point: "All members of APPLIED KNOWLEDGE are musical companions. Scotty Why and Joe Carminati play guitar, Jay Dyer is our drummer, I play bass and write the songs. Having a common story promotes creativity and makes the effort you have to put into a band off-stage bearable. Peter's lyrical perspective is unique and he has a knack for arrangements. He challenges us as artists and inspires us, which he probably is not too aware of either. I think he would vehemently deny anything I just said.”
Modesty is an ornament, but those who, like Cortner, have decisively shaped a musical genre, to then leave it to others, do not return to offer themselves to a certain audience. “I have to focus a lot on being a person who justifies his band's efforts. I'm not a musician and I'm terribly disorganized. I'm fucking lucky they'll just let me do it.” A career in the music industry is therefore logically not up for debate. “In recent years, I have worked for a non-profit organization that helps people with various disabilities find competitive employment.”
So if Cortner continues with APPLIED KNOWLEDGE on smaller stages, it is from an inner drive. And this creative itching is good news for all the old sacks who have been chasing the Ox since its early days. It tells of inspiration and integrity, of appreciation and compromise, of aging and staying punk. And as far as Peter's perspectives and his lyrics are concerned, he gives us an insight in this regard: "If I had to choose an author who has inspired me the most in recent decades, it would be James Ellroy. I recommend his 'Underworld USA' trilogy.”
It remains to be mentioned that APPLIED KNOWLEDGE will record their debut LP in J Robbins' Magpie Cage studio in November. Is there a Revolution Autumn?
— Robbie Redcheedks, OX Fanzine