INTERVIEW: DAVE FRANKLIN OF VISION (1989)

The following interview with Dave Franklin, the late vocalist for New Jersey Hardcore band Vision, originally ran in the second issue of Common Sense, a fanzine I did with Tim McMahon from 1989 to 1990. Although the second issue came out in June of 1990, I’m not too sure when the interview was actually conducted. My mind wants to tell me it was the beginning of 1990, but who knows…we’re talking over thirty years ago here, people!

Vision was the vanguard band for the period of New Jersey Hardcore Tim and I were a part of in the late 80s and Dave was encouraging to our meager venture into self-publishing as well as to the new breed of bands popping up around the Garden State like Enuf, Release, Second Thought, and Turning Point. His bands’ presence was vital to the continuation of our states’ Hardcore scene when the first wave of bands moved along to other musical styles and released records with titles like Ishtar. 

My fondest memory of Vision was the release party for their debut LP, In The Blink Of An Eye held in late summer 1989 at a large, swanky house located in the upper crust area of Princeton. The gathering was a weird cross-section of Straight Edge kids, high school partiers, and students from Princeton University. Even my older brother and his crew from the record store he worked at showed up to scam a brew or two and check out Vision. When the band finally got it together to play in the basement, there was a good-time vibe permeating throughout the room. Whether you were in the back emptying out the keg or upfront singing along, everyone was there to celebrate the local boys who done good. I guess that’s the power of music…it’ll getcha!

Even though the line of questioning in this interview makes my brown eye pucker, I figure someone somewhere would be interested in reading it. Please judge it by its historical context and not by all the questions about skinheads and Straight Edge. Thanks. 

The Roots of Vision: Neurotic Impulse Photo courtesy of Facebook.

Tony Rettman: Let’s start with a history of Vision
Dave Franklin: It started in 1986 when me, Pete Ventantonio, Brian Boucher, and Garrett O’Brien decided to form a Hardcore band called Neurotic Impulse. We put out a demo tape and stuck around for a while, but then me, Brian, and Garrett parted ways with Pete and a guy named Sean Brazel came into the picture to play guitar with us. That’s when we decided to change our musical style and the name of the band. We came up with the name Vision and recorded a four-song seven-inch. I worked full time all summer to put it out and we had the vinyl and were just waiting for the covers when the rest of the band decided they wanted to do something different that wasn’t Hardcore. We talked it out and decided I’d keep the name Vision and still put out the seven-inch and they agreed to that. It took a while, but I got Pete Tabbot on guitar, Chris McGill on bass, and Derek Rinaldi on drums but he left the band because he skates for G&S. He was always doing competitions and couldn’t play shows. We missed out on a few good ones because of it so in December 1987 we asked Matt Riga to join on drums. Our first show was at City Gardens with The Exploited, The Uprise, and Pagan Babies on January 22, 1988. Matt had just joined the band twenty days before so we practiced a lot, played the show, and went over well. We began playing out a lot more after that and decided to do another four-song seven-inch with the new band so we started saving up and Ken Salerno helped us financially and we got that out with the title Undiscovered. In 1989, we did a ten date tour with Insted and that went great and because of that tour, we got hooked up with Nemesis Records in California and we recorded a ten-song record called In the Blink of An Eye. 

Wasn’t Neurotic Impulse a skinhead band? 
We were all skinheads, but it was Hardcore music. It wasn’t Oi! And we didn’t have any skinhead philosophies. 

When Vision began, you were a Straight Edge band, right? 
Yeah. Me, Garrett, Sean, and Brian were all Straight Edge on the first seven-inch. When I reformed the band, I didn’t expect to get all Straight Edge people in the band. If I were to do that, I might not have got musicians as good as the ones I ended up with. It ended up for the better I think. I’m still Straight Edge though and I think there’s plenty of good bands out there who spread the Straight Edge philosophy. 

It’s funny because most of your following is Straight Edge kids. 
Well, we definitely put out a positive message. Chris doesn’t drink or do drugs but he doesn’t call himself Straight Edge. He had a past where he drank a lot, so that’s why he doesn’t drink. But if he goes out with his family, he’ll have a glass of wine. Matt on the other hand is a party man, but that’s his way of life and I don’t expect him to change just for us. 

Explain some of the lyrics on In The Blink Of An Eye. 
The title song is about how people will change for the better and it can happen instantly. 

What are some bands from New Jersey you see rising to the top? 
Shades Apart have a record out but I don’t know if they have a following. They’re not a total Hardcore band, but they’re good. Release is a very good band. I like their music a lot. A lot of people think they’re generic, but what are you going to do? It’s very hard not to be these days. There are so many different styles out there, that you just have to find the one you enjoy playing. Turning Point is also a good band and the same goes for them. People say they’re two years too late and that they missed out when the Straight Edge stuff was rising in New York. But now that Youth of Today is gone, maybe it’s good to have another full-fledged Straight Edge band. They’re a tight band for sure. They definitely got their shit together. 

Who helped Vision in the beginning? 
Do you want the truth on that one? 

Photo: Ken Salerno

Sure
Nobody! No help at all. We got help from absolutely nobody. With Neurotic Impulse, we got help from P.E.D. Sam Shiffman from P.E.D and Paul Decolator (N.J.F, Pleased Youth) got us on some local shows. Also, the local scene in New Jersey wasn’t as big as it is now. The Circle Jerks or the Bad Brains would draw a crowd at City Gardens, but if it was a show of local bands, you’d draw twenty or twenty-five people at the most. The person who helped us out the most is Ken Salerno. He’s helped us out money-wise and taken pictures and when we didn’t have a van, he drove us all the way up to Albany. He got us a write-up in Thrasher and we’re doing an interview with Flipside and Ken hooked us up with that as well. Insted helped us by getting us on Nemesis. 

What is Hardcore all about to you? 
I think Hardcore is about free music. I don’t want to make it into this big “Let’s keep it in the streets!” type of thing but it’s a free industry. There are not many music scenes where you can put out a record and in a couple of months have enough of a following to tour. It’s the most energetic music style there is. Rock ‘N’ Roll gets so boring and monotonous. There’s no power or energy. You go to a Hardcore show and all the kids know each other. They go crazy and sing along and it’s really exciting. 

Any final comments? 
Thanks for the interview and hopefully we’ll see everyone out there.