Saturday October 4 at Empire Live Albany is the 30th anniversary show of Straight Jacket. We had the chance to reminisce with original members Gregory Kennedy/vocals and Sean Greene/bass. WABY is diving deep with this interview and this is a show to not be missed. The question is will this be their actual last show?
WABY: Tell us about the early days. The beginning of the band?
Gregory Kennedy: The beginning of straight jacket was crazy for me there was already a singer before me who moved to guitar for a really really short time. Most people don't remember that we actually started and played our first show with me singing as a five piece however we got rid of the guitarist after our first show. It was pretty nuts because he played with us on Friday and then we got rid of him on Saturday and then played an outside bizarre on Sunday as a 4 piece. So I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how crazy the straight jacket ride was for me. For the entire time when we were active I was a complete drunk and drug addict so the things I remember or sometimes cloudy we seemed to take off right from the beginning each show we played we had more and more fans and we had some cool breaks like stigmata gave us our first show .as well as the Section 8 and cutthroat CD release show which really kicked shit off for us. I remember playing our first out of state show what a crazy experience we went in a few different cars and the car I was in took about 6 hours to get to Bristol Connecticut hahaha to play with hatebreed .. damn that was wild we finally got there everybody's upset because we're the first band but luckily the show was running a little behind it was crazy though because we played in a half pipe so sick. Playing out of town shows was always quite the experience we would always go with about 15-20 people following behind us . overall the odd thing about this band was we never had any kind of a lull , we just kept getting more fans as we progressed until we stopped being active in 2000 we pretty much left at the top of our popularity. And then came the reunion shows I can't think of any band who has played more reunion shows than straight jacket , I can't believe people still came out all these years for us the love we have for our fans is unmatched
Sean Greene: Well it all began in 1995, I was in a local band with Ross Kelch playing to 5 people at Winners, another local band was playing the same night which had Thom Lytle and Joe Clark in it. We began chatting and joking. Ross, Thom and Joe all lived close to eachother in the Saratoga/ Ballston Spa area. Both our bands fell apart and I assume Ross knew them guys and wanted to jam, Ross called me and asked if I wanted to do it. So that was the original 4. We played a few shows with that line up but realized we wanted different vocals, so I was friends with Tiny and he had zero band experience at the time but knew he had pipes, I went to his place and woke him up and asked if he wanted to sing and he agreed. We moved Ross to second guitar and we were off, I know Joe and Thom were on board as soon as they heard Tiny. Ross lasted on second guitar for one show and we continued on as the ”classic” line up of me, Tiny, Joe and Thom. We quickly made a 4 song demo on a 4 track we rented called “Unsung” and we gave it out for free on cassette. Ted Etoll and Tiny were close and ted was “the guy” that could put us on good shows. So we were quickly given very pivotal shows at the time which really helped us get our foot in the door and we pretty much got to play with every popular band of that time in the scene…Madball, Crowbar, Snapcase, Earth Crisis, Strife, Hatebreed ….even Kreator lol. We did the I See Nothing demo quickly followed by the Common Ground split cd and we were doing well in the local scene and decided to add a second guitar and got Jim Brassard. Past 1998 Im sure the band can fill you in as that was the year my tenure ended before I came back for all the reunions in 2003 lol
WABY: Tell us about the demos/CDs and the recording process?
Sean Greene: It was soooo long ago. I don’t remember much about the process We did a the 4 Track Unsung demo in Joes garage in one day in 1995. The I see 
Nothing demo was done at Scarlet East studios, it was my first time in a real studio, but its was done rather quickly also in 1995. Then the Common ground CD in 1997, like actually having me on a cd blew my mind, that was recorded at New Lab studios with Ryan Murphy from Cut Throat. Then we did the 3 song 1998 Demo back at scarlet east which was used for a few different comp albums at the time, some euro one and the United we stand double disc. Again Tiny can tell you about the self titled cd.
Gregory Kennedy: It seems like every recording is so much different than the one before it our first recording was actually just a four-track thing we did in Joe's basement called unsung of course it was raw and weended up going to redo those songs with a couple 
others and did our first demo called I see nothing at Scarlett East studios and of course that came out on cassette, I guess this demo became like an instant classic it really kick started our career . We did common ground next which was a three-way split with skinless and end of line. This is a pretty important CD at the time for us and hopefully the other two bands on it. We played tons of shows supporting this split it was awesome because now we were big enough to start headlining shows, we're also on some really cool comps like capital punishment and united we stand so all these things helped us really.
Then in 1999 we released our self-titled full length which is by far our best in my opinion. We recorded it at Max traxx and it sounds absolutely amazing even today 25 years later it really holds up I think I just love those songs so much I feel like I was able to put everything I had into them everything I wanted to say I was able to say, I get very emotional when I think about how I felt recording that CD , I remember getting teary-eyed quite a few times in the vocal booth amazing
WABY: The final 30th anniversary show?
Gregory Kennedy: The straight jacket 30-year anniversary show it sounds strange saying it out loud I never thought it would ever come to this. To be honest I wasn't too sure I would be around for it hahaha this year has been a tumultuous year being sick pretty much the whole year with me getting a seizure disorder,COPD as well as CHF really left the show in question. Not to mention I wasn't the only person in the band going through awful shit. But we all stuck together and helped each other out and here we are just a few days away from the biggest show of our lives I can't wait
Sean Greene: 30 years, it’s crazy to think it’s been that long. We did the show in March of 2024 after a 16 year hiatus. I never thought we would play together again after 2008. But we did and it went really well and at one point after that show we realized it would be 30 years in 2025 since we started 1995, so I think we all knew we had to celebrate it. And everyone was on board with it so here we are. Its gonna be a party, I know the show in 2024 was like a scene reunion and I know this one will be the same.
WABY: Can we discuss the opening bands and your reason for choosing them.
Sean Greene: Myself and Mike Valente worked together on the line up. I mean Brick by Brick was a given I spent 13 years in that band from its inception in 2004 to when I stepped down in 2017. So yeah BxB is special to me and I wanted them on it. Fury of Five, we go way back the the mid 90s with them, we played the Qe2 with them more times than I can remember and they are back killing it with most of the original guys so that def adds to the lore of the show and being our 30 year anniversary. Shutdown….another 90s staple….again a band that is playing again with a new release, also friends of the Albany scene. I really wanted a nostalgic vibe to the show and bring it back to the mid 90s, when in my opinion the Albany scene could not be topped. As far as the openers I relied on Valente because living in Virginia I don’t have my fingers on the pulse of local bands as well as him. He suggested Passed Lives and they seem like a good fit. Violent by Design has friend of ours in it and the members have been kicking around the scene for awhile. It’s a stacked line up top to bottom and that was my goal.
Gregory Kennedy: It really is a pleasure to have these bands be a part of this important night for us past lives and violent by design are sick and so heavy, in volume by design the drummer Phil Shannon was in a band with me cold The killing condition we're an amazing band but he's a sick drummer and I'm so happy he's part of it as well as his killer band. I always love shutdown they always had so much energy when I would watch them .. killer band all these years.. brick by brick is super super heavy and Big Mike is one put in the show on so I was wicked excited when he said they could play ,Sean was in brick by brick for years until he moved so it's also important to him as well. Fury of five boom it's not where you're from it's where you're at my favorite line by one of my favorite bands straight jacket got the play with fury of five many times and we just love them and are so amped to see them
WABY: What are current members of straight jacket doing from this point forward?
Sean Greene Hahaha. Im not sure any of us are actively playing other than Joe and Mike Comtios (our savior following Jim Brassards departure) . Joe plays in a cover band in Vermont and Comtois was playing in Anacortez, I think they are on hiatus, Im not sure lol. I know for myself I didn’t play a note after leaving Bxb in 2017, I moved to Virginia Beach and got busy being a dad. I had no plans to ever play again but always said in the back of my head IF Straight Jacket got back together I would do it, and then on a random day in October of 2023 I got the call from Lytle. We rounded up everyone, Brassard decided he was going to stay retired, so Mike Comtois stepped up at my suggestion. But Im pretty sure this will be my last hurrah, we all live in different states and our personal lives keep us busy, its been fun to turn back the clock for a bit but its a lot of work to do from far away. I don’t have plans to play in Virginia but ive learned to never say never lol
Gregory Kennedy: The future? Not too sure we have two songs demoed out that we want to go into the studio and record what we'll do with them and if we'll play again who knows we're just enjoying the ride right now and we'll see what tomorrow brings.
WABY: What are your thoughts on current hard-core and Metal?
Sean Greene: Hahaha Im not the one to ask. I like to loosely quote Roger Miret “ Hardcore is not dead and will never die but its not my party anymore, its someone else’s party”. I do keep up with newer bands and still listen to all my favorites daily but not physically involved in the scene that much, especially moving to Virginia and leaving the scene I’ve been a part of for over 30 years. It was a huge part of my life and the best times of my life but Im a grumpy old man now lol. It takes a lot for me to go out and see a band. Plus I just enjoy being a dad more and watching tv with my kid on a Saturday nightthan standing in a club for hours feeling old and looking for a place to sit down and watch lol.
Gregory Kennedy: I'm always excited about new hardcore metal so many great up and coming bands and they're just getting better and better I really love that there are so many sub genres . I think it's awesome that metal bands are playing live on Jimmy Kimmel opening the Olympics it's just wild for music that people despised to almost being accepted worldwide it's crazy and I love it I just wanted to keep going
