The MLIW breakup was surprising to many, the euro tour was blown off out of nothing. Was it really that much of a quick decision as it seemed to be? Was it a tough decision or something you knew in your heart was the right thing to do?
Everything happened pretty fast. Looking back, I started to get the feeling not long after
How have you been ever since? Do you miss the touring? Being on the road and playing every night? Or is it more relieving to be out of that circus?
I am relieved. But I also miss it. Of course I miss it. But my life is still an adventure and a journey that won’t end till I die. I don’t need to be on stage and be written about in magazines to fulfil my ego or anything. It was definitely a circus. It’s easy to get caught up in lots of things you never planned on getting caught up in. I’ll be out there again someday, even if I’m just a roadie for my friends. Going on the road with a band is a fucking blast.
In your blog, manic times, it said that you started working for juice magazine but quit the job two weeks later. What happened?
It just wasn’t right for me. I didn’t like they way they did things and their philosophies. I don’t want to slander them. It was a weird situation and I quit. I think I am going to become a teacher. I’ve always thought about it and it seems like the only job I could do really well and believe in what I am doing.
How does feel to be a small town kid moving to
Both. It has been a good thing for me in many ways. I didn’t want to let any grass grow under my feet post MLIW. I wanted to keep moving, but creatively I need some time and new inspiration. Just driving out here for 3 days all by myself and finding work and a place to live on very little cash was a wild experience. It’s something I have always wanted to do. I dreamed about it when I was very young and it just never went away.
You started a booking and management agency called “devil’s cornfield”, how is that going?
It never went anywhere. Maybe someday. The idea was born out of my desire to help my friends. I wanted to help the Beat Strings, Brooks Strause, Sioux City Pete and the Beggars…these bands that are so fucking amazing and most of the world is oblivious to them. I wanted to take what I learned with my band and try to help them. I guess I kind of realized that for now I don’t want to be on the business side of music. I am on the music side of music and that’s where I belong. The business side of things is fucking boring and very complicated…and often times sneaky and backhanded. I am inspired by Joe Reiman who runs Lifeline Records. He does an amazing job out of his love for music and keeps everything so honest and straight down the line. He’s one in a million. I know its possible, but it’s very difficult for me to be on both sides of that. It was always a strain on my mind during the years of the band, trying to be creative and also trying to get business type shit done.
Reading your blog, one gets the feel that you listen to a lot of oldies, a lot of Jamaican music, folk music, old punkrock and ska. Has that always been your taste or are you just, like many, bored from the scene that’s out there right now?
That’s always been my taste. I just think of all my music together. I was listening to the specials back in high school and they have remained one of my favorite bands all throughout. I really like a lot of bands out there right now. Just recently I’ve been out to shows to see Clouds, Trash Talk, Hot Water Music, Strike Anywhere, Tapper Zukie, Touche Amore, The Aggrolites, The Bug and Warrior Queen, Sister Carrol, The Cool and Deadly. I love the new Fucked Up record. I was psyched to get a copy the new QUICK FIX record. They are kids from Iowa and they played our last show and this is their first record and it rules. If I listened to every hardcore record that came out… of course it would be bored and disenfranchised. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t. I think there are parallels between every kind of music. American Folk, Blues, Soul influenced Jamaican music which influenced punk and brought those great Clash records which morphed into hardcore and Bad Brains…who influence tons of current bands. If you just love and celebrate music and don’t worry about the stupid scene then you’ll never get jaded and you’ll just keep discovering new things in that nearly endless well of recordings of the past, present and future. Music is just sounds and rhythms and words. Find ones that you like or interest you or make you feel a certain way. Then find more. To me, its one of the main things that makes life worth living.
There was an article on you guys in VICE magazine, it was titled “choosing poverty”. Retrospectively, would you say that playing in an even “successful” hardcore punkrock band, it still is “choosing poverty”?
I don’t know. I didn’t really know anything about that Vice thing and then it just happened. Poverty is strong word. I was never going to starve or freeze to death. There is scary and horrible things going on in the world and most of us kids in this scene are fortunate in many ways and we’re doing alright. We are not in
1 comment:
Good interview
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