Wrongwayround Punk Rock: March 2009

Rick: First question. Tour of the UK, I know you guys have been here before for Give It A Name and stuff like that, how have the reactions been this time round?

BC: Uh It’s been good, I mean the last time we were touring with pop bands and this time we are too but it’s a little more our style so it’s a better crowd for us.
BC: There’s a few kids coming out that came before, but I mean Alkaline Trio, Cobra Starship, like the same kids, like even if they did like us they’re not guna pay, what £20 just to come see us. There have been a few kids that actually came out from the last tour.

R: You did a headline show at the Peel was that good?

Yeah that was the best show we did so far, that was the best in the UK so far, as far as atmosphere goes

R: Is it still beneficial for you guys to tour over here and not just for finance but also to get your names known?

Yeah I mean the tours that we’re doing, we’ve never done a tour that big in the states besides the Warped Tour, I mean this is like 1,000 kids every night, at least.

R: This venue is weird because it looks like it fits a lot more than it does when its only 1700 people. So give us a brief history about your band and why you formed?

Well we were in a hardcore band together called Countdown To Life, well we’ve been playing together since we were like 14 but then our first touring band was Countdown To Life and we started that when we were like 18, 19 and we did that for a few years but then our bass player and singer didn’t wanna tour any more and we had band payments to make and we still wanted to tour but we didn’t wanna start another band that sounded like that so we went this route because this is our favourite kind of music anyway. So we did that and we’ve been doing it since it kinda took over, it was supposed to be like, we were going to tour with this band when Countdown couldn’t but this kinda took over.

R: So labels, you guys have just signed to Side One Dummy, do you have a certain amount of releases that you have to bring out?

BC: It’s one with a few options. I mean pretty much if everyone’s happy we’ll keep producing them.

R: Side One Dummy has been snapping up a lot lately, obviously they have Gaslight and stuff like that. But Gaslight clearly aren’t guna stay on there for their next release they’ll go straight to a….

BC: Oh they will, they’re really happy with Side One, I mean they’ve had majors coming after them before Side One.

R: They’ve also just been announced to support Bruce Springsteen in Hyde Park. That’s just mental really.

BC: Is that like a big festival?

R: No it’s just Bruce Springsteen’s own show.

BC: Really?

R: Yeah it’s massive over here he plays like once every 5 years so he can do stuff like that. I think The Hold Steady are on there too so it should be pretty cool.

R. how much difference do you think labels actually make these days in terms of whether you were on Side One Dummy or Fat Wreck or Universal, how much do you really think it’s going to open up? Like will it make much difference from what you were on before?

BC: Yeah like just one example, Flogging Molly paved the way to get bands on Letterman and Conan, which Gaslight just did both of those so from that aspect like the press side they already have the connections with everyone like Rolling Stone and that so we’re guna get good press whether kids pick up on it, so that’s just one way.
BC: And some people, I guess like if a label is being really consistent with good releases then you’re guna wanna check on their new bands anyway, so like some kids might check us out just because we’re signed to Side One or just because we are on the same label as Gaslight or something like that.

R: Do you feel like it’s going to open up for a lot more tours, because like Kevin Lyman owns a part of it doesn’t he?

BC: Yeah, I mean we already did Warped Tour so that’s how we met up with Side One in the first place but yeah its going to open up a lot, everyone loves the guys at Side One, like they’re really good dudes.

R: I think they’ve kind of overtaken Fat Wreck in terms of bigness now…

BC: Yeah and quality and everything about it, I mean Fat scaled down

R: They closed down their European office last year and now it’s a pain in the arse to get anything

…..

R: Right music and lyrics: What really influences you to write, because within your self-titled there’s a lot of positivity within the lyrics and it seems like you’re proud of where you’re from and you sing about it. Does where you’re from influence it a lot?

BC: Yeah there was on the last record for sure. It’s cool for the North-West for our style of music, there isn’t much of it, there’s The Thermals, they’re a good pop band from Portland but I mean there’s not a lot of pop-punk so it’s kind of cool to represent the North-West of the United States when we’re out travelling around because there’s a lot of indie rock and stuff from Portland, like Sub-Pop Records is from the area and it’s huge.

R: So do you feel that’s a definite influence where you’re from or is it deeper stuff that you tend to write about?

BC: Well it’s weird, like that record I guess when I go back and listen to it there are some positive things on the record, like Back To Oregon is my favourite love song written but there is also some dark stuff on that record but it’s just kind of towards the end of the songs it’s kinda about pulling through that so, that record is all about touring basically and like making new friends and missing friends at home and that’s what that record was all about and this next one I’m trying to write from other people’s points of view.

R: Ethics of punk rock: do you guys make your own t-shirts and stuff? Do you think it’s important to do things like that every now and again to stay grounded?

BC: Yeah there are a lot of bands we meet who don’t even know what their t-shirt design is guna be but I just think it’s important we still have every say in it like people will get a management company and let them take over and let their ideas go but we still, we know what’s going on with our band.

R: It’s definitely cheaper to produce.

BC: People are lazy too and I think it’s important for bands to keep doing things for themselves. And we’re really lucky because our management and booking agency both give us a lot of freedom, like we don’t have to book every show through our agent, she gets us big stuff and then we still do basement tours in the States. In the States 30 or 40% of our shows are in a basement or something like not in a club but yeah our booking agent let us book our own tours.

R: Your new release on Side One Dummy, have you started writing it or is it recorded, what’s going on?

BC: It’s like half written, this is like the first time we’ve ever done it where we’re writing more songs than what’s planning to be on the record, we’re just writing a tonne of stuff so we have like 12 songs and probably only half maybe will make it onto there and as soon as we get home we will keep writing until we get into the studio.
BC: We’re working with Bill Stevenson.

R: Oh awesome. Everyone’s working with him at the moment, A Wilhelm Scream etc. It’s either Bill Stevenson or Ted Hutt that everybody’s working with.

BC: That’s actually who Side One wanted to go with. We were going to do it with the same guy that did the last record but then Side One said they wanted a big name on it and said who’s your dream and we were like Bill Stevenson.

R: What are your plans when you get home because on your tour dates you play this show then two Koko dates and then it’s dead is that recording time?

BC: We’re supposed to go in March 10th that’s like if we feel we’re ready to go in. If not we might be recording in August because we want to work with Bill Stevenson and he has like A Wilhelm Scream, Alkaline Trio, Flobots all right after us so he’s booked up until August. After that we have some tour ideas that aren’t confirmed but it’ll keep us busy towards July.

R: You need to go on one of those mega tours they seem to do in America but never over here like Alkaline Trio, Rise Against, Bayside, we never get tours like that.

BC: Yeah that tour was a big deal. We would love to be part of something like that.

R: Do you think if you had like a lot more resources, for example, Linkin Park or even New Found Glory I know on Warped Tour they have a huge bus with a studio in the back of it, do you think you would end up recording 40 tracks over that summer?

BC: We might say that but I think once we got to it like we would probably record maybe 2 or 3. It’s hard to focus when we’re on the road like the plan, like Side One didn’t want us to do this tour but we can’t say no to Alkaline Trio.

R: Why did they not want you to do this tour?

BC: They wanted us to focus on the record. And we were like oh we’ll go over, we’ll write songs whilst we’re in Europe but…We’ve only been here once before so we were like, we need to get over there with a band we actually like.
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R: Dream tours and favourite records?

BC: We’re almost on our dream tour, like this is definitely a dream come true to tour with Alkaline Trio. Like we’ve loved them for years and they’re awesome guys and their crew is awesome. Dream tour like the new Green Day album is coming out so maybe a Green Day show.

R: You guys make a lot of videos don’t you? You’ve just done one for Back To Oregon.

BC: Yeah a friend made one for Suffer The Kids a long time ago. I don’t think we’re happy with any of them, I’m personally not happy with them, like the one for Call It Off was supposed to be a normal show but when we got there it was too much. We could have had a friend bring a couple of hand cameras and we could have done a better video I think.

R: Do you get involved in the creative process?

BC: We made sure it was there and they kept trying to move it but it was a town that we loved and love all the kids there and we made sure it was there and it was our idea to do a performance but when it came down to it they had some lights and smoke, it was really lame. We had as much say as we could but it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. Back To Oregon we hated that as well.

R: Is that because they link literally everything you say with the video?

BC: Yeah the process of that one was horrible. Like the guys came up they didn’t have anything planned out, we changed locations like 3 times and they wanted us to do acting like really cheesy parts, they wanted us to have these girls come up with an 8 by 10 of some famous dude that might look like Ty or something and they ask him to sign it and then they find out it’s not him.
BC: And it’s total like, the dudes from San Diego and wanted us to be Blink 182 and we were like we’re not that kinda band. We might sound like Blink but we’re not guna talk about poop and wieners, hopefully the next videos will be much better. We have a friend in Portland that I want to work with so we’ll hopefully try that.

R: Do you think it’s important to do a video when it’s mostly for the internet now, because MTV never shows anything.

BC: I mean like if it was like 1994-95 when we had a shot to be on MTV like Green Day but now it’s nothing. But over here compared to the States there’s a lot more videos on TV.
BC: Just the other day we saw that new Glassvegas video and it was awesome and super creepy and end of the world stuff happening and it was like this is rad and you don’t see this happening in the states, it would maybe be on at 3 in the morning maybe.

R: The last question is a big question. Where do you think the music industry is going with everyone downloading everything for free, bands only make money off of merch, Paramore are doing a 360 deal, where do you think it’s going, what’s going to happen? It’s coming to a crucial point with iTunes saying its DRM-free so you can share all your music so surely they’re making it worse.

BC: It sucks, making records certainly isn’t getting any cheaper. So like to not be able to re-coup with record sales is lame because that’s the only way bands can make money. This is the only way we’ve ever made any money is from touring and selling merch and so that’s fine with me and I can’t be a hypocrite I steal music, I download music.
BC: It’s too bad that the industry let technology overpass it, like it didn’t know what to do it didn’t know the internet was going to ruin it but at the same time I think it’s cool because it’s easier to find music, the economy sucks anyway kids can’t buy records so as long as they keep coming to shows it’s fine with me.
BC: It seems to really only affect the major labels like their bands but they don’t need $500,000 to do a record they need like $20,000. That’s their fault they made that happen spending $300,000 on a video. It’s not downloading it’s giving away all this money and now they have to take it out of touring sales, which is really shitty like you said that’s the only way they’re going to make money. Paramore are probably spending I don’t know how much on a record and videos and I doubt they’re going to recoup no matter how much they sell so like they’re making it from touring as well.

R: Within that question there are kinda like two tail ends of punk rock at the moment. You’ve got Warped Tour and Fest in Florida. So with Fest you’ve got Var who’s doing this stuff with No Idea, he’s doing it all completely independently and all these bands completely respect that they all go to Florida for 3 or 4 days and everyone has a really great time. Nobody gets paid an immense amount, kids go there and it’s never going to be bigger than it is because they can’t because of the size of the venues. And so then there’s Warped Tour and all the sponsorship and all of that.

BC: We did both but the Fest was the best weekend. Warped Tour is really hard and it’s like a tough call because it can be fun at night time to like hang out with people and meet new friends and we met all the Side One guys because of Warped Tour but like, there was The Bronx, Against Me!, The Briggs there were good bands on there but like the Fest was exactly what we want, it’s perfect, it’s just perfect.
BC: I think Warped Tour is like an introduction tour, it’s like a big con and then the Fest is for people that love this band. They’re just separate things, they’re both good.

R: I went to Fest 6 and I was absolutely amazed by how welcoming everybody was. It’s like one big family thing.

BC: Warped Tour the people behind it are the best people but they’re getting in shitty bands that pay the bills and you have to do that else Warped Tour wouldn’t exist but I’m sure some of the people would love the Fest as well, they’re just old punk rock people. And you can tell like, if you’re behind the scenes the punk bands are the ones that get the most respect from people that are putting on the Warped Tour they get favoured for sure, like Pennywise, The Bronx. Like everyone was friends, it’s like a lot of cliques on the warped tour, all the pop kids hang out, all the Christian guys hang out.

BC: We started going in 1997, I think it started in 1996. I mean like we saw The Descendents, Blink 182, it was awesome, I’ve gone pretty much every year unless we’re on tour and then this last summer was the first time we’ve ever played it. We never even did like local stages we just went every year, it can be rad but this last year there wasn’t as many good bands as I would’ve liked but this coming year there are loads of good bands, Less Than Jake, NoFX, Bad Religion.

R: Are you with agreement with Brendan that it’s shutting down small clubs in America because the Warped Tour takes away shows from their towns?

BC: Kind of, but it seems like if they’re going to continue in the way they’re going it’s not even going to affect punk rock because it’s not a punk tour. I mean it could affect small clubs but I doubt it if bands steer clear of it or don’t get invited to play.
BC: I think he had a good point, I think there’s always going to be a surviving underground scene if there’s a Warped Tour or not. Like Fest could be a successful tour if they grabbed a handful of bands and did it but it’s perfect the way it is, but I’m glad it’s not a tour actually.

Interview by Ricky Bates
Photos by Ben Walker
Words by Rosie Allen

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www.sideonedummyrecords.com

Huge thanks to : BROADWAY CALLS, CHUCK DALEY & LIZ SWAIN @ ADELINE

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