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Lagwagon

“Hang”. If this album title doesn’t sound familiar to your years by now you must have been hiding under a rock by the end of 2014 and still be hiding there. “Hang” is the album title to California, Goleta's finest punk rockers, Lagwagon. We at RMP Magazine already discussed the upcoming album last year in august with Joey Cape at the Pukkelpop festival. But we felt the urge that we needed to talk to Joey again at Jera On Air festival about the epic “Hang” album. From smoking gum to Jeff Mangum, the Caper brings us up-to-date about the entire ins and outs of Lagwagon and “Hang”.

 

 

  1. Hello, first off, congratulations with the new album “Hang”. Last time we met you released a teaser track (“Cog In The Machine”), now the album is out for some months. How has the response been during the recent tours?

It's been great. It's nice to have a new record and to play new songs live. The album has been probably as well received as any record we've ever made. We're really enjoying. It's cool, it feels good.

 

  1. It seems that all the long-time Fat bands are back with killer albums. In 2015 we already had Good Riddance and Strung Out, next up is Night Birds with their first Fat release. Where did this influx of killer music suddenly come from?

It just feels kind of good that some of us old guys are doing this pretty much at the same time. I like that; we're playing a lot of shows with those guys too. It feels good. There was always some sort of camaraderie with the label and over the years that sort of slowly dissolved in a way and I feel like that it's coming back. It's really a nice feeling. Especially since Fat is doing this 25th anniversary and we're doing all these shows together. It's cool; let's have a little bit of pride in where we come from.

 

  1. The band has been touring quite extensive lately. A couple of tours in Europe, you played Pukkelpop, Groezrock, now Jera On Air. Is this because of the new album and promoting it?

We might have to take a break. We always tour but once we put a record out it's always about two years of just hardcore touring. I tour a lot when the band is not touring as well. I'm pretty much always on tour.

 

  1. And One Week Records of course.

I have a five week tour in September and October with the One Week guys. Should be fun.

 

  1. Last august you already discussed One Week Records and the start-up but since then you have released six records already. What's next with One Week Records?

We're kind of dialling it back right now, rethinking some things. I don't think I will be making a new record until next year. Which is sort of a drag but Lagwagon is touring so much that I can't make time. So I'm trying to figure out a way to get around that.

 

  1. You just mentioned a drag. That leads into the next question: the song “Drag” on the new album. Do you see yourself ever quitting smoking?

I haven't smoked in five or six years. But I still chew (pulls out nicotine chewing gum). I basically just switched. Chewing gum instead of cigarettes. I actually miss smoking, I really love smoking but my lungs were not happy. I started when I was 13 and I smoked until I was 43. That's why I wrote the song. I thought, in some ways it's the most difficult thing to quit. I tried so many times. Everyone always talks about heroine and crack and speed and all that stuff. Nicotine is just as vicious. Definitely claims more lives. Just seemed like something to write a song about. That song was written quite some time ago; probably the only one song on that record. I wrote it a long time ago. But I found this version I did with the band of the song and right when I heard it I thought “This totally fits Lagwagon.” I don't know why. So I played it for them and they immediately liked it. It worked. And then they made it a lot better.

 

  1. One of my favourites on “Hang” is “One More Song”, dedicated to Tony and it has a Neutral Milk Hotel reference, ‘My aeroplane forever over the sea’.

I love that you get that. That was a record that Tony turned me on to. We toured a lot together and he was the guy who turned me into Neutral Milk Hotel and Jeff is such a great songwriter. He gave me that record and I was just like… you rarely get turned onto things, if you do what I do. It's rare that I get turned onto something I somehow missed. It's sort of the most important records in my life. He gave it to me. I had to reference it and the last time I saw him I was putting him on a plane.

 

  1. I've noticed some great shows coming up for Lagwagon soon, like the Fat Wreck 25 years show or the one with Adolescents and Agent Orange. What's next?

Oh yeah, ‘It's Not Dead’ is one show in Southern California.I saw Adolescents recently, still got it, still good. Love those bands. That whole show is amazing. Good Riddance, Descendents; it's insane. I'm going to see how it goes.Because this party is like ‘How the hell are you going to do that many bands in a day?’. There's like forty bands.And they're doing the kind of lottery-thing like on the Warped tour where you don't find out when you play until you get there. I'm actually on another tour at that time. I have to fly in 6 AM to a town near there and then take transportation to the show. Probably show up and play, because we could play at noon for all I know. And then as soon as it's over get back to the airport and back to the other town for the tour. The tour was already booked. So we had to do it and I had to take the day off.

 

 – David Marote

Strung Out

 Strung Out is back with a new album and it is killer material. Another Fat Wreck band returning to the scene to prove their merits once more! So when the band came over for a European tour at Jera On Air festival in The Netherlands, it was time for RMP Magazine to have a quick chat with main guitar shredder Jake about the new record “Transmission Delta Alpha” and how it's been perceived so far. Find out all about the band that doesn't look back in anger.

 

  1. Congratulations with the new album, “Tranmission Delta Alpha”. It's been out for a couple of weeks now. How has the response been so far?

Thank you. Very good, all the shows have been really good. Everyone likes the new songs. We've been playing them live and they have been getting a good response. It feels good to have some new material out and have people really liking it.

We just did a big US tour for about a month and a half and we just got here and it's been about four shows and we're here for another month. We have about 25 shows total. Yesterday was a good turnout. It was a good turnout at the big Hurricane festival and a lot of people came by the stage when we played.

 

  1. The new album took six years to complete. Was it such an endurance to get this album out?

No, we were busy doing other things for most of that time. We did a greatest hits album, we did a boxset. We went out and played our two albums “Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues” and “Twisted By Design” back to back. Did a whole tour of that in America, went to Australia. So we've been doing lots of touring and about a year and a half ago we started writing for the new one. Got it all together, spend about six months on and off recording it. We took some time with it; we didn't want to rush it and make sure it was the right thing at the right time. Sometimes it's good to make people wait a little longer for something.

 

  1. For the new album you worked with Come Back Kid and New Found Glory producer, Kyle Black. How different was his influence on the album?

It was cool. Every time you work with a new producer they bring something else out of you. They try to get out of you that you're not doing already. He had a good ear for what we were trying to do, he knew where Strung Out comes from and he wanted to keep it a good Strung Out album.It was a very good experience.

 

  1. Strung Out started in the 90's as west coast skate punk, quickly evolving into more metal riffs and so. How do you see the bands evolution over the years?

Yeah, you always have to introduce new things into your sound I think. You can't just do the same thing every time. Sometimes by doing that you get closer to what you originally were after a while. You try some new things and you also stay true to what you were doing. We wanted to keep the energy up really high on this. Just keep it very uplifting and positive. We always liked metal parts and interesting technical types of riffs. We wanted to put the songs first and make sure it's good, a classic sounding Strung Out record.

 

  1. The band started out in the skate punk scene, some of the members still skateboard to this day. How do you see the connection between skating and punk rock?

A little bit, we skateboard to get to the store and so. I think it's still out there. Most of the skate videos these days don't use punk rock music anymore. It's all rap and stuff, so that's a shame.

As a kid growing up in California where we came from it's pretty much the soundtrack to it. Going to the skate competitions you'd always hear punk rock and have bands playing. I think that will always be a part of it. I don't know whatever the kids are into today, that's up to them. For us we always keep doing what we grew up being around, which was definitely skateboard-influenced and things like that. I think it works well with the fast pace.

 

  1. The album comes with beautiful artwork, there's also a painting for every song on the album by Jason aka ‘Amerikan Blackheart’. You also made an art print set as merch out of those. How is it to connect your music to visual art and hearing the response by the viewers/listeners?

 

It took him some time. He definitely spent some time on it. He worked his butt off for like six months to a year getting all that art together. We would change the titles of the song sometimes so he'd have to change the artwork again to fit the song. I think it really turned out really cool. And I think it's a special way to connect the album with you; just a way to make it a physical thing and not just some digital thing.

 

  1. You recently released a video for the track “Modern Drugs”, quite a visual work that has deeper connection with the lyrics of the song.

It turned pretty cool. The visuals are very interesting. All together it tied in very well. It's kind of an extreme song.

 

  1. Another thing that struck me in the video is Jake's guitar decoration, those beer tags or sticker of mostly Belgian Beers. Do I need to ask what your favourite beer is and where it comes from?

Many Belgian beers on there. Lot of my favourite beers on there. I drink a lot of those beers at home so I was saving all the labels and I was like ‘What should I do? Should I cover an amplifier, or just put them on a guitar?”. Some of them are wearing of now because I've been touring with the guitar now and the pick is scratching them off. So I need to drink some more beers and get some new ones. Chimay is on there, and Delirium; I like the strong beers.

 

  1. If you ever were to be strung out on something, what would it be?

I don't know, I smoke a lot of weed so I guess people would probably say I'm a stoner. That's probably it. Strung out can pertain anything. You can do too much of anything in your life. Too much work, too much this, you can be strung out on your girlfriend. You can be strung out on a job. It's what you make of it. For us it's wasn't always about a drug or something. It's more about being strung out on life. It's a punk rock thing, you can be strung out on all sorts of things.

 

  1. Any last words or plans you'd like to share with us?

Just keep touring supporting the record. We'll hopefully come back here somewhere next year and just thank you to everyone for coming out to the show and buying the record and listening to it.

– David Marote

Frank Carter

 We recently had the pleasure to chat on the phone with Frank Carter about his new project, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes. Their album "Blossom" drops on August 14th on CD, vinyl, and super limited edition hand-painted-cover vinyl. Frank was previously the frontman of the bands Gallows and Pure Love.

 

  1. We’ve been following your career here at RMP and noticed that The Rattlesnakes are definitely a hardcore band, almost in the style of earlier Gallows material, when you were still part of the band – but you still have your own defined sound as The Rattlesnakes. What can you say about the choice to go back to the style of music you played earlier in your career?

I don’t know if it’s a choice to go back to that earlier style. I mean, I think it’s actually a much more mature sound now. Obviously it’s hardcore punk, but I’ve always loved hardcore punk, you know? I took a break to sort of experiment a little bit with my voice in Pure Love and find my seat and wrote a great album there, and now it’s just a case of, you know, starting something new. So I don’t know, there are a lot of surprises on the album. It’s not necessarily just pigeonholed in that one thing. I guess it wasn’t really a conscious decision, it just felt right. We started writing songs, Dean (Richardson, red.) started sending me some riffs and it wrote itself really.

 

  1. So that’s just basically what came out, and that’s what felt right?

Pretty much, yeah.

 

  1. You also mentioned Pure Love, would you say that Pure Love was basically a cleanse for you, you got that out of your system and then you decided to go on and play the next thing?

No, I mean Pure Love was like really a difficult band to be in because we just were dealt quite a rough hand from the beginning, so it felt like a lot more of a struggle really than it should have been. We had the wrong management and the wrong people around us. I don’t know whether it was a ‘cleanse’ so to speak, because that’ll never really be out of me, you know I still love that band but this is what I’m doing now, this is what I’m focused on. I feel like everything happens for a reason, that band was there to help me like, understand how I could use my voice better, you know, because I was quite limited when I was in Gallows. But now I can sing, and that’s purely because of Pure Love, so yeah, I think everything happens for a reason and I don’t know if a ‘cleanse’ is the right word. I don’t know, I feel like it set me up and put me on the right path.

 

  1. I can understand where you’re coming from there, saying you learned to sing with Pure Love, with Gallows you only had one chance really, in “The Vulture”, and that was six or seven years ago now.

Yeah.

 

  1. There’s definitely a huge difference that you can hear listening to the vocals on “Rotten” and the vocals on the Gallows albums “Orchestra of Wolves” or “Grey Britain”.

Of course.

 

  1. Which leads me to another question: there was a really cool saturation effect on your vocals throughout almost the entire EP, if not the whole EP. Was that just a production decision, or is that something that you went in and said “I want to do this.”?

No, just, we were looking for the right kind of sound, you know, and I think a little bit of distortion, you kind of get a lot of that when you’re playing live, you know? We wanted this album to sound live and we wanted it to sound like we were just playing a gig, so when we heard it, we had to bring it down a bit because it was just a bit too much. I think it allows my voice to cut through in the right ways, so it just means I’m not squawking over the fucking top of everything, do you know what I mean? I’m settled down a bit in the mix. Yeah, it wasn’t anything we did on purpose. We didn’t set out to do that, it just happened. Everything with this record has been quite organic; it just sort of came together the way it was supposed to.

 

  1. I believe I read somewhere that all of the instruments were done live, basically, and then you overdubbed vocals and that was it?

Pretty much, yeah, I mean even some of the vocals were done live. The boys were all in one room and then I was in the vocal booth. That’s how I’ve always wanted to record but I never had the opportunity and I feel like a lot of times you spend a lot of time getting the music to sound so perfect and regimented, and you lose a lot of the soul in it that way. Punk music should be about, like the ebb and the flow, you know, like it should be able to push and pull, it should be able to speed up and slow down. And if you’re trying to quantize everything and play to a click, that’s the first thing you lose. You’ve got to stay on the tracks, and I’ve never really been about that, I’ve always wanted to go off the tracks. So yeah, that’s why we wanted to do it all live, and when it came to recording vocals, any bits that I got that I was already happy with, they could stay, and then it was just a case of finding my foot in with the timing and just moving with the band after that already happened. Does that make sense?

 

  1. Yeah, definitely, and there really aren’t many bands that can pull that off these days.

I don’t think so.

 

  1. So many bands use a click even when they’re playing live shows and it just saps the emotion right out of it.

Yeah, totally, and it just means you’re so trapped. I never want that, I don’t want that. I’m lucky I’ve surrounded myself with excellent musicians, so I know that I give one look, or they give me a look, and we can hang back or really, really, push it over the edge if we want to pummel people. I think that’s an important ability to have, and if you take that away you’re kind of cheating yourselves out of an atmosphere. That’s what punk music’s all about, it’s about getting in that room with like a hundred sweaty people and just fucking letting loose. If you’re worried about staying in time, you’re playing the wrong music.

 

  1. You even have people from the right background, you have Memby Jago on drums who was in The Ghost of a Thousand and also you joined you in Pure Love, and Thomas “Mitch” Mitchener who actually engineered “Rotten”, on bass. I’m assuming he’s also working on “Blossom” with you, is that correct?

Yeah, the album’s finished, we recorded the whole thing with Tom and it’s all done. It sounds amazing, fucking really looking forward to people hearing it.

 

  1. I can’t wait, and I should mention that is going to be out on August 14th, so our readers will be looking out for that one, I’m sure.

Yep, August 14th, it’s coming out worldwide.

 

  1. Another thing that many bands don’t do these days, you actually had a bonus track on “Rotten” after “Primary Explosive”, and in the digital age, bands have stopped doing that because people can just skip ahead in iTunes. What do you think of that attitude that people always just say “Oh, we want it now, we’re going to skip ahead.”?

They just don’t have any patience.

 

I think that’s just a product of the world at the minute, but you can counter that by doing what we did – which is just fucking do it anyway. Then even if they do skip ahead, that’s their prerogative. We’ve put it there; we’ve laid it out for them how we believe it should sound. For the people that don’t, the people that forget about it, on the train, or walking or driving, those noises they put you in a place and then all of a sudden you start hearing these chords ringing in, and that’s when you’re really get a feel for it. That’s when it surprises you. Some people, they might just listen to it just in case they missed something, you know, and that’s important as well, so it’s nice to be there. I mean, I could sit here and mouth off about how wrong I think people are, that want everything now, but this is an instant gratification world we’re living in, do you know what I mean? Everything is now, everything is fast, fast, fast, and I think I’ve got to understand that as well, I’ve got to appreciate that. I can’t just fuckingjust go against that too much because we’re going to be the ones that really suffer. I just want to go back really quickly because you missed a member, Dean Richardson, he used to play in a band called Heights, and he’s the guy… Really the band is me and him, we’ve been writing these songs for a long time, and we’ve been writing together for a long time. When I decided I wanted to do the band, he’s the first person I spoke to. He wrote all of the music with me and helped me structure the songs, so he’s kind of the kingpin of all this really, so I just wanted to make sure you didn’t miss him, sorry.

 

  1. No worries, so you’d say he’s the co-conspirator, basically?

Pretty much, yeah, partner in crime-type thing.

 

  1. I think, everything is expected to be so instant, people won’t go down to the record store that’s five minutes away anymore.

No, they won’t.

 

  1. They just go to iTunes, and they won’t look at the art or anything even, which is, I think incredibly sad, because that’s part of it, that’s part of the package that comes with the music and that’s what you, as the artist, especially since you’re a painter, want people to experience.

Yeah, definitely, that’s what’s been so important to me, that’s why we’ve kind of structured the physical aspects of this record the way we have, we’ve put out a worldwide vinyl and on top of that we decided to make one that was purely for collectors, because for as many people out there that want it now, and they want it to just drop into their phone without realizing, there’s also a good amount of people that still care about the artistry behind it. One thing I’ve noticed is, I have a lot of people congratulate me on the artwork, they’ve all said that they really like it and it speaks to them. So we decided to make this really special edition version of the vinyl, which is just limited to a hundred. It’s really expensive, it’s 200 Pounds. But what you get with that, is you get a variant cover of the artwork, which is completely hand-painted by me, so every single one is different, you’ll just get a random one when you buy it, but also you’ll get a version of vinyl that’s limited to 100 and won’t ever be repressed. That’s our way of sort of saying to people, people might look at that and balk at the price and say “What the fuck, who are these guys that can charge that?” but we can do whatever the fuck we want, do you know what I mean? I don’t have to answer to anybody because we set this up totally DIY, all ourselves, we just reached out to a label services company to help us fulfil it. I think that people might come back and check that again, they might see it and laugh at it the first time, then in a week they might come back and say “Oh man”, it just makes people look twice at the physical aspect of it, which to me is really important. I’m a record collector, so I’ve always wanted to get that number, to get that one of a hundred which is never going exist anywhere of the world outside of that, it’s exciting.

 

  1. I think that’s one of the things that has your fans coming back from one band, to the next, to the next, is the attitude that you just honestly do what you want. You make the music you want to make, and you put out the records that you want to make, and if they don’t like it you don’t care about that. You say “This is what I want to do, so this is what I’m going to do.”

Yeah, of course. Obviously, I want the band to be a success, I would like people to like it, but likewise I’m not going to lose sleep if they don’t, because that would be counterproductive. If I wanted to do that, I would just fucking tweet to 20,000 people and say “What do you want to hear?” and then I would write songs accordingly. All of them would be involved in the song writing process, and that would be a fucking nightmare, do you know what I mean? So the quickest way to do it is just for me to write what I love and be honest to myself, and I think that’s what people have always respected about me and that’s what brings people back. One thing I’ve rarely been called is sell-out, you know? I mean I was called it a little bit in Gallows, and that’s understandable, we did sell out, we sold to a major label for a load of money. That was fucking… I would do it again. I’ve always been true to myself and I’ve done what I wanted to do, because if I’m happy and I feel like I’ve got something to say, then I’m going to deliver it the way I think it should be delivered, which is with 100% passion. Raw emotion. It means that I’m able to really get behind the songs, and that’s how I feel at the minute. I really feel like I’m at a defining moment in my career where I’ve got this brilliant album, playing with great musicians, I think the lyrics are my best work ever, by quite a long way, and that feels really, really exciting. It feels like I’m in a good place.

 

  1. I totally agree with that, and it’s funny you mention “Grey Britain” because Reprise ended up dropping you afterwards because, you know, you did your thing.

Because we did what we wanted.

 

  1. Yeah, and they expected Green Day or something.

Yeah, definitely.

 

  1. Unfortunately I believe you have more interviews lined up, but I just want to mention you’re are touring right now and you’re also going to hit up Reading and Leeds.

Yeah, we’ve got Reading and Leeds, I can’t fucking wait man.

 

  1. I think I saw you said it’s your sixth or seventh time out there?

Yeah, I think this year’s going to be my seventh year playing Reading and Leeds and this is the one I’m most excited about because we’ve been on tour now for three or four days, and we’ve only got three songs out really, but the reaction has been incredible. These songs are really connecting to people, on a level which is beyond what I thought it was, so to get back to that festival which is like my home festival, that’s what I grew up going to, and play the majority of an album which will be out by then, which is music that I really fucking care about, I feel like it’s really saved my life, that’s a fucking exciting proposition, so I’m really looking forward to it.

 

  1. Well Frank, thank you so much for your time, and good luck on the road.

Thank you for the interview.

– James Cross

Iron Reagan

Iron Reagan from Richmond, Virginia have been thrashing stages all over the world for some years now. Consisting from members from influential bands such as Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse the members of Iron Reagan know how to destroy stages worldwide. So when Iron Reagan played Groezrock, RMP Magazine took the liberty to have a chat with guitar player Landphil Hall about their latest release “The Tyranny Of Will” and much more.

 

  1. Welcome to Groezrock, first time here?

It's fun to come out here and do these European festivals, because you get to see a lot of bands that you normally wouldn't see other times. The whole experience is fun, you get to hang with buddies and drink some beer outside. It can be very hectic but it's completely different atmosphere than a normal club show.

 

  1. You released a new album some time ago, “The Tyranny Of Will”. How has been the response?

We've been touring pretty relentlessly since we've put out “Tyranny Of Will”. We've put on tours with Voivod, Gwar, Eyehategod and many others. We've probably played about 200 shows and maybe the year before that as well. We've been out there playing and really trying to promote it and get in the ears of people out there. So far, so good. We're enjoying being on the road with each other. We haven't started to hate each other yet. Which is a good thing, because a lot of these bands out here, they can barely even talk with each other. That's something we have going for us. We're having fun. I feel like the response has been good. We've put out a music video called “Miserable Failure” and people seem to really like that video. It was done by this guy who worked for Jackass, he did videos for Red Fang. The response to that video helped people notice our record and check us out.

 

  1. You just mentioned making a flash mosh video for the track “Miserable Failure”. Did the idea come from you guys or the guy who worked for Jackass?

It was like 50/50, we've pitched a little something, than he pitched something back. I like what he did, it really worked out. He did a great job. We did a three-day shoot. We had a lot of extras coming out and they were willing to wait all day. I want to thank all those people that are in the video. They really put the effort in there. Some of those shots are really great.

 

  1. You managed to get 24 songs on the record. Not many bands can beat that.

It helps when your songs are like a minute long. You can get a lot of songs on there. We just like the spontaneity of our music and we want it to feel really straightforward. I feel that comes out in the music, we don't overcook it. We just go with the raw feel, the sound and the vibe. That way it doesn't seem overthought.That would ruin it.

 

  1. You recently released a split 7” with Belgian thrashers Toxic Shock. How did you end up with Toxic Shock?

Tony Forresta, the singer of Iron Reagan, keeps up with bands in the scene. He noticed that they were doing something really great and he reached out to them. I really like that split, it's pretty good.

 

  1. The band is considered a crossover band, but if you were to name your top three influences of the band what would they be?

For me, my biggest influence is: I really like Accuses and DRI. I wouldn't say these are the main influences. We spread it out along a lot of things. I listen to like bands like Infest, Spaz and then I'll listen to like Slayer. Aggressive music with fast riffs, there's a punk vibe. I really liked that Slayer album where they did all those covers. It's like aggressive and catchy, fun to listen too. It just makes you feel energised.

 

  1. How different a band is Iron Reagan compared to Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse?

Different members in the band, different cooks in the kitchen. Different styles, Cannabis Corpse is a death metal band, Municipal Waste tips more on the metal side where Iron Reagan tips more on the hardcore side. I can't speak for lyrics because that's Tony who writes them.

 

  1. You recently put up some haikus on the Iron Reagan Facebook. One that got my attention was “Beware Of Barney Farts”. Please explain.

Oh, we have a sense of humour and we have been hanging out with Napalm Death. Barney is a really great guy, we like to joke around with him a bit.

 

  1. Anything you want to share of future plans?

Thanks anyone who has come out to Groezrock to check us out. Check out the album “Tyranny Of Will”, it's on Relapse records. And also check out Cannabis Corpse’s new album and Municpal Waste is going to start writing some new material soon. So stay tuned for that. I'm also putting out a record on Metal Blade called “Crypt Of The Devil” with the band Six Feet Under. It's coming out on May 4th.

 

 – David Marote

Good Riddance

Good Riddance is back. In 2012 the band came back to the scene playing shows after their break up in 2007. And now 2015 their new album “Peace In Our Time” was released through Fat Wreck Chords. So when Good Riddance graced the Groezrock main stage we at RMP took some time to sit down with vocalist Russ Rankin to discuss their latest album and the influences that led to creating the new album.

 

  1. Hello,Congratulations with the new album “Peace In Our Time”. You recently played the first shows with the new album in the States, how were those?

They were good. We played Hollywood, San Diego, Santa Barbara. Those are all really good spots for us. They are not far from home. We expected them to be good. They were technically record release shows although the record was not released yet. We played some new songs and they went down well.

 

  1. Your previous release “My Republic” almost dates nine years back. The band took a hiatus from 2007-2012 and now a new album. How does it feel to go on tour with new material?

It feels great. In 2012 we started playing shows again and it was exciting to revisit our songs. See our fans again and get a chance to play. After a little bit of that we felt the urge to create something new. So we started throwing around some new ideas and that is how the new record came about.

 

  1. In previous records you often used quotes and samples as an intro. The new album doesn't contain any of these. A deliberate choice or coincidence?

We didn't use any on “My Repbulic”. We sort of felt that we were guilty of overdoing it in the past. We wanted to get away from it on this album, because I'm the always the one that comes up with those. On this album, the guys asked about a week before the record was mixed to come up with them. I said to them that I would be happy to search for things if I had more time. It was last-minute. “My Republic”, I think, was more by design. We wanted to try to get away from them.

 

  1. In the past you used quotes from Noam Chomsky for one. If you were to quote some influential contemporary influences right now, who would you name?

The advantage of Chomsky is the stuff he writes, there are instances of him speaking live that you can have access too. A lot of people that might have things to say that I may have read somewhere. I don't know if it would be so easy to find them recorded, maybe on YouTube or so. Using Chomsky would be great or people like that; people that are speaking politically and socially for me. From a part of our society that is not routinely heard from in the States.

 

  1. Good Riddance has always been affiliated with certain organisations. From Sea Shepherds to PETA to more political subjects. Any recent organisation that has gained your attention and deserves some promotion?

Planned Parenthood in the US. We're living in a country right now where State rights. It's the bigger problem I think. We have 50 States and each one is different and the population is different and these socio-economic needs are different in every state. It's impossible for the US government to say “This is how it's going to be everywhere.” It's not realistic. In the same time people on the right or libertarians are taking States rights to this other extreme where they’re being able to actually block out the greater majority of legislation. In our state that means denying women access to health care, denying women access to save legal abortions, denying gay people the right to vote, all kind of crazy things. Planned Parenthood, they are certain part of our country where they are physically under attack, being bombed, being vandalised. They are being defunded. Women have to go further and further away from where they live. It's not just about abortion, it's about health care. It's about the right and access to adequate healthcare. To live in a country that's so regressive. There could be so much progress and so much regression at the same time that it is confusing to me. I think Planned Parenthood is a champion for progressive healthcare especially geared towards women and reproductive choice. I think there's someone who should be aided. That's my opinion.

 

  1. How do you stand on population growth and its related problems?

I agree. That's another thing about Planned Parenthood. It's more of a concept. Just because people are naturally fertile doesn't mean they need to procreate. It's interesting in the areas of our country where Planned Parenthood exists, where there's more progressive sex education in the schools, rates of unwanted pregnancies are lower.Where there's really regressive Christian based right wing slant towards the education system, unwanted pregnancies are up. I think there's a direct correlation. I think education and getting people the education and choices to be able to figure that stuff out. There's a lot of craziness that goes on. There are lots of parts of the world where we can't do anything about it as Americans. But we can do something where we live. The first thing we have to do is remove all of this fundamentalist Christian propaganda from our schools and education systems. I don't ever want to tell you or anyone else, don't believe this, don't believe that. I believe people should have the ability to worship whatever they want, even when it doesn't make sense to me. But in this country there is a group that believes that their way is the only way but if I make a different choice then I'm attacking them. Like with same sex marriage. People are terrified that if gay people get married, that someday these people are going to wake up one day gay. It's this really defensive knee jerk reaction. I'm for moving forward. Things evolve, things change. When we lose the ability to adapt we lose our way as a country.

 

  1. Pretty much all of your albums have been on Fat Wreck Chords, what makes Fat so special to stick with them?

Fat Wreck was the first label that gave us a chance and has supported us from day one. It has never given us a reason to be dissatisfied and look elsewhere. It's like a family to us. Our band was never that popular. We never had major labels coming around, they left us alone. Either they know we wouldn't sign or we were never popular enough to bother. It's easy for us, it's always been Fat Wreck Chords.

 

  1. In one of the new songs, “Take It To Hear”, there's a line: ‘Something more than fashion before we burn it all away.’ What is this line about?

That song is about animal rights. Sometimes in punk it's trendy to sort of support animal rights even if they don't really. I had to be careful writing it, it don't ever want to come across like some sort of fascist. You have to be this way or else… That song is all about pursuing an animal cruelty free lifestyle. It's cool to wear a t-shirt, it's cool to have a sticker on your car but it's even cooler to really live that way. It's more than fashion, it's a lifestyle. In my home state of California we're having the worst drought ever right now. So people are like don't wash your car, don't water your lawn. Okay, that makes sense but the biggest use of water in our state is to raise alfalfa and hay so animals can eat it so we can kill them. It doesn't make any sense to me. This is naive, it will never happen but if everybody switched to a plant-based diet there would be no drought, there would be no hunger. We're screaming and yelling about this drought and the answer is right in front of us. That song is 100% about that. I don't want to come across as a hardliner. Like have you seen that TV show ‘Mad Men’. Everyone in every scene is smoking. When I was a little kid you could smoke on airplanes. A lot less people smoke now. That's what my hope is, that eating meat becomes like that. That people just realise and just stop. I want it to become like smoking. Where people are still free to do it, they ought to be free to do what they want. But they are able to think about and make these choices.

 

– David Marote

Satanic Surfers

Satanic Surfers were one of Sweden’s top export products back in the '90's. Part of the infamous Malmö skate punk scene and supported by epic record label Burning Heart Records, they earned their spot in skate punk history. But at their apex they decided they call it quits. Now almost nine years later the surfing and skateboarding devil has resurrected and Groezrock was one of their first stops on their small comeback tour. Time for RMP Magazine to sit down with guitar player Magnus and bass player Andy for a quick chat on Sweden, side projects and Satan.

 

  1. Hello, welcome to Belgium.

May we consider this a reunion tour for Satanic Surfers?

Andy : Yeah

Magnus : Yeah, it is.

 

  1. Yesterday you did the first show in your home town of Malmö, Sweden. How was it?

Magnus : Great, like 400 people. Everybody went nuts, it was really nice.

Andy : It was so nice. It was in a club and we kind of curated ourselves. Our tour manager did it. It was a really warm welcoming feeling. A lot of old faces and super nice.

 

  1. And what can we expect today at Groezrock?

Andy : I'm hoping more than 400 people tonight (laughs).

 

  1. Next up there are some 'big' shows ahead, from Spain's Resurrection fest to Canada's Amnesia Fest and Punk Rock Holiday in Slovenia to finish the tour. A small world tour?

Andy : It's fun that the names of these festivals describe a very old person. Ressurection, Amnesia, I'm not sure what the message is.

Magnus : We're doing just weekends now. Just playing and fly back home.

 

  1. The band took a hiatus of seven years. Most members were involved in other bands in the meantime like Revenge, Atlas Losing Grip. Any other projects you are currently involved in?

Andy : Plenty….

Magnus : Andy has a lot of bands

Andy : After we broke up I've been in four or five bands. Rodrigo has also been in four bands, he always has some projects in his head. We have Revenge. Fredrik has Connect, together with Tomek the old bass player.

Magnus : And Stephan who plays drums in Satanic, they're playing together in Connect and plays in Revenge too.

Andy : I was actually in Belgium two weeks ago with my other band Terrible Feelings, that was really nice. Kortrijk or something. At De Kreun, very nice people. They cooked the food in front of us at the backstage. It was a very familiar feeling.

 

  1. Since the first releases “Skate To Hell” and “Keep Out” the band has progressed musically and lyrically. You even mention that in the song “Aim To Please”. The line 'Hero Of Our Time was a funny song back then' How do you feel about your first songs and do you consider playing them again?

Magnus : I think we came to terms with them. It's been a long time. For the band, it was Rodrigo, he wrote all the lyrics. He wanted to progress and going from the skateboard stuff and fun stuff and doing something that probably meant more to him at the time. Now we just look back and it was progress for the band. We were young then, we're playing songs from all the albums now.

Andy : Eleven years ago we didn't play “Hero Of Our Time”, because it's such a typical Satanic Surfers thing. We are not going to play that song.It's so typical. And then one year later when we toured to support the “Taste The Poison” record, I think in the rehearsal space we said “Ah, we don't we play that song. It's a good song and everybody likes to hear it.” Then we thought about that quote from that song and we were like “Ah fuck it.” If that means I’m lame then I'm proud to be lame.

Magnus : “Hero Of Our Time” was like seven years between that song and “Aim To Please”. Now it's thirteen years later and we changed our minds again.

 

  1. Satanic Surfers was one of the pole bearers of the Swedish scene surrounding Malmö. Burning Heart records put that on the map as the record label at the time. Seems like they are back from a hiatus too?

Andy : That's what I heard too, they're doing Bombshell Rocks. They released their new record. They have some other secret plans so far. I don't think it's going to be as explosive as it was back then but they definitely miss what they did back then.

Magnus : With all the reunions, it's a twenty year cycle…

 

  1. Sweden has always had a vibrant scene, being it punk rock or metal. What do you think causes that attraction to 'extreme' music?

Andy : There's also a lot of music that is not extreme.

Magnus : All genres, all these house, dance music is coming from Sweden.

Andy : I guess the extremes set the tone. That's what you see. That's why punk and metal became more visible.

 

  1. And who should we look out for today from Swedish bands?

Andy : Tons of them. Right now there's a huge wave of female soul singers and rappers. They have a very current tone. It's very political; it's almost like a new wave of feminism.

Magnus : That's part of what is the cultural debate in Sweden now. There's a lot of debate about female artists being booked at festivals. It's mostly guys playing. This genre of music is like that. But some festivals try to keep it 50/50.

 

  1. Any plans on new tours or even recording new material with Satanic Surfers?

Andy : There's some tour plans but it isn't confirmed yet. Let's not make anyone disappointed yet. There's definitely some places we want to go, new and old.

 

  1. Satanic Surfers always had the connection with surfing and skateboarding. But how satanic is the band?

Andy : Rodrigo is more into that. He always wears that upside down cross and he listens to a lot of black metal and stuff. The rest of us are just agnostic.

 

  1. Any last words or plans you want to share?

Andy : Listen to The Kids, the Belgian band.

Magnus : Great to be back in Belgium.

Andy : The last show we did was in Belgium, September 26th, 2006 was Toprock.

 

– David Marote

Atreyu

It has been very quiet around Californian metal band Atreyu in the past couple of years. So we at RMP were over the moon when we heard the news that they were touring once again and releasing a new album! We, of course, like to share with you the resurrection of Atreyu and sat down at Groezrock to have a chat with guitar player Dan about their hiatus, the Never Ending Story and their many influences.

 

  1. Hi Dan, and welcome to Belgium. This year you and the guys are playing mostly big festivals like Pukkelpop,Reading festival and Rock Fest all over the world. Are you looking forward to this tour?

It's nice, we don't want to tour as heavily as we used to. We still want to be very active as far as performing but not just aggressively touring all the time. We’d like to cover a lot more ground by hitting the festivals, just to get to a lot more people faster.

 

  1. Today you'll play Groezrock festival. Is this your first time at Groezrockand how do you feel about the festival ?

It's awesome; it looks like there are tons of people here. Everyone seems to be having a really good time, it's so early in the day and people are having so much fun already. And the sun is out, I feel like I'm in California.

 

  1. In 2011 you decided to take a break. If we may ask, why did you take a break for a while ?

We were just a little bit burned out. We’ve just been touring for too long, too much. The fun was kind of coming out of it. We weren't that inspired any more.All the essential elements needed to be there to really be the best musician, best band, best songwriter that we could be weren't there anymore. We needed to take a step back, recharge essentially. We needed to plug ourselves back in the end of the wall for like four or five years and once were fully charged to jump back in the game again.

 

  1. After more than four years the band is back together. Is it different now than before the break ?

A little bit, we're a little bit older and wiser. We have a different perspective now of how we look at everything and do everything. We just try to be a bit smarter about how we handle our business. Like before it was “Who cares?Jjust go crazy and be rock stars” Now we try to be a bit more careful with what shows we play and where we play and how often we play; everything from merch to the presentation of our overall product that is Atreyu. I feel a little bit more confident now because we are a bit more knowledgeable.

 

  1. Atreyu returned to the stage on September 14, 2014 at the Afershock festival in Sacramento, California. How did it feel to be back up on stage as Atreyu after all this time?

It feels good, especially since it's been that long. I was a little nervous. Can I still play? Do people going to still care? The first show you come back and it had sold out in like thirty seconds which is the fastest we ever sold out a show. That's a nice start. We'll take that. Feels like home to be back on stage.

 

  1. You’re band name comes from the main character Atreyu, from the movie the Never Ending story. Why the choice for this character ?

Initially we were another band called Retribution. Alex, Brandon and myself, we wanted to change our name as our music style was progressing. Something that was fresh and new to go along with that. A lot of the bands we were into were getting their names from sci-fi movies, fantasy, horror, movie character names or comic book titles, stuff like that. So we were looking into and the Never Ending Story came up and the lead character Atreyu was the one that fit the most.

 

  1. The band made a great cover for the song “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi. Why did you choose this song in particular ?

 

I personally am a big fan of the classic 70-80's style rock. Everything was over the top with that. I feel there's a lot of that element mixed in with Atreyu. So I feel covering a song like that and doing it in Atreyu style just felt really appropriate. It's a fun song and everyone knows it so when we play it it's a fun time.

 

  1. The song “Her Portrait In Black” was the soundtrack of the movie “Underworld: Evolutions”. How was it to be a part of the soundtrack for this movie?

Just one of those things our label hit us up with. “Hey, these guys are interested in doing something with you.” We were like “Cool!” The song was actually to be on our third record, ‘A Death Grip On Yesterday’. We ended it up taking it off the record so it could be exclusively on this soundtrack. Which was cool but I really wish we could have put it on the album, it's such a rad song.

 

  1. The screaming guitar parts are a recognisable part of Atreyu. What bands influenced you on the guitar parts ?

I'm a big fan of all the 80's stuff, like Van Halen, Def Leppard, stuff like that. Scorpions,Queen even, I just love how over the top their playing was and how melodic it is. There's so much talent, just very inspiring to watch. Not being the lead singer but being worshipped like they are. For me that was always something I wanted to pursue, I wanted to be like a guitar hero. I don't just want to be the guitar player in the band.

 

  1. I heard you have a nickname, “Big Dan”. Is this correct ? And why “Big Dan” ?

It's kind of an ironic nickname I got when I was fourteen years old. I was one of the smallest dudes out of my group of friends but I got a big personality. So I feel my presentation of myself is larger and maybe for even more adult reasons. It just stuck.

 

  1. On record store day you released a 7” with the old song “So Others May live” and a brand new song “When The Day Is Done”. Why did you decide to release the new song in this way?

“So Others May Live” we wrote within the last year. So it's still pretty new. We put it out, just kind of give people a taste. We did a video for it and then “When The Day Is Done” is another song we recorded at the same time but hadn't had the chance to release yet. We never done a 7” record before, I have tons of 7”s at home. So we felt it was really appropriate. Especially for a band like us that grew up going to record stores. That was a big part of our lives. That's how you discovered new music. If you wanted a new style or didn't know what to get you could go to the guy of the record store and he was like the human box of Pandora. You just take the gamble and buy it.

 

  1. So how do you feel on the internet and how music is everywhere now?

It's really good and really bad at the same time. It's really good in the sense that it's so much easier to access new band’s music but in the same time because it's so accessible I feel a lot of people get lost in the mix. It's really hard to stand out. Before there weren’t many people on the internet so it was easier to get noticed. We were one of the first bands to get noticed through the internet in the early 2000's. I'm a fan of it because I wouldn't be here without it. You lose that kind of nostalgic feeling of going to the record store, read through the booklet, read all the lyrics, look at the artwork. Now you just go click a button and in a download you get that instant gratification that makes you not appreciate the music as you would have as it was harder to get.

 

  1. At the moment the band is working on a new album named “Long Live” that will be released in September of this year. What can we aspect from this album and what do you hope?

It's just the new Atreyu. It sounds like everything we've done in the past but it's a more updated version of it. It's a lot more aggressive than our last two records. I won't say too much, I want people to form their own opinion. If you like Atreyu you’re going to love this record.

 

  1. Any last words for our readers?

No, just good to be back. Especially here in Belgium, we always loved coming here. Good beer, good people. Just glad to be back.

 

– Jolien Krijnen & Frederik Geuvens

Dwarves

Rock legends The Dwarves have always been one of those bands that should be playing at Groezrock but never made it. Up until this year’s edition where gentleman Blag Dahlia and his merry band finally made it to Groezrock to show the kids some real punkrock. So we at RMP Magazine grasped this opportunity to have a chat with the rock legends that are The Dwarves and what a chat it was. Chaotic and fun, just like the band and its members. Find out more about The Dwarves below!

 

  1. Welcome to Belgium, first time at Groezrock.

Blag : Very first time at Groez…

Marc : We've been to Belgium

Blag : Pukkelpop, wasn't that Belgium too?

Marc : Oh yeah. And Graspop Metal Meeting, that was a good one.

Blag : We hold hands with Belgium

Marc : You got fucking cool waffles, you don't eat them with syrup?

 

  1. Today you played the main stage, a big stage with barriers and so. How do you feel on that?

Blag : I wounded up jumping into the crowd while Rex Everything was singing. So I got a little crowd interaction. I like it when the crowd is more close-on. I don't like the barrier. I just like to get out there. So then I can grab a titty or an ass, you know.

Marc : So you're a groper?

Blag : I'm a groper!

 

  1. Today's performance is part of a European tour featuring the Russian undercover KGB spies The Svetlanas.

Marc : Svetlanas are awesome, they are from mother Russia

Blag : She busted her leg last night, very tough.

Marc : Last night she dislocated her knee, still played the show. They’re fantastic.

 

  1. The Dwarves are all about primal drives. Sex, drugs and rock 'n’ roll. You almost stand out as the last bastion of feral punk energy.

Blag : What do you mean almost. We are the last real punk band. Nick Oliveri's penis is larger than all of the other punk bands combined.

 

  1. When did punk rock become so safe?

Blag : They didn't ask me, everyone is like chicken shit now. What happened Marc, you remember punk?

Marc : When we were young, you went to shows, you learned how to play, you wrote a fucking good song. Nowadays it's like “Hey that guy has got cool tattoos and big earlobe things, let's just form a band!” I don't want to be a dick but there are bands like that. It just used to be, you learned how to play and wrote a song went on the road for years, now it's like “Ifound four other guys with tattoos and earlobes stretched” and you got a band.

Blag : Even so, even with your earlobes stretched. They have to want to fuck and get loaded. I don't care if they are just fashion fags and they suck. That's fine, I understand that. But if they are not searching for vagina or penis, equal opportunity, fag bands are good by us, we go both ways. Musically.

Marc : Nick said he played a good vegan festival, pretty rock 'n’ roll, shitty food.

Nick : Food wasn't that good . Food that tastes like Styrofoam. Not so good…

 

  1. Another thing that seems to be missing in punk and music in general today is humour. What is your opinion on this?

Marc : Punk rock is just fashion, you've got a lot of cool tattoos and your ears are stretched. And now you've got the big fucking beard.

Blag : The emo beard, those are kind of funny. Because people get food stuck in them so that's kind of humorous. But it's unintentional.

Nick : I hear this band is changing their name to The Hewhocannotbenamedes… (pointing at Masked Intruder)

Blag : Masked Intruder are biting our Hewhocannotbenamed style. Can you believe that? I love those guys.

 

  1. I didn't see Hewhocannotbenamed on stage today.

Blag : He's here actually, I just saw him. He's very unpredictable; you never know what he is going to do. He transcends life and death.

 

  1. Your website was hacked recently by Jihadi associates. How weird was that, a rock band getting hacked as a sort of political act?

Blag : We can't make this shit up. Our website got hacked by Tunisian fundamentalists, the little fucks. I think the problem is we have lot of tits and ass on our site and that made them upset. Because Islamic jihadists don't have genitals, they are born without genitals…

Marc : I'm working on a new magazine it's called Burka babes. It's going to be a hot girl wearing aburka just showing the ankle. But we're going to show more ankle than anybody. Look for it, Burka Babes.

Nick : Ankles and eyes baby! Burka Babes!

Blag : We're like the Charlie Hebdo of rock. Every city that has a kebab shop we're worried they will be cutting our heads off.

Marc : It's a religion of peace, if you don't believe me I'll cut your head off.

 

  1. You once wrote a song for George Bush’s campaign. If you were to do so today, who would it be addressed to?

Blag : Rex Everything wrote the song “River City Rapist”for Bush, it was at the Texas time.

Nick : It's actually Jorge Bush! A different Bush for a different time…

Marc : Now we have a new Bush coming on, it's happening all again.

Blag : We could write a Hillary Clinton song called “There Better Be Women”.

 

  1. You had to cancel the Hannover show, but played the Netherlands instead? What happened?

Blag : At the last minute those Speedfest guys said we'll give you a bunch of drugs and money and you can fuck our Netherland women. Or you can drive all the way to Hannover. We don't care about people so we played the Netherlands show. We took the money and vagina.

I do want to say this to the people of Hannover, We love you and we shall return. We beg your forgiveness. That club Bei Chez Heinz, very cool guys, they were great and we'll going to go back. If they'll have us, if they won't, then fuck them. We did it for the money, we're The Dwarves. We like money and vagina.

 

  1. You also released an EP on Fat Wreck Chords and two weeks ago another EP for Records Store Day. How did this come by?

Blag : That record was on Burger, a cool garage label from Orange County. Those guys are great and they do all our reissues on CD and shit like that. They did the single “Sluts Of The U.S.A.”, “Fun To Try”, great kind of poppy garage single.And on Fat Wreck Chords we did like a hardcore single with pop punk. Kind of Rex Everything's song stuck in the void. That one has my dick on it, butt naked. If you like to look at penis as well as vagina you got everything on that single on Fat Wreck Chords.

 

  1. Any last words or plans you'd like to share?

Marc :We love Belgium, we like Groezrock.

Blag : The Dwarves are rock legends, the greatest rock 'n’ roll band of all time!

 

– David Marote

The Smith street band

Australia, home of the kangaroo and the boomerang. But these last years it seems that their main export product has been kick ass bands. The Smith Street Band are one of those bands that have been touring relentlessly and becoming the best ambassadors the ex-convict colony could wish for. During their stop at Groezrock we took the liberty to sit down with frontman Wil Wagner and discuss their latest album “Throw Me In The River” and much more.

 

 

  1. Hey, end of last year you released your latest album “Throw Me In The River”. How has the response been so far?

It's been amazing; almost surprising. We've put it out and then we toured in Australia a lot of the back of it. We've pretty much been on tour since it came out. People know the words to my songs. It's been amazing.

 

  1. The amazing Jeff Rosenstock produced “Throw Me In The River”. What led you onto the path of Jeff?

I find him amazing too. We toured with Jeff when he was Bomb The Music Industry, just him and his iPod in Australia. I like him and John K Samson pretty much, and Bruce Springsteen. When I was like fifteen or sixteen, I started listening to Bomb The Music Industry. They taught me so much about being in a band. Just like “Fuck it, you want to start a band, start a band.” He's so passionate, we did that tour and then we toured with Bomb The Music Industry full band in Australia and just became good friends with him. We basically got him to produce the album but none of us knew what a producer was. We basically just wanted to hang out with Jeff for a few months.He came down and he is so positive and his brain is so amazing. You're playing and he goes “That would go good with a flute.” He pulls out his computer and puts on a flute. Plays it back, oh my god, I never thought of a flute sound on a Smith Street song. Working with him was amazing. I can't believe I'm friends with him.

 

  1. You also embarked on a US tour with Jeff Rosenstock, Andrew Jackson Jihad and Chumped some time ago. How was it playing a full-on tour in the States for an Australian band?

It was awesome. We've done a few tours in the States. I love Andrew Jackson Jihad as well. I've never seen them. We've played with them once here in Antwerp. And then Chumped as well, the whole tour, every person was so nice. All the Jihad guys are so nice. All the shows were no ages and no barriers, making it a crowd-friendly experience. Doing that tour we learned a lot. Andrew Jackson Jihad, I love them and now they're like an important band. I tell people to get “Christmas Island”. His lyrics are so weird, so dark but so hopeful as well. I adore that band. I got to get a tattoo of that band now. I've already got a Jeff tattoo.

 

  1. Maybe one of Sean's (AJJ singer) drawings?

I really want to, he was drawing, he's just a genius. He'd be sitting backstage doing watercolours and then he'd be out skateboarding and be better than anyone else. He's just one of those guys, what can't you do.

 

  1. The band has been going for five crazy years, three albums out and numerous tours. Did you ever expect this when starting out?

I remember when we started we sold out a venue of like 200 people. I was like “That's fucked”. Anything that happens from here is just a bonus. I feel like we're tricking everyone, soon everyone is going to clue on and realise we're just some idiots from Australia. This is so unexpected. We've been on tour since January and we're so tired and I miss my girlfriend and my cats. And now we're waking up and playing Groezrock again, I try to remind myself to be excited about it. None of us takes this for granted. Whenever people show up we're like “This is so good”.

 

  1. The band’s name is based on a legendary street in Melbourne. Given your status today as international band and in line with The Beatles Abbey Road street sign antics, has there been an increase in theft of Smith Street signs in Melbourne?

Yes, people steal the Smith Street sign. I've got one at home. The first is hanging in our lounge room. A lot of people steal them and bring them to sign them. Parkway Drive are from Australia as well and Parkway Drive is a street in Byron Bay and we drove down there. And the street sign is like as high as those lights. You need to put a ladder up there because it's so high so no kids can steal it. When we drove by people were trying to steal it.

 

  1. You recently put up a new video for the song “Arrogance Of A Drunk Pedestrian”, a track of the new album. I noticed a Weed culture sticker on the guitar headstock and you also have songs like “Get High”, “See No One”. How do you stand on drug use in general?

Oh my god. I'm very pro weed obviously. Whatever people want to do, they can do, is my opinion. If people are like dominating other people, I don't like that. I've done most of the drugs that you can do in my life, they all have their benefits and their downsides. Marihuana should be legal, it's insane that it's not. We've toured all of America and then you go to Denver and it's beautiful and clean. That's because of weed. It's great. I think that marihuana should be legal. That weed culture sticker, I saw it on a window and just stole it and stuck on my guitar.

 

  1. You recently recorded a 7” for a similar cause. Can you tell us some more on what motivated you to do so?

That was amazing. We've put out a 7”. The Australian government has a very backwards policy towards refugees. It's basically not letting anyone in. A lot of people live like in detention centres for like five, six, seven or eight years. For really long periods of time, it's almost barbaric. I wrote a song because I was angry about it and it must have been a slow news day in Australia. Because the main newspapers of Australia are like calling us for interviews and a big photo of us in the newspaper on page six. We've donated like 85,000 dollars just from the 7” and then we put on a show that generated like 20,000 dollar that we donated for the refugee charity. We've got a lot of like angry racist people yelling at us. I can talk about it in every interview that I do. But that's good; you don't want these people to like your band. I've got lots of friends who do volunteer work and stuff but we can't do that since we're away. So it was the best way to give something back. That's my favourite thing we did as a band.

 

  1. When listening to The Smith Street Band, there's no hiding that you hail from Australia. Is it a conscious decision to sing with an Australian accent?

Yeah, unfortunately that's how I talk. For me you have to sing like you talk. The Australian accent is just so horrible. If you get singing lessons you get taught to sing in an American accent, because that's like the technically correct way to sing. A lot of Australian bands go out on stage and they're like “ G'day…” then they start singing and they sound very American. For me, I try to make everything very personal and very honest. Your lyrics and your singing should just be an extension of who you are. I always try to sing with my voice.

 

  1. You've encountered some strange things during your career. Like the ‘ampgate scandal’ when your amp was stolen at a show. Any other memorable facts that we need to know about?

Oh, the ampgate, that was really fun. I felt like a detective for a day. We've had many silly incidents. It all just adds to the hilarity of touring. You need things like that to keep it interesting. Every few days something bizarre happens that you could never expect. It's the good thing about being around the world. You have crazy experiences. Ampgate was fun, especially for me. I have things stolen before that I didn't get back and this one was great since I got my amp back. Personal victory for me.

 

  1. The Smith Street Band has gained a loyal army of fans over the years, worldwide. When you're playing it seems that everyone present knows the words and shouts along. How does it feel when you see the crowd respond so well?

It's the best feeling in the world. You can't even describe it. None of us has any money, we live in shitty houses. We're always fighting with our girlfriends because we're on tour the whole time. I dropped out of university and all that just to do this band. We sleep on the floor and drive all day. When you like get on stage and I sing about how I'm like a sad, weird idiot and people like clap and sing along. It just makes you feel so much better. Probably because I write about depression and anxiety, singing about that stuff and having other people get into it, makes me believe that I'm not crazy. It's the best therapy or drug or anything that there is. That's why we tour so much. There's nothing like it, it's the best feeling in the world.

 – David Marote

Teenage bottlerocket

The night before Groezrock kicked off its annual punk party, a selection of some of the pop punk bands playing were playing another great small fest in Munchen, Germany. The Uncle M Fest featured bands like Masked Intruder, Make Do And Mend and Teenage Bottlerocket. We from RMP were present and took some time to talk to Teenage Bottlerocket’s frontman Ray Carlisle about their latest release “Tales From Wyoming” and much more at Skaters palace, Munchen.

  1. Today you're playing Uncle M Fest in Germany. Will you play “Ich Bin Auslander…”?

Yes, we will. It was a song that I learned in high school. I took German in high school. And it was sung to a different melody but I changed the melody and made it a pop punk song. We also did the Tony Sly song “Via Munich”, which was a coincidence, for the EP “American Deutsch Bag”. The other songs didn't have anything to do with Germany though.

 

  1. “Skate Or Die” is an obvious ode to skateboarding. Today we're in Munster, Skaters palace. Did you find time to hit the deck?

I didn't bring my skateboard to Europe, usually I have my skateboard on tour. I skated the day before I got here. But I left my skateboard at home.

 

  1. What came first, skateboarding or punk rock?

Kind of the same time. I got into skateboarding and my older brother had the DK logo on his grip tape and he had Black Flag’s “My War” on cassette. He was like ‘Here's the Bones Brigade, here's Powel Peralta, here's G&S,…’ It all was intertwined with like I said Black Flag, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys. More so skateboarding was the forefront of my life before punk rock. Punk rock became more after Green Day.

 

  1. Saturday you're playing Groezock in Belgium. Any special songs for Belgium or what may we expect?

We’ll just try to play as best as we can, stay sober. It will be our second time, it's an honour to be playing there. We don't take it for granted so we keep that in mind when hitting the stage.

 

  1. “Tales From Wyoming”, your most recent album has been out for a couple of weeks now. How has the response been?

It's been great, it's cool to hear everyone singing along to the new songs. It seems that everyone is getting into the record. The response has been phenomenal.

 

  1. You also have some exclusive watches coming out from Vannen watches. It's like an eyeball of some monster. How did this come by?

The guys just really love our band. They asked us if we wanted to do a watch and we said yes. It's almost as simple as that. They came to our show at the Warped tour in Ventura. I'm standing behind their product, I'm wearing a watch by them right now. We were involved a little bit in the design. The first design we weren't 100%happy with so they changed it. So they listened to us a little bit.

 

  1. One of the new tracks, “Found The One”, is a straight up love song. Congratulations, the follow up to “She's Not The One”. How important is love to you?

That's a coincidence. I think that we try to write songs about things other than girls. So we have our songs like “Haunted House”, “Too Much La Collina”. You get to switch it up. We'll always write love songs and sometimes it's about girls that are cool and sometimes it's about girls who are shitty.

 

  1. “Nothing Else Matters” holds some Metallica references. A big influence to Teenage Bottle Rocket?

I think Metallica was an influence to us for sure. Growing up, watching Headbanger’s Ball. Before punk rock had really taken over our lives, Metallica did.  

 

  1. Teenage Bottle Rocket always has great videos. You've got the Mincecraft-themed video for “They Call Me Steve”. Or the headbanging video for “Headbanger”. How important is a video to the band?

I think it's really cool. It's part of the way the internet is now. We did a lyric video for “Nothing Else Matters”. Putting together the “They Call Me Steve”-video was funny, because we just did a YouTube search for people who did Minecraft videos. We found this kid in Vancouver, I'm pretty sure he lived with his parents and sent him ‘Hey man, can you like make a video for us.’ And he said ‘Yeah man. I'll do it.’ He kind of quoted a small amount of money. ‘Okay, we'll give you that.’ And the video turned out great. We kind of had to walk him through every single step of the way. He had us strumming our guitars up and down, and we had him switch to like all down strokes. In the end we're really happy with how it turned out. For the “Haunted House” video we filmed in Fort Collins in the street near where our drummer lives. It was a house that literally looked haunted and it was abandoned.So we just broke into the house for a day and recorded this video. Hopefully we can do a couple more videos for this album before it's on to the next record.

 

  1. Any plans in the nearby future or tours?

Tons of touring, we're going to be back in Europe in August. Between then and now we'll be on the road all the time.

 

– David Marote