When he is not playing with some of comic’s most popular IP, writer Matthew Rosenberg and his artist Tyler Boss bring us the comic What’s The Furthest Place From Here? While it’s not the most conventional comic book, there are enough moving parts for it to look familiar. Set in a post-apocalyptic world with no […]
When he is not playing with some of comic’s most popular IP, writer Matthew Rosenberg and his artist Tyler Boss bring us the comic What’s The Furthest Place From Here?While it’s not the most conventional comic book, there are enough moving parts for it to look familiar. Set in a post-apocalyptic world with no grown ups, WFTPFH‘s world is a cross between The Warriors and The Breakfast Club with punk rock kids. We caught up with Matthew Rosenberg to speak about his comics, punk rock, and the greatness of Blake Schwarzenbach.
Dying Scene (Forrest Gaddis): For people who aren’t familiar with you, can you give us a little background and tell us a little bit about What’s The Furthest Place From Here?
Matthew Rosenberg: I’m in New York City. I’m from here. I grew up in the punk and hardcore scene in New York. I used to run a small indie label (Red Leader Records) in my bedroom, tour with bands, put on shows, but eventually I worked at a merch company for a while. All the stuff that is punk rock jobs; I worked at a record store, worked at record labels. Putting out records was really kind of brutal. We were putting out records in a time of the rise of iTunes. Everything’s online and people were downloading things and it was hard to figure out how to sell music to people. We just kept having distributors go out of business on us. We put the label away and stopped doing it. I sort of looked for another job that I could do that was something I was as passionate about as music and punk rock. The only other thing in my life that was a constant was comics. So, I set out to make comics. I’ve been a comics writer professionally for a decade now. I got my start at Black Mask Comics. They first published me which was really serendipitous because they were all punk rock people. Black Mask was founded by Steve Niles who wrote 30 Days of Night.
Dying Scene:Okay, is it Steve Niles? I always thought it was Brett (Gurewitz) from Epitaph also?
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah, it was also founded by Steve, who was in a bunch of Dischord bands back in the day. He was in a group with Matt Pizzolo, who is the third partner. He was a Long Island hardcore guy and put out the New York Hardcore documentary and a bunch of music stuff. I had friends who knew him. I went through Black Mask and did a couple books there and then moved on to Marvel. Now, I make books at DC and Image including What’s the Furthest Place From Here? which is my current ongoing series that I do with Tyler Boss.
Dying Scene: Did you and Tyler come up with the concept together?
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah, me and Tyler did a book together called Four Kids Walk Into A Bank and we knew we wanted to do another book together after that. So we started doing a different book and we realized that it was just Four Kids Walk Into A Bank, but sci-fi. We realized we didn’t want to do the same thing again. So, we sat down and tried to think of a book that would be very different from the book we made before and that’s some of What’s the Furthest Place from Here is. We wanted to do something that was big, sort of sci-fi and post-apocalyptic, ongoing, and had a big cast. We wanted to tell a story about kids who grew up in subculture, if that makes sense. We didn’t want to do a story about kids who loved comics and I said it should be kids who love punk rock. It should be kids who grew up surrounded by punk rock whether or not they fully understood it. The premise of What’s The Furthest Place From Here? is, it’s a post-apocalyptic story where there’s no adults left in the world. It’s just gangs of children and each gang lives in a building where they take on the personality of the business or the entity in the building beforehand. So, the kids who live in the bank control commerce and the kids who live in the police station try and enforce their own laws and rules on people. Our story follows the kids who grew up in a record store. They worship all the records that they grew up around and consider them their gods. They take care of them and try to do right by them. I’ve been working on it now for four years.
Dying Scene: How did you land on the Jawbreaker lyricas the title?
Matthew Rosenberg: I’m a big fan of taking lines from songs and things that meant a lot to me and I’m a lifelong Jawbreaker fan. They’re one of my favorite bands of all time. I think Blake (Schwarzenbach) is one of the great lyricists of all time, no qualifier. I think he’s up there with Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Joni Mitchell. I put Blake right on the same level as them. Finding a title for a book is really hard. I like a thing that is really evocative, but opens you to questions and leaves you wanting more. I remember being a kid and getting Dear You, just as an opening line to a song is just a devastatingly powerful opening line. It was like, well, maybe I can steal it. I emailed Blake and said, “Hey, I’m writing this book. I want to steal a line from your song. Is that okay?” He gave me his blessing and was really cool. We emailed a bunch and talked about the book. He’s just been awesome and supportive. If you’re going to steal, steal from really nice people who will be cool with it. (laughs) Let other people do the work of finding a great title and then you just take it.
Dying Scene: (laughs) It’s great. It’s the best way. Did you consider any other song titles for this?
Matthew Rosenberg: Oh yeah. We had plenty. We worked on the book for a long time. There’s a very early build of the book that I think only a few people have seen where it has a fully different title on the cover, but we never were a hundred percent on it. Finally, me and Tyler were on a road trip and I put on Jawbreaker. Tyler’s a big fan too. I told him, “this is it. This is the title.” I said it before I put the song on. He said, “maybe.” I put the song on and then he said, “no, that’s it.” Then it was done.
Dying Scene: Did you base any of the characters on any popular figures in punk or a type of punk in general?
Matthew Rosenberg: Sure. They’re not modeled after people exactly. Some of them are modeled after kind of your standard punk rock archetypes. There’s a couple early 80s hardcore skinhead kids and some sort of crusty kids, hardcore kids, riot grrls and sort of just an amalgamation of everything. Our lead character is a girl named Sid. Her name is actually Sidney, but everyone calls her Sid. It’s a little nod to Sid Vicious.
Dying Scene: Is Alabama based on (Patricia Arquette) from True Romance?
Matthew Rosenberg: Yes, but actually in the universe, there’s a different explanation for why her name is Alabama. There’s a point where we sort of reveal why everyone has the name they have, but originally, she was named after True Romance. As we changed up names, it stayed the same. We came up with this really good reason why people have these strange names.
Dying Scene: When you’re describing all the families and everybody has their own building. That’s a nod to The Warriors, right?
Matthew Rosenberg: It’s a bunch of stuff. The book is very much a love letter to a lot of different stuff that we grew up on. There’s a lot of people asking, oh, it’s The Warriors or Class of 99 or Nuke ‘em High or all these sort of post-apocalyptic things. And all of those are definitely in there. there’s a lot of Repo Man stuff in there. We don’t try to hide our influences. It’s a thank you list in the back of a record paying loving tribute to a lot of our influences all the time, and I think that’s a big part of what it is. We always think of the book sort of as a mixtape; influences thrown together to make one cohesive thing.
Dying Scene: The carnival is kind of the meeting of the gangs with Cyrus type of thing, essentially.
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah, the carnival is this sort of a place of fun, and order, and retribution and all these things thrown together.
Dying Scene: Was it Coney Island? Is everything in New York?
Matthew Rosenberg: No, it’s not New York, but the land is so post-apocalyptic that the landscape of what it is has changed. So some things don’t always 100% make sense to people if they recognize this thing. It’s not a specific place to anyone, but us.
Dying Scene:I know you have the fourth volume coming out. When I was looking at the trades, there’s a big gap of issues between volumes one and two. Do these stories are fill that gap?
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah, we’ve done four issues that were backstories that answer questions about the world and explain some things. Tyler co-wrote them with me and then we had some amazing guests come in and take a stab at building little pieces of our universe. When we were putting the trades together, we didn’t want to take in the single issues. It was fun to sort of be a little history lesson. We really liked the idea of changing the order and the way the story ends. Rather than spread them out, the first three volumes are just the story of our main characters. And the fourth volume is all this backstory that starts years ago, and gets you to where we are right now in the world. It’s funny because it’s volume four, but I’ve been telling people you could start with that if you want to; it explains some of the world. It’s new-reader friendly, but then you have to go back to volume one.
Dying Scene: Do you guys plan for how long the series is going for?
Matthew Rosenberg: We’ve had an ending since issue one. We’re gonna go to probably thirty. We’re just finishing issue twenty-two.
Dying Scene: You sold seven-inch records with some of the issues. Were any of those specifically recorded for the comic?
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah, we reached out to all the bands individually and said that we’re doing a 7-inch of the month club, and we just want covers that are older songs. Some people did slightly newer things. We sent people the idea of some art and some issues when we had them. We put everyone in the studio and record the songs. I’m not a record label. We just want to do them on the 7-inches and then they were the bands’ to do what they want. So, Joyce Manor took their song and put it on their record. I’m super proud of that. A lot of the songs you can only get on these records for now. I hope eventually they hit a wider audience. The fourteen songs were made specifically for us. We actually had some more, but we had to cancel them.
Dying Scene: Bummer, were they not selling?
Matthew Rosenberg: They sold incredibly well. We were doing a monthly 7-inch project in a pandemic and a vinyl boom at the same time, which meant that there were a bunch of periods where there was no vinyl available. There was no paper, there was no material. And so there were just massive delays. And at a certain point, it was brutal. I didn’t want people to be waiting so long on records. Then we had distribution problems. Our distributor in comics threw a wrench in getting them out to people. They sold really well and people picked them up and were really enthusiastic. I don’t want to say who the bands were, but we had six or eight other bands lined up we either recorded or were about to. I try not to think too much about it, it’s sort of heartbreaking. A couple of them were favorite bands of all time. I’m really proud of the ones we did. The last record, which is Julien Baker (Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979”) and Sharon Van Etten (Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt”) is sort of a good, real somber way to end. It’s a real sad, sweet, beautiful record.
Dying Scene: Did you try to get Julien Baker to do the cover of “Accident Prone?”
Matthew Rosenberg: No, when I reached out to Julien, I said what the book was called and that Blake did a song. I left it open. We didn’t try to steer anyone to do anything. I’m a huge Julien Baker fan. I think she’s an amazing, incredible songwriter and musician, but I was just happy that she was down to do anything. It did cross my mind. I actually thought of her before I remembered that she did the cover of “Accident Prone.”
Dying Scene: It’s such a beautiful cover of that song. How does Blake do a cover of “All Night Long?”
Matthew Rosenberg: It’s great. His cover is awesome and beautiful and weird. When we were talking to him when the book started, I told him I wanted to do this. I wasn’t asking him to do it. He said, “I have one. I have a cover that I recorded, but it might be too weird. It’s a Lionel Richie cover.” And I said, “Oh, that’s not too weird. That’s perfect.” He said, “I took this sort of dancey fun song, I made it kind of somber.” I don’t know how many times I can say that’s perfect. That’s the exact tone we want. so he sent it to me. I love it so much. Putting out that record is one of the things in my life I’m most proud of; that’s one of my songwriting musical heroes doing this. It’s really fun. A lot of people who picked up the book and the records were comics people. And they didn’t know Jawbreaker. They didn’t know Blake, they didn’t know Jets to Brazil. I’ve had a lot of people reach out and really love this cover. I’ve said a lot of times, go listen to Jawbreaker, go listen to Bivouac, 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, Dear You, Orange Rhyming Dictionary, go listen to everything Blake has written. If I was just putting it out in a record store, I’m not introducing a lot of people to Blake Schwarzenbach’s music. Putting it out in a comic shop, I’m actually introducing one of the great songwriters and one of my heroes to people. And that’s just such a cool thing. It’s really unexpected. I don’t think people knew what it was gonna be when we told them Blake did a song. I think it caught people off guard. He just made it his own.
Dying Scene: The Screaming Females covering The Selecter’s “On My Radio” was a weird one for me, too. The Militarie Gun doing “Gimme Some Truth.” I didn’t know if they were gonna do the John Lennon or the Generation X version of it.
Matthew Rosenberg: They were very much, can we do a John Lennon cover? And I told them, you can cover anything you want. They kill it on that. I’m super happy with that. it’s sort of a Lennon deep cut a little bit. It’s a great song.
Dying Scene: I like how eclectic the bands that were covering and the bands being covered songs were.
Matthew Rosenberg: It was cool. Because some bands were trying for really big songs, like radio hits and, just do a take on this. And some were, this is just a big influence for us. Some obscure punk bands, indie rock bands, all over the place. that was what we wanted. That’s the whole point of the book. It’s just all these eclectic influences thrown in and So it was kind of perfect that I liked all these songs before and these are great covers of them.
Dying Scene: I’d never heard of The Kids before. So it made me want to go back and check them out.
Matthew Rosenberg: Oh, yeah, they’re awesome. We had to go and license all the songs we had to pay mechanical royalties. They don’t have a publishing deal in the US. A lot of times it’s automatic where you just pay mechanical royalties, and pay money. We’re pressing this many records, we give you this much. It’s kind of a standard fee. I didn’t want to do this without their permission. We had to hire a company to track them down and find them and get the mechanicals. They were just like, that’s awesome. You have our blessing. They didn’t want any money. I actually took the money that we were going to give them and donated it to charity. I wanted to do a little thank you for it.
Dying Scene: Has anybody asked about doing a film or TV adaptation of What’s The Furthest Place From Here?
Matthew Rosenberg: I can’t talk too much about that, but we have a deal for it. It’s being developed now. The thing I can talk about is that when you put out a comic on a certain level, like an Image Comic, it’s very much on the radar of a lot of Hollywood people from the go. They’re always looking out for things to adapt and buy, and so when a book comes out that’s like our book, you get a lot of inquiries from the start. You get a lot of producers and actors and directors and studios just asking if the rights are available? It’s always flattering, but me and Tyler knew that we were doing a huge story, and we’re doing a sort of non-traditional story. In a lot of comics, you read the first issue and it says, well, this is the premise of the book. These are the good guys. These are the bad guys. You’re going to follow them. Our book doesn’t work like that. We wanted to do a real three-act structure through the whole narrative of thirty-plus issues. You don’t really know what the book is about for a long time, and we didn’t want to go into conversations with people about adapting it or buying it or anything without them knowing what it was. We told everyone, we’re not going to have conversations about selling it or optioning it until we’re 10 issues out. We took it off the market immediately, which business-wise is probably stupid, but artistically I think was the right choice to do. When we brought it back out, we had meetings with all these people and big studios. A lot of them said, well, how would you see this as being a movie? I don’t have any idea how you’d make this a movie. It’s got this huge scale. Then we met with one company who said, “We know how to do it. It would be super faithful. We want you guys involved. This is how we do it.” It just made so much sense what they said. We don’t need to go out and have a bidding war on this. They understand what it is and they want to do it. They brought in some amazing people to work on it. So we’re really excited because people who’ve done some of my favorite stories in recent years are attached.
Dying Scene: I saw that you were in Ireland because they are making Four Kids Walk Into A Bank a movie.
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah, me and Tyler went over to Dublin for a week right before Christmas. I think they just wrapped shooting the other day. Shooting over six weeks in and around Ireland. It’s really fun. It was a weird one.
Dying Scene: Did they do a good job matching it to Tyler’s art?
Matthew Rosenberg: Me and Tyler are producers on the movie, so nothing caught us off guard. We’ve been there at every step and we’ve seen from the concept art, look books, casting, and all of that. There’s places where they made choices to go a different way, which totally made sense because the comic would be hard to adapt as a movie. There’s a lot of stuff that is specifically for comics. You want someone other really talented people to come in and say, I’m going to do my version. Like when a band does a cover song and it sounds like the original song, what was the point of this? So they took their old spin on it. It’s incredibly faithful. I think it was really intense for Tyler being in the house that looks like the house and car he drew. It’s especially funny because the car he drew was based on his grandmother’s old car. So he said, it’s really weird that someone had to go out and buy the same model car as my grandmother drove in the 90s.
Dying Scene: That’s got to be insane. Just kind of like, this was in my brain.
Matthew Rosenberg: All the kids on set, they would just call them by their character names and their characters are named after people I grew up with who I’m very good friends with, lifelong friends, one of the characters is named after a kid who I’ve known since I was four years old. it was weird to hear people call his name and a different person comes down the stairs.
Dying Scene:I saw you did work on some of the Archie comics, too.
Matthew Rosenberg: I did. I’m really good friends with Alex Segura, who used to be a vice president of Archie. He’s a music guy and wrote Archie Meets Kiss. I said to him you should do an Archie Meets Kiss book, but with a band that doesn’t suck. The obvious one is Archie Meets Ramones. I said, how do we do that? You have to go out and get the Ramones’ license. I spent about 18 months. everything is different estates If we want the logo, that’s the licensing department. If you want likeness rights, that’s estates and that’s people. If you want to reference songs, that’s publishing. I came back to Archie and they were baffled that I did that. It did really well. The folks at Archie called me and said, we want to do a music thing. Do you want to do The Archies as a band touring and draw from some of your experience touring with bands? There was a special musical guest in every issue. And we got awesome ones. I mean, we had Blondie and Tegan and Sara, but I had lined up some more for later on. Bands that they were pretty confused by that I got. The Mountain Goats gave us permission and that was going to be fun and I was talking to Converge about coming on. I wanted to do the Archies get booked onto a hardcore show in a basement. It was a Converge show at a Legion Hall, everyone’s spin kicking and crowd killing and all this stuff. Then, The Archies have to get up and play. Then the book folded right before we were going to figure out how we were going to do the Converge one. The Archie company is owned by this family and these people who’ve owned Archie for years. They would send us notes like, can we get Van Halen? I don’t think we can get Van Halen, but also that’s not exactly selling comics to teenagers in the supermarket. I think the legal nightmare of us trying to get Van Halen in a comic is going to kill us. Whereas I just went to a Mountain Goats’ show and was like, hey, guys, can we do this?
Dying Scene: You talked about your record company, Was it just you and your friends releasing stuff or did you get anybody somewhat big?
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah,I ran it with my girlfriend out of our living room. We put out a lot of bands that I love that never got their due. I mean, the bigger bands, if you were into northeast punk and hardcore of a certain period, we put out the first Polar Bear Club full-length record. We put out a band called Lanemeyer, who were very big in New Jersey. The only thing of note about them particularly that people would know now is that it was Brian Fallon from Gaslight Anthem‘s band. A band called Dear Tonight, who were a New York, screamy, hardcore band. Their claim to fame is that they’re on the cover of the video game Rock Band. It’s not really a claim to fame because they’re not credited and no one knows that. We put out this sort of indie, poppy, post-hardcore indie rock band called Scream Hello from New Jersey. A band called Summer People, I have a podcast and Summer People are the intro song to our podcast (Ideas Don’t Bleed)
Dying Scene: The other thing I saw online randomly, and I have to ask, is you wrote an album with a member of the Wu-Tang Clan?
Matthew Rosenberg: My first published comic, I got hired through music people to write the companion comic to an album by Ghostface called, 12 Reasons to Die that RZA produced. I did a six-issue comic that was a concept album of a story of a mobster who got killed. Ghostface played the mobster who got killed and came back from the dead to haunt the twelve gangsters who killed him. I wrote the comic to it. I got along with RZA and Ghost. Ghost wanted to do another concept record. It was weird, he did a 12 Reasons to Die 2 that I didn’t work on. Adrian Younge, the producer, and his team put that album together, but then Ghost wanted to do another concept album that was sort of similar. They hired me to write a story. It’s called 36 Seasons. Tommy Boy put it out. I wrote the story. They said, we don’t really know how to do this. It’s just a story. You didn’t break it up. I broke it up into songs. This is what the song is. You have to figure out who the guest vocalists are and give them characters. We can figure out who they are and where they appear. I had all these conversations with legal where they said, we can’t do that because of music publishing and the way it works, you didn’t write lyrics or music. While the whole thing is based on your writing, there’s not a legal definition for what it is. you’re an influence. I literally titled the album. I think I named some of the songs, but not all of them. None of those fall under ASCAP BMI songwriting.
Dying Scene: They couldn’t make you a producer or something?
Matthew Rosenberg: They probably could have made me a producer, but they didn’t want to do that. If you buy the LP, the liner notes are a big booklet and every track on the album is a comic page. So it’s two pages of a comic. I hired a dozen comic creators to do the art. It’s kind of like one of those read-along records where you play a record and you read the book as a kid. We got really cool people to come and do it, like Michael Walsh and Vanessa Del Rey and all these people. Definitely a weird footnote in my life.
Dying Scene: So looking ahead, I know you got, We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us.
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah. I won’t say where I got the title from, but I am a big Against Me! fan from the No Idea days and back. Coincidence.
Dying Scene: Do you want to give a little bit of the premise of it?
Matthew Rosenberg: We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us is sort of a 1970s James Bond type spy story about sexy super spies, crazy mad scientists, power-hungry humans, but it’s told from the POV of a 13-year-old girl who is the daughter of the world’s greatest scientist. Everything goes wrong for the girl, she discovers who her father is at the same time that the world discovers who he is and where he has been hiding. She and her robot guard set out with sort of a choice whether she wants to follow in her father’s newly discovered footsteps and become this villain and get revenge for the wrongdoings that have been done to her and her family; or she could go and live a normal life for the first time. It’s a revenge story about family and regret and the way violence sort of ripples through their lives. The way that generations of anger and resentment and hate sort of manifest. It’s a dark comedy too. I made it sound like a bummer, but it is actually funny. That comes out March 26.
Dying Scene:When does volume four of What’s The Furthest Place From Here come out?
Matthew Rosenberg: I’ve been living in sort of a cave for the past couple weeks. So I don’t actually know what dates are. I guess this week. (release date 2/18/2025).
Dying Scene: Thank you very much for this. This was awesome.
Matthew Rosenberg: Thank you, I never get to talk about the music. Comics people don’t know what to say about music stuff. You meet a lot of people in comics doing this. When I worked at Black Mask, most of the staff at Black Mask was straight edge, punk rock and hardcore kids.
Dying Scene: I feel comics are the punk rock art form.
Matthew Rosenberg: Yeah, I always think that it’s pretty egalitarian. There’s a low bar to entry and anyone can do it. It’s like mini-comics are our demo tapes or 7-inches. I think it’s a really good way to put it.
Greetings, and welcome to the Dying Scene Record Radar. If it’s your first time here, thank you for joining us! This is the weekly* column where we cover all things punk rock vinyl; new releases, reissues… you name it, we’ve probably got it. Kick off your shoes, pull up a chair, crack open a cold […]
Greetings, and welcome to the Dying Scene Record Radar. If it’s your first time here, thank you for joining us! This is the weekly* column where we cover all things punk rock vinyl; new releases, reissues… you name it, we’ve probably got it. Kick off your shoes, pull up a chair, crack open a cold one, and break out those wallets, because it’s go time. Let’s get into it!
Check out the video edition of this week’s Record Radar, presented by Punk Rock Radar:
Up first on this week’s absolutely MASSIVE Record Radar (I’m talkin 25+ releases!) we’ve got one of my favorite pop-punk bands in the game right now: Borderlines! With their brand new 4-song 7″ REPAIR KIT, out now on Mom’s Basement Records! Available on three color variants, limited to 100 copies each. Get it now from the Mom’s Basement store!
Hopefully you didn’t miss my mid-week Record Radar Alert(!) on this next pair of records because they’re already mostly sold out! Enjoy the Ride Records has released Double LP Deluxe Editions of Reel Big Fish’s Why Do They Rock So Hard? (this is just the 2nd pressing and it’s been of print since 2018) and Cheer Up! (on vinyl for the first time ever!). Other points of interest: Both records have been remastered, they come with nearly an album’s worth of previously unreleased bonus tracks on Disc 2, and they’re nestled snugly in beautiful gatefold sleeves.
They pressed six(!) variants of each record; here’s the full list:
Why Do They Rock So Hard? – Red – 300 copies – Le Noise Exclusive – Yellow – 300 copies – EU Indie Exclusive – Red Moon Phase – 500 copies – Smartpunk Exclusive – Blue / Red / Yellow Stripe w/ Black & White Splatter – 650 copies – Enjoy the Ride(OUT OF STOCK) – Two Tone Checkerboard Twist – 250 copies – Enjoy the Ride(OUT OF STOCK) – Clear w/ Multi-Color Splatter – 1,000 copies – Enjoy the Ride
Record Store Day is right around the corner, and this year’s lineup has a handful of notable releases for my fellow punk collectors! The first of which is something I’ve been clamoring for for a while now: a big time reissue of my favorite Ramones live record Loco Live! Hit up your local record store on April 12th to grab this 2xLP on red and blue colored vinyl. There’ll be 6,000 copies so hopefully this one’s easy to come by. Take it CJ!
Guttermouth is also infiltrating Record Store Day with the long awaited reissue of Gorgeous, back in print for the first time in over 25 years. Limited to 1,300 copies on yellow smoke colored vinyl.
And the three headed monster of Record Store Day punk records is Teenage Bottlerocket’s Total, another record that’s been out of print a long ass time. In this case it’s been 20 years! This reissue is limited to 1,000 copies on “colored vinyl” (they don’t specify what color) and comes with a currently unannounced bonus track. Also noteworthy is this is branded as a “RSD First” Release which means there’s a good chance Total will get a wider release after RSD has passed.
Save the date: April 4th. That’s when Montreal skate punk band Dutch Nuggets have not one but two bad ass records coming out! The band’s 2013 album Nervous Wreck (a favorite amongst the DS crowd upon its original release) is getting its first ever release on vinyl and they’ve also got a brand new record called Fishbowl’d coming out on the same day. Fuck yeah! Pre-order both of these beasts from Thousand Islands Records (North America) and Bearded Punk Records (Europe).
San Diego melodic punks PunchCard have signed on with Felony Records for the release of their new album Soap Box Hero. It’s due out February 22nd – check out the lead single “Stealing My Identity” down below 👇 and 👉 click here 👈 to visit the Felony Records Bandcamp and buy the record on some drop dead gorgeous color variants.
Reno’s Boss’ Daughter and Seattle’s Big Time have joined forces for a 4-song Split 7″, limited to 100 copies split equally between transparent green and blue color variants. This is due out March 21st and you can pre-order it now from Asteroid M Records.
Speaking of splits, DustyWax Records has announced a yuge reissue of 88 Fingers Louie and Kid Dynamite’s 1999 split. That’s all the info I have to share for now; just wanted to give you a heads up! Stay tuned to the Record Radar for details on color variant(s), pre-orders and all that stuff. You know I always try my best to keep you abreast of the situation 😉
The Queers’ debut album Grow Up is back in print for the first time in over a decade, and more notably this is the first pressing since 1990 to use the album’s original mixes. Limited to ??? copies on seemingly random mixed color vinyl; Discogs says it’s silver but pictures on the band’s webstore and the copy I got are both purple-ish. Grab your copy here and find out for yourself!
Cleveland pop-punks Heart Attack Man have announced their new record Joyride the Pale Horse will be released on April 25th. 2023’s critically acclaimed Freak of Nature is a hard act to follow, but I think they’re up to the task. Check out the lead single “Laughing Without Smiling” below and pre-order the record here.
Ska veterans Westbound Train’s 2009 album Come and Get It is being released on vinyl for the first time ever. Limited to 500 copies, this is a double LP release on “smoke” and “gold flake” colored vinyl with two bonus tracks and brand new cover art. Get your copy here.
German melodic punks The Heart Punches’ debut album is out now on Gunner Records. This is one of my favorite albums of the year so far! It’s bad ass! Check out the opening track “A Hopeless Case” below and grab the record on mystery colored vinyl (ltd. 500 copies) right here.
How bout some more ska? We could all use a lil more ska. The Slackers have a new 12″ single called “My Last Star” coming April 25th on Pirates Press Records. Pre-order it now on black vinyl with a beautiful intricate UV printed B-Side.
There’s a very interesting story behind this song, which someone much more articulate that me has provided a nice summary of:
“My Last Star” began as a dream that Greg Lee of Hepcat had the week before his death in March of 2024. Greg dreamed of a Slackers song. The Slackers have completed this song, and now the world can hear this truly one of a kind collaboration.
In Greg’s dream, an old neighbor picked him up in a classic car, turned on the stereo, and played a Slackers song that – at the time – did not exist on our plane of reality. It sounds like the stuff of myth, but the song was so crystal clear in the dream that when he awoke around 2 or 3 in the morning, he immediately wrote down the lyrics he had heard, still humming the tune.
Edmonton’s Real Sickies have a new record coming out! Under a Plastic Bag is due out March 14th – check out the first single “Triage” below and get the record on Cloudy Blue Skies and/or Bone White colored vinyl from their Bandcamp.
Vinyl Me Please has announced a fancy pants $45 reissue of the Dropkick Murphys’ debut album Do or Die, limited to 500 copies on clear w/ blue swirl colored vinyl. I guess $45 is a totally reasonable price for a record on a union salary! Perhaps I should join a union? Anyway, buy the fuckin record I guess.
A fuckin like 20th variant of Less Than Jake’s new Uncharted EP has popped up seemingly out of nowhere. You can get this “2nd pressing” on yellow marble colored vinyl from 1-2-3-4 Go! Records and Rock this Town Records in the states, and from Artist First in Australia. Artist First is the only place I could find a picture of the color, and they say 600 copies were pressed.
Nashville punks Secondself have signed to Punkerton Records and will be releasing their new album The Current Dissent on May 23rd. Speaking of Less Than Jake, this album was recorded with and mixed by LTJ drummer Matt Drastic. Check out the bad ass title track below and pre-order the record on six (6) sick nasty color variants right here.
PUP’s got a new record coming out in may, too! More specifically, Who Will Look After The Dogs? releases on May 2nd. They just released a music video for the new single “Hallways” (check that out below 👇) and pre-order the album on vinyl, CD and/or cassette right here 👈🐶
Apparently there’s a Jeff Rosenstock feature on the new PUP album, so it’s only fitting that the next artist featured on this week’s Record Radar is Jeffrey! He just threw up a bunch of cool records on his online store, including a repress of the ever-elusive Arrogant Sons of Bitches’ Three Cheers for Disappointment, which has been out of print since 2019 and is out of print once again because that fucker sold out lmaoooo 😂 However, the other two records in question, the first physical release of 2020 DUMP – a collection of Jeff Rosenstock home recordings from everyone’s favorite year – and a new pressing of Bomb The Music Industry!’s Vacation on neon orange colored vinyl, are still in stock. You can get both of those here, and also cry at the sight of the Sold Out product page for that ASOB record while you’re there.
More good shit from our friends at Mom’s Basement Records! ¡Muerto, Carcel, O Rocanrol!Renacido is a freshly remixed reissue of Ramonescore heroes the Huntingtons’ 2020 LP ¡Muerto, Carcel, O Rocanrol! that’s due out on February 28th. You can pre-order it pre-order NOW on two vinyl color variants – white and clear – from Striped Music in Italy, as well as here in the states from Mom’s Basement Records and Burnt Toast Vinyl.
SoCal punk rock ‘n’ rollers The Jack Knives are staying hot with their third new album in as many years. Album #3 Into the Night was produced by Bouncing Souls guitarist Pete Steinkopf at Little Eden Studios and will officially release on June 6th, but if you grab the record you’ll get it now – 4 months early! Get your copy here.
Allow me to introduce punk rock’s newest supergroup: ROACH SQUAD! Fronted by Hugo Mudie from the Sainte Catherines, the band also features Leatherface bandmates Graeme Philliskirk and Frankie Stubbs on guitars, Murderburgers drummer Alex Keane, and Sim Robson on bass. Their self-titled debut album is due out April 4th and you can get it on orange, transparent blue, and/or transparent magenta colored vinyl from Rad Girlfriend (US), Little Rocket (UK – they have CDs, too!), Sounds of Subterrania (EU – Special Edition black vinyl w/ screen printed cover), and Waterslide Records (JP).
And rounding out this week’s MONSTROUS Record Radar is the ever-prolific J Prozac with his brand new 7″ single Take Me Away. This is due out April 18th and you can get it on yellow colored vinyl (200 copies) from Mr. Prozac’s Bandcamp. If you’re in Europe, Soundflat Mailorder’s got you covered.
Well, that’s all, folks. Another Record Radar in the books; the biggest one ever perhaps?! I’ll let you be the judge! As always, thank you for tuning in. If there’s anything we missed (highly likely), or if you want to let everyone know about a new/upcoming vinyl release you’re excited about, leave us a comment below, or send us a message on Facebook or Instagram, and we’ll look into it. Enjoy your weekend, and don’t blow too much money on spinny discs (or do, I’m not your father). See ya next time!
Wanna catch up on all of our Record Radar posts? Click here and you’ll be taken to a page with all the past entries in the column. Magic!
Feature Image by JT Yost for the comic, “So Buttons” written by Jonathan Baylis Sketch comedy is one of the greatest arts to skewer pop culture and politics. Live comedy shows go back to the days of vaudeville and music halls; with the advent of commercial broadcast TV, satire and sketch comedy eventually found a […]
Sketch comedy is one of the greatest arts to skewer pop culture and politics. Live comedy shows go back to the days of vaudeville and music halls; with the advent of commercial broadcast TV, satire and sketch comedy eventually found a new stage. Programs like Your Show of Shows and the Smothers Brothers’ Comedy Hour in the United States or The Goon Show and Monty Python’s Flying Circus in the UK, put the absurdities of life under a microscope and highlighted its biggest gaffes and atrocities. The most popular and longest-running of these shows, Saturday Night Live, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year.
Having an empty spot in an ever-growing number of hours in a broadcast days, NBC would show reruns of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show on late Saturday nights. Eventually, Carson wanted those reruns to be shown in the middle of the week, so he could take time off. Dick Ebersol was tasked with filling that time slot and approached Lorne Michaels about putting together a comedy show for a younger crowd. Michaels assembled a cast of “Not Ready For Primetime Players” to be broadcast from NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Studio 8H in New York City. Culled from comedy troupes including Second City in Chicago, the National Lampoon Radio Hour out of New York City, and The Groundlings from Los Angeles, Saturday Night Live was born. The show’s first five years were a launching pad for Dan Akroyd, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, and most infamously, John Belushi.
Depending on how wide your spectrum of punk rock spans, a counterculture show like Saturday Night Live naturally gravitated to some of the bands that were coming out of Hilly Kristal’s CBGB scene. Patti Smith Group was the first of these punk rockers to play the show on April 17, 1976, where she played a cover of the Them song “Gloria” and the Who’s “My Generation.” Other CBGB’s regulars the Talking Heads (2/10/1979) and Blondie (10/13/1979) would both go on to perform in 1979, and eventually both lead singers David Byrne and Debbie Harry would be guests later in the show’s run in some capacity.
While the original cast of SNL was known as the “Not Ready For Primetime Players,” one band’s performance during this show’s era proved that the world was not ready for them. Devo was the musical guest (10/14/1978) when Fred Willard hosted. Their sporadic movements and left-field take on the Rolling Stone staple “Satisfaction” made it impossible for the audience to tell if what they were seeing was real. However, one of the biggest moments in the first five years of the show came from Elvis Costello and the Attractions. When Sex Pistols’s manager, Malcolm McLaren, bungled the band’s visas the show was in a pickle without a musical guest for that week’s show. Elvis Costello and the Attractions stepped in and take their place. They were expected to play two songs, “Watching the Detectives” and “Less Than Zero.” However, during the show’s broadcast, Costello decided to play “Radio, Radio,” a song very critical of broadcast radio; a business NBC was still in at the time. Needless to say it was a long while before Elvis Costello was invited back on the show.
The 1980s ushered in a new cast and regime change for Saturday Night Live when Lorne Michaels left to take advantage of new opportunities that resulted from SNL’s success. This era of the show, while not well-received, springboarded the careers of comedians like Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, and Christopher Guest. During this time a lot of acts from England including punk rockers The Clash (10/9/1982), Billy Idol (1/28/1984) and second-wave ska bands The Specials (4/19/1980) and Madness (4/14/1984), served as musical guests. Yet, it was Halloween 1981 that saw one of Saturday Night Live’s most notorious moments. LA punk legends Fear were the musical guest at the (extorted) request of John Belushi in exchange for a cameo on that week’s episode. Fear had wanted some East Coast punks to show up to slam on and around the stage while they assaulted the living rooms of America. When punks from some of the East Coast scenes showed up, the end result was thousands of dollars worth of damage and a lifetime ban from the show.
By the time Lorne Michaels had returned in 1985, the show was in shambles and close to cancellation. Michaels did a hard reset of the cast. Established and future stars like Randy Quaid, Robert Downey Jr., and Joan Cusack starred in what’s known as the Weird Year. This season included a performance from the Replacements who gave a drunkenly sloppy performance of “Bastards of Young” and “Kiss Me On The Bus.” Before their second song Paul Westerberg and crew switched outfits with each other. In addition, Westerberg’s exclamation of “Come on, Fucker!” got the Replacements banned from the show. However, Westerberg returned as a musical guest in 1993 when Charlton Heston hosted the show.
The show’s credibility eventually recovered by the early 1990s. It was at this time some of the show’s biggest stars flourished. Recurring skits such as Wayne’s World became films and cast members Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, and Phil Hartman saw their statuses solidify as comedy icons. Phil Hartman’s hyperbolized impression of Frank Sinatra was always a bright spot of a show, but it was Sting’s take on Billy Idol that shines in this skit. (Please be aware this skit features language that may have been acceptable at the time, but should never have been in the first place.)
Nirvana made two appearances on the show first on January 11,1992 and then in fall 1993. It should be noted that they played in the middle of a five-show run with MC Hammer and James Taylor before their appearance and Robbie Robertson and C&C Music Factory after. Irish punks the Pogues played Studio 8H on St. Patrick’s Day 1990 (3/17/1990) as well as Los Angeles ska-punk-funk band Fishbone (3/23/1991), but the frequency of punk rock acts were sparse until the mid-1990s when Green Day made their first of three appearances on 12/3/1994.
After the show’s twentieth season, the show rebooted its cast once again. This time bringing future comedy star Will Ferrell and writer Adam McKay, while retaining some of the previous season’s cast members David Spade, Norm Macdonald, and Kids In The Hall transplant Mark McKinney. Punk had a resurgence around this time and with it the only Epitaph Records band to play the show to date, Rancid, made an appearance on 11/18/1995. A couple years later when ska was in the limelight again, No Doubt (12/7/1996) and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (10/25/1997) would make SNL appearances. Henry Rollins made his only appearance on the show when Rollins Band was the musical guest with host Pamela Anderson (4/19/1997).
Robert Smigel’s “TV Funhouse” became a hit during this time mostly parodying the Saturday Morning Cartoons of the past, including School House Rock. During the March 14, 1998 episode, SNL aired “Conspiracy Theory Rock” with “Media-opoly”, a song which describes how all the big corporations own all of the major broadcast channels, control the news, and cover up stories that make them look less than favorable. This also included GE, NBC’s parent company. Unsurprisingly, the skit was pulled after its first airing, but as Smigel has said, it’s amazing it even made it on air in the first place.
As the show continued its broadcast into the 2000s, punk started to take a backseat from the music stage at SNL. However some of the newer cast came from some of the more alternative improv scenes. Comedy troupe Upright Citizen’s Brigade brought cast members Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz to the SNL fold. UCB’s shows definitely kept the spirit of punk rock in improv circles with its in-your-face and unapologetic comedy that would take premises to extreme and weird places. After the year 2000, the only notable punk (adjacent) bands that played during this time were Blink-182 (1/8/2000), The Donnas (1/18/2003), and AFI (1/20/2007).
One Saturday Night Live cast member who has always worn his love for punk rock on his sleeve is Fred Armisen. After growing up and playing in local punk rock bands, Armisen started the band Trenchmouth after dropping out of art school and moving to Chicago. After making memorable appearances in movies like “Anchorman” and “Eurotrip,” Armisen was hired on to SNL in 2002. When CBGB’s was closing in 2006, Armisen and Amy Poehler went out to the Bowery and recorded a piece in character as Patti Smith and Lou Reed in front of CBGB’s talking about the venue’s eventual shuttering.
As almost a nod and preview to his two IFC shows, Portlandia and Documentary Now!, Fred Armisen made a fake punk rock documentary about an English punk rocker, Ian Rubbish and his band the Bizarros. An amalgamation of Joe Strummer, Johnny Rotten, and Billy Idol, Ian Rubbish sings songs in support of England’s ultra-conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, much to the rest of the members’ disdain. However, the Fred Armisen skit that everyone points to is called “Punk Band Reunion at the Wedding.” Here, Armisen plays a father at his daughter’s wedding, who has agreed to let her dad’s old band play a song during the reception. What starts off as four middle-aged men making self-deprecating dad jokes turns into chaos as it’s revealed the band is called Crisis of Conformity, an 80’s hardcore punk band that performs their song, “Fist Fight!” to a crowd of confused, but mostly terrified wedding guests.
As punk has been more and more accepted, SNL seems to have put punk rock on the back burner in terms of skits and musical performances. While a lot of today’s counterculture takes cues from some of the punk rock movement and emo aesthetic, fans of the genres have aged into office jobs and raising kids. For some of them it was just a phase, but for others, it never goes away. A pre-recorded bit from season forty-five, “Corporate Nightmare Song,” can probably be described as Sum 41 with health and dental benefits.
It’s no coincidence that these two counterculture movements like Saturday Night Live and punk rock started to pick up steam around the same time. While it can definitely be argued that both of these arts developed into purer forms as time went on; punk rock and skit comedy’s time in the spotlight inspired future generations to make noise in their own scenes. Happy fiftieth Saturday Night Live and here’s to fifty more.
Ramonescore kings the Huntingtons will be reissuing their 2020 LP ¡Muerto, Carcel, O Rocanrol! on February 28th. We’re exclusively premiering track #6 “Not Penny’s Boat”, which – like the rest of the album – has been freshly remixed by Perry Leenhouts at Point Break Sound. Check out the music video below! ¡Muerto, Carcel, O Rocanrol! […]
Ramonescore kings the Huntingtons will be reissuing their 2020 LP ¡Muerto, Carcel, O Rocanrol! on February 28th. We’re exclusively premiering track #6 “Not Penny’s Boat”, which – like the rest of the album – has been freshly remixed by Perry Leenhouts at Point Break Sound. Check out the music video below!
¡Muerto, Carcel, O Rocanrol!Renacido is available to pre-order NOW on two vinyl color variants – white and clear – from Striped Music in Italy, as well as here in the states from Mom’s Basement Records and Burnt Toast Vinyl.
Here’s some background on the Huntingtons’ decision to slap a fresh coat of paint on their latest album just 5 years after its original release:
In 2020 we put out a record that we all thought, while in the studio, hearing it with those big ol’ studio speakers, was our best yet.. However, the mix of a record can either make or break it. The original mix was somewhat rushed and as time went on, it became a throw away album of songs we would rarely play live.. 5 years later, Perry Leenhouts at Point Break Sound takes a shot at the mix. We gave him the files and the free rein to do what he felt best.. and we feel he made this album “Renacido” (Reborn).
This premiere is brought to you in part by Punk Rock Radar. If you’d like your band’s music video, song, album or whatever to be premiered by Dying Scene and Punk Rock Radar, go here and follow these instructions. You’ll be on your way to previously unimagined levels of fame and fortune in no time.
Frequent readers of the Dying Scene Record Radar – your home for all things punk rock vinyl – know the column is typically reserved for Sundays. However, on certain occasions, an especially notable release calls for a dedicated Record Radar Alert! An this most certainly is one of such cases. The fine folks at Enjoy […]
Frequent readers of the Dying Scene Record Radar – your home for all things punk rock vinyl – know the column is typically reserved for Sundays. However, on certain occasions, an especially notable release calls for a dedicated Record Radar Alert! An this most certainly is one of such cases.
The fine folks at Enjoy the Ride Records have announced colored vinyl reissues of Reel Big Fish’s 1998 classic Why Do They Rock So Hard? and 2002’s Cheer Up!. These are Double LP Deluxe Editions, with each featuring nearly an album’s worth of previously unreleased bonus tracks. Also noteworthy: this is just the second time Why Do They Rock So Hard? has been released on vinyl (the first pressing was in 2018), and this is the very first time Cheer Up! has ever been released on vinyl(!!!).
Both records have been remastered, come housed in beautiful gatefold jackets, and will be available on a shitload of color variants. Here’s the full list of variants, including links to where you can get them starting at noon eastern this Friday, February 14th (btw some these don’t have official names yet so I’m just making them up 😁):
Why Do They Rock So Hard? – Red – 300 copies – Le Noise Exclusive – Yellow – 300 copies – EU Indie Exclusive (misc. stores?) – Red w/ White Blob & Splatter Kinda Thing – 500 copies – Smartpunk Exclusive – Blue / Red / Yellow Stripe w/ Black & White Splatter – 650 copies – Enjoy the Ride – Two Tone Checkerboard Twist – 250 copies – Enjoy the Ride – Clear(?) w/ Multi-Color Splatter – 1,000 copies – Enjoy the Ride
Cheer Up! – Red – 300 copies – Le Noise Exclusive – Yellow – 300 copies – EU Indie Exclusive (misc. stores?) – Yellow w/ White Blob & Splatter Kinda Thing – 500 copies – Smartpunk Exclusive – Cigar Smoke – 1,000 copies – Enjoy the Ride – Two Tone Checkerboard Twist – 250 copies – Enjoy the Ride – Clown Swirl & Cheer Up Swirl – 650 copies – Enjoy the Ride
Enjoy the Ride will also have test pressings of each record available on their online store. These come in a bundle with the three webstore color variants and are limited to 24 copies.
Los Angeles punk band Empired‘s brand new single “Money” will be hitting Spotify and all the other big streaming apps tomorrow, but your pals at Dying Scene have the exclusive(!) world premiere(!!) right now(!!!). Scroll down the page a lil bit and check that shit out! “Money” was recorded and mixed by Empired guitarist Cam […]
Los Angeles punk band Empired‘s brand new single “Money” will be hitting Spotify and all the other big streaming apps tomorrow, but your pals at Dying Scene have the exclusive(!) world premiere(!!) right now(!!!). Scroll down the page a lil bit and check that shit out!
“Money” was recorded and mixed by Empired guitarist Cam Mosavian and mastered by the legendary Paul Miner. It’s the band’s first release through HEY!FEVER Records, a new label started by fellow LA punk band Heartwells.
This premiere is brought to you in part by Punk Rock Radar. If you’d like your band’s music video, song, album or whatever to be premiered by Dying Scene and Punk Rock Radar, go here and follow these instructions. You’ll be on your way to previously unimagined levels of fame and fortune in no time.
Upcoming Shows:
Feb 21 Long Beach, CA @ Supply & Demand Feb 28- LA, CA @ Redwood Bar w/ Upper Downer, The Lucky Eejits, Stoke Signals April 24- Grand Rapids, MI @ Mulligan’s Pub w/ Heartwells April 25- Chicago, IL @ Liars Club w/ Heartwells April 26- Dayton, OH @ Blind Bobs w/ Heartwells, Nightbeast
When Tim Hause put out his debut album, TIM, a couple of years ago on Blood Harmony Records, the label that he shares with his older brother Dave, it served as a bit of a watershed moment in the careers of both Hause brothers. While the album was written largely as a collaborative effort, Dave […]
When Tim Hause put out his debut album, TIM, a couple of years ago on Blood Harmony Records, the label that he shares with his older brother Dave, it served as a bit of a watershed moment in the careers of both Hause brothers. While the album was written largely as a collaborative effort, Dave was largely not present for the sessions, as Tim recorded it with Will Hoge in Nashville. As Tim explained it when we caught up last week, “(Dave) wasn’t there for the first one because I felt like I had to sort of like earn my stripes on my own or whatever. And it was kind of a bummer, but I’m glad that we did it that way now.“
When it was time to record TIM‘s follow-up, the younger Hause brought big brother back into not only the writing but the production and recording folds as well. “Dave sort of was like a co-producer on this one,” Tim states. “It was awesome to have him involved.” Going into round two, Hause knew he wanted to make a higher-octane record than he did for his debut record. The brothers Hause returned to Nashville to work with their “Southern cousin” Will Hoge again, as they had on TIM as well as on Dave’s Blood Harmony and Drive It Like It’s Stolen. Hoge’s sonic bread-and-butter might be more traditional Nashville-style Americana, but at his heart, he’s still a rock and roller, meaning he had just the right ideas on how to approach Hause’s souped-up sophomore effort. “I said to Will ‘I want to turn the gain up. I want it to be a rock and roll,” Hause explains, citing touchstones like Green Day and Jimmy Eay World and Weezer’s Blue Album as the sonic divining rods he wanted to employ. “Will was like “I know just what to do!” So, it turns out, did the elder Hause brother.
Tim and Dave Hause, Shirley, MA – November 2024 (Photo by the author)
“We made the record in Nashville,” he explains, “but it wasn’t the kind of usual suspects that played on it.” Independent from one another, Dave and Will, it turns out, both had the same drummer in mind to serve as the backbone to the musical structure they were building: none other than Atom Willard. Willard has long been known as the heavy hitter behind such bands as Rocket From The Crypt and Against Me! and, more recently, Alkaline Trio, a band that happens to be one of both Hause brothers’ lifelong favorites. “Atom has this energy in the room with anyone,” Hause reports, adding that it “doesn’t matter how high the stature of the session player is. When he’s in the room and you’re playing guitar with him, you are fired up. All the guys light up when they hear those drums.” Chief among those other guys in the room was another familiar face from the annals of recent punk rock history, Willard’s Alkaline Trio rhythm section comrade Dan Andriano. Daunting as it might have been to have two-thirds of one of your favorite bands in the studio giving life to the songs you created, Tim insists that the familiarity he’d already had with Andriano especially helped that dissipate. Not only has Andriano been one of Dave Hause’s good buddies and occasional bandmates (see: The Falcon) over the years, Tim’s been in that circle for a time as well. “We did a tour with Dan (a few years ago,” he explains. “I played keys with him, sang with him and played some guitar, and so over the years, (we’ve spent) a good amount of time together and have a friendship.”
Rounding out record two’s sound are the two-headed guitar attack of Nathan Keeterle and Kyle Cook. The former is a Tennessee-based guitar wunderkind who, despite still being in his twenties, has played on records by the likes of Darius Rucker and Chris Shiflett and Jelly Roll, which I’m told is a big deal. The latter is, well, he’s from Matchbox Twenty, a band that certainly knows a thing or two about guitar-oriented rock. Hause went into the project with a profound confidence in the material he’d written, a necessary part of the process always, but especially when you’re going in the studio with such a group of heavy hitters. “I gave them a lot of runway because I had a tremendous amount of trust in the whole system,” he says. “It all came out so much better than even I really anticipated.”
The fruits of their collective labors will be borne this Friday – Valentine’s Day – in the form of Pre-Existing Conditions, the junior Hause’s sophomore record that consists of ten tracks that are raw, honest, compelling…and very much rock-and-roll. Much as the senior Hause’s sophomore record Devour did to his stellar debut record Resolutions a dozen years ago, Pre-Existing Conditions raises and resets the bar that TIM initially set two years ago. Yes, I’m positively comparing Pre-Existing Conditions to Devour, and if you know me well, that’s about the highest of praise I can give a record.
But I digress. Pre-Existing Conditions starts with “Here In The Bluelight,” “Make It Take It” and “No Call No Show,” a trio of songs that find Hause turning his songwriting mirror inwards, focusing his pen on some of the fears, doubts and insecurities he’s built up over the years and how they manifest themselves in daily life. Then comes “Tyrannosaurus Rx,” a song that starts to delve more into the struggle of the pre-existing conditions that give the album its title and central theme, albeit in somewhat of a playful fashion. At its core, the song is about the push-and-pull relationship that many people have with their care providers, particularly those in the mental health treatment world.
“When I play the song live,” Hause explains, “I usually say “oh it’s about, it’s about a crappy psychiatrist. My psychiatrist is great, but this is about a crappy one who all he wants to do is (up your meds) and that’s really not how mine is!” Still, it reflects the internal struggle that many folks have when hearing even the best of practitioners advise you to increase the amount of medication you’re taking for fear of feeling, well, for fear of feeling “crazy.” Hause explains rather candidly that he was diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder close to a decade ago after a hospital stay that was the inspiration for Pre-Existing Condition‘s cover art. “I was in a really bad way,” he states, adding “I just kind of lost my mind. I was hallucinating, and I didn’t sleep for days and days.” Hause credits his devoted family and tight circle of friends for closing ranks and helping him get the help that he needed. Although, in what seems to be typical Hausian fashion, there’s a bit of dark humor behind his condition. He explains: “It’s funny because in health class, when we did the mental health unit…I had a particular aversion to (bipolar disorder). I thought that that would be like hell…and fast forward all those years later, it turned out it was!“
That dark humor has helped Hause through what seems to be an extraordinary number of catastrophic deaths and losses in his three decades on the planet, starting with his mother when he was only eleven years old, a time that was chronicled on the soul-crushingly heavy TIM track “4000 Days.” The grim reaper shows his ugly, hooded head again on Pre-Existing Conditions on songs like “Summerkiss,” which could be interpreted as being about the loss of a relationship or the loss of a family friend. Though it was admittedly inspired by the latter, “I had the self-consciousness about making (another) song about death,” he tells, “so I thought maybe I can tie in like a summer love as well and have it be sort of ambiguous.”
Then there’s the semi-tongue-in-cheek “Fear Ate My Faith,” a personal favorite, that deals head-on with not only feeling like a harbinger of death, but with the cold reality that being the youngest child in a family of five presents the very real likelihood that one day, he’ll be the only one left. “I sent that to my family and was like ‘Hey, I’m going to kind of joke about you guys dying before me. I just don’t want you to be surprised about it‘,” he laughs. “They’ve called me an emotional assassin at times, so I know that I have to kind of prep people for that.“
Which brings us, of course, we have album-closer “Catacomb (Only In Dreams)” – a track that tells the story of the loss of Tim’s lifelong best buddy Shane. If you’ll recall from our chat a couple of years ago, Shane’s house essentially became Tim’s second home after his mom passed away twenty years ago, a place he’d go to hang out and find a home-cooked meal while his dad worked to find normalcy after the loss of the family’s emotional epicenter. Fast-forward a decade, and Shane’s life met a tragic end when he accidentally drowned in Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River after a night of traditional Thanksgiving Eve revelry. Shane would essentially vanish without an initial trace, leaving Shane’s mom to reach out to Tim right as he was sitting down to celebrate the holiday with his family. “I was just sitting down to my Thanksgiving dinner. And I got a text from her saying, ‘Hey, have you seen Shane? Did he crash at your place last night?’ And my heart just sank,” he explains. “I think that some of the losses that I’d been through, especially my mom, have kind of colored my perspective on life. And I kind of just knew that something was terribly wrong. If he wasn’t at Thanksgiving dinner, it’s like, “oh, shit, something is going sideways.”
It would take more than five weeks for authorities to recover Shane’s body from the icy December waters of the Schuylkill. It would take incalculably longer to process Shane’s death in a productive way. One such start was helping with the Philly-based A Piece Of Shane Foundation, a charity geared toward raising money for artists in need. “For instance, there’s a school whose music program had a fire and all their music equipment got burned up,” he explains, “so we gave them a grant.” (Shane’s mom is the president of the charity; Tim sits on the board.)
Tim at Faces in Malden, MA – April 2024 (Photo by the author)
Another way was through the “Catacomb” track that brings the album to a close. It’s a bit of an on-the-nose retelling of Tim’s way of receiving the news that Shane was missing, the horror story their lives became during the month-plus-long search for him, and picking up the pieces once he was laid to rest. The track was recorded live in the studio with Hoge at the helm, prior to Hause explaining the song’s background to the performers. After tracking, one-by-one, the players returned from the studio room to the control room. “Atom sat down next to me and was like ‘Wow, that is some potent song,'” he reports. “I told him the story and he said ‘Oh my God!…I’m going to go back in, I want one more take.” That second take and all of its immense weight and goosebump-inducing gravity is the one you hear on the record. “That was just such an amazing example of there being some type of magic pixie dust in the air.“
To mark the release of Pre-Existing Conditions, Tim has put together a rock and roll band that’ll play a few celebratory dates in the Northeast this week: Malden MA on Thursday, Brooklyn on Friday, Philly on Saturday and Asbury Park on Sunday. It’s different than the band you hear on the album: Luke Preston (who plays bass in Dave Hause and the Mermaid) handles lead guitar, Nick Jorgensen from Mercy Union plays bass, while drumming duties are handled by Francis Valentino, who has most notably played for – checks notes – David Lee Roth. The band will also appear in full form at this year’s Sing Us Home Festival, the third installment of the weekend-long concert series the Hause brothers throw in their hometown of Philadelphia. This year, in addition to appearances from both Hause’s, headliners include the likes of Frank Turner and the almighty Bouncing Souls, a full circle moment for Tim Hause, as his first appearance on a record is the version of “Manthem” on the Souls 2005 live double album. There’ll undoubtedly be more solo shows and duo shows with Dave, but given the nature of the album itself, if you live in or around one of those areas, you deserve it to hear the songs celebrated in full, amped-up fashion. Until then, fire up Pre-Existing Conditions (if you ordered it from the Hauses themselves, you’ve certainly already got your copy), and check out our full and incredibly honest and in-depth interview below.
(*NOTE: The interview below has been edited and condensed for content and clarity. Yes, really.*)
Dying Scene (Jay Stone): So congrats on the record. Congrats on Pre-Existing Conditions. I really, really like this record. I mean, I really liked Tim a lot obviously…but I really, really like this record. I have been listening to it kind of just on repeat.
Tim Hause: Awesome. Yeah, I’m really proud of it. It seems like a jump for me. It feels like a level-up. And not to take anything away from record one. Everybody’s got to make a record one, and I’m proud of the way that one happened. But just pretty much every facet of how this one was done, I’m just really proud of and really pumped for everybody to be able to hear it in its entirety.
I was going to say that it felt like a level-up, but then I almost wondered…I was like, “wait, is that sort of a backhanded compliment?” I don’t really know. Because the first record is great. But yeah, it seems like everything just sounds better.
Yeah, yeah. No, it doesn’t (seem like a backhanded compliment). I don’t take it that way. I always think that in life, if you’re not trying to level up, then you’re probably backsliding, which I’ve certainly been guilty of in various realms of life. But I mean, in terms of career, you hope that you’re always, you know, moving forward and improving and getting better and honing the craft. But yeah, what an experience. It was great. We made the record in Nashville, but it wasn’t the kind of usual suspects that played on it. There was there was a dose of that. There was this guy, Nathan Keeterle who I think the secret is sort of out around town, but I think he’s twenty-eight or twenty-nine.
Really?
I mean, we had Tom Bukovac play on a couple of records, and he’s kind of like known as “the guy” in Nashville. You know, I think he played with like Willie Nelson. He only really does shows of that caliber at this point because he’s so busy with his YouTube channel, which he calls himself Uncle Larry. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that.
Yeah, yeah!
And then he does really high-profile live gigs. And to be quite honest, I think Tom is in kind of a league of his own. But Nathan…Nathan might be in that league or he’s knocking on the door. I mean, he’s amazing.
I heard someone else refer to him almost in those exact words. It was Chris Shifflett, I think, because I think he played on one of Shiflett’s sort of country or sort of Americana albums. And I didn’t realize the kid was only like twenty-seven or twenty-eight. That’s wild.
He played on a Shifflett record?
He played on like a Jelly Roll record or something like that, too.
Yeah, yeah.
He played on I think it was the most recent Shifflett record (Lost At Sea) because he’s kind of gone the Americana way recently. I heard Shifflett, I think, in some press article say something about that he didn’t really play guitar much himself on the record because Nathan and I think there was somebody else that played with him too (*editor’s note: the other person was Tom Bukovac. Duh.*) Like they were just so good. And I think Nathan was playing slide as well, especially and like they were just hitting home run after home run that Shifflett – for a guitar guy to be like, yeah, “I don’t really need to play here.” It’s pretty awesome.
It’s amazing. I mean, he is unbelievable. And I guess, well, that shows how little I know about the music industry, that I don’t even realize that the secret has been out. I know it’s some big gigs, but yeah, the Jelly Roll thing is that’s a huge, huge deal. And yeah, I mean, he’s just amazing. He’s like …he’s like a Martian being here to play guitar. (*both laugh*)
Is he from Nashville? Do you know? Or does he just do the thing?
Yeah, I think he’s maybe not from Nashville, but he’s from Tennessee. Maybe like a suburb or something like that. I mean, he’s just unbelievable. Amazing guy. And it was cool because, you know, it’s the same kind of effect that I went into this with. I said to Will: “I want to turn the gain up. I want it to be rock and roll.” I gave him touchstones like Jimmy Eat World or Green Day or Weezer. Like, Weezer’s Blue Album is a really meaningful record to me. And those were kind of like the sonic fields that I wanted to be kind of foraging in. And he was like, “I know just what to do.” And, you know, Dave sort of was like a co-producer on this one. He wasn’t there for the first one because I felt like I had to sort of like earn my stripes on my own or whatever. And it was kind of a bummer, but I’m glad that we did it that way now. And then it was awesome to have him involved. And they both cast Atom Willard as the drummer without knowing that the other one had cast him as the drummer.
Oh that’s funny!
Yeah. So that was really cool. And then and Dan (Andriano). So to have like two-thirds of Alkaline Trio, which is just one of my all-time favorite bands, to be playing on it, that was really special. And Atom has this energy in the room with anyone. It doesn’t matter how high, you know, the stature is of the session player. Like when he’s in the room and you’re playing guitar in the room with him, you are fired up. You are pumped. And it’s just like there’s an infectious sort of thing that goes around in that room. And you could see it, see all the guys light up when they hear those drums. Yeah, it was great.
And he plays so heavy. It’s like you have to be sort of sucked into it. It’s going to raise…you talk about raise the gain on the record, but it’s going to like raise the level of everybody because you have to like keep up with him.
Yeah, yeah! But you know what’s wild is that it’s so loud, but it’s not overloading any of the microphones or anything, which is why because like the power is there, but it’s not so much attack that like the recording itself, like the engineering part of it struggles.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It’s amazing.
Is that sort of a pinch-me moment? Because we’ve talked before about Alkaline Trio being like one of those signpost bands for you, at least in punk rock. Is that sort of a pinch-me moment to have two-thirds of them in the studio playing your songs?
Yes, I’d say yes and no. I mean, yes, because yes more of like the reflection and looking back, but no, because I went in really confident with the songs. And, you know, we did a tour with Dan and I played with Dan. I played keys with him, sang with him and played some guitar. And so over the years, just spending a good amount of time together and, you know, having a friendship has kind of like not totally made that that feeling dissipate, but it’s kind of just become normal in a way. But in the reflection, it’s definitely been like, “wow!” for sure, the pinch-me thing is there.
And that’s before even mentioning Kyle Cook from Matchbox 20? Like of all random things that have come up.
I mean, Kyle is fantastic. And that was so cool because, you know, sometimes these like guitar players can be snooty about their boutique pedals.
Oh, yeah.
And Kyle came in and like every pedal on his board was like a Boss pedal and he made them sound amazing. Like some people, some guitarists will kind of thumb their nose at those (sorts of pedals) and like they’ll kind of be uppity about it. And he just came in with those and he crushed it. I mean, there’s some of this stuff. I had a couple people tell me that one song in particular, “A Wake,” was one of their favorite vibes, like guitar vibes that they’ve heard.
Absolutely. Yeah, that’s on my list.
Yeah, and that was like all him. I kind of directed him a little bit because I kind of like I wanted to have some certain thematic things that were references to the person that it’s about. And once I said those things, he immediately knew where to take it and just was like unleashed. And it just it all kind of like fell into place really, really quickly. It was awesome.
Is what we hear close to what you had in your brain or your demo versions of these songs? Like did you give those guys a lot of runway in the studio or did you kind of like paint by numbers it?
Yeah, these came out in my mind, the way that I envisioned them. They actually came out better than I envisioned any of them, and I think that that’s a really rare, rare thing. Like, however many records I’ve made now, is it like nine or 10 or something? I’m in that area. I’m almost at double digits. Maybe I’m at nine. And like, it just is not an easy thing. You have something in your head; you have a picture of what you want the song to be. And, you know, a lot of times it changes. A lot of times, like, it’s scary to put a demo down because you realize what the song isn’t. You have these ideas for what it could be, and it just misses the mark. And, you know, you hear it back, and you’re like, “oh, shit…Now I’ll do it again. And now I’ll do it again.” You’re just slowly rolling the boulder uphill. And with this one, I just gave them a lot of runway because I had a tremendous amount of trust in the whole team. And then it just all came out so much better than I really anticipated. And really, that’s true of every facet of the record, the way that the cover came together. It was just so cool. I’m so happy with it and so pumped.
Yeah, there are a bunch of songs I wanted to talk about. As I go through the list, I tend to make notes and then I’m like, “man, I feel like I want to talk about all of these songs!” Because there’s so many cool things and cool little notes, cool little like that echoey sort of vocal and guitar sound on “A Wake” is like unexpected. It’s really fun. “Fear Ate My Faith” is such a cool song. “Catacomb”, like that song kicks me in the stomach every time I hear it.
Yeah, that one, there’s a really cool story with that one. I don’t know how much I’ve spoken to you about this, but in 2014, the day before Thanksgiving, I just turned 21. And you know, everybody comes back home from college or whatever. And my best friend growing up, he lived across the street from me. So when my mom died – I was 11 when she died – and you know, my dad was kind of reeling. (The Hause) parents had more of the old school, like gender role thing going on. They both worked, my dad was a breadwinner and like my mom kind of handled everything else. She was like sort of the liaison between him and us in a way and like really the emotional epicenter of the family. And then when she died, (my best friend Shane’s) house would be where I would go to get like a home-cooked meal. And I still have a really wonderful and special relationship with his mom. She’s the president of a board that we’re on together. It’s called A Piece of Shane Foundation. They were at Sing Us Home last year and they’ll be there again this year. We raise money and we do all these fundraisers and stuff for artists in need. Like, for instance, there’s a school whose music program had a fire at the school and all their music equipment got burned up. And so we like we gave them a grant. And so we pay like if somebody’s gear got stolen from a van, like we’d swoop in and, you know, you could either apply or someone on the board would be like “hey, this scenario happened, can we jump in and help out?”
That’s so great. That’s awesome.
But anyway, like I would go over there for like a home-cooked meal. That was like sort of my second family. They took wonderful care of me, like especially after my mom died. And so fast forward 10 years later. He and I were best buddies. He was home (from school) and went out for a night of drinking, as everybody does the night before Thanksgiving. It’s like the big party night. And I got a text from (his mom) on Thanksgiving. Like I was just sitting down to my Thanksgiving dinner. And I got a text from her saying, “hey, have you seen Shane? Did he crash at your place last night?” And my heart just sank. I think that some of the losses that I’d been through, especially my mom, have kind of colored my perspective on life. And I kind of just knew that something was terribly wrong. If he wasn’t at Thanksgiving dinner, it’s like, “oh, shit, something is going sideways.” And, you know, fast forward 38 days, he was missing and there was no trace of him.
I think he must have like gone to the river to take a leak or something. And it was like right around the time that the bar closed and he was not seen. And there was no footage of him for a long time. It took weeks to uncover, like there was a bit of footage where you could kind of make out that it was him moving towards the river. And it took a volunteer dive team going in and pulling him out. And that was like, you know, after 38 days or whatever it was, 36 or 38 or something. I think it was 38. After that amount of time, that’s kind of the best you could hope for because if he is still alive, he’s not going to be in good shape. He’ll be kidnapped or something. Your brain starts to do all this stuff. But it was like our lives became a horror show, you know? The stuff that you see on HBO or in the movies or something, our lives became that. We’re hanging up missing person posters all over. It was really a horrific time.
And it was weird because, you know, Scott Hutchison, I think I’ve talked to you about him, but he kind of died in a similar fashion. He took his own life but it was very triggering when that happened because there was a similar image of him moving towards the water.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. Yeah.
And it was so…it just harkened back immediately to the image of Shane moving towards the water, and I just couldn’t. And it was some years later, but it was like, breathtaking when I saw that image, because I’m like, “oh, my God, that’s an insane parallel to my friend.” And so what happened with the song was, you know, we the guys were tracking it, you know, the full band take of the song in the studio. And they came back into the control room and like sort of one by one, they were like, “man, that is some song, dude. Holy shit.” And Atom, he sat down next to me. And maybe he was the last one to say it, or they kind of came in one by one and didn’t know that the other one had said the same kind of thing. And he sat down next to me and he was like, “wow, that is some potent song.” And I said, “yeah, man, I don’t I want to tell you what it’s about without trying to, you know, drag the mood down, because I know it’s kind of a downer to bring this up, but I think it’s meaningful for you to know.” And I told him the story and he said, “oh, my God!” And he just said that they thought that they had the take and he was like, “I’m going to go back in, I want another take.” And after I told him that story, he went back in with one more take. And then that was the one.” And that was just such an amazing, like, example of there being some type of magic pixie dust in the air. That he heard that, was able to like internalize it and then emote it on the drums after hearing that, was just such a special thing. I’ll never forget that five-minute sequence of events where I told him that story and then he just went back in and crushed it. It was just… it was awesome.
Actually, somewhat surprised to hear that that’s how it came together, because that sound like that song has such a powerful sound to it that it almost sounds like you recorded it all together on the floor in the studio and maybe put vocals in afterwards. But especially like that at the end.
Oh yeah, we did. That’s how it was. That’s how it did happen. They all got it. Once they heard the story, they all said “we’re taking another we’re taking another pass at it.” Which is just so cool. So, so, so cool.
Yeah, that song gives me goosebumps. I mean, I knew the story. I remember when that happened just from me…I guess we actually knew each other back then, 12 years, 11 years ago, whatever it was. But I remember when that happened. And I think we’ve talked about it at some point along the line. And as you know, probably from when we saw you out in Shirley last year, that my wife’s mom passed away the Thanksgiving before last. So obviously that night had a lot of emotion in it, and then hearing that some and “Summer Kiss” – which is obviously about something different but the theme is the same. She texted me the other day something like “well, I’m crying on the train, thanks Tim”!
Oh, that’s awesome.
Like in a good way, right?
Yeah, yeah. That one is sort of like, I think that every now and then, you know, there’s been so many deaths in my life. And I think that every now and then I’ll go to write, and that’s kind of a natural lean. And I’ll get self-conscious about it, because I’m like, I don’t want to just be the death guy. Like, I don’t want to only write songs about this, but it is. So with that one in mind, our friend Lindsay Summer, who passed in November as well, in a freak kind of capacity, a couple years back. Dave had to leave a tour.
Yeah, when you were here.
Yeah, it was that time. So like last time when you when you guys came to see us, that was sort of like an exorcism of sorts for me, because it was like a gauntlet the time before to get through emotionally. Without my brother, my heart was kind of elsewhere. So that was really meaningful to come back to Shirley and come back with him and having grown since then and whatever. But yeah, this past September was 20 years since my mom died. And then this past November was 10 years since Shane went missing. And so that was that was intensely on my mind this November. And then, you know, obviously, like the Lindsay thing always comes up. But, you know, “Summerkiss” is a song I’m really proud of. I think I had the self-consciousness about making a song about death. So I thought maybe I can tie in like a summer love as well and have it be sort of ambiguous. Is it about death?
It seems like there’s a double meaning there, yeah.
Yeah, and sometimes you have that kind of grandiose, you have a grandiose kind of goal in mind for a song and you wonder like, OK, can I actually pull this off and serve both masters? Make it so I’m landing the plane on both of these metaphors? And it doesn’t always happen. And when it does, it’s a really good feeling. And for that song, I’m really proud of it because I think I think I was able to do that.
You even sort of joke about the and maybe joke is the wrong word, but on “Fear Ate My Faith,” you make reference to being the “kid who walks through the valley of the shadow of death.” You sort of – tongue in cheek, maybe – but refer to yourself sort of that way. And we have talked about that before. So hearing that line initially, I was like, “oh, I know exactly what he’s going for here.”
Yeah, there were a couple songs that I had to send around and give trigger warnings to people, and that was one of them.
Yeah I can imagine.
I sent that to family, and I was like, “hey, I’m going to kind of joke about like you guys dying before me. I just don’t want you to be surprised about it.” I said, “it’s kind of a joke. It’s kind of tongue in cheek and also kind of not.”
And you’re also the youngest of five. So, I mean, natural progression of things. That’s what happens.
Yeah, right. In their minds, that’s how they hope it goes, too. So I’m not really talking out of school, but I was like “I just wanted to let you know that.” They all kind of laughed about it. They’ve called me an emotional assassin at times. So I know that I have to kind of prep people for that. And that’s how I was with the song about Shane. I sent it to his mom and I sent her the words, had a conversation about it and just said, “hey, look, I know that this is really going to be a tough one to listen to because it’s going back to that time that was just so dark.” I knew I needed to write the song. I actually had the song before record one, and I just didn’t feel like it was time. And I’m so glad that I waited, because now it’s you know, I told you the Atom story, but also having it be around the ten-year mark, that’s a landmark anniversary.
Did the song change at all? Where you had a couple extra years to think about it after you wrote it, did the tone change at all, or is it pretty much the way you wrote it?
It’s pretty much the way that I wrote it. I think there’s a couple things that changed and then also I was more confident and self-assured with some of the lines I was questioning. Before, there were a couple things where I was like “can I say this? Can I sing this and can I do it convincingly?” Having the experience of making the first record and then having the experience of going out and playing all those songs live, it’s a very vulnerable job that we do. You’re kind of baring your soul to people right in front of them. Having more shows and more repetitions under my belt got me to the place where I could deliver the vocal the way that it needed to be delivered. I was really proud of that.
You should be. There are so many feelings on this record. I know at one of the more recent shows, I said to either my wife or maybe my daughter, that watching you play the last couple of times by yourself, your vocals have sort of gone to a different gear I think. There’s a different sort of rawness in your vocals now that gives so much meaning and depth to a lot of the songs. Songs that are already crazy deep anyway. Like, you’re not exactly writing about tiptoeing through the tulips. You really dig into a lot of the vocals I think more than on the first record.
Yeah, for sure. That was something that was really cool, because on record one, it was kind of a vocal boot camp in a way. There were times when the engineer and Will, that duo, were really pushing me. They were like “no, it’s not right. No, it’s not right. No, it’s not right.” Over and over and over again. It was awesome in the long run. It sucked in the moment but it was awesome in the long run. That was one of the things that Will said on this record, he was like “man, you have just leveled up with the vocals on this record, that it took you a fraction of the time to do them and they were better than what you had on record one.” I think that one of the songs that he said he was most proud of me for was “A Wake.” It’s so meaningful to have a guy who you respect and look up to share that. We might be buddies and sort of like brothers in a way, but it hits different. I have full faith in Will and I really, really look up to him as a songwriter, as a guy, the way that he carries himself in life, the way he carries himself as a dad. He’s an awesome guy and someone you’d want to model your life after. When he says something like that, it does really matter to me. It’s really impactful.
He’s one of the good ones, for sure. He’s one of my all-around favorites. One of the other songs I wanted to pick your brain about is “Tyrannosaurus Rx.” Obviously there’s the image on the shirts which is great, but I’m wondering if you could talk about the imagery and the story behind that song, because it’s really interesting and honest.
I think I had a snippet in my notebook that said like “Tyrannosaurus Rex” and then I thought that, “oh if I delete the e in there then it’s like Rx. Oh, that’s kind of interesting” and then I was also having a back and forth with my psychiatrist about, you know, he kind of recommends that I go up in the dose and I’m very resistant to it, even though I’ve actually gone through with it and been better off for it. So I don’t like to throw him under the bus, but I try to go as little as I need to have a healthy and happy life. Or maybe not happy but content. I don’t know what happiness really is. I think maybe happiness is kind of fleeting or something. But anyway, this is an ongoing sort of conversation that he and I have. He’s kind of like, “well, with your condition and your metabolism and whatever, you really could go up in your dose” and I kind of always am like “no.”
It’s the eternal struggle, right?
Yeah, which is funny, I don’t know exactly why. I think maybe there’s a little pride there or something or I don’t know what it is but I went through with it and you know, it turns out he was right. But, it’s a better song if he’s wrong! (*both laugh*)
Oh absolutely!
If I’ve got an axe to grind with him it’s better off so I usually when I play the song live, I usually say “oh it’s about, it’s about a crappy psychiatrist, my psychiatrist is great, but this is about a crappy one who all he wants to do is (up your meds) and that’s really not how mine is!” He’s really great at his job and he works with me and we have a great relationship but yeah, I just, I think I maybe I was like frustrated and thought I could write about this frustration and this kind of push-pull between us and I could couch it in this sort of like, you know, accusative way or whatever.
Yeah, that’s that eternal struggle. I think what’s different between behavioral health – mental health- and physical health is usually like if your primary doctor tells you to go up on your Coumadin or whatever, like your blood thinners, you’re like “well okay, he knows better than me” but then when it comes to behavioral health stuff or addiction medicine, we’re always like “no, no no!” Whether it’s because of like the idea of being labeled as ‘crazy’ or whatever…I mean when you boil it down, that’s what people still think. Like, we can reduce the stigma all we want to but people still boil it down to “crazy” and you start to thinking “no, it’s fine, I can do this on my own…”
You know it’s funny because there’s always that thought of like “am I crazy?” The answer is yes but you know, so is everybody else.
(*both laugh*) Yeah, right.
I guess the caveat and I think that my philosophy on the whole thing, and mental health in this day and age is that you know we’ve just made so many advances technologically speaking and this sort of technological revolution that we’re in, we have no idea what it’s doing to our brains yet. And clearly we haven’t evolved with the rate at which we’re progressing and so I think that there’s this divide between the reality we live in and our evolutionary trajectory. I think that so much of the time so many people I know really should try being medicated. I know it doesn’t work for everybody and I know that everyone has their own journey and path with that, but I think that right now in this weird window that we’re in where we’re doing this kind of foray into AI realm, on an evolutionary level it’s so far beyond what we’re wired for, so we’re gonna have to take a long time to catch up. I don’t think we’ve we’re there yet.
Feels like the more we learn specifically about brain chemistry…I mean that’s been at least peripherally the field I’ve worked in day-job-wise for 20 years now… I feel like brain chemistry wise we’re so, like… there’s a Don Henley song with a lyric like “the more I know, the less I understand.” (*both laugh*) Like, the more we learn about sort of how the brain works we realize like “oh shit like we don’t really know how the brain works but now we don’t know all these different things!” We unlock enough to realize that oh we’ve only kind of scratched the surface, right? And so even with medications you’re like “well what class of medications am I going to be on? Is my thing depression or is it depression masked as something else? Is it attention deficit disorder or is it anxiety or is it some combination of all of them?” And then you get to feeling like a pincushion. Like, there’s a lot of anxiety with day-to-day life in general but then add to that trying to deal with and dig into your own shit… You write about yourself pretty honestly. When you started writing songs, was that a conscious thing, that like “this is an outlet for me, I need to write about this shit.”? Because some the way that I hear your lyrics is almost … I don’t want to say journals because they don’t listen like journal entries, but there’s definitely like some processing going on in the lyrics to your songs. You’re almost like working through the issues that you’re writing about in the music, if that makes sense.
For sure, yeah. I mean, I’ll just put it right out there and be very open with it. I haven’t veiled it enough in the writing to, like, dodge it. I’m pretty open. Like in “Fit To Be Tied” or “Tyrannosaurus Rx” I’m pretty openly like going into a manic realm. I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder – bipolar 2 – and like we were talking about this psychotic thing I had, the medicine that I take for that part of my brain is an antipsychotic which definitely it comes with … I don’t know if it’s a stigma, it’s just like when you know that that’s the class of medication, there definitely is like “Oh shit well, if I’m on an anti-psychotic what does that mean?” And it’s like “well, it’s kind of just an umbrella category, it doesn’t mean you’re psychotic.” But, it also means that you could be, you know? But then it’s like “what does psychotic even mean?” and then there’s that whole negative connotation. But yeah I’d say like you know that’s a part of my “pre-existing conditions.” That’s why I have the hospital bracelet on and I’ve got the thumbs up (on the cover). It’s like “hey I have this but you know, I have a pretty great life too!” Part of my makeup is that sort of struggle and who knows, we don’t really know how that happens. We don’t you know for instance if we took out some of the tragic things like if my mom hadn’t died or if my buddy didn’t go missing or whatever; if you take out any of those pieces in the Jenga tower or whatever, maybe it doesn’t fall down. But those pieces WERE taken out and it DID fall down and I lost my shit and then I sort of had to work back up. And thank god for my family and my friends in my circle because I was in a really bad way. I was like 22, 23, something like that and I kind of just lost my mind. I was like hallucinating and I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t sleep for days and days and days. It’s funny because in health class, when I did the mental health unit, I particularly had a thing with bipolar disorder. That was a part of the unit in health class in 10th grade or whatever it was, the teacher was doing the percentages and he said “you’re in a class of this size there’s a chance that one of you is going to have this or two of you are going to have that” and he went down through all the different disorders. With the others, I thought I could figure those out, but that one I really hope I don’t come down with was bipolar disorder.
Oh that’s really interesting!
Yeah, I remember it being that I had a particular aversion to that. I thought that that would be like hell and certainly, you know, fast-forward all those years later and it turned out it was hell! (*both laugh*) I think that manic depression if you want to call it that, or bipolar disorder, it’s got a long history in rock and roll and it’s got a long history with artists and I think there’s something about a brain that goes that far to both extremes. I think that in a certain manic state or in a depressive state, you’re kind of aware of certain frequencies that if you’re in your right mind, you’re not aware of otherwise. I know that maybe sounds a little woo-woo or whatever, but it’s just true. Actually that’s where the lyric “if I can’t get out of this ditch / I better make a home of it” came from.
Oh interesting. That makes total sense, yeah!
I think that you’re in such a state and your feelings become all that you can see, and it does kind of lend itself to songwriting in a way. I think that’s why this record has “Tyrannosaurus Rx” as a lynchpin for that part of things. And then a lot of the other songs are about certain deaths or events but they all have that throughline. “Who Let The Dog Out” has the same kind of thing where it’s more depressive but then there’s a little kind of sparkle of crazy in there too. Actually that’s a true story with the squirrels. We had squirrels living in our old house and they were driving me crazy. That’s the way that I’ve been able to process things and it’s been a great outlet. And it’s also that music is a safe place for me to let that part of my personality out. I think that in the aftermath of being diagnosed or whatever, I think that I like to have things a certain way and I like to keep myself under control. I think a lot of people that know me well, when they find out that I have (bipolar disorder), they are very surprised because I’m pretty even-keeled. And both things can be true. I think that’s when you’re dedicated to treatment and wellness and really taking it seriously and not fucking around with “oh I’m not going to take my meds” or any of this kind of heroic bullshit or whatever. And I get that there’s tendencies. I have those tendencies too but I’ve just been really hyper-committed to staying well and honestly, it’s a lot. Our health care system is such a labyrinth and especially when you’re at your worst, to try to figure that out just makes you crazier, so I really do all I can do and by the grace of God or whoever, I’m like so thankful that I have my family. I don’t think I would have made it through that time without them, you know? It was awful, but yeah they were able to kind of like circle the wagons as a family and, you know, took the necessary steps and I’ve had a really healthy, pretty successful life ever since, you know? Some people don’t get a diagnosis until later. Like, I’m 31 now and over the last like 10 years or so, if not for having that diagnosis…It was tough to go through and you’re wondering like “oh, is that who I am? Who am I?” There’s a lot of identity stuff that happens but ultimately, you’re still you no matter what the diagnosis is. Now you just have more tools to know how to be. Mental health is such a finicky thing and there’s all the societal attachment to it or whatever, and it makes it difficult to see clearly. What’s also nutty about a musician’s life is that it’s pretty much bipolar. (*both laugh*) Like with touring, for example. Because we have the label and the festival and all this other stuff, it’s like we’re always changing hats. Your performance thing is really only just for that hour, and the rest of the time, you know, you’re a driver or you’re a merch seller or there’s all different kinds of things and that almost is bipolar by nature.
I kind of wonder if that makes it easier for you to adapt to that lifestyle in some way because your brain kind of wants to anyway…
Well that’s the thing is like, in some weird way, I almost view it as a superpower because I’m able to do things that certain…like when I tell people about the nuts and bolts of travel and when I tell people about staying up for however many hours or not getting any sleep or whatever the case is, when I tell people that don’t live that way about that, they are like “ohhh…” because they have a completely different assessment of what they think a touring lifestyle is. And then when you tell them, they’re like “oh there’s no way I could do that.” I think that in some weird way the brain chemistry allows me to thrive in that. But I mean it’s kind of unclear. This is an ongoing discussion with the therapist (*both laugh*)
I can imagine, yeah.
It’s like something we’re working through actively; is this exacerbating my life and my struggles every time”
But I wonder if you had tried to have a nine-to-five cubicle farm job, if your brain would allow you to even do that? But then I guess it becomes chicken or the egg, like “does my brain allow me to tour or does touring allow me to have the brain that I have?”
Right, exactly. Yeah I’ll get twisted up in a pretzel thinking about it.
People talk about – as I sort of did – the way that your lyrics are shaped by the mental health issues that you are dealing with, but sonically or musically, when you’re writing does whatever sort of part of the cycle, for lack of a better word, that you’re in…does that change how you write music? Like do you find that you write more up-tempo or down-tempo or odd time signature music based on what’s going on for you?
I think so. I also think that it is dependent on whatever the idea is, and so for a song like “Tyrannosaurus Rx,” I wanted it to sound unhinged. I think, you know, mission complete. It sounds unhinged. If you listen closely to some of the stuff that Dave is doing vocally, he went full – like, this is a derogatory term and I probably shouldn’t say it – but he went full loony bin. I feel like I can say that because I’ve been there. (*both laugh*) But like he went fully crazed..
And you can hear it especially when you listen on headphones.
Yeah yeah! He’s doing all kinds of shit and sound effects and it sounds like he’s running up the walls, and that was the desired effect. So I think that there’s an inextricable link between the two but it also is really dependent on whatever the topic of the song is. I don’t want to be like sort of enslaved to either thing, but yeah I think it absolutely comes out. “Who Let The Dog Out” is for sure a period of depression and working through depression, and I guess, yeah the instrumentation is sort of led by whatever I think the song needs. In that case, that’s what I felt like it needed.
So that means you tend to be like a lyric-first songwriter? Or I guess an ‘idea for a lyric’ first songwriter?
I think that that’s what really gives the weight to any idea; any melodic idea. I feel like I can kind of just, even on the spot, come up with a melody that is compelling, but to me, it’s not worthy yet until there’s like an idea attached to it. It definitely has happened the opposite way, where I have a great melody and then like I’m searching for whatever will give it its real due; which is like yeah the idea that attaches to it. So yeah it happens for me in any type of way. There’s been all kinds of different ways that I’ve kind of stumbled into songs. Melody can happen first, but I feel like it doesn’t really get its wings until there’s like a thought behind it that makes sense
I believe you told me this but you’re playing the upcoming run of shows – the album release shows – as a full band?
Yeah, full band
That’s got to be exciting. Have you done the full band thing?
No, not really. I only did it on one show. It was the first year of Sing Us Home, and to be quite honest, record one with a full band was awesome, but this record is a full band record.
It’s a rock and roll record.
Yeah! And it’s great Luke (Preston) is one of my best buds. He’s going to be playing lead guitar which is really exciting, because, you know, he’s played bass in The Mermaid but he’s just an amazing guitar player too and really talented performer. So he’s going to be on lead guitar and then Nick Jorgensen from Mercy Union is going to play bass.
I love Nick!
Yeah, I love Nick. Doing that tour in the UK was so fun and I just bonded with those guys.
He’s such a good kid. Like, I’ve known Jerry forever, I’ve known Rocky not quite as long as Jerry but I’ve known Rocky for a while, but a couple of the last times that Mercy Union came up here or even when we’ve gone to Jersey, getting to talk to Nick more has been great. He’s such a good human, it seems.
He really is. And just has like the right kind of energy that you want in the in the car or in the van. So yeah, Luke and Nick and then Francis Valentino who drums for David Lee Roth is going to be playing drums.
Oh, some little guy named David Lee Roth.
(*both laugh*) Yeah, that guy! It’s gonna be cool. I’m really excited. We just we have one rehearsal and then we’re gonna just rip it and and see what happens. I’m really really looking forward to it. It’s gonna be fun. I hope that people show up. I mean first time headlining in places that aren’t your home, it’s kind of like “we’ll see.” It’s an experiment in a way, but you know I wanted to celebrate the album coming out with a rock band.
It needs it.
Yeah and I just think like…I’m able to deliver the material in a solo capacity too, but just for this, this is the celebration of it coming out like I better come correct with a band. So yeah, we’ll have this band together for these dates and then for Sing Us Home as well.
Oh awesome!
Yeah!
That’s really great. I’m excited for you. I’m excited for people to dig into this record and I hope to give it a chance because it’s really, really good. Like, you did good man.
Thanks, man. Yeah I’m really proud of it. It’s funny, we did like a little bit of a radio campaign with this one and it’s like, I don’t even know what any of this means, but like there’s been certain reports that have come back and songs are kind of sticking at certain stations, which is really cool, you know?
What songs do you give them, the singles basically?
Yeah we give them the singles. We give them “Make It Take It,” “No Call, No Show” and “Summerkiss” I believe. And maybe “Fear Ate My Faith” went to some heavier playlists and such, streaming and stuff. It’s been really exciting. I’m not sure what to think. It was funny because having Kyle with us at the studio, he sort of told us what happened with Matchbox 20. I don’t think it happens these days now, but he said it was exciting to sort of see some of the radio reports because basically like, there was one station in I think Alabama that latched on to to a song of theirs. Maybe it was “3 AM” or something but there was a song that they were working and it didn’t go over well and then like a certain station – I’m probably butchering the story – but like a certain station picked a different song and like it just lit up that station and then it was like wildfire and then they became Matchbox 20. Radio doesn’t work that way anymore but it was kind of like “oh this is cool, like who knows if one day I go to some of these kind of like bizarre places where it’s kind of connected; like if there’s a following there or something.
Like being big in Japan…
Yeah, right
Like people like Dave doing okay in Germany, you know? It’s bizarre. It will never make sense to me who gets popular like grand scheme of things but especially who gets popular in certain markets. It’s always fascinating to me.
It is, yeah. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, and we drive ourselves crazy trying to attach rhyme and reason to it.
San Diego melodic punks PunchCard have signed on with Felony Records for the release of their new album Soap Box Hero. It’s due out February 22nd and we’re stoked to be exclusively premiering the music video for the lead single “Stealing My Identity” today! Check it out below. Fellow record collectors: Soap Box Hero is […]
San Diego melodic punks PunchCard have signed on with Felony Records for the release of their new album Soap Box Hero. It’s due out February 22nd and we’re stoked to be exclusively premiering the music video for the lead single “Stealing My Identity” today! Check it out below.
Fellow record collectors: Soap Box Hero is being released on a bunch of bad ass color variants; head over to Bandcamp and grab your copy now!
PunchCard will be playing a hometown album release show on February 22nd at Tower Bar with Fine Dying and Making Incredible Time. They’ll also be hitting Crockett on the 28th w/ United Defiance and San Pedro on March 1st, where they’ll be joined by Strike Twelve, Emmer Effer and Matt Caskitt & The Breaks!
This premiere is brought to you in part by Punk Rock Radar. If you’d like your band’s music video, song, album or whatever to be premiered by Dying Scene and Punk Rock Radar, go here and follow these instructions. You’ll be on your way to previously unimagined levels of fame and fortune in no time.
Upcoming Shows: Feb 22 – San Diego, CA w/ Fine Dining and MIT Feb 28 – Crockett, CA. w/ United Defiance plus local support Mar 1 – San Pedro, CA. w/ Emmer Effer, Strike Twelve and Matt Caskitt & The Breaks
The GardenAmp hosted the Ska Smackdown on January 18. Featuring sets from ten bands in six hours, the show was a celebration of old faves, local faves, and new blood within the genre. There were enough trumpets, trombones, and saxophones to make this the horny-est (rim shot) show I’ve ever been to. The show started […]
The GardenAmp hosted the Ska Smackdown on January 18. Featuring sets from ten bands in six hours, the show was a celebration of old faves, local faves, and new blood within the genre. There were enough trumpets, trombones, and saxophones to make this the horny-est (rim shot) show I’ve ever been to.
The show started in the Locker Room, an intimate smaller stage within the GardenAmp that holds about one hundred people. The low-lit room has a graffiti mural that reads “CAN’T BE STOPPED” on one wall and a bar and green room on the opposite side. The walls are lined with framed concert posters of some big names in all genres of music that have played at the GardenAmp. The stage has a few strobe lights above it and a collage of what looks like concert flyers on the wall behind it.
Trucha opened the show in the Locker Room with an instrumental that got the crowd moving, and then went into their cover of the Misfits’ “Hybrid Moments.” This is probably one of my favorite arrangements of a Misfits song. The setlist was very similar to when they opened for Bite Me Bambi back in August. They’ve narrowed their sound a bit more which is more dancey, but also played some punkier songs towards the end of their set. They’ve been practicing and sound tighter, but they didn’t need much as they sound great. Hopefully they can get some songs released soon; Trucha are definitely a band to keep an eye on.
The Goodwin Club had the biggest amount of people on the stage for the night, which is saying a lot for a ska show. They had an extended horn section that included three trumpets, three trombones, and one saxophone. Everyone in the band was clad in Karate Kid / Cobra Kai costumes, ranging from Daniel LaRusso’s shower costume to skeleton jumpsuits to the famous black and yellow dojogis worn by the members of Cobra Kai. The Goodwin Club was a good choice to open a big fun night of ska bands. Singer Tami Demaree had lost her voice and did her best to get through a set including their songs “Little Girl” and “Join the Club,” but also covers of Operation Ivy’s “Sound System” and Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.” This was my second time seeing them and their confetti shooters during their set, and it was just as fun as the first.
As the GardenAmp filled up with more people, it became increasingly harder to get to the Locker Room to see the bands on the smaller stage. They were scheduled between sets of the bands on the bigger stage, but set times were stacked pretty tight. Most of the time they were starting as the band on the big stage was finishing. It was apparent I would miss some of those bands’ sets. The Ruffalos were the first of those bands. When I walked in, they were doing a cover of Snoop Dogg’s “Nothing But A ‘G’ Thang.” Some of their other songs had a bit of a spooky feel to them. Two singers traded back and forth. They reminded me a bit of very early Rx Bandits with some Sublime thrown in. They closed with a song about Samuel Jackson which, of course, had the word “motherfucker” in it.
Half Past Two was next on the main stage. Purple-haired singer Tara Hahn danced through a fun ska punk set. Laying claim to her Orange County ska bona fides by playing their song “Heather,” which describes her friend who would take her to the legendary Chain Reaction in Anaheim. I hadn’t paid too much attention to Half Past Two previously when I saw them open for the Aquabats a year or so back, but I wish I had. The band announced they would be playing a show at the venue in May of this year. It may be a good excuse to go to the Chain Reaction.
Buck-O-Nine got the pit moving pretty quickly with fans alternating dancing and slamming through their ska punk set. Their set included the songs “Calling in Sick,” “Fever,” and their radio hit, “My Town.” When I saw them last summer, it was a family event, and they weren’t able to play “Irish Drinking Song” or their cover of Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie,” but while there were families at this show, it wasn’t a family show. It was during this set where I saw people walking into the pit with a coffee cup. It’s a “bold” move, but the world is full of “bold” people.
Mustard Plug came out and played an energetic set. They brought a beach ball out that the crowd spiked around the venue and at the band, who continued to hit back out into the crowd. Playing a mix of songs of old favorites like “Not Enough” and “Vampire” and new song “Fall Apart,” the crowd went crazy for them. Their set contained a cover of Fugazi‘s “Waiting Room.” I didn’t know horns could make that song better, but it does. It was no surprise that veterans of the scene can play so well and keep the crowd’s attention after a long night of bands. They closed their set with “Brain on Ska” (their 2057th time playing it) and the “Beer” song.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch too much of Hooray Our Side’s set. I did catch them doing a cover of “Margaritaville,” which sounded pretty good as far as Jimmy Buffett covers go. It was the same for Codename: Rocky. By the time they went on, it was so close to the end of the night it was the choice of watching all of their set or getting a good spot for Mustard Plug and the Voodoo Glow Skulls. This also caused me to completely miss all of Matamoska‘s set.
Finally, it was time for the main event, the Voodoo Glow Skulls. It’s been at least ten years since I had seen them as a band and close to twenty since I’ve seen them with Frank singing. Nothing against Efrem as he held his own during his stint as singer of the band well, but it’s great to have all three Casillas brothers on stage. The beginning of the set was very heavy on their album, Band Geek Mafia, with tracks “Human Pinata,” “Misunderstood,” “Delinquent Song,” and “They Always Come Back.” The next section of the set was very focused mostly on songs from Firme, but also managed to slip in the song “Insubordination” from their first record Who Is, This Is? After playing a couple of songs in Spanish, “El Mas Chingon” and “El Coo Cooi,” the band closed with “Voodoo Anthem.” They sounded fantastic. Fast and intense, but still keeping with those horns reserved for the soundtrack of nightmares—I mean that in the best way.
It was definitely a positive vibe. The venue was pretty lax on security. There either wasn’t any or they didn’t care people were jumping on the stage for the most part. It was almost like they let the crowd self-police, and everything was fine. Which is weird because I legit saw like three fights at the Fishbone concert last month. There seemed to be more people dancing compared to the potent untethered energy of the Fishbone crowd. That crowd took themselves a little too seriously.
Everyone here was out to have fun. There was lots of crowd surfing with a few close calls, but everyone was caught before they hit the ground. It was strange to see kids climb and point where they were jumping to make sure they would be caught then waiting until everyone below agreed. The scene has changed a lot since I was their age. Punks, metalheads, ska kids, luchadors, people dressed as produce (one banana and one pickle) came out and united to have a fun night of music. Here’s hoping there are many more Ska Smackdowns.
*Editor’s note: In a previous version of this story, Half Past Two’s Tara Hahn was identified as having pink hair. She does, in fact, have purple hair. We apologize for the miscommunication.*
Happy Wednesday, comrades! We’ve got another cool new track to debut for you today. Today’s track comes to us all the way from the famous hills of the virtually-unpronounceable city of Worcester, Massachusetts, by way of a duo who go by the name Sunday Junkie. The duo – multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tom Martin and drummer […]
Happy Wednesday, comrades! We’ve got another cool new track to debut for you today. Today’s track comes to us all the way from the famous hills of the virtually-unpronounceable city of Worcester, Massachusetts, by way of a duo who go by the name Sunday Junkie. The duo – multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tom Martin and drummer and percussionist Shawn Pelkey – are planning to put out their debut full-length later this year, and the brand-new track “Holy, Holy” gives us a taste of what’s to come.
Here’s what Martin had to say about the track:
“I had issues with drinking in the past, and the lyrics on ‘Holy, Holy’ pretty heavily revolve around using alcohol as a means of self-medicating and ignoring a larger, underlying issue. It can be pretty insidious when it seems to provide relief, but the toll it’s taking is more evident to those around you and they just hope you can eventually see it too. The line ‘Honey on our tongues / Sucking on the rind’ is more of a reference to having everything at your fingertips, not realizing it, and choosing to throw it away instead.”
Check out “Holy, Holy” below (and dig around at Sunday Junkie’s bandcamp page to check out their first two singles, “Vultures” and “Haunted Head” while you’re at it!
Rich Saum
Digging this!!