Editor’s Note: This is the raw draft of the interview published by New Noise Magazine. This draft has not been seen by an editor. There will be errors.
You’ve got a new record, HOME, coming out into the world in March. After all the hard work and effort, how does it feel to be putting this thing out into the world?
Good. It’s been finished since the end of July. I honestly thought it would be released in the fall, but I guess their deadline was too close to Xmas. I was told it’s a bad idea to release records around that time. I was pretty bummed at first (knowing we would have to wait so long), but I realize that the label certainly knows more than I do about putting out records.
It’s a deeper, darker and ever more personal record than the already incredibly personal records that preceded it. Yet, you do it so effortlessly and fearlessly. Do you get nervous putting so much of yourself out there?
I wouldn’t say it’s effortless or fearless at all. I hate going in to make records. I know that the only way to make it powerful and meaningful to myself is to dig way into all the shit that I put off dealing with since the last record. I was always afraid that I would run out of things to write about as I got older. It turns out that there seems to be an entirely new set of worries and problems that come with getting older. Back when we did Hospitals, I felt like I could do whatever I wanted and there were no consequences. There weren’t, really. I was 24 and couldn’t die (believe me, we tried!). Now I’m 31 and a full grown man. The problem is that I don’t feel like one or even want to be one! I’m watching all of my friends and old band mates get married and have children, and I just want to get back to 24, you know? I think that’s been my new problem, and that’s obviously not going away. The actual making of the records is stressful in the lyric sense because I’m writing until the minute I record vocals. I might have something, but I usually change it to the most pressing thoughts I have right before they hit record. It’s also pretty embarrassing singing some of the shit I write to an engineer for the first time. I still haven’t gotten over that.
It’s the ability of a true artist to make work look effortless!
Then I must be a true artist, because that shit is hard!
I’m 31 too and I’m in the same boat. I don’t want to grow up, I don’t want to have kids. I want to go out 5 nights a week and go see bands play each and every night. I don’t want to stop. I’m afraid to stop. What I really like and what really grabs me about HOME, is many of the themes hit home for me and hit home hard. I might have made this idea up, but the ideas of feeling alone in a room full of people. The ideas and feelings that I’m in a hole I’ll never get out of. And here’s another guy with the same shit going on in his head, but he can kind of play guitar and can sing. The honesty hits home. How important is honesty, or am I making that up in my head? haha
It’s super important. That’s why it takes me so long to write. I procrastinate because to be perfectly honest about it, I’m not a very honest person publicly. If I go out to a show, or hang out at a show that I’m playing, I don’t want to talk about this shit. I want to have fun. The switch flips when I get home though. It’s kinda like that episode of It’s Always Sunny where Charlie is explaining that they have to huff glue and eat the cat food to fall asleep as fast as possible. I have a similar routine. I think Home is kind of a deeper explanation of why I feel the way I do all the time, and less about the specific shittiness like the previous records.
So when someone like me comes up to you at a show and tells you that they understand how you feel and feel that way too, that maybe your honesty has helped them through some dark times as well, Does that freak you out?
Not at all. I think it’s cool when people say stuff like that. It happens more often these days than it used to. It just depends how that conversation goes down. I think you should use music like this as therapy or an escape. Same goes for the show. People just have to keep in mind that I am not a therapist. I can’t help anyone on a personal level. I can give you some music, but I have no good advice. That’s where the title for the song “Seek Advice Elsewhere” comes into play. When you are at an OWTH show and are having a good time, roll with it. Don’t dwell on whatever problem you have while there, and please don’t put me in the position of feeling bad about it. I’m there doing the same thing!
Let’s move in and talk more about that album, entitled HOME. It’s a simple, but loaded title for a loaded album. What does HOME mean to you?
I never really have an idea for a theme when doing a record. I think this one stemmed from us touring for 5 years straight. It’s about all the different places that I’ve called home over the years, and why each of them has never clicked and felt right. I still don’t feel like I’ve found the “home” that everyone who is content with their lives has. I guess right now, my home is everywhere. It’s a weird thought.
Do you have a favorite place to be, while searching for the proverbial home?
Right now, it’s Los Angeles. My girlfriend is here, and she is really the only person who can handle me. I appreciate all she puts up with. LA has pretty much anything you could want to do on any given day. I walk up a mountain 3 times a week, and it’s right in our backyard. That’s a pretty cool place to be. I’m a fan of Minneapolis and Chicago as well.
What does your girlfriend think of all these songs about all these songs about always being alone and miserable? She must be a saint! haha
She really is. I remember she told me that she thought the record was great, even if it wasn’t the most flattering tribute to her. So yeah, she’s either a saint, or even more of a screwball than me. When my sister heard the record, she slapped me on the back of the head and said “It’s really sad! What the fuck is your problem?” I thought that was pretty funny.
My first thoughts were how big and bold it was. How even when you’re showing your soul, it still feels powerful. And moving. Did that materialize in the studio? Or was that there all along?
I think I’m one of those people that can be pretty intense when I decide to flip that switch, and it’s not bullshit. Bill and I had a pretty rocky start to our relationship, so me working with him made it pretty intense. He would make me sing the song 30 times. I think he knew that by 28, I would be in the right zone for what sounds best for me. So to answer that, it’s always there, it just depends if a situation can get it out of me.
What I like is that it is one whole piece, not 12 separate tracks. It’s a puzzle. It CAN work separately, but it fits and flows and tells a story in a day and age when people are only interested in singles. What was the reasoning behind this approach?
That was my idea from the get go. I wanted it to be something that had to be listened to the whole way through. Like my friend Tony (from Shotbaker) told me when he was in the studio with us: “OWTH has a story. This is part of it, and that’s pretty cool”. I was pretty impressed that he understood that it is pretty much a story. It’s my story. That made this one stick out to me as being one specific time in my life. With the exception of one or two songs, this record is pretty much me telling the story of why I am the way I am, and I wanted it to be one long song. It didn’t turn out that way, but we met in the middle of what I wanted to do and what I was actually prepared to do.
Are there any other records or artists you looked at, to reach that goal? It seems like it would be a daunting task.
Off the top of my head, I can’t remember. David Comes To Life by Fucked Up was something that I thought was cool as a concept. I wanted to do something a little less complicated (which seems to be the route I’ve always taken), but still had a feel of connectivity throughout. Instead of telling the story of someone else and their relationship and having that be what tied the songs together, I musically tied ours together a bit and made the theme of the record more in a bullet point fashion than a short story.
You previously showed off your crooning skills on In Desolation’s My Episodes, But with your newly remodeled, angelic voice, recovered from the surgery your back crooning “Don’t Make Me Go.” Why another slow, beautiful song on this record?
I wrote that song about 5 different times. I spent so much time trying to turn it into an OWTH style song, but each try just took away from the original feel it had. I like all kinds of music, and I think OWTH has more of a vibe to me than a punk band. I can pretty much do whatever. If the vibe or feeling of what I’m trying to get across hits home and I’m happy with it, then it gets my thumbs up. Sometimes I have to fight with people to get these kinds of songs attention, but everyone in the band loved this one. Even Zack (of Dear Landlord fame) who played on the song told me “It feels really good to record a song that doesn’t sound like every single other song I’ve ever recorded in my life, even if it totally sounds like Temple Of The Dog.”. Ha. Dick.
What was the lineup for this record?
Same as always, except Robbie played bass on this one as opposed to Gangelhoff. So Myself, Justin, Zack and Robbie.
So you’ve had time to reflect and think about your time with Bill Stevenson. I remember you telling me it was a pretty interesting clashing of ideas. I’m curious what was your favorite argument with Bill, now that you’ve had time to reflect?
He was pretty against my songs from the get go. He didn’t know anything about us, and my demos for the record were not necessarily reflective of the outcome. Once he started to see them come together, I think he understood. We started talking about how I admired the voices of some old British skinhead bands. He would tell me stories about running away from those kinds of guys in Black Flag. Maybe that’s what I was trying to do! Get him to run. Ha. At one point he asked me how I would feel when Brett dropped the band because I wrote shitty songs. I left the studio a bit fuming. Everyone else just waited. It was a pretty bad moment. We all decided to just do what we wanted to do and he was going to have to work with us, not the other way around. He made a great record for us, regardless of our spats. I’m thankful to him for that.
And in some ways maybe better because of those spats?
Probably. At the time, I didn’t think it was productive at all. It stressed me out enough to get me in the zone I needed to be in though.
What’s next for the band and the release of the record? I see you have been filming some videos?
Yeah. I’m trying to make as many videos as I can for this one. We have a couple funny ones, a couple weird ones, and some other ideas on the back burner. When the record comes out, we are planning on hitting the road like we always do. I want to try and play with some different bands, play some festivals, and open for bigger bands that I like. I guess just more of doing what we do. I want to make sure and not wait as long to get something else out. 3 years is too long.
I love how open and candid you are. I’ve heard some funny as shit off the cuff, smart ass remarks at shows. You’re a hilarious twitter feed or whatever smart ass stuff you say in interviews. Does your “big mouth” ever get you into any trouble?
Not really. I used to get in dumb arguments with people who talk shit online. Now I just quickly defend myself with a joke and move on. Its a losing battle, and a pretty dumb thing to do. As far as shows go, it’s very similar to stand up comedy. If you don’t control the room somehow, you are going to have a bad show. I love when we open for a band and someone yells the genius classic “GET OFF THE STAGE!”. I always think that’s funny. I can get off the stage at any time, but the person yelling that will never have the opportunity to get on the stage. There have been a couple times I’ve wanted to jump in the crowd and drag people out of shows. Then I realize that I can just finish my shit, get my money, and go do whatever I want. That’s much more rewarding than whatever loser heckler has on their plate for the evening, which eventually ends up with them being hungover at work the next day. Have a great life!
