Is this the first
time that you’ve played the Revival Tour?
Yes. I’ve been talking to Chuck about it for a couple of
years of now. Could never get it to line up because the Get Up Kids were
touring or I was touring. All that kind of stuff. It’s just fun and random. I
was just, “Man, what am I going to do in March?” And then I got an e-mail from
Chuck and it was like, “Perfect!”
When Chuck calls, you
don’t want to turn him down.
Well, that’s unfortunate [how] I’ve had to turn him down.
Have you seen the
Revival Tour before? Has it come through St. Louis
or Lawrence?
I’ve seen clips of it on YouTube. I’ve never been to one of
the concerts. I know the gist of it. I know a lot of people who have done it
and have given positive feedback.
It’s kind of an
awesome thing you don’t see anywhere else.
Yeah, it’s interesting because I had a similar idea to do
something like that with my band, the New Amsterdams. And I just never did it.
[laughs] Other things kept coming up.
And now if I wanted to do it, [people would say] “Oh, you’re just ripping off
Chuck’s idea, huh?”
You did something
similar last year with the Where’s the Band? tour.
Yeah, but that’s just . . . When that came up, originally, I
wanted to take out the New Ams drummer and bass player because they can play
anything and they can back everybody up. My agent was like, “No because then
the name of the tour doesn’t make any sense. It would still be a band.” Any
he’s the one who came up with the name of that tour. That was more of four
dudes stripped down, you know what I mean?
Mm-hmm. Can you
remember the first time you encountered Chuck?
I met Chuck in 1997 because Doghouse Records released the
first Get Up Kids and the Hot Water Music record, Forever and Counting. I’m trying to think where was the first place
we met. Maybe in Germany?
Of all places. [laughs] Or probably .
. . Probably playing in Gainesville.
I don’t remember. We never toured with Hot Water. We always bumped into each
other at festivals or just random places. Wait, we did tour with Hot Water one time! On the Honda Civic Tour in 2004
and Chuck sliced his hand open and they had to leave the tour because he
couldn’t play guitar. I remember they had Dustin from Thrice fill in for one
show.
Yeah, that’s right!
Wasn’t it towards the end of . . . Well, the band’s broken up a few times. But
this was towards the beginning of their second break-up, I believe?
Yeah, I don’t ever know when or what their status is.
They’re doing shows now. Don’t you know bands never really break up? [laughs]
Oh, I know. Just to
let you know, in case you hadn’t picked up on it yet: I was that guy who wrote
a book about where a lot of emo and post-hardcore came from.
OK.
There was a chapter
devoted to the Get Up Kids and one devoted to Hot Water Music, and what happens
after the book comes out? Almost all of them get back together. [laughs]
[laughs] What was
the book called?
Post.
Post?
Yeah! It’s cited on
Wikipedia, surprisingly. I interviewed you over e-mail. I also interviewed Rob,
Ryan, and Jim.
Oh, OK! I remember that!
Yeah, so I’m that guy.
Right on, man! Small world!
It was a humble
effort document something that nobody else really wanted to document properly
at the time. So, there’s some stuff that’s very dated now, but hey, that’s what
happens. Wanted to ask, how did you get into podcasting?
Well, for years, I had always listened to stuff like NPR
shows, like This American Life and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me! Last year, I
got really, really burnt on music and I really thought that I wanted to switch
careers. I was like, over it. So I went to go work on a farm. I’m really into
growing a lot of my own food in my house. It was like, “Well, I like cooking
and I like food,” so I was able to work on a food truck and then I was able to
work on a farm. You know, when you’re picking vegetables for eight hours, it’s
kinda boring and repetitive. I had heard about Marc Maron and Jay Mohr. I’m a
big Kevin Smith fan, so I started listening to his thing. All of sudden, I was
like, “These are awesome!” It’s total long-form conversation. It’s not an
interview; it’s people hanging out and telling stories. That’s something you do
backstage or jam on the bus. [I was] like, “Well, if comedians can do it, I
know a lot of people in the music industry.” That’s where it started.
I texted Todd [Bell] when your interview
with him went live and I asked what you guys recorded it on, because it sounded
pretty good. I know y’all weren’t in the same room, but he said it was Skype.
Is Skype what you interviewed Evan [Weiss] on?
Yeah! I’ve actually done more Skype interviews than live
ones because the live ones are kinda tough to wait for people to either come to
me or me to come to them, which is less likely. [laughs]
The one that you did
with Bob [Nanna], was that also Skype?
That was Skype, yeah. It’s interesting: you have to be in
the mindset for it, in the same way that you and I are talking and not seeing
each other. You just have to pretend. Especially if you speak with your arms a
lot. You know, you do a lot of gestures when you speak passionately about
something. You start realizing that you’re doing that to a computer. You know,
they can’t see you. I specifically don’t do video chats because those are
uncomfortable.
I don’t blame you.
Besides, it’s not a visual medium anyway.
Correct! I have to
say, the interview that you did with Evan, even though he touched on things
that I talked with him about last year, was inspiring. It’s nice to hear people
younger than us not wanting to take the path of Fall Out Boy or the
All-American Rejects. They want to take the route of the early Get Up Kids.
I know! Isn’t that fuckin’ awesome?
Yes it is!
I met Evan when he was here. I was like, “What’s this kid?
Some kind of emo throwback guy?” The more I got to know him, the more I talked
to him about it, I was like, “Holy shit, it’s kinda like ‘The Dream of the
Nineties’ is alive in indie rock! These are my people!” Obviously I am older
and have a family, but it still is the sensibilities that I was attracted to
with punk rock. You know what I mean? It makes me so happy.
It’s obvious that
this music is coming from a truly genuine spot.
Well, yeah! Recording technology has come so far that they
can make decent-sounding records for very little money.
Even the stuff he
recorded for that 52 Weeks project,
where he said the total cost was $2,000 by the end of it, pretty much all of
those songs sound good.
Yeah, I was surprised that he did them all . . . That was
another idea I had at one point. I’ll just do a song a week for a year, but
that would mean do an acoustic guitar and sing it into GarageBand. You know
what I mean? He went all-out with it.
Do you young bands
contact you? Here’s where I’m coming from with that. When I interviewed Ryan
about young bands that were coming into Black Lodge. He said they reminded of
him when the Get Up Kids started, but at the same time, they had this eye on a
prize. So I’m curious what you have seen in the last few years.
I actually don’t have my ear to the ground that much as far
as new bands. It’s one of those things where like, I find out about things
really randomly. I’m trying to get this together in Lawrence and there’s a lot of great local
talent here. So I’m trying to get something that’s like a weekly residency
somewhere. I can play new stuff and bring in a local band that I like and we
collaborate. It’s a way to get back in touch with the local music scene. I do
listen to a lot of podcasts. I listen to less music now than I have.
I’ve heard from a
fellow local band that Ryan has moved back from France
and Robbie is back from Brooklyn. Is that, in
any way, indicative that there are Get Up Kids shows or projects coming.
No. [laughs] If
Robbie is back in Lawrence,
I haven’t seen him. I know Ryan’s back in town, but his wife is still in Paris and gonna finish
school. But no. We’re very much . . . You know that kind of thing where the
band broke up and took a three-year-break?
Mm-hmm.
We’re taking a long break and not really worrying about it.
Doing other things. It’s a healthier thing to do than to break up.
Oh yeah. With other
bands, when they break up, there’s all kinds of hurtful things said in the
press and then when the band gets back together, there’s a thought that
everything is cool. Then you realize everything is not all water under the
bridge.
That was something I was conscious of when I quit the band
in 2004 and we broke up in 2005. At least for me, I didn’t want it to be like,
“We’re breaking up because James is a dick!” I wanted to be like, “Well, it’s
run its course. We want to leave it as friends.” But we said hurtful things to
each other and behind each other’s back. [laughs]
It’s kinda the, don’t fight in front of the kids. You know?
I understand. Besides
the Lasorda record, you’ve done stuff with James [Dewees].
He and I are actually working on an album.
And the podcast. What
else do you have time for doing?
The last New Amsterdams record is coming out March 5th,
which is a collection called Outroduction.
It’s a collection of all the songs over the history of that band that I always
really liked, but for one reason or another, didn’t fit on whatever record I
was putting out. Some of favorite, favorite
songs, but it would be the one big rock song on an all-acoustic/sad record. So
it would get shelved. It’s kinda like having leftovers in the fridge. I wanted
people to hear those songs.
Something that’s been
wracking my brain every time I listen to the podcast: What is the intro music
that you use?
It’s a song called “Dear Lover” that’s actually a New
Amsterdams song. It’s one of my favorite New Ams songs. It’s actually Dewees
playing the piano on it. It’s always killed me that it never fit on anything.
We’ve actually recorded it four times; that’s the first one. That’s on Outroduction. It’s the second track.
Something cute that
you did last year was when you and your kids recorded a version of “Christmas,
Baby Please Come Home.” Any plans to do that again down the road?
Well, I’ve released two albums for kids.
Oh yeah, the Terrible
Twos!
I’m finishing up the third one right now. Hopefully that’s
going to get finished before I leave for the Revival Tour. I don’t know when
that will come out. Fall, maybe?
I had never heard the
Terrible Twos’ music until last year. I was riding around suburban Chicago with some married
friends of mine and they have a seven-year-old and a two-year-old. They kept
singing “I Am A Rake.”
[laughs] It’s not
too far off from early New Amsterdams stuff. It’s just the lyrics are about
dinosaurs and bugs.
And chocolate milk.
Yeah! Those are really fun to write, but then you find
yourself recording them . . . Time management is kind of a big thing for me
because I have kids. You’re re-doing the vocal take of a song about chocolate
milk and you’re like, “What the fuck am I doing with myself?” [laughs] It’s great when you start
meeting those kinds of people in that kid’s music type of world. There are
people who take it really, really seriously. It’s always really funny to me. Because
I’m like, “These are songs for kids, right?”
On a related note: do
you watch Portlandia?
Oh yeah! I love it!
Did you see that
episode where Carrie and Fred are convinced that they must create a band they
would love to play in and play it for kids? They make all this drone-y noise
and all these kids sit there baffled.
[laughs]
And then comes in a
band where the singer had a handlebar mustache and singing really poppy stuff.
In a way, it was like Yo-Gabba-Gabba!
I thought it was perfect. Talking about those friends who played “I Am A Rake”
for their kids, the husband played in Allister and they put up Boxer and At the
Drive-In.
Punk rockers grow up and have families too, you know? I
don’t know. What’s interesting is that my kids are getting older so it’s
becoming less intriguing to me. I’ll at least do this last one. We’ll see how
it goes. Maybe I’ll get a Nickelodeon show out of the deal.
Could it be in the
next few years that your oldest would want to sing “Coming Clean”?
She’s really into female singers. Like, she really likes Tegan
& Sara and Neko Case. She hasn’t gotten into the angsty thing yet. But I’m
sure it’s coming. [laughs]
Are your kids more
familiar with you from the Get Up Kids or the New Ams?
They’re more familiar with New Ams because that who they
toured with. New Ams and solo stuff has been more of the focus since they’ve
been cognizant of what’s going on. I don’t really listen to my stuff around the
house anyway, so I’m sure they’ll find it. [laughs]
I’m sure at some
point you’ll be asked how awesome it was to record Four Minute Mile in 48 hours.
[laughs] I’ll tell
them the same thing I tell everyone else.
I remember Rob, Ryan,
and you telling me about how the only times you took breaks was when The Simpsons was on. But there weren’t
many breaks
[laughs] No there
were not!
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