Transcript (auto-generated, may contain errors; songs left out)
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Alright, thanks for tuning in to Sound Scene Revolution. I am Rich, and we are coming to you live on Halloween. If you're listening to it on the first day, if you're listening to it like on the second or third day, you are totally missing it, and it seems outday to you. Anyhow, this week we have an exciting interview with the newest fat band, Strike Anywhere, when they came through Santa Cruz. So, we also will probably have a contest. We are working on getting that together. If there is no contest, don't worry, we'll let you know. But you should enter to win, and we'll tell you how to enter to win, and what all the prizes will be later on in the show. So, stay tuned for that. Anyhow, we got to talk with Thomas from Strike Anywhere, who's kind of like a white Bob Marley, in that they both have dreadlocks, and that he is white.
That's about where it ends. Other than that, he's a pretty interesting guy. Very well read, very interesting. He is a vegan, for those of you who are into that. And he's a fun guy. So, stay tuned for the interview. Before we get into that, we're going to play a track off of Strike Anywhere's last album, Dead FM. We are going to play the track Preachers and Pulpits, which is on that album. So, listen to it, and then stay tuned for the interview. It'll be great.
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We are currently in the back room of... The Attic. Yeah. The Attic with Tom from Strike Anywhere, if you could say hello. Hello. Thanks for having us. Oh, thank you so much for taking the time. I mean, apparently, from the way things sound, you guys are kind of low on free time at the moment. Yeah, yeah. It's been a mess. We just had, like, a near-fire breakdown in the desert of Arizona, like, five days ago. And our touring vehicle is completely defunct, and we didn't know how we were going to get anywhere. And we rented a minivan, and our other tour mates, This Is Hell, Global Threat, and Bane, have been so kind to us, carrying whatever guitars and merchandise and other belongings in their trailers while we follow in a minivan.
Hopefully, we'll get our touring vehicle back. Any ideas, Wayne? It got fixed, and then it broke down again on its way out of the desert. So, I think right now it's entering eastern California. Yeah, hopefully it'll meet us by tomorrow night in San Francisco. Oh, well, that'd be good. So, the repair company is delivering it? No, no, we have a number seven, a sound man, who we left in Phoenix with some friends to wait on the repair and to meet us whenever he could with the truck and our equipment. That's a loyal sound guy, right? Yeah, well, it's his first tour with us, so we don't know. He may not want to tour again. I mean, I think he's been entertained with our friends and had a place to stay and things to do, so that's been good.
Very cool. I guess one of the first questions I want to ask, not so much a history of the band, but you guys all originally started in the Virginia area, right? Yes, in Richmond, Virginia. Yeah, Richmond. And now you guys have kind of scattered out since then? Over, yes, over time. But we were all together in Richmond for five years of our seven. So, it's only been very recently that people have, you know, decided, instead of breaking up the band because life takes you to different cities sometimes, we've just sort of maintained our loyalty to each other and our creative partnerships. So, yeah, I live in Portland, Oregon now with a spouse who's a law student. Oh, wow. Matt Sherwood lives in the mountains of western North Carolina with a spouse who's an art student.
And Matt Smith has lived in Baltimore for like four years. So, he's actually, he was the guy that lived outside of Richmond first, and then we finally all scattered. But our rhythm section stays in Richmond. That's good. So, it's important. Excellent. Do you feel, has that affected the band at all either way, or is it just, you know? You know, I don't think it has. Like, I think it's probably been in some ways better because we have different environments and different communities. And instead of having a practice schedule in a warehouse space where everyone's trying to juggle their work and their lives and their hometowns, like, we can really just meet up somewhere on the East Coast and have a dedicated weekend where we do nothing but eat, sleep, and breathe the band.
And also, on the bookends of our touring cycle, we can meet up and write music. And also, thanks to the strange democratization of technology, we can scratch out a guitar part and send it piggybacked on an email, and then someone else can sing over that and send it to someone else who puts another guitar part on it, et cetera. We can write music like that. And it somehow, like, gives you a really interesting amount of distance. Yeah. But when we can come together and we can justify it by playing them live and loud and making sure that they still make sense. Excellent, excellent. One of the things that is obvious is you guys get brought up a lot as one of the lead political, hardcore, punk, whatever you want to call it, bands.
And you're also labeled usually more intelligent. You avoid the sloganeerians and the cliches and stuff. Is that kind of a hard flag to carry? Is it kind of a lot to put on you guys ever? I don't know. We don't really know. So we don't really think about that that consciously. So I think we have to, like, evolve our concepts and find different ways of approaching ideas. And sometimes they'll sound very simple and sometimes they'll maybe be more complex than we meant for them to be. I think also trying to establish a way to circumvent the commodification of protest art by mainstream culture and by American media. You have to go beyond what's one-dimensional and what's easily digestible because otherwise you'll be playing into the idea that political punk is just a cartoon.
It's just a rallying cry for a disaffected and ineffective suburban cohort. And so we wanted to tie it into the fact that there are narrative stories and there's biographical and autobiographical information that can inform a political punk song and make it stick and have a lot more salience and heart than just writing some fast chords and screaming about using the same slogans that you see on every sign at every protest. I think it's important, too, to recognize that there's space for all of these kinds of punk bands in a movement. And, you know, I think we would never be as literate or as articulate or as, you know, genius-level lateral thinkers like Bad Religion or Propaganda. I mean, we're definitely just, you know, like working-class kids from the South that tell stories through, you know, music because we love Minor Threat and the Bad Brains.
You know, that's pretty much how we roll and it's a very easy way to describe us. So, no, we're not obsessed with, I mean, maybe it's a statement that music has gotten a lot dumber that people think we're intelligent. I don't know if I'd go that far, but if that's how, it's a very humble way of putting it. You mentioned, like, the commodification of political punk rock. Do you think that's kind of, I don't want to say help necessarily, but it's kind of made it easier for those bands to be gateway bands for, you know, like you mentioned, Propaganda and such? Or do you think it's kind of just made it, you know, kind of a mockery of what the original concept was? You know, it's interesting. I think the only way to really understand this is to, like, sharpen your intellect and cultural criticism with some of the soul-nourishing work of a man named Gita Board in the Society of the Spectacle.
And it talks about the kind of other life that the unconscious has when played across the flickering fabric of what we all collectively agree on is entertainment or media. And whether you agree or disagree, you're in agreement just by participating in a certain way. So I'm not sure I'm putting it as well as I should or as other people could. But I think we believe in the gateway theory, but we also believe that you can become poisoned by your collaboration on certain levels. And there has to be choices. And each band is really different. And each band's effectiveness in working it out is different. You know, like, not every band can go extremely mainstream, like Rage Against the Machine or The Clash, and have the same effect.
And it's kind of a risk, because if you don't, then maybe you're, like, taking these ideas, and despite your best intentions, you're getting played by them and played by the machine. But there's no way you can know. And I think it's really hard to strategize that when you start to make band decisions outside of the four or five members. And then, again, if you keep things as operationally pure and as grassroots as you possibly can, fighting about every choice and every decision, you will not have fun. You won't last very long as a band. And you'll become kind of obsessive in this way where, I don't know, we call it leisure class activism, where people are, like, they only surround themselves with the same kinds of radical thinking and the same very, the obsession with purity that I think does not help any kind of movement.
It doesn't educate folks that really could use these ideas. That's cool. Outside of a counterculture. I don't know. She just looked in. I don't know if she wanted anything. Anyway, I was going to ask, do you have, being that you are constantly asked about politics and such, I was going to ask, do you have any feelings about the upcoming November elections? We hear about them on, like, NPR as we drive through these pretty California landscapes in our minivan. And we feel kind of insane. I don't know. Like, in Virginia, there's, yeah, there's that man, George Allen, that said that unfortunate epithet. And, I mean, it just absolutely proves the, like, absurd caricature that the rest of the nation thinks about the South.
So the choices are pretty easy. Like, there's still a lesser of two evils easy, but the evil is just live and loud, you know. And there's not a lot of subtlety in it. Yeah, I mean, I think these congressional elections are really important. And I think the more local the politics is, the more people need to become educated and involved. And that's been a part of my life for as long as I've been able to vote, you know. And I'm always more interested in, like, the city council, the municipal elections, any congress folks, you know. And I think it's really important just to show the act of voting is interesting because, obviously, we don't believe that the system is just. But participating in it is a strange thing because it's this third moment of American life where you're not at work.
You're not in your, like, church slash religious ethnic culture. You're in another sphere, that weird third sphere of going to some municipal building and voting alongside other strangers and trying to figure out, like, am I educated enough about these ideas to do this? Like, and then once you do it, you're like, is this all I get? I mean, this is how we determine how I got here and who I am and why I'm working two jobs and have no health care and the richest nation on earth. And all of these things happen. So it's a part of encouraging people to vote from a punk rock platform isn't about – I mean, it's complex. It's not about supporting the system and saying that, like, this is fair and we've got the greatest democracy on earth and all those specious slogans.
But it's more or less about get in there and recognize what we don't have, you know, and so we can take that. Do they owe us a living even further? Very cool. Very cool. All right. So we're going to take a quick break into the interview, which is pretty fun. It's pretty interesting. I did it sitting down. I think he was standing up. So he was a little more high energy into it. He was kind of bouncing around. He's a fun little guy. If I remember, he was short, like, way short. I don't know how that plays into it, but it is important, I assure you. Anyhow, before we get back into the interview, we're going to play another track off of Dead FM. We are going to play – I guess we're going to play Sedation off of Dead FM.
Should be good. I enjoy it. I think you'll enjoy it as well. And remember, stay tuned at the end for rules on how to enter the contest that may or may not be taking place. Stay tuned and enjoy the interview.
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Does it surprise you, the things like with Senator Foley, with the emails and such, to the underage people, that things that seem like blatant crimes, I mean, that's a civil crime. That's not even some of the worst crimes that have been committed. But there's not more outrage that it's become almost so commonplace that people have kind of accepted them. I mean, does that – It's really strange. I mean, we don't – I don't know how to explain it other than, like, maybe we're so, like, numb and hyper-mediated that, like, the ability to make, like – to have, like, any kind of interpretation or analysis is fading from people's lives. I think there's also a sense of just exhaustion about it. And the sense that, well, someone else is going to handle this because I'm too tired and too busy.
And it's really strange. It's another reason why we're in the state that we're in in our country. Yeah, definitely makes sense. I was going to ask, Beck, a little more towards your music as you play in a band and such. I do. It's true. I've heard. There's been – a lot of people have been noting that there's a pretty big difference musically between, like, Exit English and Dead FM. What, to you personally, do you think is the biggest change? And is there anything in particular that influenced it? I guess, like, we were talking about the other night trying to figure out what it is. It changes the sound and Dead FM were written in a strangely the same way. Where a lot of the music was written with acoustic guitars and me in a room on a porch somewhere.
And all of my bandmates kind of contributed pretty equally to the process. And Exit English was more of, like, an exercise in something a little more controlled and sterile. Where we did, like, full turned up demos, like, before some of the vocals were written. And I think there's this sense of, like, it being just slightly less connected than the two records on this – that book ended. I think that Exit English is really interesting, though, because for some reason, like, we were all just kind of in odd places in our lives. And the mood is really honest because it was really disconnected. And my car had gotten broken into and all my notebooks, writings, journals, photos of my deceased grandmother.
Oh, my God. And the recording devices I had had. Most of the, like, creative documents that would have led up to the record were stolen while we were finishing writing the record. So that was a big part of why things were just – you know, we were – there was a bit of despair surrounding some of that. Yeah, yeah. But we just took our time with Dead FM, too. We had, like, three years to collect the songs and to rewrite them and to make sure that every moment, every bar, every drum beat was where we wanted it to be, you know. And I think there's this sense of, like, more efficiency. And everyone got a chance to put in – like, everyone wrote, like, six or seven songs each. So we had a battery of music that we loved that isn't even on the record.
Oh, wow. So it sort of, like, restarted our creative process, I think. Very. That's cool. Well, I mean, it definitely seems to have paid off. People seem to be very receptive to it, so. Well, thank you. But also, it's the hall of mirrors of press. If one reviewer says that the latest album, whatever they say about it, then other folks will pick up on that and be like, oh, so – and eventually it's just sort of like this game of Chinese whispers where it may not be what actually a lot of people think, but it's sort of like journalists talking to each other, thinking that someone did the research at some point, and now we're basing all of these ideas off of that. So, I mean, we're not really sure what it's going to mean.
Especially in the days of internet when you can read, like, get a translation of a German review of a record, you know, and then find out what someone in Canada thought about it two years ago. And it's weird. We just only recently started hearing about how Changes to Sound is classic. Really? And we're like, man, that's strange because that doesn't even feel that old to us. Yeah. And there's a lot of other records out there that we would probably consider classics before that, you know. Oh, well, it's got to be kind of nice to be put in that category along with those other bands. But I was going to ask, you guys are – it's been a very strange political climate in the past six or so years. Is it weird to look back at some of the songs you've written that were on Changes to Sound or even your guys' 7 Inches?
Or is it hard sometimes to relate to some of those because so much has changed in just that period of time? I don't know. I think there was some moment from the songs that are on To Live In Discontent, which is the 7 Inches in our EP, where we feel like they're more true now than they were then. There's something about how, like, just trying to relate. Maybe there was a sense of impending doom going on that we didn't really know about. At least to us, when we hear those songs back now, they feel pretty relevant. So I don't know if it's just that the times have always kind of felt like this, but we're taught to look at them in a fragmented way, whereas, like, we're humans. All of us are smarter than, like, our leaders give us credit for.
But we internalize this sense of ignorance when it's not really accurate. And I think that we have, like, a larger consciousness with each other and with time and with this place in history specifically. So maybe that's reflected in the fact that we don't feel that those songs are dated, really. That's cool. Because we weren't writing about, like, the senatorial election. Yeah. Like, any of the – and we weren't writing about Bill Clinton. We weren't writing about all the different, like, specific moments. We were writing about, like, social injustice and, you know, boredom and fabrications of culture that we're still right about, but it's hopefully in different ways. Which, for better or worse, are probably not going to change any time in the immediate future.
So kind of – No. I guess probably for worse, ultimately. But, yeah, we'll see how it goes. I want to ask you – you guys get a lot of questions about political stuff. So I got a few that I intentionally guided kind of away from the political. Maybe you don't get them a whole lot. But what do you guys do – do you have jobs when you don't go on tour and you're not playing with a band? We do. We're probably pretty dedicated – we're going to be touring for the next, like, two years. And we're ten days off in between tours to visit our loved ones and our hometowns and things like that. So probably not picking up a lot of work in those little breaks. But we can and will when we have to. But I think before this really intensive Dead FM touring cycle started, we were all working like a – not sure what it is, like a maintenance man for the small craft college that he lives at in the mountains of western North Carolina.
And that's when he picked up shifts bartending. So does Garth. Eric is a barista at, like, a basement coffee shop for the Medical College of Virginia. I'm serving coffee to doctors and med students. And I work as a produce manager at an organic produce market in Portland, Oregon. Wow. So we had definitely jobs that we worked hard, you know, in trying to make ends meet and all that. So I think it's also important – it would be strange for us to not, like, have things that connect us with our communities. You know, like, there's a surreal, strange, cypher-like quality of being a punk band that blazes into town, plays a show, and then goes somewhere else. And, like, we don't really – it's rare that we get a chance to really connect with the cities where we're traveling to.
So we need a place to get grounded between these tours. That's fair. I mean, it makes sense. What music are you listening to right now? Are you listening to music? Um, we – let's see. I guess I'm listening to, like, Who's Could Do is some. And we're all listening to, like, early dub, like the Trojan dub box set has made its way into our lives. And we always play around with little dub and reggae, like, segues and intros. And we have a lot of, like, dub versions of our hardcore songs that we just play for fun when we rehearse. So I think we're just kind of, like, following those instincts. And, like, a lot of punk bands do realize that, like, the root of a lot of this revolutionary simmering music didn't just start in 77.
Yeah. Makes sense. Cool. Better solo performer, Tim Berry of Avail or Chuck Reagan of Hot Water Music? You know, I love both of those guys, like, you know, intensely. And I've grown up with them, and they're some of my best friends on earth. And I could never choose between them. But, sadly, I've never seen either of them solo. Oh, really? Because that's what happens when you tour a lot. Yeah, you know. You should be, like, at your best friend's acoustic shows at your favorite bar in your hometown. Yeah. But you never are. And unless I run into Tim in, like, Greece or England or, you know, or Chuck, somewhere, you know, in another unlikely location, I may never see them play. But I'll pick up their recordings, and I think everyone listening to this should.
Yeah, definitely. Awesome. Is there anything you'd like to accomplish as a band that you guys haven't done yet? You know, I don't know if we have specific goals like that. And I think sometimes we just want to make sure that what we're doing still feels right and have fun and not get too, like, shrill and obsessive about this being a kind of career and understanding that we're a part of a movement that's bigger and broader and just know that our audiences deserve the world. And the way that people embrace our songs and carry the meaning forward into their lives is more brilliant and more intense than anything we could take credit for achieving. Cool. Cool. That's a lot more nobler than I've heard some bands say.
And I'm not, you know, most bands are like, I'd really like to play an 800-person venue. And you're like, yeah, that's, that's, it's not bad. I mean, you know, it's a goal. We're just all overwhelmed and grateful. We're having the best time on this tour with Bane and Global Threat, This Is Hell. So thank you very much. I should go get ready. Yeah, definitely. Have a good one. Thanks very much.
Not short, but it was ended fairly abruptly because Thomas like literally ran straight from the interview on stage and did the show. So I don't like, he wasn't rude or anything. He was just like, he really had to go. So I appreciate him taking every last minute of his time before he had to be on stage to talk to us. It was a really cool thing to do. And I mean, I was kind of bummed the interview ended real quickly, but he was super polite about it. So no hard feelings and all the best. Also, he didn't do a station ID. You may have noticed, but again, he ran absolutely out of time. And I don't hold it against him. I think I may love him. So we'll let it go on that. Anyhow, we're going to play one last track off of Dead FM at the end of the show.
Oh, we have a contest, probably. We're working on it. Check the website. It'll have the contest rules and all that and what we'll actually be giving away. But to enter the contest name, information in the line of the email, you send us at soundseenrevolution at gmail.com. In the line, subject line, just put Strike Anywhere Contest for the contest rules. As it is Halloween today, the day we are broadcasting, it may not be while you're listening to this, but as it's Halloween day right now, I want you to give me an idea of what you would use for a costume. If you have a photo of a really great costume you had, send us that photo. If you just have an idea, send us a really great idea. But you've got to explain it.
You can't be like, oh, I'm going to be a port-a-potty. Ha ha. Because, like, what? How do you do that? Explain, like, if it's a cool costume idea, explain how it would work. Drawings, diagrams, pictures, all that shit's acceptable. And, uh, SoundGuyNairman said, or you can send photos of your girlfriend naked. Um, that was his idea. I don't think we're going to get any of those. But, uh, if you do send that in, you also only count as one entry. We don't take special consideration for that. So, don't talk your girlfriend into it thinking you're going to get some free, uh, Strike Anywhere shit. Because, if you do not get a free CD out of it, and your girlfriend had to show her boobs to us, she's going to be pissed.
Trust me. Uh, every girl who we've ever seen naked now hates everyone involved with us. So, she will hate you as well. Um, that wraps up the show. Send us, uh, your entries, costumes, or nudie photos. And, uh, we're going to play one last track of Dead FM, and we're going to play Hollywood Cemetery. I hope you guys enjoy it. Stay tuned next week, where we will have a new show. And, uh, I think we officially celebrated our one year anniversary. Like, last week or something. So, we're excited about that. We're officially, uh, like, 40 shows into this. And, uh, I don't know. I've enjoyed it. I hope you have. And, uh, we'll see you all next week. This is Hollywood Cemetery by Strike Anywhere. And, uh, we'll see you all next week.
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