Good Riddance.
Congrats on the new record. How has your 2015 been so far?
It’s pretty weird to have a new record out. I never thought this would happen, but we’re really happy with it. We wouldn’t have continued to write songs if we didn’t think it was going somewhere positive. So far the feedback we’ve gotten from the people that have heard it has been great, which makes us feel really good. It’s easy for us to get encompassed in everything and be consumed by it, so it’s really important to hear honest opinions from people who know us and who know our music. Hopefully people like [the new record].
There are 14 songs on the record. How many songs did you actually write and record to get to 14?
I think we recorded 16. We had a lot of stuff when we started writing and we kept bringing stuff to the table. With our schedules being what they were compared to the last few times we’ve written albums–having to write around jobs, work, family, that kind of stuff–we really had to make the most of our time. But, yeah, we had a lot of material and were really quick and decisive about cutting down songs that didn’t fit the vibe. We didn’t want to settle on anything. We wanted songs that were only 100% the greatest songs we could have.
Since Tony Sly died a few years ago, a lot of bands have dedicated songs to him. Are there any songs on this new record that are a nod to Tony?
There aren’t. By the time we were doing this record it had been done multiple times. We go way back with Tony and No Use for A Name and I consider Tony a close personal friend. It wasn’t a box we had to check. Everyone else has written songs or covered songs. I cover one of his songs when I play solo shows. If something had come up organically it would have been fine, but it wasn’t like we went in saying “We’ve got to write a song for Tony.” But of course, I miss him like crazy. Music lost a great voice, for sure.
This album was recorded in The Blasting Room, correct?
No, it was recorded at Motor Studios, but it was recorded by Bill Stevenson, so The Blasting Room was in the house but it was in San Francisco.
What makes Bill such a popular producer to work with?
Bill recorded an album for us in 1999 called “Operation Phoenix.” Since then he’s produced everything we’ve done. I also play in a band with Bill and we have three records with him, so him and I have been in the studio together for years. Bill–since he goes so far back with us and we love what he gets out of our band–we feel like he understands where we are trying to get to with our songs. He brings to it not only the technical expertise to make it happen but a track record and a history of being involved in punk rock for so long that it’s really in his blood. We trust him 100%.
The first time I heard your band was in the late 90’s after the release of “A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Rebellion”. I’m really curious, that’s one of the albums missing on Spotify. Is there a reason for that?
I have no idea. I don’t even use Spotify. I admittedly don’t know anything about it.
What’s your take on today’s music landscape and all the changing models of consumption?
It’s been tough on the music industry, but it will adapt. I think it’s normal for new technology to come to the surface. If it’s better and make things move quicker and makes things more accessible, people are going to gravitate toward it. It’s sort of a natural progression. It’s been tough for a lot of record labels and bands, but it’s also been good for bands. Any time that technology changes the way music is consumed, there are growing pains. But change is inevitable. If you want to play music, you’ve got to roll with it and ask yourself “How can I use this to get my music out to the most people possible.” You’ve got to embrace it rather than piss and moan about the good ol’ days.
A read articles that refer to bands like Good Riddance as legacy bands, nostalgia acts, etc. What are your feelings on this nostalgia fascination?
It’s kind of funny because I can relate to it with bands that I grew up listening to. I did a tour with Tony doing our solo stuff in Canada. We were in Montreal and I was watching Tony play and the whole place was full of couples in their 30’s and 40’s. I was just thinking to myself, “most of these people probably met at a No Use for a Name show.” When they hear his voice and they hear those songs, it takes them back to a time before they had responsibility and the stresses of being an adult. For me, when I listen to music from the 80’s, even if it’s music that is cheesy and that I couldn’t stand back then when I was in school, I like it now because it reminds me of a familiar time when I was just a kid skateboarding around and I didn’t know about rent and taxes all that stuff. That’s one of the things that music and entertainment does for us generally. For bands like us, hopefully there a lot of younger kids now that are into punk rock that never got to see us play and are just getting into it. And hopefully there are also fans that are older that saw us in their formative years, and our music takes them back to a place with positive memories.
On “Peace In Our Time” are there any songs that took a different direction between the time you went into the studio and the time you were finished recording?
They were pretty much all intact. There are a million different ways to write a song. Some bands love the process of letting things happen organically. Some bands come in with bare bones and let the producer do the heavy lifting. We’ve always been a band that polices ourselves during the writing process really hard. We want to have everything done and finished to the best of our ability before we go into the studio. That means there is not a lot of unfinished stuff. With Bill it’s mostly just getting the performance out of us, asking us questions about arrangements, things like that. He knows what we want to do. But with the exception of our first album – where we really like this dumb local band that know what we were getting into – we’ve always been the kind of band that trims the fat before going into the studio.
You mentioned your first record, “For God and Country.” What’s it like now to go back and listen to those songs?
Playing the songs is fun. Listening to the album knowing what I know now, I always say “We should have doubled this or done a harmony there” or whatever. There’s a lot that I know now, but it was our first album and it was what it needed to be for that time. We really had no idea.
With so much material spanning eight albums, are there any songs that you wish you played live but don’t?
I can’t think of anything. Even on these shows we’ve pulled out some songs that we’ve never played live. Every time we’re going to do a burst of shows, Chuck and Luke will go through the catalog and think about what would be cool and what people would want to hear. We also have fans hit us up on Twitter and Facebook and if there’s a huge outpouring for a certain song, we’re definitely going to consider it. We’re always trying to mix up songs that we’ve never played live with the classics.
What’s an artist that fans would be surprised to find in your record collection?
The Psychedelic Furs. They’re one of my favorite bands with one of my favorite singers. I never miss the chance to see them live. They’re like an 80’s new wave band.
Do you keep up with current music these days?
I do a little bit. We get to play festivals and shows and we’ll walk into a club where someone is playing something over the PA, so I get introduced to bands like that all the time. Plus, iTunes radio has been great for me. Someone will suggest a band and I’ll listen to them and really like them so I’ll make a station and discover a bunch of stuff in the same vein. I’ve been introduced to a lot of bands like that. I made a station for a band called The National that I really like and started hearing all these other cool bands like The War on Drugs. It’s been cool for me to get out of my 80’s punk rock box for a little bit.
Have you come across any songs that you wish you’d written yourself?
Yeah. There’s a Frank Turner song called “Love and Ire.” It’s just genius. The way it’s orchestrated, the lyrics, what it’s about. It just gives me chills. It makes me want to quit writing music. Rhett Miller from Old 97’s. He’s another one of my favorite songwriters. There a couple songs he’s written where the lyrics are so perfect. I listen to him and think “How did he do that?” Punk rock-wise, there’s a band from Seattle called The Gits from the early 90’s. They have a song called “Second Skin” and it’s one of my all-time favorite punk songs.
How do you fit Good Riddance into your life now with all the projects you have going on outside the band?
We’re not as busy as we once were. We’re not crawling into a van for nine months out of the year. We get enough heads up about opportunities to play now and we all just look at our schedules and see if we’re all available then decide to do it. It’s tough with different bands, families, jobs, all that stuff, but so far it’s been working out ok.
What are you looking forward to most on this latest string of shows?
I’m excited to play new songs live. The whole reason we started playing again is because it felt good to play these songs. We love the old songs, but after a while you start to feel like a karaoke machine. I think any band, once you start playing together again, the urge to create new stuff just starts happening. Being able to put ourselves into that mode again of writing new material so many years later then having it come to fruition and present it onstage is something I’m looking forward to the most.
