“Tom started this band on his own to begin with, just
him and a guitar, knockin’ out his special brand of agitated acoustic rock. He’s the man with the words and it’s great to
be in a band with him. He draws on personal
references and it’s the best way, sing about what you know that’s what Hank
Williams always said and we live by that,” gleams bassist Andrew Seward. When 17 year old vocalist Tom Gabel first set
out to deliver a fresh level of solo rock optimism in
It’s a testament to the heart and soul of a band that
having just released a monstrous new major label opus, they remain true to the
values instilled by their lead singers’ original preconceptions. The early years for Gabel would deliver two
demo tapes and an E.P before, in collaboration with drummer Kevin Mahon, the
widely successful ‘Crime As Forgiven’ was written; a four song 7” followed by a
six track CD on Plan-It-X Records that is actually considered to be some of
their best work. Another acoustic EP
emerged with Dustin Fridkin on bass before
It’s this steady growth plan that has marked out their
ascendancy and following the underground success of ‘Reinventing…’, the band
recorded a further 3-song EP titled ‘Disco before the breakdown’, featuring a
ska style horn section, courtesy of friends and musicians from No Idea. It was here that bassist Fridkin left the
band and Seward stepped into his boots, though through slightly unconventional or
perhaps perfectly acceptable methods. “I
joined in the summer of 2002, two weeks before we recorded ‘Disco…’. I met Tom while I was touring with another
band but we stayed in touch and when that band dissolved, I sent him a drunken
email which pretty much said “hey, kick
out your bass player and sign me up!”
It was a total joke, a stab in the dark but amazingly he replied “really, he’s leaving to go to college so if
you can get down to
The next stepping stone came in the form of second
full length ‘As the Eternal Cowboy’ on Fat Wreck in 2003. An essentially more varied album than its
predecessors that hangs together perfectly with an upbeat positivity that’s the
perfect antidote to the negativity surrounding its release. Full of Billy Braggisms and shards of the
Dropkick Muprhy’s, the dirty gravel vocal leads the line perfectly and for the
first time, Gabel adopted a sincere smoothness that pushed the release into
some un-chartered commercial territory. Though
now into their sixth label relationship, Seward and co hold no grudges or
regrets, only good times. “We’re still
best friends with all our previous record labels. We still hang out with guys from No Idea, Fat
Mike in San Francisco.; they’re all proud and want the best for us. God bless them for that”.
There was a concern with this release that extra and
improved production would dilute the appeal and to a degree, it brought
segregation in the fanbase but for the band, it was all relative and part of
their natural evolution. With the second
album on Fat Wreck appearing two years later, ‘Searching for a Former Clarity’ was
a grower; clever yet never dull, witty yet never adolescent, it seemed to
bridge the gap between their debut and the self-alienated fan base following
‘…Eternal Cowboy’.
Later that year it was announced the band were to sign
a deal with Sire Records, a natural and perfectly understandable transition given
the bands growing appeal and potential, but one that would cause the most
unrest within their fast becoming fickle audience; the hoards’ sighting it as a
move away from their original anti-capitalist ethics. Some remained supportive but those claiming to
be long time fans are not its safe to say, on this crews’ Christmas card list. “People will always latch on to a bands’ decisions
and fortunes. Its one of the biggest
clichés for people now to say oh yeah I love your old stuff, we understand how
that goes. Can you imagine if they just
listen to the first Clash album or ‘Red roses for me’ by the Pogues, they’ll
miss out on all sorts of other great works.
Some people really show there true colours particularly on message
boards, which are incidentally pure shit. We see comments like, I really love the album
but I’d love it more if it was on No Idea rather than Sire. Who f***in’ cares man?! The perception of being signed to a major
label is blatant ignorance. It’s a huge
company yes but we own the decision to move to that, like the decision to
record with Butch Vig. For us it was a
golden opportunity and he’s the nicest guy in the world who can get the
craziest sounds, so of course we’re gunna go for it. We’ll catch shit for it but I’d rather catch shit
than have regrets. Its life and you
gotta grab the opportunities when you can.”
Not ones to fly in the face of public opinion, the
opportunity of working with producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins), would
temp any ambitious act these days. “We
signed before we got a list of producers.
Butch called us and came to see us live and then, it was the easiest
decision ever. People don’t realise how
nice he is, a true gentleman, just a mid west farmers son.”
It would prove the perfect marriage of experience and energetic
creativity. The results; a barnstorming collection
of punk rock masterpieces littered with gang-vocal thrusts, ‘New Wave’ has just
been unleashed to critical acclaim. A
riot of riffs and imperialistic anthems all frayed and furious, sweetened by Vigs
midas touch, it dazzles in comparison to the crackled and scrappy DIY brio of
the earlier LPs. As Seward testifies, they
had to do things differently this time around.
“We spent 3 months on this latest record which is a really long time for
us, but it was the quickest record Butch has made in 10 years. We were in the middle of
As the interview begins to close its obvious Seward
and his compadres love their chosen profession, are proud of their past and
excited about their future. One thing
that’s clear is that this collective are leaders rather than followers, they
take no paths but go where others fear to tread and leave a trail. It can only mean an unpredictable and
unconventional rollercoaster; we recommend you hang on for the ride.