While on tour in Italy with Millencolin and Anti Flag, I got the chance to go see the show and interview the Donots. I talked for more that half an nour with Ingo, the singer, a very nice and funny guy, who made me love Donots even more. Guido, the guitar player, the guy on the cover of “Pocketrock”, is the funniest guy Ihave ever met. He did not take part in the interview really, but he gave us some names of his favourite bands ever. I encourage everybody to go check out the Donots, this band put up the best and most energic show I ever saw!!! They are also on the second Truepunk.com compilation called “Empty Hearts, Broken Bottles.”

Interview by Carlo Gironi (carlo@staff.truepunk.com) with Ingo.

The new album from The Donots is called “Got The Noise” and will come out at the end of June. However on June 1st, you can pick up the band’s new single “We’ve Got The Noise.” We talked with Ingo, lead singer of the band, and he told us a lot of things about their new songs to the Donots future plans. Enjoy reading.

Hi Ingo!! How are you doing?
Thanks! We’re doing just great – yesterday we played the first open air festival of the year with the likes of International Noise Conspiracy and Strike Anywhere and we definitely had a blast!

Your new album is named “Got The Noise” and will be out in June in Germany. I haven’t heard it yet, so, how would you describe it? How are the new songs, what do they deal with and what is the general feeling of the record?
We’ve recorded the whole album in a live situation which means the other guys were playing altogether all the time and we sort of looked for the magic moments rather than 100% perfection. Basically we tried to capture our live energy on the recordings so we went into the studio without thinking too much about the recording process itself. The new record has definitely got more balls and less brains compared to e.g. the last album “Amplify The Good Times”. I guess, we’re a lot more focused on the new record when it comes to song-writing and sound wise we kept everything a little rougher which lives up a lot more to what our band is really all about.

Why did you call it “Got The Noise” - are you ready to make some noise?
You bet we are… Wembley Arena, scream for me!!! Hahaha!

Is it different in any way compared to your older albums “Pocketrock” and “Amplify The Good Times”? I think the first was more pop punk, while the second was more rock’n'roll: what should we expect from this new album?
I guess, if you’re into the older records then you’ll definitely feel comfortable and at home listening to the new one but then again you might also be surprised what else we have in store. Certainly there are the typical Donots-hooklines and tiny power pop anthems on the record but there’s a lot more energy involved this time around. Some of the songs on “Got The Noise” are the fastest and most aggressive songs we’ve ever written (for example a song called “Disappear”). On the contrary there’s also a song called “Good-bye Routine” for instance which is acoustic guitar driven and very singer/songwriter influenced (we’ve been listening to the Weakerthans, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty and Elliott Smith a lot recently). When it comes to melodies I sense a tiny 80s wavepop influence on “Got The Noise” which gives the typical Donots-trademarks sort of a vintage edge that we all like a lot…

On your previous disc “Amplify The Good Times” you had a song “The Up Song” where you sung with the guys in Midtown; then you did a song with Anti Flag. Do we get some special guests on this new record?
Yup, once again there’s good friends of ours involved in the recordings. Our buddies in 3 Colours Red from the UK added some great guest-vocals and played guitars on a rock´n´roll-song called “Knowledge” and Jason Perry from A did some awesome vocals on a track called “Alright Now.” They’re all such talented and nice people and we’re very honoured to have them on the record…

For “Amplify…” you worked with some famous dude who also worked with Guano Apes, which maybe is the most known German rock band out here. Did you still work with him for this new album? Also, I know you worked with some guy named Fabio Trentini. Can you tell us more?
Well, Fabio Trentini actually is the guy who produced the Guano Apes and our last two albums. And yes, he’s been producing “Got The Noise” as well – he’s a great musician, has got fantastic ideas and most important: he’s one of our best friends. He is Italian and plays bass in the German crossover-rock band “H-Blockx”. We involved a new engineer, though, because we wanted another “pair of fresh ears” coming from a different musical background. The guy who did it this time around is called JEM and he’s more a fan of indie-rock bands such as the Pixies, the Rapture and stuff. And finally – the guy who co-produced my vocals is once again Jeff Collier – a very cool guy from the states.

How long did it take to write and when did you record the new CD? It looks like you write songs very easily, as you released a lot of records in just a few years. Some bands take ages to release a record, while I think you’re quite fast, which is super cool for fans like me. What’s your secret?
Basically we just go into the rehearsal room and start jamming on new riffs whenever we’re at home and not on tour. We’re a very democratic band so everybody has his say when it comes to writing new material. We try to reduce every song to the max which means we don’t “waste” all of our riffs on just one song. We’d rather keep the song and its riff structure simple.
Last September we took a complete time out from playing live in order to concentrate on the new record because we wanted to go back into the studio by the end of the year. I guess we’re working a lot better and focused when we’ve got a time schedule set up already (at least that is true for me and writing the lyrics and melody lines). We’re just happy that after ten years of being in this band we’re still creative together. It’s a great feeling!

For a record, some bands enter the studio and record something like 30 or even 40 songs and then they choose just 12 or 14 songs to put on the record. How is it for you? did you record a lot of songs or you already knew which were the songs that had to go on the final CD?
This time around we recorded some 20 songs altogether but we’re not gonna put them all on the album. I think it’s a cool thing to have a big variety of songs you can choose from in order to make the album as perfect as possible. There’s gonna be 13 songs on the album since we want to keep it tight and compact. My favourite records always give me the feeling that there’s at least one song missing on the album so I play the record over and over again. If there’s too many songs on the album it’s more of a challenge to listen to the whole album rather then enjoying every minute of it.

Have you already performed live some of the new songs? If so, how was the reaction of the crowd? Speaking of performing songs, what are the songs you like to play the best? From the point of view of the crowd, I love “Rollercoaster” and “Get Going” so much…
Thanks a lot! Well, we’re starting to add some new songs by now and so far the reaction of the crowd was always quite cool. I can’t wait to finally release the new album and go on tour again so the kids already know the new songs. I sort of like all of our songs live a lot – at the moment I totally dig playing “Watch You Fall” and “Saccharine Smile”…

Sometime ago there was your video for “Saccharine Smile” on the TV, the song was awesome and the whole idea of the video was fantastic. I remember there were you playing for money in a peepshow stripper girl type situation. Was it fun to make that video? And how had that idea for this video? That was genius!
Thank you! Good to hear you liked the video. I guess Alex came up with the idea of having us play on a spinning platform in sort of a striptease situation. It’s a lot of fun but also weird to shoot a video since you’re playback-performing the song all day and jump around like crazy although you’re not really playing the song…

I know you toured Japan and had a lot of success over there - how is Japan to you? I mean, I heard crazy stories about Japanese kids and also grown up people. For example, I heard that kids jump all around the “rock stars” to take pictures, and during the shows, these kids make a lot of noise during the songs, while during the moments of pause, between a song and another one, they are all silent and stuff. How was your experience in Japan?
Japan is the best place to tour in the whole wide world. The kids are so enthusiastic and they’re really dedicated fans. Everybody in Japan is just so nice and peaceful. Respect is a big issue in the country and once you’ve been there you realize how badly behaved European people are. We’ve been there twice and the feedback we got is just incredible. We’ve sold so many albums over there and the tours have been amazing. It’s weird – they even have songs of ours in every karaoke machine… We’re going back to Japan this year for sure. I can’t wait… (Oh, by the way – everything you mentioned above is absolutely true.)

You have a lot of success in Germany, and in Europe you are very well known, and so in Japan I guess. While what about the United States? If I don’t go wrong, you never released a CD over there? Don’t you wish to go there and make some noise for the American kids?
We’d love to tour the US but apart from a show in New York on the CMJ music fair we’ve never been to the states. We’re pretty realistic about doing America: It’s such a big continent and if you really want to get a foot into the door you’ll have to tour there at least for half a year (which then again is half a year of not earning any money in Europe whatsoever – and the band is not only our hobby but also our job so we have to tour over here to pay our rents). Epitaph and a couple of other labels were sort of interested in putting us out but we didn’t sign any deal over there yet. It would be very helpful to get to play a big support tour in the states (e.g. New Found Glory or something) but unless that happens for us we’re definitely concentrating on Europe and Japan more…

What about the German music scene? I know there are a lot of bands, but I think you’re just the best. I know bands like The Beatsteaks, Terrorgruppe, Skin Of Tears and Waterdown among others, but I think they are a bit slow and not very original. How do you see the music scene in Germany? Are you as big as Guano Apes over there?
I think there are many great bands in Germany. All the bands you mentioned are really really cool plus there’s just so many more that should deserve a lot more attention in the rest of Europe, e.g. Muff Potter (sort of Germany’s Jawbreaker – singing in German), Kettcar (very cool mixture of singer/songwriter stuff and electronic parts), Pale (Jimmy Eat World meets The Jam), Everest or the December Peals (compared to Saves The Day), Flyswatter, One Man And His Droid (very talented Fireside-esque band), The Vaders (Germany’s Rancid) or Force Of Change (positive Old School Hardcore). We’ve got a section on our website www.donots.com which is dedicated to talented newcomer bands. It’s called “Amplified” and we offer bands that we like the chance to post MP3s, live dates, info and bio about their band on our site. Also I try to book those bands on to our tours in Germany as local supports every night.
We’re not as big as the Guano Apes. They’re like super huge over here. We’re doing really really well in Germany but we’re still not like big time millionaires or something…

I know you had a song called “Whatever Happened to the 80’s” on “Pocketrock”; and you also released a cover album of 80’s songs. Why do you like those years so much? Did they mean a lot to you?
There’s been some really good parts about 80s music and some really cheesy ones. We like the wavepop-stuff like New Order or The Cure a lot, Billy Idol and Madonna were really cool - but stuff like Modern Talking is just annoying. 80s metal is a very nice thing then again – Anthrax, Metallica, Slayer, Twisted Sister, Running Wild – need I say more? We put out a cover record of metal songs that we really like. One can say that the 80s had quite an influence on our band and if you listen closely you can defineatly hear it every now and then.

The times I saw your live shows you finished the concerts with the song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” - what about heavy metal? Is it something like your “secret” pleasure? What are some heavy metal bands you listen to? Do you listen also to modern heavy metal acts like In Flames, The Haunted and the likes?
Well, for the most part I listen to older metal stuff. The two most recent metal albums I bought and really like are Anthrax “We’ve Come For You All” and the Probot record. Also I still totally dig Pantera. Metal has been a big influence to me and Metallica is still one of my all time favourite bands.

Lately it looks like this is the moment of so-called “nu emo” music: lots of new young bands that play emo music like New Found Glory and The Ataris are coming out and the thing is not very funny. What’s the trend in Germany? How do you see the European punk/hardcore scene? Do you consider a part of any scene or you just don’t care?
Basically we’re playing for everybody and I would not want to limit us to just one scene. There’s so many nice people in the punk/hardcore scene but also so many narrow-minded, self-centered idiots. We’re just trying to do our own thing and follow our hearts and I don’t think we need a title like “punk” for that necessarily. We’re just five kids that like to play rock music. We’ve never followed any trend or fashion in the last ten years and that’s the way it should be. If you’re getting influenced by bands like The Ataris and New Found Glory then there’s nothing wrong with that – I like their music. But you shouldn’t try and just copy those bands – you should develop your own trademarks in the end and don’t rely on shallow words like “emo”…

The first time I saw you, you were playing with Millencolin and Anti Flag in Europe; then last year you played at the Deconstruction Tour (but I couldn’t come too see you - sorry ). What are the best memories you have of Italy and the Italian crowd and when will you be back?
We love playing in Europe a lot. The kids are really nice and the shows were a lot of fun, be it in front of 20 people or in front of some 4000 kids. Places like Italy rocks and we’re gonna come back on tour for sure. Big promise. Thanks to all the kids that attended our shows! Please check back on our website www.donots.com regularly for tour dates etc.

What are some of the latest records you listened to or, if you haven’t heard to new music, what are some bands/records you like to listen to regularly?
Here’s my playlist at the moment:
The Police – Best Of
Alkaline Trio/One Man Army - Split
Johnny Cash – Unearthed Box Set
The Jealous Sound – Kill Them With Kindness
The Living End – Roll On
The Descendents – Cool To Be You
Solea – s/t
Maxeen – s/t
The Clash – London Calling
Sophia – new one
One Man And His Droid – Party People
Muff Potter – Heute Wird Gewonnen, Bitte!
New Order – Get Ready
And many many more…

Speaking of future plans, can you tell us what you are going to do to promote the new record? Touring, music videos, radio singles? I know you already have a single…
We’ve just shot a new video to the first single “We Got The Noise” which is on rotation in Germany already. The single will be released on the 1st of June over here and the album will come out in the end of June. At the moment I’m doing quite a lot of interviews and we’re heating up for the open air season. We will be playing festivals like Rock Am Ring this summer and our European club tour should be starting in the middle of September. Hopefully we’ll get to tour Italy a lot then…

Any final comments for our readers?
Yeah – thanks a lot for reading the interview and thanks for all the support we got from you! If you like to find out more about us please check out our website and please listen to our new record “Got The Noise”! We hope to see you in Italy sometime soon…

Thank you so very much for taking the time for this interview!!
Thanks for the interview! Take good care!

Meghann had a chance to interview the band Brand New back in 2005.  Brand new has been around since early 2005 and was at the time of this interview signed to the label Triple Crown.

Interview by Meghan Dunn / megan@staff.truepunk.com

How long were you guys a band before you got signed?

Jesse: Not very long, about six months I think. Um, our label Triple Crown, they came to our second show ever, and they were kinda following us around since then. It was kind of us who made the decision to not sign right away, so we waited a little while about six months I think, five or six months.

Were you in any bands before Brand New?

Uh, yea I was in a band called The Rookie Lot, with Brian and Garrett as well, and Brandon from The Movielife. And I was in a couple high school bands with my friend John from Taking Back Sunday.

What’s your favorite city to play in?

Favorite city to play…..Probably New York, just because it’s home, but I mean there’s a lot of them, ya know, I love Iowa City, Chicago’s really great, Portland, Anaheim, San Diego, all those places are just awesome.. Dallas.

What’s your favorite song to play live?

Probably, Uh I don’t know……right now its probably Jaws Theme Swimming, a track off the new record. I really like playing Soco Amaretto Lim off the last record, its like one of the songs that I really feel like the gap between us and the kids closes, and its more like how it use to be, like playing smaller shows, you can hear everyone singing and everyone gets into it.

Who are your main influences?

Musically, its probably The Smiths, Morrissey, Sting, Elvis Costello, The Police, Bruce Springsteen, but I mean there’s a lot of non musical stuff too, Douglas Copeland, like a lot of authors. I watch a lot of movies, and like I take stuff from all those places.

Did you get a lot of support from family and friends when you first started?

Family, yea. Everyone’s been supporting us since the very beginning. A lot of people didn’t like, our family especially, I don’t think it really sunk in for a while that we were actually gonna be able to pull this off kind of. But luckily we started to and they came along. But I mean they were never negative about it, they were always glad that I was doing something or that we were doing something. And now that its kinda gone to where its gone, they’re even more into it then they ever were, even more so then we are sometimes, its really great.

How would you describe your sound?

I don’t. Usually I try not to ya know? We play guitars, and were in a rock pop band, but I mean that doesn’t really describe us very well. I usually just tell people to listen to it, and listen to the record, and come see us live, and that’s the best way you can find out.

Between your new album and your first the lyrics are really diverse, what was the difference in the writing process?

There wasn’t much of a difference, it was still pretty much like an utter state of panic, ya know? But uh, we all grew up a lot. You know, a lot of things went one between the time we recorded the first record and the second record. I learned a lot about myself, and I learned a lot about just writing and just about like how to say something the right way, and I don’t know, just kinda like a natural progression basically.

What do you hope to bring to the crowd when you perform?

We just hope everyone’s getting out of it what they want to ya know…I mean we don’t want kids to jump around, we don’t want kids to cry, or laugh, or anything. We just want them to enjoy the music in whatever way they feel that they want to. I mean you know how there’s no real guideline for how your suppose to act at a show. If you enjoy the band, and if your there to see us, and you just wanna sit and listen to the music basically, or if you wanna go nuts, I guess its just all the same, just as long as your having a good time.

How did the tour with Vendetta Red and Dashboard come about?

Well, were good friends with Chris and the guys from Dashboard. We toured with them before, so when the opportunity came up, they just asked us, they said do you wanna come out and we said yea……That was it, it was very simple….

If you could tour with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

I would like to tour with The Smiths, or the Beatles, just because those are the bands I would watch every single night, and be just utterly amazed by I guess. Ya know….

What are you listening to right now?

A band called Neutral Milk Hotel, I’m really into their record. I listen to Coldplay a lot, Mushmouth…..

Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?

No, I just change into the clothes that I wore on stage the day before, that way I only have one set of disgusting clothes, haha yea that’s it….

If you could give advice to aspiring musicians, what would it be?

Take risks, and play what you think you wanna play, and if it seems like your doing something that might be scary , or that people might not like, then your probably doing the right thing usually. That’s like where the really great stuff comes from, when you kinda take a risk. That’s all, just keep playing basically, just keep playing shows and find people that like you, cause they’ll be there. That’s it……..Thank you guys so much for this, I’m out!

Christiansen is one of the latest bands that signed to Revelation Records; after a full length on Eulogy, these four guys have just released an EP entitled “Forensics Brothers and Sisters!” on Revelation. They sound like a mix of Fugazi, Thrusday and At The Drive-In. They are a band you should keep an eye on. <

(Note from Jon: You should like Christansen just based on the fact that they are better than your band, plus Terry works at Intial with Ryan, big ups my niggas

Interview by Carlo Gironi ( carlo@staff.truepunk.com ) with Terry Campbell.

Can you sum up a story of how you met, how Christiansen got together and how you started playing ?

We all played in Louisville bands growing up. Brandon (singer/guitarist) Brad (bassist) and myself (drummer) were in different bands growing up. No one knew who the fuck we were outside of Louisville. I guess we were in like the local hometown hero bands. You know, like the next generation. Robby (guitar) was in previous bands that were pretty well known. He played in The National Acrobat and By the Grace Of God. We were always friends so we kind of all merged and formed Christiansen… and here we are.

Your latest release is “Forensics Brothers And Sisters!” - what does the title refer to ?

“Forensics Brothers and Sisters!” is all about origin and your roots. Yes, yours too… Forensics is kind of an abstract way of referring to true identity, your fingerprints. People tend to stray from their true identities and mold to other things whether it’s a group of “individuals” that they would like to associate themselves with or society as a whole. It’s easy for people to just sort of go with the flow. We like to think of it as somewhat of a movement. Picture a large group of people with their fists in the air chanting FORENSICS BROTHERS AND SISTERS! ??

Is the new EP your first release of Rev Records ? Have you done some
other releases before with the moniker of Christiansen - I saw you have some
release on Eulogy ?

Yes it is our first record under Revelation we just signed with Rev in the Spring. We had a full length on Eulogy. It was a little different from what we’re doing these days though.

How did you get in touch with Rev Records ?

Well I sent them the stuff that we were shopping around to labels which happened to be the EP and I followed up with them to see what they thought. Everyone at Rev was extremely into the band. They came to see us when we played at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, TX and they liked us even more after seeing us live. We talked to a few other labels, but we went with the Rev Empire… It was that easy.

I know that each band member played before in bands like The National
Acrobat, By the Grace Of God and The Enkindels : did some member play in
other bands ? Do you think those experiences helped you to be in Christiansen or do you think you will do different things with the new band?

Actually just our guitarist Robby Scott was in the bands that you mentioned. I think that any past musical experience contributes to future musical experiences and endeavors. We are definitely doing something new that we haven’t attempted before, but it’s only the product of our combined ideas. ?????

Your sound is described as a mix of “the passion of Fugazi, energy of
Thursday and musicianship of At The Drive-In” - do you agree ? How would you
describe your music to a person that never heard of you ?

Whoever wrote that has heard us and that’s what they got from it. I’m sure that everyone will have their own interpretations of what we sound like. Usually the only way to describe to music to someone that hasn’t heard it is with comparisons to other bands. It’s always extremely awkward when people ask what we sound like. The best thing I can do is tell our influences, but I don’t think that our sound has anything to do with our influences. Those definitely aren’t bad bands to be compared to since they are/were ?popular. You know ???
What do you consider your main influences ?We listen to lots of Refused, Sly, Radiohead, The Who, Dre, Led Zeppelin, Bjork, Shadow, Outcast. Pretty wide variety. ??What does the name “Christiansen” refer to ?

For more than a generation, SoCal punk vets Bad Religion have been pumping out the right balance of passion, melody and angst and the quintet’s 15th and latest studio album The Empire Strikes First stays true to the formula. Founding guitarist Brett Gurewitz - now back in the lineup after several years spent working on his label Epitaph - talks folk, side projects and ‘Frankenstein’ guitars.

Interview by Steve Tauschke | steve@staff.truepunk.com | with Brett Gurewitz.

So how does it feel to be back in the band after so long?
It’s great, you know, it’s one of those things, I never realised how much I missed writing and recording until I got back into doing it. I found the songwriting process to be just as comfortable as ever.

Although you were busy with Epitaph did you feel a gap in your life without Bad Religion?
Well, I did some producing and mixing over the years and when I sign bands at Epitaph quite often I’ll be closely involved in guiding the artist with their own records. So the years I wasn’t writing and playing I was definitely still working creatively in music.

So how would you describe your production style?
Sheer genius! Just kidding. I’m basically a punk rock producer. I think I make good sounding punk records, you know, they’re loud and they hit hard and they’re honest and it’s a very forthright style of production.

Have you been working with anyone of note recently?
I’m taking a little break now because I just finished the Bad Religion and the last Rancid record - and I just mixed a record by Lars Frederikson And The Bastards. A project I’m looking forward to working on next year is the full length album by my other band, Error. I have an electronic side project that I do along with my friend Atticus Ross. He’s from England and he’s in the current lineup of Nine Inch Nails. He’s a programmer of electronic music and he has prodigious talents. So we have this experimental electronic project that is song based but quite noisy and quite dark. We put out an EP recently and we’ll put out an LP next year.

I heard the EP and it reminded me of Throbbing Gristle. Were you into that scene running parallel with the punk stuff?
Yeah, we used to go see Throbbing Gristle play in clubs downtown. They were amazing, they’d turn their back on the audience. They were very loud and very noisy.

As Epitaph boss, what do you look for in a band?
I look for a variety of things. I guess first and foremost I look for a group that I really believe has songwriting talent and I think that’s the main thing for me because that’s where everything stems from. A vocalist and a front man is very important and also a vision with a sense of themselves.

Were there any early labels that inspired you?
You know when I first started out I was never really inspired to be a businessman per se, it just sort of happened that I fell into doing an indie label. Later, when I was determined to give Epitaph a proper go, I think the example I looked to was SST Records and what Greg Ginn was doing with that. SST was a local LA label with bands like Black Flag and Sonic Youth and Bad Brains.

I notice you’ve started up Anti Records on which you’re working with Tom Waits?
Yeah, it’s the label I have with the more experimental and avant garde-type music and our flag ship artist is Tom Waits who happens to be probably my favourite artist of all time. It’s a real honour for me to be able to work with an artist I’ve always looked up to and considered to be a true inspiration. Tom’s in the studio right now working on his new record and it’s going to be really amazing from what I’ve heard so far.

With Bad Religion, I believe you and Greg Graffin actually write on acoustic guitar and have strong protest song roots. Are you a folkie at heart?
Folk music, in a way, is a musical protest that grows out of local communities talking about community issues. It’s a very grassroots movement and shared much in common with the DIY ethic of the early punk rock days in Los Angeles. On the other side of it you could break down a typical Bad Religion song to acoustic guitar and play it and it wouldn’t sound that different from a folk song.

The album title is self-explanatory - no messing around as usual?
Yep, the US is the empire and the Iraq war is us striking first. I mean there’s really no allegory there other than the fact that’s it’s a pop cultural reference to the Star Wars movie.

Are you alarmed at what’s happening in Iraq right now?
It’s very frightening and very saddening - and frightening for the whole world to be honest because George W Bush just seems like he’s intent on kicking a hornet’s nest. Every new decision he makes seems to put the world in worse place.

I guess a lot of people will be asking if you’ll be touring with Bad Religion from now on?
I’m really not a touring musician and I’ll only really play a small number of shows this year in Southern California, whether it’s San Diego or Ventura. Basically I’ve returned to the band in the role of songwriter/producer/collaborator and it was kind of understood that I can’t take ten months a year off Epitaph because I’m the chief executive there. I do play shows with them but I just can’t tour with them. I did a certain number of European shows last year and went to Japan but you know, writing, recording and mixing the record was about a five month process for Bad Religion and most of that takes my undivided attention and it’s just absolutely an ordeal for me to maintain a connection with Epitaph and pull that off.

Sounds like your priorities with the band have changed since your teen years?
Yeah, back then my mission was to not get caught cutting class and to try and get laid if possible with out running out of drugs at any time. And to try to get to Hollywood to see the punk rock shows, because we lived way out in the suburbs. I remember we saw Black Flag and the Germs play at Flipper’s Roller rink in Hollywood - that was one of the legendary shows.

You mentioned you’re quite a gear whore. Can you list some of your fave guitars?
My favourite guitars aren’t necessarily guitars I use for Bad Religion. But probably the best guitar that I have for the Bad Religion ’sound’ is this Frankenstein guitar that I basically made from parts of other guitars. It’s a Charvel body and an ESP unfinished maple wood neck, like an 80s speed metal guitar neck with jumbo fret. It has shallow gears and a graphite nut on it with a bad ass bridge and a JB Duncan pickup. I’ve removed the tone knob completely and I have only one volume knob between the pickup and the jack which has been reinforced with a steel plate. I call it the Red Rocker. You may have seen pictures of me holding this red guitar with stickers all over it - that’s it. Pretty much any guitar I put it up against it beats it, at least on Bad Religion records.

The Empire Strikes First was released June 8, 2004 on Epitaph Records.