“Broken World” is the newest Lost City Angels album, which came out earlier this year; it is the band’s major label debut and it is a collection of punk rock and rolling anthems. We talked to Adam Shaw while he was relaxing in the Las Vegas desert. <

Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with with drummer Adam Shaw.

Hi there! How are you doing?
Hey brother, we’re doing awesome! Heading across the desert in Las Vegas with our sights on California.

Can you introduce the members of LCA and a story of how you got together? I know you’ve been together for some years now.
I’m Adam I play drums, there’s Duggan D who plays bass and back up vocals and has a very special talent where he can pound a 43 oz beer in under 15 seconds, Ronnie sings and parties his ass off, Nick Bacon is a distant relative of Kevin Bacon and also plays lead guitar for us. Then there’s Mr. Drew Suxx, and he, well aside from playing rhythm guitar and screaming a lot, he suxx. We’ve been playing since 2000 I think, we started out playing in my apartment in Boston until we got kicked out and started practicing where big gangsta dudes sell their ladies asses for like $50. Quite the sight to see.

You come from Boston - how is the punk/hardcore music scene over there? From here it looks like there are a lot of hardcore straight-edge punk band like the ones on Bridge Nine, then there is Converge and Deathwish Inc, and then some other major label bands like The Explosion.
Boston is fucking awesome, seriously. There’s not only HC and punk at just about every venue, there’s a thriving music scene there too. It’s totally a melting pot for music, complete in diversity. One good thing is a total lack of emo bands, let’s hope it stays that way.

You are band that plays punk rock with moments of melodies. At the same time your music is very heavy, with metal riffs, breakdowns, but also with melodic parts and soft moments. Today this is a very over-populated music genre, don’t you think it is hard to be noticed by kids? Or you just don’t care about what kids say?
That’s a good point, I totally agree with you. We’re actually not looking for every kid to be into LCA, we want the kids who understand and feel LCA. Lost City Angels is not just a band, it’s more of a gang and there are our mother fuckers in the places you’d least expect it, we want the people who are LCA’s themselves. If other people get into it along the way, awesome welcome aboard, just don’t take this shit lightly.

With whom did you work for your newest record “Broken World”? I think it is a very well produced discr. I know you worked with Nate Albert from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on your previous disc.
We worked with Sean Slade and Paul Q Kolderie on Broken World. They did a Pixies record, a Hole record, a Radiohead record, a bunch of Bosstone records, and tons more, They are a great force the 2 of them. And now Nate Albert manages us.

Personally, I see a lot of similarities between you and Misfits, especially in the look. Is this just an impression of mine? Am I right?
Yeah we totally all love the Misfits, but as far as the “look” goes I’d have to say we’re more of a gay biker thing. Just kidding!

You have this very dark look, but you’re not a “nu-emo” screamo band like Atreyu that are all dressed up in that way. Aren’t you afraid kids will misunderstand what your band is all about and consider you a “trendy” band that jumped on the wagon?
As far as our dress code is concerned, we’ve been doing this shit for awhile, before it got huge. We all work in dark clubs at home and just relate to black more than anything else. The fact that it’s a trend is a fucking bumout, the fact that what I wear is in every mall in America is fucking awful, but hey it’s clearly our fault. Oh yeah, let the followers like us for our clothing, big fucking deal, maybe they’ll actually wake up and realize life isn’t a fairy tale story about the days of cloaked wizards and fire breathing horses that carries vampires.

How much did it take to write and record all of the disc?
Recording “Broken World” took 3 weeks. We did it all live in Boston, recorded to tape, and then mastered it in NYC. As far as production thanks for the complement, but we didn’t really go over it with a fine toothed comb. We wanted to keep it real and raw as fuck, basically we wanted to include the blemishes, ya know? Playing live LCA has this underlining energy, we needed to capture that on record.

Do you consider yourself an emo or punk or hardcore band at all? What do you think of the music scene of nowadays?
We don’t catagorize LCA into anything. People can, and do, but we don’t. We as people have had our hands in plenty of walks of life. Punks, skins, rude boys, goth/industrial, you name it one member of this band is either part of it or was. If anything we’re a fucking rock punk band. As far as the music scene(s) I’m into it, people need music regardless of what genre it falls into, if something is good, it’s fucking good.

Your debut LP on Nitro Records was very “punk rock”, while the new one is more “rock n rolling”. Do you think there was a kind of evolution in your music?
That’s crazy, we’ve actually been getting people saying “Broken World” is “punkier” than the first. Regardless for me it’s a motherfucking rock record.

How would you describe LCA to a person that have never heard of you?
That question for me is always the hardest to answer. I actually don’t have a striaght answer, as people we’re all rockers. Punk rockers, rock and rollers, you name it. I guess musically we’re rock punk, not straight up punk like the Virus or Unseen, those bands are punk bands.

Lately there is a lot of hype around “emo” and “screamo” disc, especially the ones that come out on major labels. I think of the latest disc of A Static Lullaby and Finch in particular. There was this kind of great expectation but then those records sucked and the fans got screwed. I do not see these “fake” bands going far away. What’s your opinion on this and what about LCA?
The first thing that comes to mind regarding that question is “trend”. Bands like the one you mentioned are riding a wave, as you know, that is reminiscent of the 3rd wave of ska back in the late 90’s. It’s not that I don’t think it’s strong, cuz god damn the scremo emo shit is huge, it’s just that I feel all these bands are carbon copies of the bands that started the movement each putting their own little twist on it. It’ll peak then be the butt end of every joke in 3 years. LCA is a band that has been built on what makes the world go around, moments and life. What Broken World actually chronicles is what we have gone through as a group and people, all the fucked up shit that has happened to us over the past 5 years. Yet at the same time it’s the story of hope in the apocalypse. We’re firm believers in letting people paint their own picture of the record, but if you read the lyrics you can probably figure out we’re fucking mental. Does that sound insane? Probably.

Have you got some plans of touring to support you new album? If so, where and with whom?
We have been touring our asses off. We started in February with Catch 22, then did April/May with Tiger Army and Unseen, then May/June with Social Distortion, June/July on Warped tour, now we’re out with The Suicide Machines. After this tour we’ll be going home to Boston for some awesome hometown shows, and then another US tour with a very HUGE Boston band that I can’t mention yet.

What is the best band that you’d love to tour with?
As far as bands right now to tour with I’d say I’d love to tour with Turbonegro, I would be fucking stoked. Flogging Molly are fun as fuck to tour with. Ideally I’d love to see a Dropkick Murphys/Unseen/LCA tour since we’re all GOL’s (gentlemen of leisure, a small group of true pirated gentlemen).

What are some of the bands that you guys in the band regularly listen to?
Right now in the van we’re listening to Crash and Burn, Rise Against, The Loved Ones, Elvis, Gogol Bordello, Coldplay, Turbonegro, Ramahlla, Bruisers, new DKM.

Any final comments?
Thanks so much for the questions, they seriously were great to answer. Please check LCA out online, buy the new record!
www.lostcityangels.com
| www.myspace.com/lcasickfucks