One of the latest bands to come out on Nitro Records, Lost City Angels show us how it can sound easy to mix elements of pop punk influenced music with street punk rock’n'roll: someone said they sound as a mix of Good Charlotte and Social Distorion. Maybe it is true (Jon thinks it’s not), but the thing you know for sure is that Lost City Angels has an “S/t” album out that is filled with nice nice Bostonian songs.

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

You’re a new band - can you sum up how you meet and started playing in the same band ?

It’s really a tale of what we call “storybook fate”. How we came together is pretty weird. We were all in points of our lives that were going nowhere…fast. I was abusing myself night after night partying, not giving a shit about my life. Drew was working a dead end job, and playing on the side with the Ducky Boys. Ron was saying good bye to his first band and looking to do something with his life that would harness his emotions and creativity (he’d write otherwise). Duggan wasn’t about to leave his couch or his hometown, and he was failing out of college.  Nick was leaving a band he worked his ass off in. And somehow we all ended up in bedroom where my drums were set up playing songs. How we actually came together was the oddest part. Drew and Duggan were playing on the side together, and were looking for a drummer. I was persueded by a friend to go “hang out” with them while they played. Which ultimately placed my ass behind a drum set again after I pretty much gave up playing drums. We started playing together and decided to find a rhythm guitar player. I was really good friends with the Bruisers and they had broken up, and my friend Scott Viera came to my work to say what’s up, and Duggan and Drew just so happened to be there. We sat and drank some beers, and by a bar tab of $55.00, Scott was in the band. We needed a lead singer, and Spring Heeled Jack broke up a couple months before. Everyone knew Ron would make a great front man, and we got his number and just called him to see if he was interested. I knew him from seeing him a number of times and getting totally shit faced together, and he vagelt remembered that. A day later he came up and we were playing shows two weeks later…scary. Skip to a year later, we start getting busy and Scott had already done the touring thing with the Bruisers, and met a great girl and settled down. So in comes Nick Bacon to switch the line-up around and our skills. He wqas in a band called the Pilfers and was just an amazing player, so he was our man. And thus concludes the second question….

Where do you get your name from ?

We got our name while Drew, Ron and myself walked down Centre St. in Boston, to the package store. Drew wrote a song that was absoulutely a peice of shit called “Lost City Angels” (which later became “Another Beaten Soul”). We said hey fuck the song, let’s call ourselves Lost City Angels.

How did you sign to Nitro Records ?

We signed to Nitro Records by sending naked pictures of the A&R department to other labels, to sort of blackmail them. Instead they wound up getting some pix of us and threatened to send them to our lady friends, with the headline “Herpes..ever heard of them?”. They won the battle so we signed.

You come from Boston - how is the punk/hardcore music scene over there? From the outside, it looks very big and healthy.

The punk and hardcore scene in Boston is great. Since Boston is the “Hub”, there are so many different walks of life that live in or come to this town. To see and explore, and to tell their stories. It makes for some great sonmgwriting

Your “S/t” album is your first record , right ? Did you ever record anything before ?

The self titled release on Nitro is our first full length, but we do have a 3 song demo, that got us signed to Nitro, on our website. We only have a few left though so they are rare.

How would you describe the sound of Lost City Angels ?

We get this question all the time…and to describe our sound is really hard. I was told by a lady that we were “a bunch of old souls in kids bodies playing the devils music after he’d been shit on by his girlfriend and kicked out of rehab”. Does that help? Told you I couldn’t do it easily.

What do you consider your influences ? Someone say you sound like The Clash+The Buzzcocks+AFI+Social Distortion .

We all have very diverse influences in our musical likings. I am a huge A.F.I fan, Duggan loves NOFX and Rancid, Drew is all 77 punk rock and roll, Nick is all MC5, and Ron is all Cured out, and loves Refused. Our favorite bands may leak out into our music.

I know you played with Social Distortion - how was that ? Did you talk to Mike Ness ? How he is ?

Touring with Social Distortion is amazing, they are our #1 favortite band collectively. Mike Ness is one of the best men in the world, he has done so much for this band we owe them our lives.

What do the lyrics of your new CD talk about ? Are they serious or also funny ? Do you talk about real life expiriences ?

The lyrics on our cd are us. They are our everyday lives. Death, addiction, lusts, friends, betrayal. and skeletons in our closets. We write it as wee see it. We know how to laugh too…hard.

Have you got some thing funny that happened to you on tour and do you want to say it ?

Yes we do have something funny that happened on tour, and no we don’t want to tell you about it.

Are you going to tour to support the new CD? If so, where and with whom ?

As a matter of fact we are going on tour to promote the cd. With Flogging Molly and Andrew W.K, with Sahara Hotnights and Allister splitting the tour.

Your CD could be downloaded under mp3 format from the Nitro Records website- like Divit’s . What do you think of this kind of promotion and the whole mp3 thing ? Do you download mp3s ?

We think stealing music is great, download all you want. Just tell your friends to buy our record “for the artwork”. And yes we do collect mp3’s!

You album was produced by Nate Albert, ex- MIghty Mighty Bosstones . How was to work with him ? Did you chose him or it was him that came and told you “guys, I want to produce your album”? What happend ?

Nate was great to work with, he really is a close friend of the band’s, we think he is one great happy bastard. He actually approached us to produce, and we actually shit our pants.

What’s in your cd-player right now ? Are there any new bands/albums you like ?

In my cd player right now is the new Kings of Nuthin record on Disaster records, Alkaline / Hot Water split on Jade Tree, and Bombshell Rocks on Burning Heart.

Final Comments ?

Come see us!!! Buy our record (or steal it) learn the songs and join the pigpile infront of the stage, and leave your problems behind.

Thanks so much for your time - good luck for your cd and have fun!
Thanks for everything Carlo, we’ll see you soon!