Straight Up Random

Warped Tour ‘08: Against Me!

Interview with Warren and Andrew of Against Me!

You guys just announced your new tour for Canada, and you were recently touring in the UK, so you guys clearly spend a lot of time touring. So how are the different scenes, the different crowds? 

Andrew: I think they’re all equally awesome! And I’m not just generalizing. I mean, of course it’s thrilling to go to the UK, to go to Australia, to go to Canada. You know, we’ll be playing with Thunder Bay in Canada, which I don’t even know if you’ve heard of Thunder Bay. And you know there will be like 500 people there, just all of them screaming along, having a great time just appreciative that you’ve come to their town. 

Warren: I’d say that’s one of the biggest differences is, it’s kind of how isolated the place is. Like some of the craziest shows we’ve had have been in places like Tasmania or Alaska or, you know, like Iceland. People, when you get a little bit of the beat path and you go to places where not a lot of people have been there, they’re just like “You came!” and they totally freak out. So that’s cool. Most of the civilized world all pretty much have the same dance moves. 

A: And all of us are kind of from small towns — not small towns, but medium sized cities where we would have to go to other cities to see shows. So you know, it’s like when a band would actually come to your small town or small city and play, everyone would freak out. 

You’re doing Warped Tour now, so when is the next time you’re going to be touring in the US? 

A & W: October. 

A: Very late September, October. 

W: Yeah, we’re doing a tour with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. 

A: Amazing! Look it up! As soon as you get home, look it up! 

W: And a band from Wales called Future of the Left, who are also awesome. It’s gonna be a total package. 

So you’ve been releasing some B-sides recently and your album came out quite a while ago, so what’s next?! 

W: There’s actually a couple of tracks still from when we recorded New Wave that still haven’t seen the light of day yet. So those might leak out in some form or another over the next few months. 

A: But they might not. 

W: But they might not. We might be recording a few kind of stripped down acoustic style, possibly. Do a little EP or something. And then we’ll definitely be recording another full length — early next year is what we’re aiming for, to get into the studio and get to work on that. 

A: But hopefully we’ll have something else before then. As soon as possible.

 So are you guys writing now? How does the writing process go? 

W: Yeah, Tom’s pretty much always writing. He’s been doing a couple of acoustic sets here and there, and we’re taking the little chances when we get to try to flesh out the songs. But, you know, we don’t get a sound check out here. Warped Tour is not the best place to practice. Ha! So we’re trying to work with it as well as we can. 

A lot of your lyrics are politically charged. How do the fans respond to that? 

W: I think you look out at a crowd and I think pretty much everyone out there is taking something different away from it. Some people are like “Ah, I love this riff” or “I love this beat”; some people are really following the words. People are probably interpreting the lyrics an infinite number of ways. So I don’t think that we’ve particularly offended too many people… except for the military in San Diego… some members sent us some threats, but that wasn’t really for lyrical content. That was kind of unrelated. We haven’t gotten any letterbombs yet. 

A: People take what they want from it, and we’re not a band who’s gonna get up there and preach and tell people what to do and what to think. That’s for people to make up their own minds. People can take what they want from it. 

You guys used “Stop” for a recent PSA. How did that come about? 

W: It was Jeff Iroff, who works with Rock the Vote, and some people who work for the organization had heard the song and said “This would lend itself to what we’re doing pretty well!” so they did a little collaboration. And actually, Tom, the director who did that video, and a couple of other people kind of collaborated on the concept and came up with some election themes to throw in there. And the song originally has nothing to do, obviously, with voting or anything like that. 

A: You can take the chorus and apply it to… anything?

 W: Anything. 

You’re back in Florida, your home state. Have you played near Gainesville yet? 

A: We’re playing Gainesville in October. On this tour we’ve already done St. Pete and Orlando, and St. Augustine… St. Augustine is the closest we’re gong to be to home, and that’s tomorrow. 

W: There’s gonna be some friends coming out. It’s gonna be a good time.

 A: But we still don’t get to go home. And we’re not on the beach. We’re on the other side of 95, so it’s not like a pretty area. 

Have you met any new bands or made any new friends on Warped Tour? 

A: Yeah, Street Dogs! Really, really nice guys. Every Time I Die, The Bronx. We’ve already been friends with Every Time I Die, since ‘06. The Briggs. That’s kind of about it. I’m not saying that in a bad way!  

Andrew, your beard is bigger than his.  

A: Yes, it is! I’ve gotten good drumming compliments, so I’m just like, I have a beard, that doesn’t mean I’m a good drummer.  

W: He has a bet. He can’t trim his bet — his beard! 

A: Yeah, trim my bet. 

W: He can’t trim his beard or his hair until September 1st, or he loses a hundred bucks. 

A: This isn’t on purpose. It’s been growing a while. 

You’re not gonna sneak in any shaves? A: No. I can do it! It’s willpower!