Against Me! has been on of the more exciting bands in
punk rock in the past few years. Their songs have an
anthem-like quality—catchy personal, political and social
sing-a-longs, laced with emotion, humor, sarcasm and truth.
The band has come along way from the fairly humble
beginnings to headlining sold-out shows. Their albums “Reinventing
Axl Rose” and “The Eternal Cowboy” were met with
enormous praise far beyond the punk scene, drawing
comparisons to the likes of Billy Bragg and the Clash. On
the verge of the release of their third album, Against Me!
will soon again enter our lives and hearts with their
inspirational music. I recently talked with singer and
guitarist Tom Gabel the night before the band was set to
headline the legendary CBGB’s in a benefit show to help
save the troubled club.
Gabel began the interview fairly humble and reserved,
reluctant to talk much about politics and the band’s
success. In the punk scene, when a band that’s toured so
much and befriended so many people in the underground finds
commercial success and a larger audience, things always get
a bit tricky. Sadly, we try to cling to the way things used
to be and bands that progress beyond a fairly insular
community often become targets for frustration and anger. It’s
really too bad, especially with such a great group of guys
like Against Me!, who have such a positive attitude and
genuine respect for all their fans and friends. Gabel
admitted halfway through our discussion, “I fear certain
questions and talking about political things because I fear
so much judgment at this point... and it’s hard, because
you don’t want to focus on it.”
The downside to success, he explained, can be fairly
frustrating at times. “The majority of places you get it
are reading Internet message boards or a letter from an
irate fan. Sometimes it really perplexes me how people can
casually be so mean. We are not doing anything to hurt
anybody and we’re just making records and touring. We
definitely get our share of shit for every choice we make,
but I think for myself as a person, I don’t really want to
focus on negative things or being around people that have
negative attitudes. I don’t want to get caught up in shit
talking or need to prove that I’m punk or whatever, I just
want to play in a fucking band. And I’d like people to be
able to take something from that, whether it’s a personal
or political message. If they can take something from our
music, then that’s amazing.”
Make no mistake about it, the band is enjoying its
success. We discussed their upcoming shows opening for Green
Day. Gabel said, “It will be in front of 50,000 people,
which is insane! Yesterday when we were flying into New York
we literally flew over Giant’s Stadium and we were like
‘Holy shit!’ Mentally, as a band, it’s great. It keeps
you challenged, it keeps things fresh—you want to have new
experiences. Playing bigger shows is great because it’s
challenging, and that’s something you want to make sure
you are doing for yourself all the time—throwing yourself
into a different situation and seeing if you can hold water.
I’ve never played in a stadium before and I don’t know
if I’ll like it or I’ll hate it, but I want to do it so
I will be able to make an informed opinion about it.”
I told Gabel how a friend of mine said Against Me! makes
politics fun again and that we need more bands that can
bring dance to the revolution. While he loves this response
from fans, he downplayed the band’s anarchist politics and
explained, “I wouldn’t say we have a certain political
aim or are looking for a particular response from our
audience. It’s not really thought out in that way. We are
just playing the music that comes naturally to us as a band
and we think its fun and have a good time. We hope that
translates to people, but we’re not doing it for anyone’s
approval.”
I wondered about the title of the new album, “Searching
for a Former Clarity.” Tom said, “It’s meant to be
open-ended, enough so that people might infer some sort
meaning from the title, but that meaning isn’t necessarily
the correct one. It’s up to the listener to decide what it
means. It is the first time I’ve written an album under a
working title. Usually we make the record, then when it’s
time for us to name it we have to wonder, ‘Well, what do
we name it?’ This is the first time I had the title and
wrote the music under the title.” He laughed and
continued, “But I didn’t tell anybody else in the band
that I had the title already!” And how did it turn out?
“If you are someone that thought between the first two
albums there was some sort of evolution taking place, then
this album would be where that evolution landed. Right now
we feel very comfortable as a band.”
“Searching for a Former Clarity” will be out in
stores September 6 and Against Me! will be playing Seattle
October 13 with the Epoxies, Soviettes and Smoke or Fire at
Neumo’s.
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