Sep. 10, 2008 - Issue #673: Sex in the City 2008
Against Me!
Against Me! looks to the good times
“I think that for all of us the full realization of being in a band, the actual feeling of, ‘Yeah, this is it, this is what we’re investing our effort in,’ is the live show, and you can only play in the same town so many times before you have to take that show on the road,” explains drummer Warren Oakes while taking a break from moving into a new house. “It’s what scratches that itch. Playing shows is what does it for us so you gotta keep making the rounds looking for somewhere new.”
The band further distances itself from most other touring acts in that there is nary a complaint from Oakes about the pressures of the road. The members of Against Me! consider themselves lucky to be in a position where people who have never even met the band like the music.
“To even have one person on some remote part of the planet love the music you made and is coming out to see you perform it and try to share that experience with you, that’s enough to perk your spirits right up on the worst day,” he says. “Halfway across the planet somebody knows the words to every song and knows every drum fill by heart—you don’t wanna let that person down.”
Though Against Me! took heat from some punks for allegedly “selling out” when the band moved from indie Fat Wreck Chords to major label Sire for its most recent album New Wave, the band has always claimed to have done so in order to have the opportunity to work with producer Butch Vig, a longtime favourite of the members. For Oakes, working with the legendary producer—who is also an accomplished drummer—was everything it was cracked up to be. Working with Vig and drum tech Mike Fasano, much care was taken in achieving the best possible sounds—something Oakes had never done before.
“Sitting in the room with Mike and Butch just listening through the demos, and they’d go, ‘OK, I can really imagine a vintage kind of ‘70s floor tom for this, or I think we should go with the bell brass snare to get that good clang.’” he recounts. “Going and breaking down song by song which drums should be used— I’ve never done anything but set up my drumset and play all the songs!”
The band will work with Vig again next spring when the time comes to record a new album—and Oakes let slip that an EP may be released before year’s end—but one can’t help but wonder just how much the political band will have to write about if the American election proves to be the country-saving event it’s supposed to be.
“There’s no shortage of things to complain about,” laughs Oakes. “If everything really does turn up rosy then we’re just gonna have to write songs about the good times. Against Me! will turn into a good times party band. I think we’re up for that. I would be.” V
Fri, Sep 12 (7 pm)
Against Me!
With Japanther, Saint Alvia Cartel
Edmonton Event Centre, $25 (All Ages)
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