Against Me!

so as most of you know i saw against me! saturday. i interviewed their drummer warren oakes, coolest dude in the universe practically, and here is the transcription.

me: im here with warren from against me! i really dig the new album, and im really glad you guys are in delaware, and uh what was the primary influence behind searching for a former clarity? its primarily electric, and its really different musically but the message is still the same. was there any kind of outside listening that went into it?

warren oakes: you know, we listen to music pretty much all over the map, pretty much all different styles, and at this point theres nothing that we really hear like directly and say "let's try to do that, that sounds interesting" you know, so it's really hard to pin down where influences come in. we you know wanna keep ourselves entertained so we dont want to rehash anything we've done before and we certainly dont want to rehash anything anybody else has done before. we like to try to keep it fresh.

me: i like it. some people are a little uneasy but i really enjoyed it though. today, what brought you to the grange, this concrete parking lot next to a church in the middle of delaware?

wo: its not the easiest thing to get a show in delaware. youd be really suprised. weve played 49 out of the 50 states in our run so far and somehow we've managed to never have played delaware, until this beautiful saturday afternoon. the dream becomes reality.

me: what happened with the [canceled] show at dewey [beach, delaware]?

wo: i gues there was just a little shakeup. my understanding is the promoter who originally intended to do the show woke up the other morning a decided to retire from show promotions. he was like "you know, i'm kind of over it". so then we kind of um scrambeled and got in touch with the nice folks here who volunteered to do the show. so everything worked out in the end.

me: they are good people. so how is life on tour? ever get sick of each other, you know showers...

wo: yeah, yeah, theres eight of us and we live in that van over there.

me: eight people.

wo: eight people in that van.

me: seats?

wo: there are not eight seats, thats the thing, so its uh crowded,. we're pretty much sitting in each others laps all the time but we really like each other, and it makes it not only possible to do this, but also a treat.

me: thats really good. you guys opened up for green day at giant's stadium in august was it?

wo: uh, september first actually.

me: september september. i thought that was insane, you guys playing a 15,000 person stadium opening for green day. how did it feel?

wo: well the funny thing is, that was actually the start of this tour. we havent been home since then. yeah its kind of wild. it was cool, you know, it was definetly an experience that im happy to have had. you know the reality of it is it wasnt the best or worst show we've ever had. it fell sort of somewhere in the middle. and i mean its a good view from the drum throne onstage as youre looking out towards that many smiling faces.

me: i saw pictures on the site, it looked crazy.

wo: yeah it was pretty epic!

me: favorite color and favorite ice cream?

wo: my favorite color is red and my favorite ice cream is pistachio.

me: ive never actually had pistachio ice cream!

wo: ah, treat yourself!

me: i always think its crazy how its green? i never really got that.

wo: dude, get into it, its delicious.

me: will do. how much longer on this tour? and after tour what are you planning to do?

wo: we're in the home stretch right now. although we will have played all 50 states in our career or whatever, in our existence as a band, as far as this tour goes, we still ahve massachusates and new jersey to check off our list. after those two shows we go up to canada, the 51st state, and do a couple shows in eastern canada. then we wander around kinda aimlessly until december 16th or 17th is when we finally pull into home.

me: gainsville florida.

wo: yeah gainsville awaits us with open arms, and then we spend take some holiday downtime with friends and family in beautiful florida.

me: is gainsville overtly politcal? is there any fuel for your fire persay?

wo: you know gainsville has a pretty rich history of being a protest town in the 60's and 70's and it's always been left leaning. theres a radical library, like community library media center, that does events and they have zines and books and stuff on file for you to check out. its been there i dont know, at least a decade. theres alot of good things going on there. it definetly has a strong current of that. there are some good organic farms outside of town, the best blueberries you'll have in all your life.

me: favorite place to play?

wo: favorite place to play... you know its not our favorite place to play but theres this club in norfolk, virginia, that used to be a gym like a fitness center and they turned it into a venue, but they still left some of the bells and whistles of the gym so the backstage area has a sauna, some jacuuzi hotubs, and a shower area, and they just added a pool tabel and some arcade games back there. so the club itself isnt the best club ever, but damn! that is a life of leisure backstage!

me: thats so cool! we always drive through norfolk on the way to north carolina, and yeah it never seems like anything goes on there. but theres the chesapeke bay bridge, pretty uh, epic.

wo: yeah thats really the only place ive ever been. i dont know what else there is besides that.

me: currently listening?

wo: the mountain goats.

me: the mountain goats? where are they from?

wo: theyre from california, and sometimes its just one guy with an acoustic guitar and sometimes hes got a bass player and other accompaniment. but man! do yourself a favor and get a mountain goats cd and some pistachio ice cream.

me: so i guess ill wrap it up here with warren, on a cold but very nice day in delaware.

wo: thank you very much, thanks for your time.

me: thank you for your time!

against me!. wow, best punk show ive ever been to. their set couldntve been better, best singalongs, best new songs, best encore. best crowd! full frontal rush to the stage, pumping fist, trading sweat, screaming along to the lyrics. i was so close to the bassist, i punched his headstock on occasion. got myself two free waters from a roadie, had a blast with shawn connolly (take the mic) and joe kerr, and later on travis when i turned around and saw the happiest kid of my life. high fived mimi sometimes. band went off, tom gabel came out and played joy, and then everyone came out and played baby! i'm an anarchist. amazing amazing awesome rock and roll.

full on punk binge from now and forever?

seeya.