Against Me interview with Andrew, from March 2006

On a cold, cold Thursday 16th March, Gainesville’s Against Me rolled their punk/folk/rock wagon into Manchester and played Academy 3. I caught up with bassist Andrew Seward before the show and avoided too much politics, too much major label, and too much planning.

Alex: So, Against Me: clearly you've got influences beyond four chord punk rock. There's a definite folky element to your music. What are your influences beyond punk?

Andrew: Well, our influences are broad. We love great music, as a blanket term. I like listening to Otis Reading, The Clash, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan...we listen to a lot of passionate bands and they've all been an influence.

A: Do you think you manage to include all your major influences in the different areas of your music?

And: Yeah I like to think we achieve that. Like I said, most of our influences are just passionate artists.

A: I know Tom was doing solo acoustic material before Against Me. Does he still get a chance to do any of that?

And: It's always been Against Me even when it was just Tom. Tom still plays some songs on-stage by himself. To be honest Against Me is more a kind of community of people than a band!

A: And you've been through a few line-up changes...

And: Yeah we've had a few but it's been the same members for like four years now. But we do acoustic songs together on some records. It does happen.

A: Any plans for another acoustic album?

And: Not an acoustic album per se, strictly just acoustic tracks. We don't plan anything. On the new record there are a few songs where I play an upright A (acoustic double bass). Sometimes it comes out like that, sometimes we just plug in!

A: You've just signed to Sire Records. From the late 70s and into the 90s they've hosted great bands such as The Ramones, The Smiths and Talking Heads to name a few. Was this a factor in your choice to move to the label?

And: Oh one hundred percent. The guy who runs the label, Seymour Stein: the guy has good taste in music! To be on the same label as Dinosaur Jr, The Cure, and The Ramones as you said is just a little bit unreal. It's not sunk in yet. It is a big thing, it's a big label, but fuck it...we'll just roll with it.

A: Do you see yourself on the same level as bands like those mentioned?

We never planned to get big; the minute you plan on something like that I think you just shoot yourself in the foot. We never really think about that stuff, all we do is tour all the time, and if it gets bigger it gets bigger. If it doesn't, so be it.

A: What is it you think that Sire Records can do for you that maybe Fat Records couldn't?

And: Well it's not really what they can..(pauses to think)..OK, so they can offer a larger audience, they offer the opportunity for that. But they also offer a change. Because we do not like staying stagnant; we like going different places all the time and keeping it interesting for us. If it stops being interesting for us then there's no point. That sounds kind of selfish, but that's how it is.

A: No it's not selfish at all. But on the other hand, you say you don't like getting stagnant and you like change, but couldn't you achieve change within the boundaries of Fat Wreck?

And: I think we did in some way. A lot of people would turn up to our shows and just assume that we were going to sound like that typical Southern Californian style like Lagwagon and No Use For A Name etc. Not that there's anything wrong with those bands, but we don't sound anything like them. Fat has been doing a good job at expanding its sound, and that's great. It wasn't a mean break.

A: Do you ever feel like things are spinning out of your control when you're picked up on and signed by a major label? Is it hard to juggle your band ethics with your position?

And: No I don't think so. The thing about control is, everything is under our control. We wouldn't do anything if it took us out of the picture.

A: I suppose that's the major difference between a good move to a major and a bad one.

And: Exactly. We didn't just jump into this decision. Basically this (the decision process) has been going on for a long time and the ball was in our court. So we...

A: Took it and ran?

And: Yeah pretty much!

A: Now, many people actually like to describe your band as the saviours of punk..(Andrew pulls a face at this). How aware are you of this, and do you make an active step to pull punk in a certain direction or do you just do what you do? Thinking about it, based on the answers you've already given me I think it's fairly obvious you just do your own thing.

And: We do what we do, and we've never thought of ourselves as saviours of anything. I think if we did we'd be the most vain assholes imaginable!

A: Haha no of course, but do you think people look at you in a different light from other bands because of what you do?

And: I don't know. I think some people have said it and other people have latched onto it like it's a bad thing. All we want to do is play music and do a good job of it, and bring some fucking cheer to people across the world! I know that sounds cheesy.

A: It's a good aspiration.

And: We want people to go away from our shows with smiles on their faces instead of frowns.

A: Talking politics for a moment, do you think Bush's sceptical abilities as President are good for punk rock? After all, you've got to have something to hate.

And: Whenever the government is at its worst is the best time for punk rock. You've got Nixon, Reagan... But I almost feel sorry for George Bush in a way, and this will explain itself in a second: he's so stupid that it's not his fault. It's Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Ashcroft. They're the ones pulling the puppet strings. And they're harder to focus on.

A: It was a work of genius putting Condoleezza Rice's name as the chorus of a song. How did it come about?

And: Yeah that one just came about really quickly. We were in practise and said "yeah let's play this one really fast and just rock out" and it just came out. We just actually made a video to that song which will be out in about two weeks. That could get us into some...it's not going to get us into problems but it just might get us some feedback! I hope not though.

A: I interviewed Chris Wollard from Hot Water Music last year, and he was talking about how Gainesville was something of a melting pot of artistic expression, not just with music but in general. Was that an atmosphere that helped push the band when you were within that scene?

And: Well one of the things I'm sure Chris touched on is that a lot of kids go to Gainesville. The average age of our city is like 23 years old. A lot of people start bands and there's a lot of youthful energy there, and of course that helps.

A: A few questions from our own scene's local message board, mancpunkscene. Is Chop Chop/Ed Is Sexy, a song from the demo that didn't make the new album, going to be recorded and released at some point?

And: What's the song called again?

A: It's called Chop Chop/Ed Is Sexy. I've never heard of it myself, I don't know if that’s just a demo name or working title or something?

And: The thing is with the demo: none of the songs have names! Whoever stole those songs has named them. What was that one? Chop Chop?

A: Chop Chop/Ed Is Sexy.

And: I haven't got a clue.

A: Ed must have been the guy who stole it.

And: Yes, haha. If I heard it I could tell you. Some songs didn't sound right, but I'm sure it might make a future appearance somewhere.

A: Any plans for more songs with horns, such as 'Disco Before The Breakdown'?

And: Well 'Miami', the first song on the new record has horns in it. We don't have any plans as such for a full horn section in any songs. Generally how it works is someone will hear something in their head like a keyboard part or a horn part, and we'll make it happen. It might sometimes be a little pre-meditated but it's never like "We got to have horns in this song".

A: Have you ever felt the lyrics to 'Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong' have been misinterpreted as a drinking anthem rather than it carrying the meaning it was originally intended to?

And: Oh definitely. Their Tom's lyrics so I can only give my interpretation of it, but it's the story of his Grandma, and about his Grandpa dying. It's not a happy song although it may sound like that. I think it gets misunderstood, but people who are interested in the songs, they know what it's about.

A: So last question: If it all ended tomorrow, as these things do, what would you move onto?

And: Well I would have a smile on my face because I've already done more than I ever thought I would. Then I'd probably go home and sleep for about a month!

A: Thanks very much Andrew.

Fire






There is a fire that burns inside
The darkest corners of my mind
A fire that I can never stop
That needs no fuel to keep it hot

A fire that burns without regard
For payrise or company car
A fire that won't be quenched with tears
That burns and burns through all my years

And it was lit when I was young
I listened as that young man sung
I watched his anger fill the air
And felt it burn inside my head

Then as the heat boiled through my blood
Suddenly I understood
That this was only just the start
And then the flames engulfed my heart

And like that flame I’ll never stop
Don’t believe in growing up
Pension plans and cosy jobs
I’ll hit repeat until I drop.

Wet Leaves

I’d never considered leaves dangerous before around two weeks ago when I went straight on my arse down Parsonage Road.
The street leads to my house from Withington and is by it's very nature leafy. This in itself is nothing strange.
In fact, many of our country’s streets are lined with silent deciduous sentinels, patiently enduring the temperamental seasons, accepting fair and foul without complaint.
Autumn arrives and most trees die. I mean, not die, but they look like death. Dark and skeletal they become; lifeless, featureless husks, old as the year itself.
At their feet they shed their summer coat, by which I mean of course, their leaves. (deadly leaves?)
Wet autumn leaves remind me of the cornflakes in the bottom of your bowl, all stuck together, soggy and deeply unappealing.
The pavement along Parsonage Road is poorly maintained and my footwear was in hindsight completely inappropriate.
The Fred Perry pumps had been purchased enthusiastically, but were not intended as a working man’s shoe, and the feeble grids on the sole had capitulated long ago.
Surprisingly, considering I’m very tall and have a centre of gravity where most people’s head belongs, I don’t fall over often, and so it came as a huge shock to me.
As my right foot planted on a sideways incline in the uneven pathway, it lost all friction thanks to the aqueous foliage, and sliced violently across my left foot, taking that with it as it flew skywards and thus sending the opposite end of my body hurtling towards earth.
I’d been carrying shopping…
I landed on my right flank, my left hand and my right elbow all at once. My immediate thought was, “My tomatoes are on the floor,” but then I realised I was bleeding profusely from a cut on my hand.
The bleeding hand grabbed the tomatoes, and with my good hand clutching both shopping bags I hauled myself to my feet.
I HAD been seen. “Are you alright?” said this guy, a young guy, probably a student. He’d tell his flatmates about it when he got home and they’d have a laugh at my expense. That’s okay.
“Fine, thanks,” I replied, raising the bleeding hand a little in acknowledgement.
I wasn’t fine, I was in a lot of pain. Not like a woman in labour, or a soldier, but in a normal, everyday kind of a way. On the everyday pain scale it was an eight out of ten.
There’s nothing he could do about that though. Maybe give me a friendly hug or something, but that would have been awkward.
I stumbled the short distance home. I’ve got some new work shoes now, and I treat wet leaves like ice, bending my knees and walking slowly across them or walking on the road in order to avoid them altogether.
If you see me acting strangely around wet leaves, or cornflakes, hopefully you’ll be sympathetic.

Calicade – Done With City Point (review)

Calicade – Done With City Point

Self Released


Thanks to its grey skies and violent nightlife, Manchester has mainly spent the noughties developing a habit of producing raucous metal bands…just as one might expect from a city with a reputation for drug fuelled indie rock, I suppose.
Calicade, with their debut full length Done With City Point continue the trend to an extent, but there’s a bit more to their sound than the usual shout n’ thrash fare.
They sound accomplished musically, to the extent one could fairly compare their riffs to the complex chopping of Parkway Drive. But while the beast has a metal hide, its heart is hardcore, with Comeback Kid’s gutsy gang vibe seeping through.
Frontman Daniel Tetlow’s voice is somewhat unconventional for this family of music in that he produces more of a yell than a roar, giving him a distinctive, if slightly unstable quality. Sometimes it works well and offers a raw, unleashed feel to the band, although on occasional it seems like he’s straining to make himself heard in the mix.
Atmospheric breakdowns and interludes are nothing new in metalcore but Calicade perform them well, with ex-Pendleton drummer Jason Gough’s accomplished skin-thumping carrying the songs majestically along.
Another nice touch are the poppier overtones of the music. Again the odd earnest clean vocal amid the metal is something we’ve come to expect, but Calicade throw interesting, well though out slices of melody over their sound, a step up from the usual bleating Americanised smush.
The occasionally stereotypical and slightly repetitive nature of some of the tracks betrays the fact that there is still work to be done on this band, but for a first (and self-produced) album this very much suggests there is more to come from these boys.
Leave out the vocoder bit in the next album though, please!


Done With City Point will be released on Spotify and iTunes this month.



By Alex Phelan

Is United's Empire Crumbling?

Manchester United was, up until recently, a bastion of power in the Premiership.
It was the prevailing superpower and Sir Alex Ferguson its unshakable Churchillian leader. Suddenly a shadow has been cast over Old Trafford and even the clubs own fans, famous for their (justified) cockiness, seem increasingly concerned.
Debt has hung over the Red Devils in recent years, and while this in itself is not so strange (few top flight clubs are not in the red to some extent) owners the Glazer family’s problems seem to have become increasingly grave.
Recent reports suggest interest rates on the Glazer’s PIK debts have risen from 14.25 to 16.25 percent, and whilst chief executive David Gill maintains these are saddled with the Glazers themselves, Manchester United Supporters Club (MUST) have noted that a clause in the club’s recent refinancing exercise allows £95 million to be drawn from the club.
Duncan Drasco, chairman of MUST, said: "We believe in the next 12 months accounts will start to show them taking even more money out of our club.
"They have already wasted more on interest and fees than the total sum of all season ticket money paid by every supporter in their entire five-year ownership.”
Speaking of which, season tickets are another matter for concern. Only 51,800 of the club’s 54,000 sales target has been achieved this season, this despite a price freeze. The fact the club chose not to increase prices, as in recent consecutive seasons, suggests Manchester United knew trouble was ahead. Gill has maintained that in the current financial climate they can expect to take a hit, but rivals Chelsea, Manchester City, Spurs and notably Arsenal, with their stadium of comparable size, have all sold out of season tickets. Plus, weren’t we in a recession last year?
Another issue putting Mancunian noses out of joint is the failure to significantly strengthen the team over the summer. Despite a commendable campaign last season the squad has never recovered from the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez.
Giggs and Scholes continue to perform but at their age won’t play every week, and the likes of Gibson and Obertan simply do not bare comparison. The fact that Ferguson seems to constantly rotate his midfield, with Fletcher being the only ever-present, may come across as a display of squad depth, but equally suggests a lack of confidence.
Mexican prodigy Hernandez has been touted as a coup, the unique discovery who will propel the club back to the top, but few can predict how he will fair in the demanding Premier League, himself being very young and inexperienced.
Meanwhile, at the back, Chris Smalling has been added but again he is a player for the future and his real potential still has a big question mark over it. Johnny Evans does not yet look like Ferdinand’s replacement, and Ferdinand himself has developed chronic injury problems. Van Der Sar is still a world class keeper but at 40 years old this could easily be his last season.
Elsewhere, Manchester United players are making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Portuguese acquisition Bebe was previously in the news as Sir Alex had supposedly never seen him play. Most managers will probably read that and tell you it happens more than you think, and that’s why they have highly paid scouts.
However the plot thickened when reports came through of the forward being pulled from training sessions due to lack of fitness (despite having played 6 pre-season matches in Portugal) and subsequently not making the cut for the Champions League squad.
For midfielder Owen Hargreaves, further treatment seems like a delaying of inevitable retirement. He suffered a relapse in his ongoing knee problem this summer, which renowned surgeon Dr Richard Steadman has described as the worst tendinitis he has seen in his 35 year career.
Sir Alex Ferguson has always been synonymous with everything about Manchester United; drive, devotion, and bullishness are all words that could describe both club and manager. But, as if unable to separate from the plight of his employers, the great Fergy has recently dampened his reputation.
A petty and costly quibble with the BBC is the last thing the club needs at the moment, but the Scotsman’s six year boycott of the channel now contravenes new Premier League rules, and will lead to fines and perhaps further punishment if it should continue.
Apart from success, Manchester United have consistently silenced their doubters over the years. If they do not on this occasion, we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of a footballing empire’s golden era.

Liverpool's Dying Core

Jose Mourinho commented this week that Liverpool FC have been in progressive state of decline since 2004.
This is a silly thing to say, because in 2009 their final position in the Premiership table was second, only four points shy of title winners Manchester United. That was their highest finish since 2002 when they were runners up to Arsenal.
In 2004, the year Mourinho cites as their recent zenith, they finished 4th and trophy-less, and despite winning the Champions League the following season they fell to 5th in the league. Since then: 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd….7th.
Hang on, apart from last year you could be forgiven for thinking they’ve made considerable progress here. Never in the nineties did they so consistently figure amongst the elite of the top four. Last season’s theatrical implosion went against the grain didn’t it?
Whilst it’s definitely fair to say that the overall quality and amount of stars in the squad has depleted under the tight pockets of Hicks and Gillett, Benitez was a good enough manager to make the most of his limited resources.
Comparisons to her peers show Liverpool’s squad to be desperately lacking in depth over recent years and it’s a wonder that the cracks didn’t start to show much sooner. The Kop owes a great debt to the Spaniard.
The real problem Liverpool faces today is that it has all of a sudden lost its core, and in a fast, physical league you need that or else you will struggle.
Lampard and Essien, Scholes and Fletcher, Fabregas and Song....a strong core means two world class players which the rest of the team can rotate around and depend upon. Neither player is a defender or an attacker but together they can perform both roles whilst always finding teammates with that all important pass.
In 2009 the superb Alonso left Liverpool for Madrid and was never replaced. Half the core was gone and the following season they became a mid-table team.
On Monday they faced Sheik Mansour’s mega-spenders Manchester City, themselves gifted a core so potent and capable it is quite terrifying. De Jong, Barry, Yaya Toure and Milner all feature.
Mascherano’s head had been turned by Barcelona…he didn’t play and Liverpool were left with Lucas and Gerrard in the engine room. The former is a hard worker but not skilled or imaginative enough to rely upon so heavily. The latter has become an attacking player in recent times, and was quickly found out by the opposition having been asked to switch duties.
With the current owners seemingly unwilling to sell the club and everyone else unwilling to bid, Liverpool’s cashflow problems don’t look set to improve, and new manager Roy Hodgson has his work cut out if he is to even match the consistency Benitez somehow achieved.
Meanwhile, key striker Torres has been seemingly operating at fifty percent capacity since mid way through last season. Joe Cole seems a decent signing and his attacking presence will allow Gerrard to become re-accustomed to a central role, but this transition will take time, and when the captain inevitably picks up an injury then the wheels will unfortunately and completely fall off for Liverpool.

My letter of complaint to ITV.

Dear ITV,


I've restrained myself from writing to you for as long as possible, but I can no longer contain my frustrations at the appalling manner with which your chief World Cup commentary duo of Peter Drury and Jim Beglin have conducted themselves throughout this tournament.

The final straw came during today's match between Italy and Slovakia when, upon the referee whistling for the end of the game, Drury chose to announce that the careers of Italy's captain Fabio Cannavaro and manager Marcello Lippi had just been "terminated".

Given that we are talking here about two of the most decorated and well respected figures in both Italian and World football, I don't think it is unfair to accuse Drury of being both embarrassingly theatrical and completely out of line.

But this was simply the latest in a series of symbolically unprofessional performances from your football mouths, and it is Drury himself who above all others who leaves me and all my friends and colleagues aghast - how such a hideous man be employed as someone the audience wants, NEEDS to actually relate to?

All he wants is a soundbite! He wants to be Kenneth Wolstenholme.........I am completely certain that if Rooney were to be storming goalwards when we were already 3-2 up against the Germans on Sunday he would actually started saying, "They think it's all over!!" His egomaniacal sensibilities are revolting. Never can he simply allow the match unfolding before him to flourish and paint its own picture, framed by informative and relevant comments (something which the BBC manage on at least a far more consistent basis than ITV can even dream of).

He INSISTS upon leaving his imprint by babbling hysterically some kind of interminable claptrap that he hopes will be played over and over on future re-runs, allowing him to cross his arms and crease his face with the smuggest of grins. How selfish, how hideous! This isn't about any one player, or any one team, or any one nation.......it's about the whole world coming together and celebrating the beautiful game. So it's definitely not about one commentator (and even more definitely not about an absolutely terrible one).

Beglin is shocking as well but to be quite frank you must have been told that so many times by so many people that it goes without saying.


I sincerely hope you've received many more complaints like this one, so that maybe, just maybe you'll consider ousting that ridiculous man from his position.


Yours sincerely,


Alex Phelan, Manchester.