Island Packet — The Gainesville, Fla.-based agit-punk outfit Against Me! specializes in what rock writers often call “intelligent angst” or “fierce politics,” terms that are surprising mostly to those for whom “punk” could mean anything from the Sex Pistols to “Dookie” to Hot Topic.
But Against Me!’s brand of folk-punk is fiercely, smartly political, credit for which goes to writer/singer Tom Gabel, who spits out lines like “Protest songs in response to military aggression” and makes them sound like anthems. It’s a formula that’s responsible for last year’s “New Wave,” which Spin called “the most invigorating, zeitgeist-capturing rock album in years,” one that appeared on a fiesta of year-end Top 10 lists. Gabel took part in an e-mail interview earlier this week.
Question. There are a lot of draws to Hilton Head, but a big-name left-leaning double-bill folk-punk show isn’t generally one of them. Do you guys have any history with Hilton Head?
Answer. Where’s Hilton Head? We’re going there?
• Against Me! – Thrash Unreal.mp3
Q. Some of the most popular responses to the current political climate seem to be anger, disappointment and lethargy. When your politics are so
explicitly stated, how do you keep motivated?
A. If you’re paying attention how can you not be outraged?
Q. Do you find that your stances on either of the candidates have changed at all over the past few months?
A. No, not really. I’m neither a Republican or a Democrat, but I feel like that’s what you are voting for — rather than who — in most American elections. In my lifetime there has never been a realistic alternative. I don’t agree with everything that Barack Obama says, but I agree with less of what McCain says. I believe that the country, the world, is in need of drastic change, and while electing Barack Obama is not the end-all solution it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
That all being said, my perception of Obama is that he is an intelligent, well-spoken man who has dumbed down his left-wing views in an effort to appeal to a larger majority of the country, which I’m sure his staff has advised him is necessary to win the election. My perception of McCain is that he’s an intelligent, well-spoken military man. He comes from a fading generation. I think he holds deep personal grudges over the Vietnam War. I’m not talking about his imprisonment as a POW — I just think he’s never gotten over America losing the war, and the American public’s protest over the war. I think he’s vastly out of touch with the majority of America, and the world in general.
Q. Do you find yourself more or less optimistic that things might improve?
A. I’m optimistic, but I hide my optimism behind a thick wall of sarcasm.
Q. How do you keep up with news?
A. It can be tough when you travel as much as I do. You have to get your news from wherever you can, whenever you can. If I have an Internet connection I see what’s going on. When I’m in an airport about to fly somewhere I buy some magazines. When I check into a hotel I turn on CNN.
Q. Jon Stewart and Bill Maher, et al, are often asked how they’d continue to be funny without the current administration to take shots at. What happens to the band’s political edge if things start going your way?
A. Again, I don’t agree with everything Obama says. And I don’t think that if he is to become the next president that all our problems will solved. It’s just a step in the right direction. Four years from now, when the next election comes, it will still be a Democrat running against a Republican. I highly doubt that any of the world’s problems that are such topics of debate in this election will be solved.
Q. What’s the first thing you say to a kid who comes to the show and gets energized, wants to go out and do something?
A. Hopefully if someone feels energized by the music we play they’ll take away from it the feeling that they don’t need to rely on anyone else to do something, whether that’s starting a band, starting a fanzine, opening up a local chapter of Food Not Bombs or getting involved in their community in a different way. I shouldn’t have to say anything to anyone.
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