Aaron Carnes from GNARBOTS, interviews Jeff Rosenstock from BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
Hello folk, I had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with Jeff Rosenstock from BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY when my band, GNARBOOTS opened up for them at Nickel City in San Jose, California. If you haven’t heard BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, I recommend that you do. They are a band unlike any other, punk to the core, but totally weird and willing to do just about anything. Plus they’re songs are really catchy and totally addictive. As for GNARBOOTS, I’d rather not say too much about my band cause I feel it would jeopardize my journalistic integrity. But I will say this: We are the best band ever. Fuck the BEATLES. By the way, while I think this is a compelling interview, Jeff had a lot of interesting things to say, the best part came when a young BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY fan briefly interrupted the interview. It’s all in there for your pleasure. Enjoy.
It’s nice to meet you. I appreciate your band.
I appreciate GNARBOOTS. I just heard them today. I really like San Jose a lot. All the bands here like SHINOBU & HARD GIRLS are just cool bands. Everyone’s really fun.
HARD GIRLS are awesome. SHINOBU are awesome. A friend of mine was describing BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY to me before I heard you and said what he really liked about you guys was that your live energy was so good that sometimes it was even to the detriment to the songs.
(Laughs) That’s true. I’m glad he thought our band has good live energy. That’s what we think too, Especially on this tour. It’s always when we’re having more fun at the end of the show we’re just like, “Shit did we have too much fun and just blow it for anybody who wanted to come and just hear our songs?” Whatever. They can listen to the record.
Do you think the fun and the energy is more important?
I do. But also we’re not terribly good musicians. Anybody can have fun. But you gotta practice to play your songs right. Let’s say that we do that on purpose, and we do know how to play the songs. We really really do. We just focus on the energy. It’s easier to fuck around. You know what I mean? It’s more fun to have fun.
Yeah…than to try and replicate the albums.
Well, we try. But we usually fail, which is ok.
I was listening to your last two LPs, Get Warmer and Scrambles. I thought that the leap between the two was a big jump forward in musical variety, but I still think it’s punk. What do you think of the Scrambles album compared to your older stuff?
Get Warmer was a huge jump forward from the first three records even if it was just because it had live drums and was actually recorded with somebody else. I worked with a whole bunch of other people to make a good record. I think there was like two dozen people on that record, the first couple of records had just me. Also, I think the difference between Get Warmer and Scrambles is I knew I wanted other people to play on Get Warmer and, though it doesn’t probably doesn’t sound like it to anybody else, I really wanted to make a straight forward pop-punk record. I was like, “I like JAWBREAKER and FIFTEEN. I want to make a record like that.” And I made Get Warmer which doesn’t sound too much like that, but that was more bringing in a little bit of the craziness and kind of focusing it to sound like FIFTEEN which it does not sound like whatsoever. Whereas Scrambles was like, “Alright let’s just do it.” That was written with less of a focus in mind. The songs were coming and you know. I kind of feel like Scrambles sounds like Goodbye Cruel World which was the last programmed record. I think it sounds like that but with live instruments and a little bit more realized with more stuff going on, ’cause it’s still all over the map.
Do you plan out the changes, cause it seems like every few lines you’re changing something. Like you might go punk then ska and throw in some drum machines. I’m talking about “Scrambles.” Is that how you write them or is this after you’ve written them? You’re trying to fuck them up more?
A lot of times it’s just how I hear it in my head. Before I start demoing stuff I try to think how to make it the most interesting stuff possible. But there are definitely a couple of things that got demoed and I thought that it was getting too boring. Let’s throw stuff in. But I usually like it when it switches back and forth between say a piano part and a punk part or a ska part. That’s just how I write in general. That’s my brain. It’s weird.
What is the genre you would describe your band?
I have no idea. We’re a punk band, you know? We have a punk attitude and we like to have fun and we like to make the music that we want to make.
I have a label for you: Eclectic Punk.
Eclectic Punk, I like that.
It’s the label I use for GNARBOOTS. I think it fits for you guys too.
It’s better than third wave ska. I still don’t understand how we’re a third wave ska band.
I see the ska as like a secondary component.
I think there’s a bunch of shit in there. It’s funny. I’ll take it. I love third wave ska. But, I don’t see how we are that.
What are your thoughts on punk today?
We got a bunch of buddies who are doing really cool things. Like ANDREW JACKSON JIHAD, GOOD LUCK, LEMURIA, O’PIONEERS and THE SIDEKICKS. Thos bands are taking punk rock but going their own way with it. I think it’s great. A couple of years ago it wasn’t really like that. Something’s going on. There’s a whole bunch of fucking people here in an arcade to see a show that’s all ages and BBQing beforehand. We’re playing with a bunch of friends. You can’t beat that. It’s the best.
It seems like when punk first started, there were less rules about what the music sounded like. It was more about the energy and the aesthetic.
Yeah. It was also so much about the drugginess. That’s the thing. Punk has been so many weird places that it’s kind of become this blank palate, which is cool. That’s why it’s a bummer when people try to homogenize the sound of it and be like, “if you sound like OFF WITH THEIR HEADS you’re a punk band. If you don’t sound like OFF WITH THEIR HEADS you’re not a punk band. There’s all kinds of punk bands, you know?
Photo By: Kevin Zamani
How are you generally received within punk circles?
I have no idea. We kind of have our own group of people who are doing their own thing.
Your own fan base?
Yeah. When we play punk shows I think people are generally bummed that we’re not playing punk songs. Cause a lot of the times we’ll just fuck with them and just play the slower ones and talk for a really long time between songs. Just really piss them off.
Do you vary your songs show to show?
Yeah. We play a different set every night.
What I mean is do you vary each specific song? Do you play the same song different ways?
I think there are parts that slow down a little bit here and there. Give it a little weirder pacing if it calls for it. But no, the songs are…
Pretty set?
The songs are definitely one hundred million percent set. If anybody fucks it up…
There’re out of the band…
Out of the band. (Jeff agrees)
So then, do you vary your set list from show to show while on tour?
Yeah.
Do you decide an hour before you play?
I’m gonna decide after we’re done talking right now.
I see.
We usually decide a little bit before we play so we can get all the programming stuff working for the set.
So you still do programming even though you have a live band?
Yeah. This is the first big tour we’ve done where we’re doing live programming and live band at the same time, which has been fun. It’s been interesting. We bought a mixer. We don’t really quite know how to use it yet.
So you’re learning as you go?
Yeah.
I’m curious about your label and your distribution model of donations.
We were putting out our records for free, then I wanted to put out one of my buddy’s records the same way and I feel guilty about taking money cause I’m an idiot. I’m like, “Ah. I can make my friends some money. Let me put this donation thing up. Basically it’s all just up there for free and if you want to donate you can. It’s been really successful for BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, less successful for other bands on Quote Unquote. I’m talking about financially. Everything else has been extremely successful. I know that people have heard of the bands on Quote Unquote cause they’re on Quote Unquote. That’s neat that I can help out bands that I like and help people hear them.
Do people donate?
Yeah. Like I said, people donate a bunch for us and a little bit less for the other bands. But, people download everything pretty consistently.
Do you think things are going to move more that way with other labels? Like giving away free downloads and stuff?
I don’t know man. I have no idea. I think that everybody’s just trying to figure out a way to make music sustainable again, except for major labels who are trying to figure out how to sue fucking teenagers so they can make their last huge chunk of money before they completely sink.
Do you think major labels are out?
They’re fucked, man. They’re not trying to innovate anything, you know? That’s what I think.
True, even the whole Apple getting involved with itunes and their music store. The industry was completely behind on that. They should have done it, not Apple.
Yeah. They should have foreseen that.
Even with the book industry, there’s a big movement towards giving away electronic books with the hope that people will buy the physical books. There’s been a lot of research to show that people who give away their books electronically will sell more books.
That makes sense. I feel weird reading ebooks. I can’t get into it. I like to hold the book. I think just the gesture of saying, “We stand behind this enough that you can try it and if you like it you can buy it, but if you don’t, you don’t have to buy it.” I think that gesture itself is something you want to get behind. Instead of the Backstreet Boys selling a $19 dollar CD.
Random Kid (To Jeff): Pardon me friend for interrupting your interview. You’re awesome dude. I’m really stoked to see you guys play.
Thanks Man.
[pro-player width='600' height='400' type='video']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQTJZ-Oix7k[/pro-player]
Random Kid (to Aaron): And thank you GNARBOOTS for letting me steal this jacket.
Oh yeah. It’s yours. Yeah.
Random Kid (to Aaron): I appreciate it very much.
Aaron (to Jeff): He’s wearing our guitarist’s jacket…anyways, so you sell your albums on Asian Man too right?
Yeah.
Do you sell a decent amount on Asian Man?
I think so. About what everyone else sells on Asian Man.
Even though they can download it for free?
Yup, with Get Warmer, I remember asking what the other bands like ANDREW JACKSON and LEMURIA were selling and it was pretty much around what we were selling. It doesn’t affect sales at all.
Have you always given your albums away for free?
Yeah. That’s how it started out. It started out just by me making music in my room and putting it up for free for people to hear.
When did you start noticing a draw at shows?
We did our own tour right when Get Warmer came out. It was terrible. Then we did a bunch of support stuff. Now that I think about it, I think the Asian Man tour with THE QUEERS and LEMURIA was when we first started noticing that people actually knew our songs and were showing up excited to see us. We were doing ok in places. We’ve always had a decent enough draw to be able to go on tour without dying. I think that’s when it started picking up.
What are your goals as a band? What do you want to achieve?
I don’t know. Just be happy playing music with each other. I think that’s it. We’re always back and forth on whether or not this is a possible thing that we can live off of. I think it’s just a lot easier to not worry about that and have fun with each other and play music with each other. We all have shitty jobs back at home.
So you have a job?
Right now I don’t. I worked at the census. I’m pretty sure they’re not gonna have me back when I come back. I got to find a job. Everybody else does live sound or stuff that they can come and go as they please.
Does your band lineup still change tour to tour?
It’s been pretty solid for the past couple of years. We played a show and Rick Johnston, who played bass really early on. He played bass along side our bass player. We still have that happening all the time. We still welcome that. But because of getting older and work schedules and trying to figure everything out, it’s kind of solidified. We begrudgingly have a real lineup now.
The lack of a real lineup, was that something you wanted or was it more out of convenience?
It was both. I wanted to be in a band. I wanted to play music. I didn’t want anybody who wanted to be in BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY to worry about work and I wanted them to be able to come and go if they had to come and go. That’s how it started. As more people listened to us and it became more possible for us to tour and stuff like that. It’s changed a little bit. I still think it’s the same spirit in there. We’re still all very considerate of what we have to do at home, you know?
You have a documentary being made about you?
Yeah.
Is that who I saw in your van?
Yeah.
What’s the angle?
No idea. We just met Sarah in January.
She’s not a friend?
Now she’s a friend.
Initially she was just some filmmaker who wanted to make a movie about you?
We met her in January and we hung out a little bit cause she was making a movie about us so obviously we saw her. As time went by we got a bit closer. She actually subleted a room in my apartment for a little bit because she didn’t have anywhere else. She was looking for a place where she could have her dogs, so her and her boyfriend stayed with me a little bit. Now we’re buddies. I have no idea what this movie is going to be and I’m terrified about that.
How did she present it to you? She just said I want to film your band? Or did she say I want to film your band because…
She was just filming a thing about us and we’re like, “Oh this is really cool,” you know? I don’t think any of us expected to be the kind of band that people were going to be making a movie about. It’s insane. I watch rock n roll movies all the time.
Me too.
I’m surprised there’s gonna be one about me and my dumb friends.
But you’re kind of an unusual band.
We’re definitely unusual…in every way.
In terms of music, philosophy, distribution…
Also, we’re all just jerks. So that’ll be really fun to watch, a bunch of jerks being idiots
Love this band, so much……