Q&A with Ryan Young of OFF WITH THEIR HEADS

While Ryan was in the studio recording Off With Their Heads' next record, he took some time to chat with me about the new record coming out on Epitaph Records as well as a bunch of random shit.

Squid Pro Quo: I listened to "Listerine" today (via www.myspace.com/ryanyoungowth). I dig that. That's going to be an OWTH tune?

Ryan Young: Yeah. In the studio now.

SPQ: Now that you guys are on a bigger label, how's the sound? Kinda keeping that momentum with "From The Bottom"?

Ryan: It will be a little better than that. We have two weeks in a crazy good studio as opposed to three days in a shithole, so we have time to make it rule.

SPQ: About how many songs are you guys lookin' at having on there?

Ryan: We are recording 15, but I dont think they will all go on there.

SPQ: Cool man. Do you guys have a name for the album yet?

Ryan: Not yet. We usually take the album name off some lyrics from the last song. Haven't gotten that far yet.

SPQ: Oh, neat. Where are you guys recording it?

Ryan: We are recording at The Terrarium. Dillinger 4 and Banner Pilot did records here.

SPQ: That last Banner Pilot album sounds phenomenal. Especially compared to Resignation Day.

Ryan: Yeah it does. This one will be even better because those dudes are mastering it at some crazy expensive place.

SPQ: Shit yeah. So what next? Awesome tours? I know you guys toured with Against Me! semi-recently. More stuff like that?

Ryan: Nothing much planned yet. Just that couple months touring starting in February.

SPQ: Headlining that, right?

Ryan: Except for the dates with The Queers.

SPQ: Oh, no way. Are you guys coming through Chicago with The Queers?

Ryan: Nope. Its mostly canada

SPQ: Word. So how did this thing with Epitaph end up? Did they just randomly discover you or how did that work?

Ryan: Brett (Gurewitz) called me last year and said he was a fan. We chatted for a while, went and had pizza at his house when we were on tour, visited the office and he basically gave us a really good offer that we would have been dumb to turn down, especially with the decline of record sales.

SPQ: Awesome. So how come it's not "official" yet. Just needs to be announced kinda thing?

Ryan: Yeah, they wait for the right time or something.

SPQ: So here's a cliche question for ya: where do you guys get influence from? Most songs seem like just personal events/situations. Still doing that?

Ryan: Yeah. It's all the same.

SPQ: So what's the lineup for the recording? And will it stay the same for the touring?

Ryan: It's Justin, Zack, Nate (Gangelhoff) and I and no, it changes for touring.

SPQ: With so much time on the road, how do you find the time to write?

Ryan: I write about as much as I did before we toured all the time. It either comes to me or it doesn't and when it does, it happens fast.

SPQ: Just those random cosmic waves of inspiration, eh?

Ryan: I guess so. Probably just the weed though.

SPQ: I had to take a hair test for my job now. It's retarded how some employers are.

Ryan: I think I would be unqualified to work any kind of job. I'd ruin the drug test lab.

SPQ: What's been your biggest obstacle over the years?

Ryan: Probably coming to terms with the fact that this is just what I do and I'm not really good at anything else. I always kinda wonder what I would be doing if it weren't this, and it's always something much less meaningful or completely worthless. At least I'm doing something that most people won't get a chance to.

SPQ: Realistically, what do you think you'd be doing if it weren't for playing music? Or even not-so-realistically. Hell, what did you want to be when you were a kid?

Ryan: I've always wanted to do this, so I guess I win. It isn't nearly as glamorous as it might seem, especially with the record sales being way down. If we were doing this 10 years ago, I would probably be pretty well-off. If I weren't doing this, I'd be painting houses.

SPQ: Probably better money in painting houses, haha. But also probably not as gratifying since you've always wanted to play music. Gotta live your heart. That's good! Man, playing music 10 years ago would be cool. Just when the illegal downloading of music was in its infant stages...

Ryan: Yeah. I would actually make more money delivering pizzas two days a month than being in this band. We have been touring for six years. I didn't start getting paid anything until last year.

SPQ: So all the show money just went to food and gas?

Ryan: Yeah, and that didn't cover it. We are still out years of paying for all that stuff. Even with From The Bottom selling around 10,000 (copies).

SPQ: So you've really gotta "make it" in order to actually MAKE anything these days.

Ryan: Pretty much

SPQ: Well, hopefully with Epitaph, you guys take off. I know they push the hell out of their catalog with street teams and a wider distro and all that.

Ryan: Yeah, we'll see. I'm not sure if the masses are ready for this kind of music. Especially the masses that Epitaph deals with. It's clearly different than that other silly stuff they put out over the last while.

SPQ: Not the ol' California Warped Tour garbage, eh? That's comforting. Well, hey man. Maybe it'll be a tide of change and you guys will pioneer it.

Ryan: That's what I'm hoping for.

SPQ: Aside from Epitaph, what's been the best part of fronting OWTH over the years?

Ryan: I'd say getting to meet all of my "idols". That's pretty awesome.

SPQ: Best show ever?

Ryan: The Fest shows the last couple years were rad.

SPQ: I saw the video of you and Paddy where you burned the money, haha. That shit was hilarious.

Ryan: We are dumb together

SPQ: Hahaha. Committing crimes on camera. Tsk tsk. Do you have any pet peeves? Or anything while touring that you don't like?

Ryan: TONS of shit. You just get overly sensitive about little things when you spend too much time with anyone. Once you realize that, you see that it's not a big deal.

SPQ: Kind of like any relationship, I guess?

Ryan: Totally

SPQ: Speaking of, you guys have women? How does that work with you all being so busy on the road? Is it just different chicks every night? Banging in all 50 states-style?

Ryan: Hahaha. I have a girlfriend. Same one for over the last year and a half.
It's fine. I don't really like hooking up with random girls. They usually suck.

SPQ: That's the best part! I guess only when it's with their mouths. What are some of your favorite bands "today"?

Ryan: I don't really like much current music. I like gangsta rap because it's funny. I like pop music for the same reasons. Lady Gaga rules.

The Fizzy Pops - "The Fizzy Pops" review:

Finally - some good pop punk by teenagers and not 35-year olds! The Fizzy Pops, from the western 'burbs of Chicago, released its debut, self-titled album in December 2009 on Throw Up Records.
The trio alternates vocal duty between bassist Luke Ostojic and guitarist Caitlin Ferraro. Their tunes channel influences from early Green Day, Screeching Weasel and The Queers. It's especially noticeable when Caitlin busts out the catchy, poppy solos leading songs like "Friday The 13th" and "My Boss Is a Weirdo." Unlike a lot of pop punk bands, the bass player doesn't follow every note the guitarist does, which is refreshing. The two instruments play well off each other, almost giving some of the tracks a hint of ska influence. A confrontational tune, "Weasel," is led by Cait (which may or may not be about Ben Weasel). Not sure. Then some tunes, like "Loose Screws," almost seems to pull more of a Vindictives influence than anything else, combining a fast beat and snotty and somewhat non-traditional, "unpretty" pop punk vocals. I recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of any of the aforementioned bands. And The Muffs, cause sometimes Cait's vocals remind me of Kim Shattuck's. Also, these dudes (and dudette) are fun to see live - very full of energy!

3.5/5

TOP TRACK: "Friday The 13th"

The Roman Line - "Morning Portraits" review:

Toronto's The Roman Line were a band featured on the Merman Records' 4-way Sea Creatures split .
"Morning Portraits" has a very consistent feel and not much dynamic outside of its punk/alt/country influences. The band's MySpace page says they are influenced by Screeching Weasel, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, The Queers, Tom Waits, The Misfits and others. It's an interesting mix. The result of all those influences is a lot of gang vocals and a pretty straight-forward rock and roll band. Their influences show through a lot. For example, "Worst Case Ontario" is a real electrified country lick. It's got all the standards - modesty, references to nature, nostalgia and alcohol.
"Talbot & Inkerman" is more on the Tom Waits side of the proverbial tracks. It's a piano-led song with hand claps as the main percussion. Gang vocals for the chorus on top of it all makes it sound like somewhat of a drinking song. But it's only 1:26, the shortest song on the album (unless you count the intro, which isn't a song). The piano pokes its head out here and there throughout the album.
I got a real Social Distortion-type feel from this. The band's lead singer almost seems to emulate Mike Ness's voice.
"No Vacancy" is a song that kind of hates on their hometown of Toronto. In the end, he laughs and says, "I'm just playing Toronto, you know I love you." I don't really get it, as I've never been to Toronto. But apparently there are a lot of hipsters there. Man, if this band comes to Chicago, hopefully they get a gig in Logan Square or Wicker Park. Hipster-hating song part two will be written. All in all, I kinda dug this album. There's a lot going on and it's pretty original for still somehow managing to fit into the pop-punk scene.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

TOP TRACK: "Dawn After the Wreck" (Merman Records/2010)

Pre-Order "This Addiction" by Alkaline Trio

I know this one's gonna make it to my "Top 10 of 2010" list in about 11 months.

Berndsen - "Lover In The Dark" review:

I've never really strayed from the "punk" genres when it comes to interviews and certainly not reviews. But I'm going to make an exception here and it's all because of my best friend showing me a "fucked up music video." The song is called "Supertime" and the artist - David Berndsen from Iceland.
The video was this dude with a red beard and a suit dancing on an upside-down car with his friends pulling the injured and dying passengers out and dancing with them. It was very funny in a real dark way. The combination of the awesome video I had just witnessed and that catchy song I just heard made me want more instantly. About a week later, I found a video for the title track of his debut album, "Lover In The Dark." I was amazed. Sold. Fast forward to about New Years Eve and I get the album.
"Lover In The Dark," made up of 11 tracks and totaling 36:23, starts off with an instrumental electronic intro building up to the title track from the video, "Lover In The Dark."
It feels like you're inside of a game of Tetris backed with dance-y electro-pop. Which rules. In the video, Berndsen's mission is to spread love with a ray gun of sorts. He sees people punching each other, zaps them, and voila! They hug and his heart meter goes up. The message: You're just a lover hiding in the dark.
After that is "Supertime," from his other music video with the bloody car wreck passengers and the dancing. It's definitely the catchiest tune of the album. It's a love song. And there's an amazing breakdown in the song with a bitchin' guitar solo. I love that solo.
The rest of the nine tracks unfortunately are not renditioned with YouTube videos, but in my opinion, they are better than the first two. "Young Boy" is a song about, well, a young boy with too much love to give.
"Radio Frequencies" slows it down a little but has a real strong beat keeping the flow of the album going. I think if it was played in a club, it would be a fist-pumping dance song. For almost five minutes, this track keeps the beat going. Then "Coma." A 0:54-long ambient, sort of slow, spacey instrumental intermission to the album. It picks up real fast with "In Sight." It's a real '80s-feeling tune. Very synth-y. Very poppy.
Then an interesting kind of space-age song called "The Perfect Human" starts up. It's almost reminiscent of "2001: A Space Odyssey," if its soundtrack had turned DANCE! Then it gets danc-y AND robotic. Sure to please your motherboard and your processor.
Then my favorite track is up; "400 Trips." It's another '80s-dance-pop-sounding" tune. But the electronic instrumentals in this song are incredibly catchy and good. It doesn't come in until about 1:15 into the song. But once it does...HOT DAMN! The album then gets a little darker (go figure) with "Dark Times." The sound effects sound like they're straight out of a horror movie. Perhaps one involving a house that is built on a haunted hill. It actually sounds like the level in Mario where you have to evade the ghosts.
The final track on the album is called "On My Mind." It is a great closer. The tune's about Berndsen being alone, still thinking about a certain someone. Kind of sad. Kind of lonely. But it follows the pattern of love, only adding a little loss to the mix. The album then fades to silence.
I recommended "Lover In The Dark" to anyone who is open to something new. Or if you like bands like The Postal Service and The Faint. But beyond all that genre-specific crap are 9 great pop songs that have earned a spot in my heart. It's as if I've been zapped by Berndsen's ray gun...

Rating: 5/5 stars

"Supertime" video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysPcyOvNJew

"Lover In The Dark" video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAhF9_iB2qs

Squid Pro Quo's Top 10 of 2009:

In the fashion of David Letterman, or as Butthead would say, "that uhhh...Letter dude," I have compiled a list of 2009's Top Ten Albums.

Honorable Mentions:
15. Deep Sleep - Three Things At Once (Grave Mistake)
14. NOFX - Frisbee/Coaster (Fat Wreck)
13. Mike Hale - Lives Like Mine (Suburban Home)
12. Gateway District - Some Days You Get the Thunder (It's Alive)
11. The Riverdales - Invasion USA (Asian Man)

Albums:
10. THE BOMB - SPEED IS EVERYTHING (No Idea)

The Bomb, comprised of Jeff Pezzati from Naked Raygun, Pete Mittler and Mike Soucy from The Methadones and Jeff Dean from Noise By Numbers, Four Star Alarm, etc..., put out its third full-length this year. It's a great follow-up to "Indecision." It also proves that a punk rock band CAN pull of an A Flock of Seagulls cover.
TOP TRACK: "A Song For The Helenas"

9. PSYCHED TO DIE - YEAR ONE (Dirtnap)

New Jersey's Psyched To Die revives classic hardcore and blends it with pop-punk and thrash, making for some catchy, harder-edged material. The lyrics are pretty nihilistic and bleak but damn, this stuff is good.
TOP TRACK: "Permanent Solution"

8. CHUCK RAGAN - GOLD COUNTRY (Side One Dummy)

Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan keeps doing it; making good, honest music from his heart. It's modest and carries the torch of old-time folk songs that narrate the lives of hard-working-class men.
TOP TRACK: "Rotterdam"

7. DEAR LANDLORD - DREAM HOMES (No Idea)

Dear Landlord is the melding of The Copyrights, Off With Their Heads and Rivethead. It's gritty, dirty and raw - stripping down the walls of your standard pop-punk song structure. It's a great debut album for Dear Landlord. Hopefully there's a 7'' or a follow up album by them soon.
TOP TRACK: "Rosa"

6. THE LEFTOVERS - EAGER TO PLEASE (Oglio)

A heavily-fueled power pop band from Maine - The Leftovers - followed up its last album, "On The Move," with this one. It definitely tops it. It definitely draws more influence from musicians like Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. The songs are about girls, girls and girls. You won't be able to get this one out of your head. It's as infectious as it is catchy and is a virus worth keeping around.
TOP TRACK: "The Only One"

5. CHRIS WOLLARD AND THE SHIP THIEVES - CHRIS WOLLARD AND THE SHIP THIEVES (No Idea)

Chris Wollard built the anticipation for this debut full-length with his split 7'' with Mike Hale in 2007. Hearing Chris Wollard and Chuck Ragan sing together all these years created something of a duality in my head, and I love their music both equally and separately in their own respects. If that makes any sense. This album is an introspective one and kind of a lonely one at that. It's riddled with insecurity and desperation but also with love and optimism. I'm gonna use the word duality again. It's a perfect balance and quite poetic.
TOP TRACK: "All The Things You Know"

4. HOUSE BOAT - THE DELAWARE OCTOPUS (It's Alive)

These guys again!? Yes, yes. I did review this album not too long ago. I wasn't kidding when I said it was fucking awesome and so on. It's funny. It's catchy. It's fast and poppy and upbeat and just cool. It's a cool fucking album by a bunch of cool fucking dudes. Especially Ace.
TOP TRACK: "My Guts Have Shit For Brains." Just kidding, it's their cover of "Traffic School."

3. Noise By Numbers - Yeah, Whatever... (Asian Man)

This new band emerged in 2009 called Noise By Numbers made up of Dan Schafer (Screeching Weasel, Riverdales, Methadones, Sludgeworth, etc...), Jeff Dean (The Bomb, Four Star Alarm, etc...), Neil Hennessy (of the Lawrence Arms - though he just played on the album) and Rick Uncapher (from Textbook). Rather than Schafer's more power pop/punk rock take on songs, these ones are a little different. They're influenced by more complex bands and ideas than say, The Ramones. I'd compare the music to something The Replacements inspired. It's closest to Dan's other band, Sludgeworth, I'd say. Just listen to it, words can't do everything (anything) justice.
TOP TRACK: "Waiting For The Train"

2. Banner Pilot - Collapser (Fat Wreck)

Holy shit, I thought. This sounds like their first album, "Resignation Day." I listened to it a few more times and realized I was completely wrong and now I know why they got signed to Fat. This album is pure gold. Plus it sounds incredible. As it should for spending $11,000 in recording costs. These guys have definitely earned the right to be on Fat and I can't wait to hear more.
TOP TRACK: "Starting At The Ending"

1. TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET - THEY CAME FROM THE SHADOWS (Fat Wreck)

Speaking of earning the right to be on Fat, it's about friggin' time! Teenage Bottlerocket has been putting out really solid albums for the last four years. They've been packing and selling out clubs across the country. Their last two albums have been very straightforward pop punk. This one explores thrash and skate punk a little more. "Bigger Than Kiss" is a straight-up Sack tune. I swear it! These guys are great dudes and they deserve to keep climbing the proverbial ladder. That and they simply rule. "They Came From The Shadows" landed them to a really great label and it's landing them to the top of the Squid Pro Quo Best of 2009 list.
TOP TRACK: "Fatso Goes Nutzoid"

The Perfect Ruler of a Perfect Planet

A really short story by Jason Duarte

A loser's gamble and an optimistic mind pops open the top of a beer can. White foam and bubbles surround the mouth of the can, and will soon encompass your mouth. You wait a minute, figuring the foam will settle - even if just a little bit settles - until you take your first sip despite knowing that at no other time but the present moment will this beer be as cold and refreshing as it is as it sits in your hands, gradually getting warmer and warmer as you stare at those foamy roadblocks.
"Ah, fuck it." You take a sip. You sit down and watch a movie. It's inspiring. The story's a cross between Voltaire's "Candide" and what would have to be something else - every possibility's been thought of when it comes to love stories involving some cosmic accident in any given urban setting, or what some would call, fate. Maybe. Then again, it is said that we humans only use 7% of our brains. You personally believe it to be an unconscious excuse we use to pin our own personal shortcomings to, but what do you know. You're unemployed, single and haven't shaved in weeks.
At first, the young couple in the movie is in love. So in love, in fact, that like most passionate and fiery relationships, the two candles burn too quickly and what's left is a miserable and confusing plane of existence where neither of them are on the same page and live solely in the rear view mirror.
"It's like anything else," a New York taxi driver says. Yeah. I guess when you put it that way, maybe. But is it? Suppose there is some unaccounted for 93% of free space in our heads that we can't access. It sounds much too technological, you think, and then think about something else to keep you from thinking about ridiculous theories. Then again, you were just contemplating love. Maybe it is like anything else. Maybe it isn't. It is what it is. If the point of this life is to surround yourself with the illusion of work to somehow validate your life or to marry someone for that very same reason, then what's the deeper point beyond that? In a society where work, economies, politics, social pressure and religion doesn't matter because it isn't a problem, what is life? Introspective contemplation and all-day, everyday spiritual growth? Or is it still work?
The end of "Candide" is a simile for the way to live life. Not the best possible life in this best of all possible worlds, but a balance where nothing is either real good or real bad. And if the meaning life, like Voltaire depicts, is nothing more than passing the time until our last exhalation of that sweet sustaining Nitrogen blend, then why not end life right now, at this very moment, where you are the youngest and sharpest you might ever be? If our brains and bodies are only dying from this point on, that question becomes somewhat valid, you think. But objectively, from this point on, we are only living as well.
Life shouldn't be thought of as existing on a time line, you realize. That really shortens it.
The movie ends and you leave, walking home in the cold. The unfinished and now warm beer is still in your hand. In the black abyss, Orion's glow is intercepted by jealous streetlights.
"I could be that big," you think. If one man can rule a country or a classroom, then one man can rule a planet or several planets. Everything suddenly collapses upon you and a classroom becomes the same size as a country, which is the same size as a continent, which is the same size as Earth, which becomes infinite. It's the same size as one human being.
You turn your can 180 degrees, dispose of it and keep walking. It's 3:46 in the morning. You're cold, somewhat tired and imagine yourself doing what you'll probably be doing tomorrow.
"I'm the most perfect ruler of a most perfect planet," you sarcastically think to yourself before falling asleep. "It's a funny thought, but it's as true as anything else."