Against me!

GAINESVILLE'S AGAINST ME!: honest, fist-raising songs that explode and sting like firecrackers clapped to your ears. If you perk up to the distant echoes of Phil Ochs yet want that warm-beer, constant-threat-of-alligators-ambiance that's currently bubbling out of Florida's swamps of punk right now (along with Black Cougar Shock Unit, The Grabass Charlestons, and The Tim Version), it's hard to go wrong with Against Me! Watching them live is real close in satisfaction levels to watching the mermaid on a Starbuck's window shatter into a million pieces while the yuppies scatter away from the brick. Against Me!'s songs--which range widely from the perspective of a grandmother wishing she would have died with her alcoholic husband, to the failure of a marriage consummated by a couple in their early 20's--could be real crappy if they weren't infused with so much compassion, humor, and conviction. I'm talking songs with weight and so much danceable heart to them that they've made basement crossbeams creak and crack. They've released two full-lengths--Reinventing Axl Rose and Against Me! As the Eternal Cowboy--both top quality listens. I suggest them both. Warren--Drums, James--Guitar, Andrew--Bass, Thomas--Guitar and Vocals

I'm going to say a word. Keep that word in mind and go on a stream-of-thought from it: skateboard.

James: When you said skateboard, I thought of shoe. Than I thought of my future brother-in-law--he's a skater--Rickie Dixon, because I was like, "Hey, I got these shoes for free." And then I thought of ray old roommate, Adam Volk, who skates all the time. The first thought I got of him was about how we had this giant fiberglass chicken in our living room.

Why did you have a giant fiberglass chicken?

James: Adam went to visit his friend Chris all the time in Orlando. Chris lived two blocks away from this closed-down fried chicken restaurant. They had this giant fiberglass chicken in a tree out in front and every time he'd go by, he'd say, "One day, I'm going to steal it." One day he showed up at the house, and he's like, "Do you want to help me grab something out of the truck?" He opened the camper top, put the tailgate down, and pulled out this giant chicken.

Why the exclamation point?

Thomas: The exclamation point is meant as "We really mean it," to add emphasis--in the context that it's used in sentences sometimes. In saying that idea, a feeling that gets to you, that's the place I was at when I came up with the name--very at-odds with everything around me.

Like, "The wolverines are against me!"

Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

If you could bomb one building and take everyone out so you're not going to harm anyone--you're just going to obliterate property and official records, what building would you blow up?

Thomas: At 15-years-old I wanted to see fuckin' Collier County Courthouse burned to the ground. The cops in Naples, Florida--shitheads. Nothing more would have made me happier.

What were you in there for?

Thomas: Battery on an officer, resisting arrest with violence, resisting arrest without violence, obstruction of justice, a drug charge, a concealed weapon charge, and James has multiple counts of grand theft.

Can you go to Canada?

Thomas: We had to sneak across Niagara Falls as tourists.

Anything that people have called you out on?

Thomas: For selling out. For signing to Fat. We played a show in Long Island on this tour and these two kids came and stood in front of me the whole show, said my lyrics back to me, called me a sellout, and put their hands on my guitar to stop me from playing. I went up to them after the show and was like, "What the fuck?" I was more upset that they crossed my physical boundaries instead of saying shit to me. After that, they slashed our tires.

Let me read you a letter we got. This was left on our trailer. "Dear Against Me!, my Mends and I have been huge fans for a long time. We live in Southern California. We've driven to Seattle to see you guys and we drove two hours to see you yesterday in Burbank, and two and a half tonight. I'm sorry to say that this show is a huge disappointment. It cost 57 bucks for our tickets"--and that's a combined total, I'm assuming, because it wasn't 57 dollars a ticket--"and all you guys played was your new stuff. You didn't play a single song earlier than Reinventing. Not to call you sellouts, but we think you have lost a lot of heart in your new stuff, and more importantly, you've lost three huge fans. But don't worry. You'll soon be headlining shows with The Transplants. 'Baby, I'm an Anarchist,' 'Burn,' 'I Still Love You Julie,' 'Impact,' those were the days. We're not talking shit. We're just deeply saddened. Your old songs were something. Now you sound like all the other mindless pop bands."

James: It sucks to say that I'm getting used to hearing stories about people talking shit and the whole sell-out thing.

What's happening to you guys would affect other people differently. You understand where these people are coming from, but you seem very grounded on a deep foundation. Where does that comes from?

Thomas: I feel like I know what my intentions are and I know what I want to do. I want to play music and that's a really simple thing. I don't care if I'm playing to five people or live million people--I'd like someone to listen, because I feel like I have something to say. But that's the intention. That's the point.