Posted on February 17, 2010 - by Editor

Punks don’t say Punkers: Static Thought

Static Thought © Imelda Michalczyk

Static Thought are a four piece punk rock band from the Bay area in California that includes Eric Urbach on guitar and vocals, Johaan Hill on bass and vocals, Daniel Garcia on guitar and vocals, and Drew Cueva on drums. To date the band have released two records on Hellcat Records and are easing their way through Europe for a second time. We caught up with the guys at the start of their tour in London and made ourselves comfortable for a lengthy chat about their music, their views of what is wrong with punk rock, plans for a new record and dissecting their views on other topics like sexism, band sell outs and more!

Steve: So since we last spoke you have released “The Motive for Movement” and I believe you are in the process of writing a third record or getting together to do that. Is that also due to come out on Hellcat Records?

Eric: Um, We are still in negotiations at this point. We basically asked them if they do or don’t want to do another one and I don’t know at this point; they are in the process of letting us know if they want to do that.

Steve: And when are you hoping to find out from them?

Eric: We will see. Personally I’m not a huge fan of the bands on the label anymore. It’s changed quite a lot and also the attitude of the people involved. And also some of the other bands on the label are very much in it for themselves or the money. It seems like all the passion that was behind it at first is gone. It’s completely lost. The good part is you are on Epitaph and you have access and you can tour here and that’s really cool but I personally feel that my music means so much to me and a lot of things that I feel are true to myself are not going on at the label. In fact it’s the exact opposite to some of the things I’m singing about. So it’s a conflict of interest.

Steve: So what options would you look at if Hellcat don’t pick it up? Can you do a self release or is that not an option?

Eric: We could. It’s a possibility and we have thought about it.

Johaan: We have done everything else on our own anyway?

Steve: I have read in your previous interviews (Eric) saying that although you are on Hellcat there doesn’t seem to be a massive amount of support financially or them doing some of the things you think a  label might do for a band?

Eric: Exactly, it’s not what a lot of people think it is. It’s a possibility for us to do it ourselves. There is a band called Trash Talk that are where we are from and they do everything for themselves and are doing really well so…I mean definitely when you think of what a label is, its definitely a middle man, and also another person you have to deal with between you and the people that listen to your music. It’s easier to cut that person out or do it by yourself but there are more options and outreach with a label.  And we are open to other labels; it doesn’t matter how big or small as long as they love our music and want to work with us; that’s what’s going to get us to our next place.

Steve: So if you are pretty anti working or being on Hellcat why ask them in the first place?

Eric: Well I wanted to (gets interrupted)…

Johaan: We just wanted them to show us more love.

Eric: I will be there if they want us to be there, if not then we are gone. Generally the way they have gone about handling their business with us is not showing us they want us to be there, which kind of makes me feel they don’t want us. But I wanted to put it out there and say “hey do you want to do it or not and finance it or not?” And they haven’t got back to us, so.

Steve: in terms of writing material then, do you have enough ready for another album?

Eric: We have about ten songs. I want to have at least four songs ready to go. Basically the new album, I’m really excited about, everybody really likes the songs in the band and they are definitely the best songs I have written.

Steve: In what way, I mean it’s natural for any band to make progress and evolve so what evolution have you seen?

Eric: Well I have been writing songs since I was 12, I’m 21 now. So I can obviously write a better song. For me if you can write a song that you feel from your heart in that way and express yourself properly that’s ultimately going to get the point across better. If you think about it, musicians or singers or writers or anyone its about developing the fundamentals and you don’t have any barriers to express yourself. It’s the same with song writing; the more songs you write the better you get at it. I think this is the most captivating music; interesting, intricate, melodic.

Johaan: A lot more in your face!

Eric: Yeah and a lot more fun to play. It will be a lot more fun to play this than any songs we have played before.

Steve: As a band although the line-up has changed slightly you have been around for a while. So with only two records and the EP is it good to get to a point to play new material and test It out on the crowd?

Eric © Imelda Michalczyk

Eric: Sure, like any band we get tired of playing the old songs. I think we play what we like a lot. Or what we enjoy mainly. We had two EP’s before our first album and we don’t play that anymore really. We don’t sell them even anymore. We play some of our first record and maybe half of the second and then new songs. It’s kind of what we have always done. When we put the first album out we played all those songs, but I guess we are a impatient band.

Steve: Well like a normal band? You take the driving seat Eric with writing the songs so the rest of you guys (the band) what’s the involvement or process with new material? How does the construction of the song come about? Do you present them with the lyrics and write around that?

Eric: Well I think every day I try and play guitar and songs might just come to me and I can record it, I play everything so I can put the drums down, put the bass down, guitar, then the lyrics- I write them afterwards; that is it’s hard for me to do it the other way around. And then I will show it to everybody; just the idea and then usually we learn it and play it.

Johaan: And we fine-tune it from there; add own our musicianship, cut this part here or that part there and arrange this or that.

Steve: And you are open enough to criticise each other and comment?

Johaan: Well this guy (Eric) is always too ahead of the game for us so is always like “hey here are the new ones” and we are like “Holy shit man!” cos we have just learned the other ones.

Eric: Yeah I guess I have a certain way with songs, I played drums as my first instrument so I really like to think about the drum part in relation to the rest of the song, so for a drummer who wants to have a bit more freedom it kinda sucks, but I put a basic thing down and he (nodding to Drew) expands on that. Same with the guitar I play more rhythm cos Daniel has such a nice lead feel –I think that’s where his true spirit shines (laughing) as a guitar player and his solos. And Johaan as a bass player coming from a more technical background-he used to play a lot of metal; he adds a lot more of that to it (Johaan laughing).

Johaan: It adds a twist especially with my background and now with Drew on drums, we used to play together in metal bands together and punk and rock and he is in a blues power trio. What do you call yourselves Drew?

Drew: Red Light Blind. (I think- excuse me if I got that wrong-ED)

Steve: So when you get to the point of laying down your record, which ever label that is on, are you your own worst enemy with being critical or pretty impatient?

Eric: I’m pretty impatient. Mainly because I have a idea in my head and it’s there already and I get pissed off when it doesn’t work out and that sucks so I think this time I would like us to all be on the same page and when we enter the studio it will just flow more naturally. The last two records it was all a bit rushed. The first one we were just writing songs and the next thing we know we were putting out a album. So we have this amount of time and had to do it, and from there a few weeks to mix it. The second one Johaan was touring with another band so we had two weeks to do it, finish all the songs, go in and record it in five days, three drums and bass takes to get it done before he left. So we could have spent more time on making it better. This time I want to spend more time on doing it right, I think this next record will be a great achievement, for me as a song writer and for us as a band.

Steve: How important is it from a band perspective to have the right producer; is that not as important from your perspective?

Daniel © Imelda Michalczyk

Eric: It’s definitely important to have the right producer. The guy we have been working with is Dave Tweedy, he is a long time family friend. He grew up in the Bay (San Francisco) area and when the trash thing started and has a strong pop background and is probably the best drummer I know. So he is really all about the feel -from that perspective when he hears my stuff he can add input as he has been doing this 30 more years than I have. And the way he puts things across brings out the best in us.

Johaan: Yeah he communicates really effectively. Our style of music is not his first choice but he gets what we are trying to accomplish and puts suggestions to that.

Steve: Is it too difficult to put a timeframe on when you would hope to have the new record out, is 2010 realistic?

Eric: I would love to have it out this year absolutely. Ultimately it would suck to wait till next year to put out a new record. Every year since we have started playing shows we have put something out. So we would love to have something out, regardless of it being something new; we will probably put something out.

Steve: With trends like digital releases recently and downloads and the issues you touch on with your previous albums, like sexism in punk rock and previously you mentioned the lack of good sized venues for underground bands. Are these issues still as important for you?

Eric: I think sexism in punk rock is still a big issue. Leftover Crack is against homophobia or cops, as strongly as that resonates with that band sexism resonates with me. I think to me it’s very simple; like nobody likes Nazis. If you have one turn up to a show it’s like “Fuck we need to get this guy out of here” and they run him out but discrimination is discrimination. So what’s the difference between that and a girl being made uncomfortable at a show, there is no difference in my mind- it’s the same sort of problem and should be eradicated. But throughout time or any movement, sexism always exists but in our community it’s understood and can be gotten rid of and people just need to be made aware of it. Like I had no idea until a friend, a girl she told me about girls being molested or being made to do thing they didn’t want to and things like that at shows. It’s like nobody talked about it cos it was commonplace. It’s just important to make people aware of it and we will continue to fight it. In terms of the next album it’s going to be more of a story- a concept album if you will.

Steve: A Green Day rock opera?

Eric: Haha yeah sort of. More like….

Johaan: A bit heavier!

Eric: Haha- Yeah a lot heavier. It’s like what you said with downloading, it’s good and bad. You don’t get that personal experience with getting a piece of vinyl or sitting in the room putting it on, looking at the artwork and that sort of stuff. The personal element is gone with downloading; it’s more of a commodity now. So for example for the next album I was reading this interview Fat Mike did  a while ago, and what he thought was wrong was all these bands trying to write just one good song, that’s it! The song to break guys out and make a lot of money. And people are tired of paying all that money for a shit record and that’s one of the reasons they started downloads. But if you think about it, like a Led Zeppelin album or The Who, You get a whole album cos all the songs are good. I want to make the whole album great!

Daniel: No Filler!

Eric: Yeah I want to play very song on the record for as long as this band exists cos the songs are that good. That’s one thing, the other is that conceptually having a story or having the songs linked together you will miss out a lot lyrically and the story if you only download one song and not the whole album, so I think that’s a good recipe for having a whole consolidated album that someone will want to listen to back to front. So that’s the idea.

Steve: Sure I understand it that. I want to change topics slightly, do you feel that punk rock is being diluted slightly though. I have nothing wrong with the trend of late with artists releasing mellowed solo records, but have you found much of a change since you started getting involved with punk rock?

Eric: Sure, I mean to touch on the folk solo thing I think most writers that like punk may also like folk etc so I get that. For me thought the bands I thought were important when I was 14, Rancid for example are not as important to me now. Mainly cos you grow up and you get into different things.

Steve: That’s normal though.

Eric: It is but I have also redefined the term sell out.

Johaan: Definitely, being a musician you redefine that.

Eric: It’s easy to judge from afar what someone is until you can get to talk to someone about what someone opinions are on things.

Johaan: Or about popularity, like, no this band sold out! Until you look into more detail, like “wow, they really didn’t sell out.”

Drew © Imelda Michalczyk

Eric: Yeah I guess now selling out is changing the mentality or the message of what they want to do as a band or getting into it for profit. Like Against Me! Who have always been anarchist or folk punk, the new album touched on how silly that was, they were young or whatever, they signed to a major label. They are not at the core same band at they were and they got to the places they did cos of that idea and now that doesn’t matter anymore? So from my perspective it’s either cos they didn’t care about those ideas they were preaching in the first place or they didn’t really stay true to the core. I mean Bob Marley is a good example of that, he just had feelings and wrote lyrics down and didn’t have any meaning; just wanted to play good music which is fine. I think that if you are going to write important lyrics that resonate to people you should really care about it.

Steve: Well especially with a band when they profess to fly a flag for a cause and turn their back on that. Can you confirm something I read online, as we know the internet is not the most reliable of sources? But I read that your tour van stateside broke down recently.

Johaan: Ah the van talk; Mr Stormtrooper.

Drew: I walked into this mess!

Johaan: Yeah we tricked him and made it clear if you join this band your one quarterly expense in advance is the band costs.

Drew: And that van just does not run!

Eric: The story is our old bass player quit and he had the old van. So we had to find a new van and a bass player in a month before a tour and went to a dealership and bought a van for eight grand or whatever on a loan and put a down payment on it.

Johaan: It had really comfy seats!

Drew: I wasn’t even in the band at that time but I heard they were amazing seats.

Daniel: We thought it would be so good for sleeping on!

Eric: Yeah well the engine basically warped after we used it on tour and the repairs were expensive and the air-con blew hot air.

Johaan: It would also blow the starter fuse and we beat the system that if you turn the car on, open the hood pull out the starter fuse it would work.  I was scared it was gonna blow in my face. But if you turn the car off- man it’s annoying… We can’t tour the States in North America. So we need to raise funds for a new van or repair that old one. It sucks, that’s why we are out here cos we are stuck there for touring.

Steve: So on touring you had a show a couple nights ago and then UK and Europe, so the three of you that have been here what are you looking forward to or heard would be good?

Johaan: Awesome hospitality. It helps in Europe being an American band compared to if I was just a tourist but personally everyone is so open armed and great. This shows, if someone pays whatever they pay, they stick around for all the bands. They give all the bands a try. There are still some places like in the States but in the bigger cities the attitude is like “Well why should I pay to go watch this band, why should I got out of my way , how are they going to impress me?” Here it’s much better.  Even if we have a small show with 10 people we still play the same levels and we have some passionate fans who say that live we make an impact. And with the downloading and stuff you can make an amazing song but live wise you know, that’s what counts and we like to be in your face and base the show on speed. That’s how any band is going to make their money, not that’s what we are in this for, but you need the money to pay for gas and food etc.

Steve: Well yeah live is the acid test for me. And yourself Drew; this is your first tour with the guys over here? What are you expecting?

Johaan © Imelda Michalczyk

Drew: I’m keeping open minded. This is the first time to Europe at all so im taking it in and seeing new areas, and for the shows I’m ready to rock. The first show, this kid who put it on was like “I’m so sorry there weren’t enough people”, and I was like “what are you talking about? Back in the States that was a killer show right there”. I’m super stoked.

Steve: And plans for later in the year when you get back to the Sates?

Eric: We are going to play some shows in the Bay area with the Vampirates from Reno in March and a band from Cleveland will come out to do a West coast tour. So we will try and borrow a van for a two week tour. After that maybe go to Canada again? Maybe come back here in the summer? But we want to get the record recorded.

Johaan: We are trying to get a tour to Australia and Japan. Pretty much stay out of the States as much as possible; all odds are against us there at the moment! (Laughing)

Eric: Yeah if we can do a east coast tour, get in touch! Would love to do a tour there and return the favour.

Steve: Are there any bands you would like to tour with yourself?

Eric: Maybe if Refused did a reunion tour?

Johaan: Ah man, someone would think I was on Viagra if that happened I would have a constant hard on! I would love to tour with Evergreen Terrace, I picked up a album a few years ago and have three of their records.  I come from a metal background and they bring a good mix of punk with that. You can see the way Eric is smiling it’s not going to happen (laughing) I have seen them live and they are pretty brutal.

Steve: You all live in the Bay area, how would you describe the scene there?

Eric: I think in the Bay area this year and last year its coming back! It’s relay good right now. Hardcore is back in full swing and there are a lot of bands that are pretty popular and writing interesting music. Like the Trash days, musically bands are pushing each other to be better and cos of that we are getting better music. Gilman has always been there and will hopefully always be there and is always great to see shows. But there is a venue called Uptown, Oakland, Parkside great little bars and venues springing up. All the people that are really passionate about music are using it to create a united great scene/ The place in dire need is Los Angeles. The place is destroying the scene basically since the Unseen riot in LA happened; the city said they are going to get the punk thing out of town. There are no places to go, all the spots are in San Fernando Valley or Orange County and even there they aint that good. That place is dead and has been for a while.

Johaan: And that’s all down to inconsiderate people trying to have fun (referring to the rioters at the Unseen show). It affected people everywhere.

Eric: It all came down to kids trying to get into the show but it had sold out and someone threw a brick through the window and they rushed the door and it’s the stupidest thing to do. A lot of the kids they are young and were like “Chaos- aaagh” but not really thinking about what they were doing. That and maybe six other shows, cops were involved, business got affected and it sucks now. A lot of people are more laid back in the Bay area.

Johaan: The hippies help man, far more chilled.

Eric: And smarter and think “hey let’s keep the venue alive!” And the city will have to think smarter to shut it down.

Steve: Any final things you would like to say to your fans?

Eric: Keep an eye out for a new record, we want to reinvigorate the new noise theology and bring a cool new breath to a scene that’s always simplistic. What we are doing is unique and its going to be fun for everyone that’s been into the band. No one is going to say we are too this or too that, still the same attitude and spirit but more interesting musically and interesting lyrically and have a good time doing it.

Johaan: And I’m going to keep my beard growing! I think the last time I was out here a specific person said “You can’t be punk rocker with a beard!”

Eric: He said “punkers don’t have facial hair” were his exact words and I said “punkers don’t say punkers!”

For our review of their London gig click here

To enter our Static Thought competition click here

Static Thought © Imelda Michalczyk