>>PREVIEW
AGAINST ME!
Thursday, July 20
THE VANS WARPED TOUR 2006
Race City Speedway
After an early afternoon show in a California parking lot, Against Me! drummer Warren Oakes is happy to simply check out some bands and have time to wander through the spectacle that is The Warped Tour.
"I’m having a really great time out here to be honest and I was a little bit skeptical," he says. "It’s lacking some ambience out here, it’s kind of hard to feel a lot of vibe when you’re playing in a parking lot and it’s kind of the same parking lot from one day to the next. There’s definitely a sort of Groundhog Day feel to it out here."
At least in Oakes’ version he gets to caravan across North America with NOFX, the Bouncing Souls and Joan Jett. Not too shabby for a Sarasota, Florida lad who connected with front-man Tom Gabel when they were teens involved in separate chapters of Food Not Bombs. Gabel formed Against Me! as a punk-folk solo act in 1997, initially in acoustic form and eventually switching to electric equipment. This transition, however, was not a welcome one for many fans.
"I got backlash for joining the band because I had cymbals, we got backlash when we started using electric guitars, we got backlash when we went to Fat Wreck Chords. People have wagged the finger at us every step of the way," explains Oakes who cites incidents of van tires being slashed by former acquaintances as one of the many negative reactions people have had to the band’s evolution and success.
"But you can’t take it to heart too much," he continues. "I think people hold us up to a certain expectation that they have of how we should behave and what they think are the best things for us to do. We feel confident with the decisions we’re making and the way we’re living our lives. It’s kind of a bizarre situation – you realize that you’re a competent adult and you’re going about doing the things that satisfy you and make you happy and you’re aware that you have a sea of critics who are just watching you live your life and pointing the finger and commenting on how you’re doing it all wrong."
The constant critique isn’t anything new and the band has resolved it for themselves and decided to focus their energies elsewhere, particularly on touring. On average, the band has spent 10 months a year for the last four-and- a-half years on the road, including two jaunts to Australia or "Pleasure Island" as Oakes calls it. With a live album due out on Fat Wreck Chords in August and a 2007 release on Sire Records, Against Me! will continue to stand out on their soon-to-be label’s roster and in the punk music scene.
"I feel like there’s a possibility that anywhere we play, anybody that happens to be there, there’s a chance that they’ll find it compelling or interesting or entertaining or that they’ll get something from it. I don’t think that it’s restricted or limited to this niche scene or subculture." |
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