‘I do get criticized at times for not writing about specific events, but the new album is as hard-hitting and political as I have ever been, just in an older, wiser, way’ — rocker Ted Leo

Ted Leo is a workhorse. Since 1999, the songwriter and his band The Pharmacists have released six albums and spent more than half of each year on the road promoting them. A glance at his tour schedule usually reveals a plethora of upcoming shows, giving the impression Leo has performed at every club, theatre and festival worldwide. Yet, while most bands cringe at the reality of perpetually living life on tour, Leo has made a career of it, buttressing the road with gritty, arresting albums, strong songwriting and a dedication to keeping every show, moment and song unique, regardless of where he is.

“When I started playing music, going on the road was what you did,” explains Leo while spending his last few days at home in Indiana before heading on the road till mid-December. “Really, it was the only option to survive, which in some ways is still true today. There was no Internet then, so the way you got your music around and disseminated it was by playing it live. Plus, because of my upbringing musically, it just makes sense to me to do it this way. You must be good at what you do live. The rest follows that.”

An early follower of punk rock and hardcore music, Leo began his career writing and performing in three bands before the Pharmacists, all substantially louder and more aggressive than his present output. Yet, while some of his chord progressions have become more melodic, pop-laced and stylistically expansive, Leo’s lyrics have remained political from his self-titled debut to this year’s Living with the Living, his first on Chicago-based Touch and Go Records.

“I do not know if my politics have changed that much over the years,” says Leo. “I do get criticized at times for not writing about specific events, but the new album is as hard-hitting and political as I have ever been, just in an older, wiser way. Yet, I do not want to write songs that are going to remain forever about politics. No policy decision matters in the vacuum of government. It only matters in how these policies affect those being governed. Therefore, when I touch on political issues, I try to piece out how we deal with and are affected by these things.”

That influence is no more apparent than on Living with the Living, a collection of songs obviously about America’s current debacle at home and in Iraq, but more so about how ordinary people are dealing with this fiasco one day at a time. “Sons of Cain,” for example, a melodic juggernaut that resembles his older, punk-scorched material, aches over personal loss, while “Bomb Repeat Bomb” not only takes on its literal subject matter, but also how society has become attuned to constantly accept destruction on repeat. While Leo has always touched on delicate subjects, Living with the Living is his most accomplished lyrical work to date, a sprawling call-to-arms of a rock record.

Musically, Leo takes more chances on the record as well, allowing external inferences to peer in throughout the material, opening up Leo’s punk-based songs to reggae, pop, alt country and folk. While his older material flirted with such influences, his songs have developed extensively on Living with the Living, something Leo ascribes to a conscious push in the studio.

“After touring on my last album, Shake the Sheets, for a long time, by the time I began writing this one I did not want to make a super tight, steady rock record,” he says. “I wanted to let the production breathe a little and let the songs talk more than I was. That is why I let the songs go a little more where they wanted to go, explore their own territory. Still, there are tight pop songs, but there are plenty of others that require more venting. I think that probably has to do with the length of time between my records. I was writing in between tours, and over the course of that amount of time, your brain sometimes wanders in a lot more directions. I was not used to the time off.”

Yet, while Leo has been making stellar studio albums for nearly a decade with his ragtag band of Pharmacists, the band excels live, and they will hit the road for another month this fall in support of Living. Leo is excited, but growing slightly exhausted at the thought of getting back in the van for another month, leaving home behind. Still, he admits that his pleasure lies in live performance, and even though the logistics of touring can be tiring, stopping is not an option.

“The idea of going on tour this week is exhausting, to be honest,” says Leo. “It is starting to grind me down a little bit — not to be too grumpy-old-punk-guy. However, once I get out there, all my worries about it dissipate. I’m at home.”