Post Mortem Zine Interviews Anti-Flag

PM: First your names and the instruments you play. Justin: Justin Sane, guitar and vocals. Pat: Pat Thetic, drums Chris: Chris, I play guitar Justin (in a high voice): My name’s Cock, I play bass (laughter) PM: What’s the deal with “Andy Used Flag”? Justin: Well, I didn’t read it, so I don’t know. But, this is my answer to that. Andy quit the band a year ago, we have Cock and Chris in the band now, I think it’s more important to look forward than back in the past. Andy had reasons for quitting the band, some of which are legitimate, some illegitmate. I refuse to get into name-calling with Andy, because I think that’s just kind of pathetic, so I don’t want to get involved with that. I think it’s more important to look at what we have now, we have a great line-up now with Chris and Cock, we’re having a lot of fun, and it’s great. PM: Okay, how long have you guys been touring for? Justin: We’ve been touring for about three months, we’ve only been in Canada for a few days. We did the northeast and the northwest by ourselves and then we hooked up with the UK Subs and then here we are. PM: When you guys were on stage, you said you though Toronto was pretty cool, now do you actually think that, or were you just saying that? Justin: Yeah, I love it here, we’re having a lot of fun, plus two, the kids are really friendly, and really nice. PM: Is there a lot of jock attitude in shows in Pittsburgh? Justin: I think the worst think in Pittsburgh is the fighting in the punk scene. There aren’t a lot of jocks that come to shows, it’s kinda sad cuz it’s always punks pulling down punks. I really think it’s more important that the punk kids work together to create something better than that. Average society is always people stabbing people in the back, it’s really sad to me that the punk kids would buy into that. PM: In the song Davey Destroyed the Punk Scene, do you know a guy named Davey? Justin: You know what that song’s about, that Christian show Davey and Goliath, (laughter) we though Davey was the dumbest name we could think of. That’s why we put Davey. PM: If you could be any jungle animal, which one would you be? Justin: When I was a kid, my favourite one was a jaguar. Cuz they could run like 60mph, I thought that was really cool. PM: How old are you guys? Justin: 19 PM: So how long have you guys been together? Justin: Me and Pat have been together for 4 years, Cock and Chris have been on since we started touring about 4 months ago. Pat (out of nowhere): I’d be a dung beetle! I’d eat shit all day. (Laughter) Justin: I just realized what that was (more laughter) PM: Do you guys drink? Justin: No, Cock drinks, but Pat, Chris and I don’t drink. PM: You guys have a lot of energy on stage, and it kind of scared us. You sweat a lot too. Justin: Yeah, my clothes are always soaking after we play. PM: What do you think of bands like Rancid and Bad Religion? Justin: It’s kinda like this, we would never sign to a major label, because they don’t care about the music. I think, we got a lot of friends... The Bouncing Souls just signed to Epitaph. They’re pals of ours, and we’ve been on tour for about three months now, and we’ve maybe made about 4 thousand dollars. Half... All of that, actually... We are in debt about six grand, basically we’ve been busting our asses 24 hours a day, to make about 4 grand and obviously we’re not doing it to make the big bucks.At the same time you have to be able to live off of it if thats what you want to do because, you know, if you split 4 thousand dollars four ways, plus someone else, cuz we need a roadie, we would all be totally fucked. The Bouncing Souls, we were talking to them and they can’t even afford to pay their rent, and that’s why they’re going to Epitaph, just to be able to survive. I can understand economically why bands do that, if you want to live off what you love to do, you have to be able to support yourself off it. For me it’s kind of a touchy subject. Pat: On the other hand, there are a lot of labels that have been set up through the underground, and through the punk scene, to combat that. A lot of the time we need to support those labels. The problem is you have to have a give and take, when working within the punk scene, if you don’t pay to get in, you’re screwing over a band. That means a part of the system breaks down, when somebody else can’t survive on it, or whatever . There’s gotta be a give and take of everything, and everyone should be looking out for one another, instead of looking out for themselves. In the long run, if there’s independent labels, the label’s looking out for the band, and the band’s looking out for the label. The kids at the shows are looking out for everybody, and keeping the system going. That’s the idea, and if that works at the optimum level, everyone wins. PM: One thing that’s really cool about you guys is you can play shows with Aus Rotten or a poppier band like the Bouncing Souls. Do you guys find it easier to play in hardcore scene than in the poppier scene? Justin: I think it’s harder to play in the hardcore scene, cuz those kids are more judgemental. What punk is, if it’s not fast and loud and crusty, they don’t like it. I mean, that’s just my feeling, I think poppy kids are more open minded. They’ll go for something that’s totally poppy, or something that’s more hardcore. I’m not trying to isolate all hardcore punks, that’s what I grew up listening to, that’s the kind of stuff I love, and that’s the kind of kids I hang out with at home. I just think it’s a drag that kids are so punk, and so unopen-minded about what punk is. (We missed most of the interview, the best part, about politics and war) PM: What are your feelings about the second world war, when it was sparked by nationalism, but the States and Canada fought not to protect their economic welfare, but the welfare of the world? Justin: That’s one way of looking at it, when there was the great depression in the US. A lot of people believe that the only reason they entered the war was to end the depression. They knew what was going on for a long time, and when they decided it was economically a good time to enter, they did. They didn’t enter the war cuz they heard there was a million Jewish people being slaughtered. PM: Do you think the same about Britain? Justin: I think Britain was fighting to save its ass. Pat: I think if you look at the language used prior to that, the language they used going into the Gulf War, towards Saddam Housain, was he was an aly, then he was a baby-killer. PM: It’s like you’re our enemy, but we’ll still sell you weapons. Pat: It’s the same every time, it’s just when it happens, and how history teaches it to you. Justin: Same thing with the Nazis. Pat: Well, Henry Ford... Justin: The big problem was Mercedes, all of these companies in Europe was using slave labour from the concentration camp victims. That’s one little horrible thing about war. The other horrible thing is the way we talked about the Germans before we fought them, and after we fought them were totally different ways. They were just villanized after the US entered the war. I think the propaganda got much worse after the war started, about the Japanese. I don’t know for sure, but I imagine they didn’t start these horrible racial slurs with the Japanese. Everyone who was Japanese was considered a spy. PM: There was a lot of racism towards Japanese people, having to work on the railroads, and Irish people, and that was terrible. Pat: It’s interesting now that we look back and say that’s horrible, but look at what we’re doing to the Mexican Immigrants in the US. It depends on what the society deems acceptable racism and unacceptable racism. Justin: It’s cuz there’s not a war now, but in six months we could be in a war, and they could enact the draft. All Canadians simultaneously: That’s still around?!? Justin: It is, in war time. PM: You guys are smart!! Justin: It’s just common knowledge that they won’t teach you in school. PM: 12” on Mind Control, is it gonna happen, or not? Justin: We thought it was, it may not now... Pat: 12” picture disc, coming soon. We have a split with the Dread on Six Weeks, and there’s a 7” coming out with Against All Authority. And Aus Rotten is doing a reunion tour. PM: Is that coming to Canada? Pat: They’re really cool guys, and they’re a really cool band PM: Well, thanks a lot for the interview. Justin: Don’t believe everything we say...