Culture Abuse At The Deaf Institute

I meet with Culture Abuse in the downstairs bar area of The Deaf Institute where the band are gathered ahead of their debut appearance in Manchester, as we end up conducting the interview outside the venue at the band’s request so they can enjoy a smoke it’s impossible to tell who’s answering the question when other members of the band chip in due to traffic and background noise, but the majority of the responses were from vocalist David Kelling, so in the inauspicious surroundings of the alley at the back of The Deaf Institute I find myself interviewing Culture Abuse

Thanks for taking time out to talk to The Punk Site, how’s the tour going so far?

we’ve been gone for almost three months now, it’s been good, it’s been rough, it’s been fun, there have been ups and downs you know, but it’s been good

You’ve been on the road for a while now, where have you been before you hit the UK?

We went to Hawaii and started with a couple of shows there then we flew to New York and did an East Coast tour then it was over the UK to play Hyde Park with Green Day, then we headed over to Italy and stayed there for a couple of weeks and played music before we went to Amsterdam and stayed there for three weeks. Now we’re back here after doing a few festivals such as Lowlands and Pukkelpop, finally it’s this tour with Tigers Jaw and it ends at Reading and Leeds, then we’re going to chill for a few days before heading back home

How do you feel about playing the Reading and Leeds Festivals?

We’re on about 5.30 and … (at this point we’re politely ushered away from the venue by security as Culture Abuse’s smoke cloud was creeping into the venue)

I can take that out if you want

No man, leave it in, fuck it

Right now we’ve moved away from the venue, where are you all from and how did Culture Abuse come together?

We’re a west coast band, California from Bay Area, we’ve all been in other bands in the Bay Area music scene. We’re all kinda like the underdogs and outcasts so we all just grouped together and started this band

How long has it been since Culture Abuse got together?

it’s been going three or four years, when we first started the drummer that we had didn’t want to tour and I just wanted to play music, so I didn’t care, I mean like of course I want to be touring, this is what I want to be doing, but for the first couple of years we could barely even play outside of the Bay Area as our drummer just didn’t want to, and then we basically just had to get a new drummer and start hitting the road

Peach came out last year, which for me was one of the best album’s of 2016

Yeah, we were told we had to make that record, we didn’t even have a drummer at the time, so we got our friend in to do it, practiced four times and went into the studio to do it

I think that really comes across as Peach has a real live feel, what were the influences on the writing of the album?

Ramones, The Clash big time, Weezer, The Beatles, I mean we wanted to make a record that you could just put on regardless of the mood you were in, if you were like really happy or if you were fucking pissed, or if you were anything, we just wanted to make one of those records that you could you just put on in any situation

And now you’ve signed to Epitaph, which is a big deal

Yeah, Brett face timed me today just to talk about mixes of some songs we’re doing, it’s just crazy that the people we get to collaborate with and the people that are around us now are all so talented and insane in their own way, it’s so cool to think about where the future’s going to go. The person that we have to talk to about mixes, even when it’s oh fuck I’ve got to make a phone call, is Brett from Epitaph and Bad Religion, who also owns the fucking label, and he’s helped write, produce and engineer some of my all time favourite records, so yeah Epitaph, yeah it’s cool

Is there a new album or EP in the future?

We’re going into the studio at the end of September, we get back from this and we’re home for like ten days, then we fly to Riot Fest to play on the Jawbreaker day, we’re home for a little bit and then we go to LA and we start making the new record

Will you be coming back to the UK to play to tour or play any other festivals?

Yeah, We’ll be coming back to play Glastonbury for sure, if it doesn’t happen next year it’ll be happening the year after, maybe Rebellion next year then Glastonbury and then we’d like to come back and do Leeds and Reading again on the mainstage, then maybe Wimbledon and Wembley, yeah we’re playing Winbledon (chorus of laughter from the band)

Thanks for taking the time to talk to The Punk Site

Yeah, punk rock forever

You can read the live review of Culture Abuse at The Deaf Institute here

The Punk Site‘s review of Peach can be read here

Culture Abuse‘s website can be found here and their Bandcamp is here

Live photography from The Deaf Institute by Dean Unsworth

Dean’s Instagram account is located here