Good Riddance

Bobby: Starting with the basics can you please state your name and what you do in the band?

Russ: My name’s Russ and I am the lead singer of Good Riddance.

James: Good Riddance, where did you come up with that name?

Russ: I thought it sounded good, sounded like a punk name. Had a good ring to it, I don’t know. It just sorta came up.

Bobby: OK, “Bound By The Ties Of Blood And Affection”, your newest CD titled. Where did you get that name from?

Russ: I got it from a book I have; it’s just sort’ve one of the passages in the book. I like the ring of it. It seems to carry some depth to it. And I think it could relate to it a lot from being in a band. Because you go through, with a band, every fasset of emotions. Like you love them, you love your bandmates, you hate them, you bleed together, you sweat together. You get a chance to do all this stuff; there’s kind’ve a bound, kind’ve a tie you’ve got with them that you really wouldn’t get from any other situation. I read it in the book and I right away thought about the whole band experience. I really liked the fit.

Bobby: What’s your favorite song on it and why?

Russ: Wow. There’s a lot of good ones on the new record that I like. Let’s see… ahh man, that’s so hard. I love the song, “There’s No “I” In Team”, I love “Bobby Baun”, that’s the last song. I like “The Process”, it’s kinda slower, weird. There’s a few things on this album that are really different for us. Which is fun to experiment with. “The Dubious Glow Of Excess” is a song that like, for us, is a real departure stylistically. From when Luke first brought the guitar part in, to how it ended up on the CD is so different. I think that one turned out really well too.

James: The album artwork is a lot of animals surrounded by money. Where did you get that idea from? Does it mean anything special?

Russ: In America, we have two political parties that pretty much run the whole country; the Democrats and Republicans. They’re the richest ones. The Democrats’ symbol is a donkey and the Republicans’ is an elephant. So we just thought it would be fun to use that. One of the things that I love doing, artistically, in our band, is to use symbols of Americana, but use them completely out of context. And this is just sort’ve another way of doing that.

Bobby: All right, before a lot of the tracks on the album you have some people talking, you even end the album off with a little sarcastic government notice thing. Why did you decide to do this?

Russ: Once again, it’s fun to poke fun at what’s going on in American right now. When we were recording the album, it was right before our country invaded Iraq and the whole country was swept up in this “Let’s go kick some ass” kinda bullshit. So I thought it would be funny to do a public service announcement with all this patriotic music in the background with some girl, like a public speaking kind of voice; really matter-of-factly. Like when you hear it, I wanted it to have the effect that you didn’t know if it was serious or not. Cause you hear stuff like that all the time in our country. Like patriotic music and flags flying behind some guy talking but the only difference would be that this lady’s saying what’s really going on. I think it was really effective. I wanted that to be the first thing on the album, but the other guys in the band thought it was too narly, they wanted to like bury it. I still think it’s pretty effective.

Bobby: Ya, it’s good.

James: How do you normally write all your songs?

Russ: Generally, I play a lot of guitar at home, and we’re writing and album and I’ll have a song idea sort’ve flushed out. Like a beginning, a middle and the end, musically. And I’ll start working on vocal melodies for it and filling it out with lyrics. As soon as I have a song done, or close to being done, I’ll bring it to practice and show the guys. We play it through a couple time and I’d sing a melody to it and if they like it, then we’d start working on it. Some guy will be like “Well, I don’t like this here. I don’t like that there. Let’s change this.” Then it becomes a work in progress. And the same thing, Luke, a lot of times Luke would bring a song in or Chuck and the same thing.

Bobby: You seem to have a strong political view, like in this interview, your articles, your lyrics, stuff like that. Why do you write about all that stuff?

Russ: I think it’s a combination of growing up when I grew up and being exposed to punk when I was younger. Political bands like The Dead Kennedys. Punk was my voice, it was empowering to listen to songs by bands, people who had the same points of view as me. It didn’t feel so left out and so alone in what was going on. I wasn’t happy with how the world was. I thought it was a legitimate platform to project my voice. And also growing up in Santa Cruz, my hometown, it’s a really left wing, Liberal, free thinking kind of environment. I was always exposed to like poetry and people were speaking out against the government. Just really a lot of those kind of factors mixed together. My family’s not really political, they’re all democrats. They were against the Vietnam War, they were against Ronald Regan, so I got a lot of that too when I was growing up.

James: You’ve been on Fat Wreck for a long time now, how did you meet them?

Russ: Well we recorded what we thought was a really good demo in the early 90s and we were ready to try and get on a label. And Fat was very small at the time. They had, I think, put out the first Lagwagon, the first Propaghandi, a NoFX and a No Use For A Name thing. Sent our demo there, as well as a bunch of other labels, and they called up back about a week later and were interested in working with us. So that’s when it happened.

Bobby: How do you like it?

Russ: It’s awesome. I mean, we’re really fortunate. We were in the right place at the right time and just made the most of it. Because of Fat Wreck Chords, we’ve had the chance to travel all around the world and touch a lot of people’s lives with our music and had great opportunities. They’ve been so amazing for us. I don’t know, we’re really fortunate and really grateful to be involved.

James: Would you ever leave them and join a major record label?

Russ: Good Riddance will probably never do that. No.

Bobby: Alright, tonight is the last show on the tour for you guys with the Murphys, The Casualties and Roger Miret & The Disasters. How has the tour been so far?

Russ: It’s been great. I got the chance to met Roger from Agnostic Front, he’s like one of my heroes. But everybody’s been really nice. The shows have been great, a lot of kids and we love coming to western Canada anyway, Good Riddance does. So being able to come and be part of a such a big tour has been really cool. And everybody’s been treating us really well and made us feel welcome, it’s been awesome. It’s sad that it’s the last night.

Bobby: Any memorable moments from it so far?

Russ: Not any more or less then any other tour. I mean we got a chance to play in front of a lot of new people, which is cool. Like last night we got to play on Halloween in Calgary, it was pretty nuts, it was pretty cool.

Bobby: I heard that Roger dressed up as a girl for the Murphys’ set.

Russ: Ya, that was pretty funny. That was a good time.

James: If you could pick one person or band, dead or alive to tour with, who would you pick and why?

Russ: We’ve never got to tour really with Pennywise or Bad Religion. Those are probably the only two bands still left that I would be really, really, really honored to tour with. I would love to tour with The Battalion of Saints, back before they all died or The Adolescents. I would love to tour with Black Flag just to watch them every night. Mostly selfish things like that, like I would like to tour with bands so that I could watch them for free every night. But Pennywise or Bad Religion. Like we’ve played festival days with Pennywise before. I don’t think we’ve ever played the same day or same venue as Bad Religion. Two bands that really mean a lot to me, that would be a honor to open up for. That hasn’t happened yet, so hopefully someday.

Bobby: How has being in a band changed your life?

Russ: There’s a lot of ways. I think the one main thing is getting a chance to travel and to see other different countries and cultures has really opened my eyes; and made me a better person, a better global citizen. Cause if you live in America, it’s really easy to just think about America only and just be enveloped in “O, we’re American.” And that’s all you’d worry about, screw everybody else. And getting outside, seeing other countries and other cultures have really given me an appreciation for what a small part I am in a much larger picture. And I have a much greater appreciation for other countries and other cultures now then I did before. So that’s probably the most lasting thing that I’ll take with me from this experience.

Bobby: If the band, as a whole, could change one decision they’ve made in the last ten years, what would it be and why?

Russ: I don’t know. I probably wouldn’t change anything. I think musically, if I would’ve known then what I know now, I would’ve done more in the beginning for us to try and shape a vision for our band, musically. We’ve been all over the place. I’ve dragged the band through all my musical tangents and I think it hurt us as it’s preventing Good Riddance from having a real clear musical vision. You know, a band like The Casualties, a band like the Dropkick Muprhys. Like if someone asks what’s Good Riddance’s all about, it’s really tough to say. I would’ve put some more thought into that. But you know what, it was all learning as you go. Shit just happened. Ya, that’s probably the only thing that I would change. Something to do with the music.

James: There’s a lot of MP3s going around on the net right now with Kazaa and Napster and stuff. What do you think about that? Good or bad?

Russ: I’m completely ambivalent about it. Cause I think it hurts the music industry, it hurts the bands, it hurts the labels. But the DIY part of me; the part of me that used to copy the stamp and sneak into shows thinks that’s kinda cool. So I don’t know.

Bobby: I recently read an article about Rancid in Alternative Press magazine, and one of the main themes was “Through Music You Can Life Forever”. What do you think about that quote?

Russ: Well I think that’s it’s obviously true because, like the music scene has suffered a lot of tragedies. Joe Strummer died this year, but I still have The Clash and I can listen to it anytime I want to and Joe Strummer’s always gonna be alive for me. In that, you leave a legacy behind that nobody can take away. Bands that break up, or guys who pass away, you always have the music. So they have like a permanent voice.

James: Why did you become a musician?

Russ: I really never planned on it. I got into punk and I liked a lot of bands and some friends that had a band asked me if I’d sing for them. And I didn’t know how to play anything at the time, so I was a singer. And I became a musician just through years of being in bands and wanting to write my own stuff. Like I taught myself how to play guitar, I taught myself how to play drums. Learnt about music by going and recording records with good producers. Like everytime you go into the studio to record an album with a good producer, you learn a lot. I’ve learnt a lot, and now I produce bands. So it’s just been a process of just learning through experience.

Bobby: Do you have tips for young musicians who are just starting out?

Russ: Ya, drop everything and run as fast as you can the other way.

Bobby: Why?

Russ: Being in a band, it’s one of the most rewarding things I think you could do, but it will break your fucking heart.

Bobby: Are there any bands out there that you really like?

Russ: I mostly listen to old bands; but there’s a band called The Break from New Jersey. Their album came out last year on Doghouse Records. There’s a band called Spark Of Life, who’s album came out on my label, Lorelei. It’s a really good album. What else… I’m a big fan of Bane, they’re on Equal Vision Records. Give Up The Ghost. The Missing 23rd, they’re on Session Records, they’re a California hard-core band. Still a big fan of Sick Of It All, and ya, that’s about it.

James: If you could have anything right now, anything at all. What would it be?

Russ: Man, I don’t know. I guess if I could have anything I want; I’d love to have a home studio. Where I could write and record all my music? Like a really kick-ass drumset, basic guitar equipment. That’ll be cool.

Bobby: I guess that’s about it. Thanks a lot. Do you have any shout outs before we end?

Russ: Nope.

Bobby: Well thanks a lot for doing it.

Russ: Thanks you guys, I appreciate it.