The Utters. Still Swingin’. Photo: Fat Wreck Chords
For those of us whose teenage soundtrack leaned heavily toward artists from the Fat Wreck Chords camp, few names come to mind as readily as the Swingin’ Utters. For twenty-five years, the San Francisco-based band has blessed the punk rock community with aggressive songs fueled with grit, honesty and catchy instrumentation. And on their latest record, Poorly Formed, the band continues to deliver in reliable fashion. While the tones and arrangements set this record apart from recent work, there’s still plenty of piss ‘n’ vinegar along with all the other hallmarks of a great Swingin’ Utters album. I recently reached frontman Johnny Bonnel on tour in Portland, Oregon, to talk about everything from his country music influences to being a father in the punk rock scene. Here’s what he had to say…
So the first song on the new record is called “The Librarians are Hiding Something.” Tell me, what exactly are the librarians hiding?
Oh, I got that from The Colbert Report. There was an episode in 2007 – but I saw it pretty recently. I saw the quote on TV underneath Stephen Colbert. I think I had the volume off and I just thought it was an interesting quote, so I took it and ran with it and came up with lyrics and sort of stole some ideas from Elvis Costello. So yeah, it didn’t happen as part of a plan. It doesn’t really have any meaning behind it. It’s open to self-interpretation I guess.
What about the album title “Poorly Formed?”
Jack, our guitar player, was sending me music over the internet and he titled it “Poorly Formed.” I wrote lyrics to it and I thought it was a good title. It sort of sums up the world in a couple words. That’s sort of how I felt at the time. We thought it would be a good title for the record because I think we’re all sort of poorly formed in a way.
I read elsewhere that the recording process for your last record, “Here, Under Protest,” was a disaster. How did the recording process for this new album compare?
It was a lot smoother because we got to play a lot of the songs live before we went into the studio. On Here, Under Protest, we didn’t get to do that. Darius wrote the majority of the songs and sent them to all of us and we didn’t get to practice them. We went in blindly and tried to figure things out as we went along. Here, Under Protest sounds kind of like that to me. It sounds pieced together. Darius is a good songwriter and I thought it came out pretty good, but this time around, it was a lot smoother because we were well rehearsed. We actually have a practice studio now, which we didn’t have during the time of Here, Under Protest. On that last album, we were just kind of doing our parts at home separately and then coming together and trying to piece it together. This time around we got a lot of rehearsal and we got to play a lot of the songs live and work out all the kinks, so the process was a lot better.
For the musicians out there, tell me a little about the gear you guys used on this record. Are you guys pretty consistent in what you use from album to album?
We like to mix it up a little bit. I know Jack likes to use a bunch of different amps on separate songs. I’m not really familiar with a lot of that stuff because I just sing. I just sort of trust them and the sounds that they like. They sort of go for a cheap sound and I kind of like that. I don’t like having polished-sounding guitars and that sort of shit. I think the strings should be heard. Every string should be heard when you strum a guitar. A lot of times when you add a bunch of layers to it, the sound doesn’t come through. It sounds a little more like a machine than an instrument. But yeah, I sort of just trust their instincts. Jack’s really good at finding unique sounds with different amps.
You just brought up a point about recordings that sound mechanic and rehearsed. I just watched a documentary called “Sound City” about the music studio in LA and the role of digital in today’s recording environment. In reference to that documentary, and given that your band has been around since long before things like Pro Tools and Garage Band were available to artists, what is your take on all the software that musicians have at their disposal today?
It sort of bugs me a little bit because it seems like it’s cheating in a way, but I think you should embrace new technology as well. It’s a cool thing. Some people get lazy and tend to use that stuff too much to tune their voices and tune their guitars and not actually go in there and give the track another take to make it sound better. So yeah, I think people can get lazy about it, but I don’t think you should dismiss it either. It bothers me sometimes when you can hear that sort of thing on records. I personally enjoy giving more than one take to a song and then deciding which one was best. I think that’s a little bit of a better idea.
Let’s say that there is a person reading this interview and they have never listened to the Swingin’ Utters before. What’s a song or two from the new record that you would want them to listen to first as an introduction to your band?
I guess it would be “Poorly Formed.” It doesn’t really sound like our past stuff, but I think that’s a good place to start. It’s sort of self-deprecating. We’re all pretty much humble guys in the band and we’re not really that confident in what we do in a way, and I think that song sort of sums up all that stuff. That’s sort of our signature song I would guess. It’s the title of the album, you know?
I recently read an interview that you did in 1998 where you talked about the aspirations you had for the band at the time. One of the things you said was: “We’d like to headline more. And when we do, we’d like to bring some relatively unknown bands to open for us. We’d like to give them a chance, like the bigger bands gave us.” Now that you’re fifteen years past that interview, what are some bands from today that you would like to help out?
Anyone and everyone. Right now, we’re touring with the ex-Dropkick Murphy’s guitar player, Marc, who plays in Wild Roses. It’s totally different music than what we’re doing, but I think it’s cool to mix it up. Sometimes it doesn’t go over well though. Some people get angry, some people leave, but some people are stoked on it. I think it’s a good idea to have shows where it isn’t all the same music. I think reggae should be injected into these shows. And blues. Any kind of rebel music, really – country, folk, all that. We’re all musicians. We’re all struggling and we’re all trying to make a living doing this so it’s good to help each other out. Everyone’s in the same boat, so you may as well grab a paddle and start rowing.
