Do you think there is something missed when people choose to download or stream music instead of buying the physical record and its accompanying artwork?
With digital music, the “skip” button is right there, so people will listen to two or three songs on an album and make their decision about the album after that. I think the record medium itself was an artform. I truly believe that. There would be like 14 songs on a record that you would listen to, and now people are listening to two or three songs and being like “Oh, I don’t like this.” [As musicians] we work our asses off and studio prices haven’t gone down. We still have to pay large amounts of money to sell little amounts of records. I’d say in that way [technology] is unfair. I don’t know man, I had this record called Sad Bear that came out last November. It was a solo record and I feel like it just got buried.
What do you mean by “buried”?
I just don’t think people were too happy with that album being so much of a “bummer.” I don’t think people could handle the content or something. Most people were probably like “Ew, gross, that’s too dramatic for me.” The record is a bunch of songs with a guy singing about his wife and kids and that kind of thing. Maybe it was too much for some people. I was kind of fucked up at that point in my life and I was just writing lyrics from my heart. I wasn’t trying to remake [my 2010 solo album] 12 Song Program. I was trying to make something different. The whole thing with that album was I had a bunch of musicians on it too. That was one of my goals – to make a record where I got to be the leader of this big band with a giant cello over here and an accordion over there. Some of the songs have like 10 musicians playing on them. It was really cool to do that.
You mentioned that the content was more dramatic on that record and that you were going through some personal things at the time. What specifically inspired those songs?
It wasn’t any personal problems really. It was just the realization – and maybe this happens when you turn my age – but the realization that at some point we’re all going to die. I just had to convey that on the album – like “treat each other well while you can.” None of what we have now is going to last. Nothing now matters whether that’s being popular at the moment or whatever. It’s like “Fuck that. Just do whatever you want and live every day like it’s your last.” At the end of the day, that message is kind of positive though, you know? It’s like, “Hey, I could wake up this morning and die today” but it could also be “Hey, I could wake up this morning and build a house today” or whatever else it might be. It was that sort of emotion I wanted to capture on that record.
Well, an album with a name like Sad Bear doesn’t initially suggest something positive, wouldn’t you agree?
I know. It wasn’t really my idea to name the album that. I was going to name it something super sarcastic but the name of the poster on the album cover was “Sad Bear” and everyone was like “Leave it, leave it!” so I just said “Fine, whatever.”
There’s a documentary film that came out last year called “The Other F Word” that explores the world of punk rock musicians as they transition into parenthood and have to balance the responsibilities of fatherhood with their anti-authoritarian lifestyle. As a punk rock parent yourself, how do you balance the two demands?
It’s funny you bring that up. I’m kind of bummed I wasn’t asked to be in that movie because I would have had something important to say. When you have kids, doing what I do, it definitely affects their lives. I think a lot of us musicians don’t realize the extent of that because we tend to think about ourselves. When we get home from being on the road, we’ve missed them and have had pictures of them in our bunks and stuff, but to them, they’re in their growing phase – something we’ve been past already. And as much as we say we miss them, it’s like, yeah, well they missed us too. I think it’s really important to talk to them about it.
There are rockstars that can afford to bring their kids on tour or see them on a computer screen everday. Then there are those of us that can’t do that. Being a dad that’s in a band is like being a dad that’s a traveling salesman. When I was young, my dad was a salesman and he would leave for two weeks every month and it didn’t affect me at all. My mom was strong as a rock, and when my dad would come home it would kind of be like “Oh, hey dad.” It was no big deal.
My kids have dealt with it well. When I come home, my girl Fiona is like “Hey dad, I totally understand what you’re doing.” She’s 8 years old and she totally gets it. She understands why I do it – because I love it and want to put food on the table at the same time. My 4 year old doesn’t get it. She totally resents me, but she’s 4 years old so she doesn’t really understand what’s going on. She will though in a couple of years.
What’s your most memorable fan moment?
It was probably at the Leuven music festival in Holland. It was pouring down rain and we all just stripped down into these tighty-whiteys that we got from somebody and slicked our hair back so it looked like we were bald. We covered ourselves in mud to the point where you could only see our eyeballs and our teeth and it was awesome. We went up and played our set and people were singing along to everything. That was probably ten years ago. It was really cool.
Be sure to catch Tony and Joey on the road this summer as they tear up a city near you. Tour dates can be found here.
