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Against Me!
 Bands
that are signed to punk label Fat Wreck Chords have a tendency,
to my ear anyway, to have a distinctive sound. Hence, when I
put on signees Against Me! I already had a preconceived idea
of what I was going to hear. This was not the case: 'As The
Eternal Cowboy' is a diverse mix of rock, punk and even folk.
Thanks to an impending Australian tour of, guitarist/singer
Thomas Habel was happy to have a chat in the middle of his month-long
hiatus from the road.
"We took a little bit of a proper break when we first got back because we had been on tour since last October so it was time for a bit of a rest," Habel explains. "But at the same time we were so sick of the songs that we have been playing that we were all like 'we need new songs!' So that motivated us to get together and write, and now we are definitely back into the swing of things.
"We've been on tour in the US recently with Anti-Flag and Rise Against and we were in Europe for six weeks, which was great. We got to go to some crazy places like Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary."
Having recently spoken to other bands about their experiences in Europe, I was interested to find out how Against Me! found their time over there. "It's nice because the kids there aren't jaded, they're excited! They don't really care whether or not they've heard your band, they're still going to come out and have a good time. It's interesting when you are in a place and somebody will start talking about the revolution and they're talking about something that happened ten or so years ago," Habel adds, going off on a bit of a tangent.
Given that the album is so diverse, I questioned Habel about how such a mixture of genres came to be. "Well, as a band and as individuals we listen so a wide array of styles and have eclectic tastes in music, so it's not something we consciously strive for; it's just something that happens naturally. I don't want to write the same songs over and over again, and I don't want to adhere to a formula or to have boundaries where it says 'you have to do this in order for it to be punk rock.' I'd just rather play what I'm feeling, where whatever comes out comes out, even if we come out with a rap-rock album or something," he laughs.
When we started to talk about Against Me!'s previous releases, Habel informs me that their last album was recorded entirely with two acoustic guitars. This idea was not completely abandoned when recording the new album: "The original idea was we were going to record two completely different versions of this album, one acoustic and one electric, but we ended up just not having enough time when we were in the studio. We thought we could do the acoustic versions and just release them as 7"s, keep them on vinyl."
Since he clearly holds acoustic music so close to his heart, I ask Habel if Against Me!'s songs took their initial form acoustically.
"Definitely!" he emphatically replies. "I think that is one of the most important things when you are writing songs; whether it can be played on just an acoustic guitar. If you can strip it down to the bare minimum and it still sounds alright, then it's a good song. If there's that solid base inside of it then you are good to go."
One other striking aspect of Against Me!'s new record is the fact that most of the songs are very short, a lot of them not even hitting the two minute mark.
"That was definitely something we were going for on this record," Habel explains. "We wanted it to be really to the point. Say what you want to say and then bam! Next song! Next song! We definitely got grief for that from a lot of people, they would ask us why all of the songs were so short and we would just keep on saying 'we're a punk band, what do you expect? Have you ever heard of Black Flag?"
Sam Vinall
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Against Me! play an all-ages gig at the Enigma Bar on Thurs 16 Sept with Conation, Hi-End Audio, The Jerks. 'As The Eternal Cowboy' is out now through Fat Wreck Chords/Shock.
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