Defeater at Rocketown

by Dave Sharp on Nov 13^th, 2010

Photo gallery: Defeater, Make Do and Mend, All Teeth, Living with Lions at Rocketown

The day after spending 45 minutes with Defeater in a garage surrounded by makeshift bike ramps, an old school Mini Cooper and a covered mystery-car behind Rocketown’s white building, Jake Woodruff, the band’s guitarist sent an email with this note: “Real curious to see how you turn that mess into something coherent, haha.”

Truth is that the content was far from a mess but it took work to make it coherent. That’s because Defeater is full of thoughtful, insightful guys as is evident in their 1940’s narrative lyrical content and sophisticated hardcore punk melodies. So, their stream-of-consciousness thought patterns and interjecting conversations weren’t very surprising. What was surprising was how humorous and personable they were. Not that the expectation was a bunch of duds, but you’d be hard pressed to find a band photo full of smiles. Maybe it’s a hardcore thing; maybe it’s a music photographer thing. Either way, it’s clear they’re much more than a hardcore press photo and their spectrum of sounds and influences is impressive.

Sinizine.net stood in a circle with Woodruff; Derek Archambault, vocalist; Mike Poulin, bassist and Andy Reitz, drummer and discussed their fantastical 1940’s lyric-stories, balancing bands and businesses, discovering new artists on the road and much more.

Sinizine.net would like to thanks David Kelling of All Teeth, Stephanie Marlow and Chris Hayslett at Bridge 9 Records and Reagan and the Rocketown staff for their aid in the coordination of this interview.

We’re music fans

SZ: Your Twitter account says “We’re Defeater, a punk rock band.” But you’re on Bridge 9, a predominantly hardcore label and you have a strong hardcore following. Can you guys pick one?

Derek: We’re very confused. I think hardcore is under the umbrella of punk rock. There wouldn’t be one without the other at this point. Those bands that really started this whole movement, like Minor Threat, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, it was all because they grew up listening to punk rock and they wanted to get it a little heavier and a little crazier. There’s punk rock and then there’s all these little subgenres that people want to come up with. Maybe we’re a hardcore band, maybe were a weird, melodic, heavy whatever-you-want-to-call-it band. I don’t know.

Jake: We’re music fans.

Mike: I think we all identify as a punk band way more than we identify as a hardcore band. I don’t want to say hardcore is a phase or fleeting thing in our lives at all, but like Derek said, the more under the umbrella term of punk rock is where all of our music tastes lie. I think we identify more with punk kids than hardcore kids.

SZ: The way I look at is that some people start on punk and move down the spectrum toward hardcore or they start at metal and move the other way down the spectrum. Would you all say you started on the punk rock side?

Mike: I’d say Jake has the most metal background of all of us.

Jake: I guess. I don’t know. I grew up listening to skate punk and punk stuff and then had a more metal phase when I heard At The Gates’ Slaughter the Soul. That was over relatively quickly. I grew up in Worchester [Mass.] too, so when I was just getting into punk and hardcore that was when bands like Barrett and Ink Cartridge Funeral, those darker metal-core bands were around. That was what was playing.

Telling a story

SZ: Let’s talk a little about the lyrics in both albums, which are such an anomaly. Lost Ground picks up with the story and character from the song “Prophet in Plain Clothes” from Travels. Can you tell me a little about that character?

Derek: it’s all fictitious but it’s loosely based on various things from all of our lives. I technically “write” everything, but we all talk about the lyrics before I get drunk and chain smoke and write everything. The “Prophet” character came about out of happenstance and the fact that he was a veteran. It’s loosely based on fact and also my grandfather’s experience in World War II. He was in the paratroop airborne, but he busted his knee in a training jump a week and a half before D-Day. Luckily that happened, even though my grampy has a busted up knee now, I probably wouldn’t be here if he had been at D-Day.

“The Bite and Sting” is loosely based on the Battle of Bastion. “A Wound and a Scar” is like a military funeral, but put into context that I thought kids could understand. Its hit home with a lot of vets that we meet on tour. Not even vets, but kids who are still on active duty who will pull us aside and they just happened to catch our show or we’re playing close to one of their bases. They’ll talk to all five of us and get on the level about it.

Long and the short of it is the guy from “Prophet in Plain Clothes” is the character in Lost Ground. Everything else beyond that are all old folk or delta blues references. That’s why Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Willie Johnson and Robert Johnson and Bob Dylan get thanked in our records because I straight pull from that. Its some of my favorite stuff musically that I’ve grown into. It hasn’t been something I’ve listened to since I was kid, but mid-teens I got real into that and the fact that it could relate into a story in the 40s.

SZ: The story is something you all had to agree on and, especially since this has taken the focus of two of your albums, how did you decide this was the direction you wanted to go.

Derek: It was the first time me, Andy and Jay go into a room and Jay was like “I want to do a concept record.” I said I’d love to do that and that I’d write it. And I asked what he thought about 30s, 40s and 50s and he was like “Yeah sur! Make it sad.” I said “Done and done.”

SZ: Why’d you want to do a concept album?

Mike: I wasn’t even really involved in that decision making process because I was on hiatus from Massachusetts. I took a year-long vacation and when I came back Derek has lyrics over the entire record that the rest of us had sort of hashed out a while before. It was really cool and I was really into it. I thought it was really rad. So, I came back and popped my ugly little head dup again and these dudes let me tag along.

I think, to answer the question, it was something that hadn’t been done in hardcore in a while or hadn’t been done in that way. It was a time piece record.

Andy: We wrote all the music and then the idea of a concept record we thought would be neat to do; something different. But, we didn’t have anybody to do it and Derek waltzed into the picture and had a lot of really interesting ideas. Then a neat idea turned into something real. It took a lot of talk and brainstorming and chain-smoking and drinking on Derek’s part to come up with some creative writing and it really birthed Travels. From there, we decided to keep going from that.

SZ: Do you plan to continue the story in the next album?

Mike: Yeah, we’re kind of stuck. We painted ourselves into a corner. It doesn’t really get tiring for us to start to deal with this story night after night, so we hope that it not tiring to anyone listening to Defeater. I think as long as the music we put out, we all think it’s interesting hopefully other people with think the same. Sometimes people will latch on the lyrics and some to the music and some to both and that’s awesome, but whatever it is that they want to take away from our band is absolutely fine with us.

Music, lyrics and psychology

SZ: Which are you guys more attached to individually?

Derek: I definitely love the music. I could not be happier being in a band that I can just go crazy and write a story with and have it be these other four people that have turned into some of my closest friends that write the most interesting music. Watching Andy play drums every night and Jake and Mike and Jay play guitar, we’re not faking anything. We just get up and play because we love it. I love the music so much. It’s heavy, but its melodic and its interesting and Andy’s just the best goddamn drummer!

Mike: For me its being in the van with my friends and not being at home. There are times where I’m home and dying to go on tour. These guys know I’ll just get a little crazy and start booking six-week tour. I’ll be dying to get in the van and just go. And then on the second day on tour I’m banging my head against the glass asking why I’m here. I should be at home, going to school, getting a job, finding a nice girl to settle down. It’s a catch 22, but the most rewarding part is getting to hang out with my friends every single day; that we’re in this band and having fun. That’s the thing I latch on to most in the band.

Jake: I didn’t join until after Lost Ground was already written and recorded and everything. For me, if it was between the music and lyrics, which is kind of a weird choice to make…[to Derek] what are you doing over there?

Derek: I had some stuff in my foot!

Andy: Can I interrupt for a second? I’m a psychology major and my favorite part of the band is studying Derek!

Go on.

Jake: What put me over the edge was the lyrics and the whole concept behind the narrative aspect of the band.

I’m trying to be serious while Derek’s picking lint out of something.

Andy: See what I mean?

Derek: Pee-hole.

Jake: Did he just say “pee-hole?”

I’m a big book nerd, so I liked the narrative. I also have to agree with Mike; right from the get-go, just hanging out – like that first weekend we did was really special.

Derek: Its insane how well we all get along…and don’t…all at the same time. We will have horrible blowouts and it’s usually drunken.

Andy: It’s always fun.

Derek: It’s like the best makeup sex ever, except without the sex and with a bunch of dudes.

We’ve had really bad blowouts. It happens to Andy and I almost once a tour. I’ll get upset about something and have something going on in my personal life and Andy will be like “You need to chill out dude. Just calm down!”

Mike: Every tour there’s usually at least one person who has some personal issues. It’s hard to drop everything, go on tour and forget about it. There’s always someone who’s dealing with something heavy back home and it definitely manifests throughout the tour and blows up one day. Even at the darkest moments of being in the van when you’re like “Shit is hitting the fan now.” It’s never the type of thing where we think the five of us are going to walk away not as friends. Its important to all of us to keep this band going and see it through until we all feel we’ve done enough and will remain friends. It’s hard sometimes, but most of the time its pretty easy. We hang out, get along. We see a lot of other bands where that’s not really the case. Every time we see bands like that or are on tour with them, I’m always grateful to have these dudes around, because it’s so easy to get long with everybody. It’s the type of band where you can say “Yo, you’re being an idiot right now.” Nobody’s afraid to say “Shut up.”

Jake: I think a lot of what keeps things fun is that we’re always stoked to be doing what we’re doing right then. We’re not scheming to get huge like a lot of bands worry about. We’re there to hang out and have fun with each other no matter where “there” is.

Common ground

SZ: You guys have a lot of irons in the fire individually, between the bands you play in, businesses back home like Andy’s Green Vans. How do you keep it straight and find common ground when you’re out together?

Mike: The common ground has always been there. Derek’s old band was recording at a studio that our guitar player runs. Over the course of five years, I had lived in that house – like under the dining room table, but I’ve never officially had a room. I showed up there, at “home” and Derek’s old band was recording in the basement and we both had Lawrence Arms tattoos. So, that common ground has always been there. To answer your questions, we all have other things going on, but it’s a priority for all of us to keep this going.

Jake: It all works out because we all have this rhythm of hitting it hard with Defeater for a few months and then take a break for a little while and do other things. Mike does Make Do and Mend, I do Dream Tigers, Andy does Green Vans, Jay has a studio.

Mike: Derek has various side projects that are all really good but he doesn’t do anything with.

It’s a priority to us. That common ground has always been there and we’re friends. It makes it easier to juggle home life and band life.

Andy: I think that this band is an extension of what we all do in our lives outside the band and vice versa. Out lives are extensions of the band. Nobody is drastically switching gears and putting on a suit and tie, going to work and doing a nine to five trying to get time off of work. I’m in my work clothes and answering emails now and as soon as I get home, I have to hit the road and run my business and Jay has the same thing.

Mike: We’ll go home and go to work in the same clothes we wear on tour. Andy and I live close together and we both know that we live out of suitcases whether we’re on tour or not.

Andy: I’m pretty much always packed to go.

Mike: We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Forward-thinking bands

SZ: In you biography, it sums up your mission as this: “To redefine a forward-thinking band.” You guys speak out against being labeled and you infuse poignant things in terms of emotions, but also in terms of social change in what you do and talk about. What would be new definition of a forward-thinking band?

Mike: That’s a tough one, I don’t know.

SZ: If Defeater is personifying it, what would be?

Derek: Andy does Green Vans and we tour in a veggie-fueled van and I think that’s one of the best things we could be doing on the road. We’ve said earlier that we’re just trying to play music that is honest and do it because were friends, rather than because we want to be in a cool band. We wrote a full-length and an EP about literally whatever we wanted to and if people didn’t like it, they didn’t like it and that’s fine. I think its just honesty; straight up honesty. We try to be as positive as possible. Our music may not construe that a lot; the lyrics are pretty depressing and the music can be kind of somber, but we’re just trying to connect with people individually.

Jake: None of us have any labels to claim or certain agenda’s we’re trying push. I don’t know if any of us came up with that “forward–thinking band” term. We’re just five guys trying to the best we can and write music that’s meaningful to us and hopefully that connects with someone.

Andy: It’s a pretty hard thing to put into words. Honest music is something we all agree on. I think our definition of a forward-thinking band is one that all five of us like. I don’t think there are any bands that create a controversy in this band where someone hates it – that’s very rare. I think we all listen to music that’s interesting and inspiring to us and everything we draw on to create whatever we’re creating; the inspiration for whatever that forward-thinking is.

SZ: Can you tell me who those five are or at least a few you all agree on.

Mike: Literally everything.

Derek: Dave Bazan, Russian Circles.

Mike: That’s how it’s been for all of us, even before we met each other. None of us were like “I only listen to this kind of music.” We met each other and that was pretty apparent from the start. Everyone had their own tastes, but at the end of the day, there was no band that I was wholeheartedly in love with that anyone in the band despised and vice versa.

Derek: I think we turn each other on to a lot of bands too. Someone came in said “you have to listen to Carpenter, its going to blow your mind.” He played the record and I was blown away.

Mike: That’s the cool thing about going home for a few months and then getting back in the van for a month or so. We all go home and that’s when our tastes begin evolving separately and then we bring it all back together. For the first few days of tours we show off who we’re into. It’s not something we really discuss, but that does happen.

SZ: Let’s go around real quick and tell me an artist that you may not hear in your sound that is part of that wide spectrum that you’re into and inspired you.

Mike: We’re all going to say the wussiest bands!

Andy: I’m going to start and say Russian Circles. I love that band and I love that drummer and it’s such creative music. I try to bite and rip off that band every time we record drums and I can’t – its so good! It’s a really inspiring band. Even though they’re an instrumental band, they speak; they say something.

Derek: I pass on this one.

Mike: Derek can’t sum this up in one artist.

Derek: No, I can. Joe Strummer is my hero. There’s nothing that I can relate to Defeater with except that he spoke his mind and he never compromised his ideals in order to fit any mold. He was the first to admit that he walked into a Sex Pistols show and said “Hey, Mick, we need to up our fucking game or we’re going to look like chumps. There’s this new wave of music coming.” I just love the man’s honesty and his entire career: The 101’ers with great blues and rock and roll influences; the Clash, my favorite band ever; his solo stuff toward the end of his life. It all speaks to me in this way that I don’t really understand, but he’s always been my favorite songwriter. I love it because he did whatever he wanted. He grew up all over the world as a kid ad pulls influence from India, dub, reggae. I think that’s what we do in the band; we pull influence from so many different things and bring it all together. We have a lot of outside influence.

Jake: One of my favorite current bands right now is Delta Spirit, a folk-rock band from California.

Mike: One band that wouldn’t be that obvious that influences Defeater, for me at least is Cheap Girls. I saw them this past weekend at The Fest in Gainesville [Florida] and I thought they were the best sounding band at The Fest. They’ve slowly grown to be one of my favorite bands. I don’t think that shows through in Defeater very much.

Country music: straight talk

SZ: I’m going to take that questions one step further and, since we’re in Nashville, I have to ask: what’s your relationship with country music?

Mike: My parents listened to everything, but when I was most impressionable they were going through a country phase. My dad absolutely hates pop country. He was always listening to Hank Williams and stuff like that, which was awesome. I grew up listening to a lot of that stuff with my parents and it wasn’t until I was a little but older that I started get my own ideas. I’m not going to lie; it wasn’t my favorite type of music. We’d be on family trips and I wouldn’t be the most psyched to listen to it, but when I developed my own musical taste, I could step back and look at the music my parents liked and I can appreciate it a lot more now than I could when I was 12- or 13-years old.

Derek: Old-time country is one of my go-to genres. Alt-county too. Besides my favorite bands in punk rock and hardcore, I’ve developed this love for alt country and it stemmed from my childhood too. My cousin Fred owns a string shop in Nashville and he does Allison Kraus’s work and I grew up seeing him play with Emmy Lou Harris and crazy shit like that. My family is from Massachusetts and New Hampshire and Maine and it can get pretty northeast hickey where they’re from. Old-time country has always been in my family. My grandfather played fiddle in a bar band up by Portland [Maine], so its always been in my blood, but its grown more and more with every day and every. I’ve delved more into that genre. I can’t stand the pop shit either, it makes me crazy. Like fucking Jason Aldean and shit like that. I can’t handle it. It’s like heavy pop rock music with a pedal steel and that’s no country – I don’t care if you’re wearing a hat. Get it out of here. Straight talk and shit!

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