::: MAD Events :: Verein zur Förderung von Künstlern und Kultur

Interview mit No Use For A Name

Dass auch kein Name ein Name sein kann, beweist uns die seit 1987 bestehende Band aus dem sonnenmäßig überbevorteilten Sunnyvale in Kalifornien. Diese weiß nämlich schon seit Beginn ihrer steil verlaufenden Karriere, dass es keinen Gebrauch gibt für einen Namen.
So. Das ganze noch schnell übersetzt auf Englisch (soll man ja in Amerika angeblich sprechen), heißt das dann soviel wie No Use For A Name.

Eben. Die kennen wir. Obwohl sie eigentlich keinen Namen haben. Am 11. Februar 2009 haben sie im Zuge ihrer „The first good tour of the year“ in der Arena einen kraftvollen Zwischenstopp eingelegt.

An ebendiesem Tag kämpfe ich mich einsam durch die stillen Hallen der Arena um im allerletzten Winkel den Sänger Tony Sly anzutreffen, um das im Anschluss folgende Interview zu führen. Zu Beginn des Interviews musste ich den etwas lethargisch gestimmten Herrn zum Gespräch motivieren, verabschiedet haben wir uns dann aber fröhlich mit einem geschafften Interview und ein wenig Englischnachhilfeunterricht.

How are you? How do you cope with this horrible weather?
The weather, well, you get used to it, you know. It’s not a big deal. In a lot of these places it’s not much colder than where I live anyway. It doesn’t really snow where I live, but it does get rainy and cold. Wear warmer clothes and you’re fine.

How has the tour been so far? Do you like touring with “Only Crime”?
The tour has been great, it’s almost over, but we’ve been on the fuss with Only Crime for about a month. These guys are pretty cool, easy to get along with, pretty much like ourselves, I think: Party when they want to and on other nights be totally mellow. It’s kinda been a mellow tour, that’s a good thing.

The Feel good record of the year. When listening to the songs, they are not all really about feeling good. How do you relate to this contradiction?
It’s done on purpose, the sarcasm is intentional. I think that once the lyrics were written, the title just sounded really funny to me, because of the clash. The funny thing to me is that world wide people call feel good movies of the year. Everywhere you find the “feel good thing of the year”. The funny thing to me is whatever people write about us they put “feel good” on top of it. It’s kinda hilarious. It contradicts the lyrics so much.

No Use For A Name has been in the business since 1987. What have been the most evident changes from then till now?
Well, in 1987 we were not really a touring band until 1992 and even then it was only rare coming over to Europe. Until Leche Con Carne came out, we didn’t really tour. Everybody had day jobs; the band was sort of like a child, our dream. Somehow it just kind of happened. Leche con Carne is quite a bit of record. Crazy solo album. From the release on, we really became like a serious touring band.

So, do you have other jobs besides?
I don’t have one. I try to stay busy enough on tour, so I couldn’t have one anyway. It’s a piece of money when you go out on the road too. Obviously, record sales are not like they used to be for anybody. Dave teaches guitar lessons, Matt and Rory are in the snow-removal business, I think. There is a couple of people in the band that do stuff when they are at home. I don’t, I probably should. Just don’t have the time - lately.

Was there a lot of discussion going on before you eventually decided to call the band No Use for a Name?
First, in the beginning of the band, like the beginning days of the band, I wasn’t in the band yet, the band was still forming. These other guys in the band came up with the name as a temporary name to use to play a show on the weekend and because they couldn’t think of a name, they came up with No Use for a Name. Just as a joke. When I joined the band I remember we always talked about changing the name.

What were suggestions?
There wasn’t any good ones, man. There were really terrible ones. Actually, I think the name is really long. I wished we had a better band name. But once you start playing shows and getting popular, you can’t change it anymore. People came up with the acronym Nufan.
Then people started calling us No Use. I was just like “Wow”, we shouldn’t change the name anymore. When we had a 7-inch album is was already too late.

What made you realize that it was the right time to release the “best of” record in 2005?
Well, we had a ton of records at that point. I think, usually a best of album can be perceived as what the band has done, sort of the best work behind it. I wanted to make sure that people can buy that album with a big booklet to go through, with lots of info about the history of the band: People that have been in and around the band tell little stories here and there. Little bricks about the lyrics, what they are about, even though there are also just joke ones. It was a nice way to sort of sum up that part of the career of No Use for a Name.

Your label is Fat Wreck Chords. A lot of well known punk and hardcore bands are signed to that label also. What’s it like to be part of such a big “music family”?
You know, it used to feel more like that when Fat Wreck was booming back in the day. I think Fat Mike and Aaron were more hands on with the label and I think they came to a point were they became so busy with it; they had other people take over. Well, now because of the demise of the record industry and record sales they had to let quite a few people go. Now they have only about 7 employees, in the past it was 20-25 people strong. Mike and Aaron have done a lot for us, so in that respect I see them as a family in the way they kind of have to care. They took us under their wing when we were young and they made things possible for us: Moneywise, they have always given us a fair deal. Never anything hiding, never anything sneaking us. To be part of that for me, you know, we have always stayed outside the realm. You know there is Lagwagon and Strong Out. I mean we are friends with those people, but it’s not like we barbecue together every Sunday. I live in Northern California, but have my own live.

Is there some kind of hierarchy between Fat Wreck bands?
There is no hierarchy. I don’t keep the score. It’s not a game for me; it’s only No Use for a Name, No Use for a Name only. I guess, we are only associated because there is a stamp on the back that says “Fat Wreck Chords”.

Jim Lindberg, singer of Pennywise, recently released a book called “Punk Rock Dad; No Rules, Just Real Life“ in which he describes his life as punk rocker with three daughters. What does family mean to you?
I could relate, I mean I have two girls, I’m a dad too. He might be doing well, but I’m not in the position not to tour. I keep doing it. It’s a double edge sword. I can’t be home enough with my kids. I miss a lot of things that happen to them, like growing up, turning 5 years old and getting their two top teeth in, learning how to shake their heads, no. I miss all of these things. We’re a road band, we tour a lot. We don’t go to a country for a week and can live throughout a year, like other bands can. It is what it is, a double edge sword. I can’t have one without the other. I have to tour to support my family and vice versa.

What’s your worst habit that molests other band members while touring?
What? That my? Bother? Molest means to sexually assault somebody. (laughter, loud loud laughter, wow, embarrassing!) We don’t molest each other in the band.

So let’s take bother instead of molest.
So what’s the question when you put bother instead of molest?

What’s your worst habit that bothers other band members while touring?
Molesting! No, seriously, my worst habit, I don’t know, they wouldn’t tell me, but I know what theirs are: Rory is loud, Matt clothes smell, Dave is too quiet, which scares me in a scary way. But we are friends, right.

You’re from California. Your governor actually was Austrian and additionally, former actor. What do you think of him? Would you say that he does a good job?
Is this guy still an Austrian? He should be disowned by now. He is a Republican, I don’t like him. I never really liked him before. Maybe when I was a kid I guess I liked him, because there was movies like Terminator and stuff. But hey, he is a piece of shit.

You announced to release a solo album. Why that? New direction?
The intention is to get back to the roots of simple music: A guitar and one person. I have always admired singers and songwriters from the 50’s like Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. I have always appreciated simplicity. I think through production and ridiculous studio equipment any band can sound decent these days. What’s missing today is good songwriters. My intention behind it is to show that, hopefully, a good song can still be written without getting fucking weird sound and influences.

Will you take some songs of No Use?
I think when I play live I have to to fill an hour and 20 minutes or something. There was a release with Joey Cape in 2004, that was a good thing, maybe I play a couple of songs of that. My new ones, I wrote back in November for a couple of weeks. My goal is to write one song every day. I made that for 2 weeks, so 14 songs.

Well that’s an album.
Yeh, now I have an album worth the material. I like it.

What do you expect for tonight?
Tonight it’s Vienna. I expect it to be awesome, because it always is. There is always a punch of stage divers. I love the fact there’s no barricade. I love the Arena, I love the way they treat you here, the catering, just everything. I expect it to be a great show.

Thanks, that’s it.
Cool, appreciated it.

Trotz des am selben Tage stattfindenden SKA-P Konzertes war die Arena angenehm befüllt und die Stimmung wie immer sagenhaft. Die Mischung aus vielen Klassikern und einigen Gustostücken von „Feel Good Record of the Year“ ist No Use For a Name genial gelungen. Eines steht nach diesem Konzert fest: Niemand lässt so viele Stagediver auf die Bühne wie No Use. Ein traumhafter Abend.

| zurück | FLO POLT :: 16.02.2009