The Expendables interview for Submerege Mag

To call The Expendables a reggae rock band is an understatement. They have been playing there own unique blend of music for nearly fifteen years. Growing up in Santa Cruz, California instilled many different musical influences in them; everything from reggae, punk rock, surf, and 80's metal. I guarantee you have never heard a reggae song with blast beats and an Iron Maiden style shred solo in the middle of it. According to The Expendables, “We surf, skate, party and play music”. This laid back attitude has taken them from playing frat parties to their own nationwide headlining tours to support on amphitheater tours with international acts such as 311 and G. Love & Special Sauce. The Santa Cruz locals have also had the privilege of sharing the stage with such bands as Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, NOFX, Pennywise, Fishbone, Ziggy Marley and Kottonmouth Kings. Guitar Hero World Tour even used their song “Sacrifice” off the Gettin Filthy album as a playable song. You'd think after four records and countless tours, the four piece would be ready to take it easy, but no, “idle time is not an option”. March of this year saw the announcement of their fifth album Prove It along with a nearly two month summer support tour. Paul Leary of Butthole Surfer's and El Hefe of NOFX grabbed the reins as producers on the new record, “bringing a vibe to the studio as only two punk rock guitar legends could...they dug our weirdness”. And for anyone out there that thinks The Expendables have lost there originality, they have this to say: “We are bringing something new to the table, while still staying true to the sounds that make us who we are.” I recently had the chance to chat with Adam Patterson, the back bone of any good band; the drummer.

Hey how's it going?

Pretty good, we had a night off last night, I partied pretty hard. I am extremely hung over but stoked to do this interview.

[Laughs] I understand. So The Expendables have been together since 1997

Yeah we where just 16 year old kids from Santa Cruz messing around with different types of weird music. We didn't get serious until around 2000 when we recorded our first record.

Santa Cruz is known as being one of the surf and skate capitols of the world. What was it like being a sixteen year old kid coming up in that music scene?

Oh man it was a lot of fun, there were always shows going on, plenty of good local bands to play with. It was really a great time to be a band. There was always a big band coming through; NOFX, Strung Out, Less Than Jake or 311. We actually became friends with some of those bands and have been lucky enough to tour with them. Not to mention people in Santa Cruz are super respective to all styles of music. It was really a good time.

Speaking of 311, I see you guys got to do an amphitheater tour with them last summer, how crazy was that?

It was wonderful they showed us an entirely different side of touring we had never seen before. The level of professionalism is crazy, they basically set up a musicians city everyday. The amount of preparation they do everyday just to put on a good show is amazing. It's a lot different doing our own headlining tour this summer. [Laughs] We try to carry the same professionalism but much smaller venues.

How did you guys fit recording an album into your busy tour schedule?

Actually the first part of last year (2009) and the last part of the year before (2008) were incredibly busy but we got to take the last six months of 2009 off to record the album and get ready to do some heavy support tours. We aren't used to having time off, it was kinda hard to stay focused. Since we had been writing the new record over the last 3 years we only had to take a few months off to finish it and really focus on doing the best job we could. Which is why we brought in the producers we did. And I think we accomplished that, it's my favorite album to date. I think it's our best representation of the band and what we are capable of.

I was reading the album credits and saw you had Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers and EL Hefe of NOFX produce the album

We met Paul threw Pepper, he came to a show in Austin in a few years back, and we spent the next two years talking with him. When it came time to actually get a producer he was all in, he likes our weirdness. El Hefe had contacted our label, Stoopid Records, looking to work with one of the bands and we are huge NOFX fans so we jumped on that as quick as possible. We got along well and wrote a song together, “Donkey Show”, it turned out really good. The album also features some of our friends from Slightly Stoopid as well as G. Love

The new album, Prove It sounds slightly more general rock than your previous releases

People have been telling us we lost our dub(reggae) sound. We are a guitar driven band, always have been. I feel like we did a little of everything on this record. We did a six minute metal songs, a few punk songs, a seventeen minute dub song and pretty much everything in between. We're a weird band we like to play every type of music.

Pick up you copy of Prove It at The Expendables live show May 30th at The Boardwalk or June 1st at Freeborn Hall on the UC Davis campus.

Anthony

Ps. I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly

An interview I did for Submerge Magazine

Words by Anthony Giannotti
Brian Hanover is most well known for his years fronting the Sacramento-based street punk band Hanover Saints. After seven U.S. tours, two full-length records, four EPs and nearly 10 years playing together, Hanover Saints called it quits in 2005. Fast forward to 2010, Brian is about to release his second solo album, publish a book of his writings, continue running his own screen printing business and still finds time for his family. Brian’s mindset fully embodies the DIY lifestyle, going as far as to release his solo albums on his own record label Revolution Ink Records, casually saying “I work hard, it’s just what I do; I don’t know anything else”. This impressive work ethic has served him well in nearly two decades of playing music; Brian slyly smirks while saying “I’ll always play music because my mind won’t let me stop writing songs!” His easy going demeanor and friendly attitude makes it hard to not to like him. The story, depth, and honesty of his songs allow him to win over audiences with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica. Brian likes to involve the fans at his live performances by leaving a tambourine out for people to play. He laughs as he says, “You just hope whoever grabs it at least has a little rhythm.” He also does something a lot of older musician don’t do, “I want to stay relevant, I don’t want to be the crusty old guy that doesn’t know what the kids are listening to.” I had a chance to catch up with the 35-year-old punk rocker over a few pints of Guinness at one of my favorite Sacramento dive bars, The Press Club.

Thanks for meeting up with me here; I know you’re a busy guy
No problem, thank you. I’ve only been here a couple times. One of the first times I came to The Press Club was in the early ‘90s to see US Bombs, it was a crazy night I was over there behind Townhouse smoking and some kid got stabbed at the show!

So you’ve been around the Sacramento punk scene a longtime.
In 1984 I was skating a launch ramp with some friends, and someone down the street was blaring 7 Seconds Walk Together Rock Together. Later that day I made my mom drive me to the record store, back then there was Dimple, Record Factory and of course Tower. I got my first punk records that day, 7 Seconds’ The Crew, and Black Flag’s Damaged. I started going to local shows in the mid-‘80s. I even met my wife at a Suicidal Tendencies show back when Big Shots was still open.

SM: Yeah congratulations on the 10-year wedding anniversary, you just got back from a little trip?
BH: Thanks it’s been a good 10 years. We went up to wine country for the weekend

What’s it like trying to balance your own business, wife, kid and being a recording/tour musician?
[Laughs] There really is no balance; I think it’s priorities for sure. My wife knew what she was getting into, this is just what I do, and I was already in a band when we got together. One thing that really strengthens us as a couple is being able to do our own thing, it allows us to grow together, really surrounds us with love and grace, [laughs] a lot of grace.

Speaking of doing your own thing, I took a listen to the new release it’s very good, quite the departure from the Hanover Saints…
Yeah some of it is. For this album I wanted to strip most of the songs down so I really only used an acoustic guitar, tambourine, harmonica and on a few songs electric guitar. All accept the fourth track; it actually was a Hanover Saints song that never made it on an album. It was right toward the end of it, I had already been writing solo stuff, and I brought it to practice when we were playing as a three-piece with Chris from Killing the Dream on bass.

Some of the songs on here have a real Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan singer songwriter vibe jumping off them.
Each song is a little bit different from the other, they may have a common thread but I tried to get a large variety. Everything I sing about is all true stories, all personal experiences, kind of a Pete Seeger thing. I wanted to do this release differently because of all the different formats everything is coming out in. So the way I’m doing this release is in three volumes, every four months four more songs come out. The next volume is going to come out with a book I wrote and a coffee mug, because it all started with coffee and late night rants for me.

How did the book come about?
Like I said I was always at coffee shops writing. Some of the Hanover Saints lyrics I always really liked as standalone pieces. I had been cleaning out some old papers and I found old poetry, short stories and some other stuff I thought I’d like to publish it, I don’t know if it’s any good. Sometimes writers can think a little too much of themselves, think there a little bigger than life, but I went to a book store and picked up a book of poetry and one of the stanzas I turned to was literally 4 sentences. I thought, I can totally do this. It’s ridiculous.

Do you think it was the writing that attracted you to more of the acoustic style over staying in the punk rock genre?
Most of the Hanover Saints was written on acoustic or electric. It just depended on how I heard it in my head. One day I was playing the song “Bad Man” at home, Mike Ericson happened to be doing some work for me and heard it. He talked me into putting that song on Hanover Saints record Murdertown, which Pressure Point was producing. By the end of Hanover Saints I felt I had said everything that avenue would allow me to say. I really wanted to get that one on one connection with the audience. I definitely think there is a place for the loud thing. I’m always going to be into punk, and I’ll probably play it again, it’s just if you’ve said what you need to say for that part of your life I don’t feel the need to keep dragging that dead horse around.

Have you found that one on one connection?
I wanted to try getting up and doing a solo show but I was too afraid. Then in 2005 Kevin Seconds talked me in to being on a bill with him. I just fell in love with it. Being able to play coffee shops, small bars, garages, living rooms and really some sketchy places is an entirely different, incredible, personal experience for me. You can get to know the people and the city you are playing in instead of rushing through to the next gig like when you’re in a full band. I’ve made some great friends all over the country playing solo.

Anthony
Ps. I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly