Bias is the sparkplug of music journalism. While regular reporters are nominally expected to balance different sides of an issue, music writing only happens when some headphone twat gets worked-up enough to put down the bong and pick up the pen, their inevitably huge ego exploding a proper mix of ignorance and prejudice.
The notoriously acidic Anti-Flag, who signed to a major label seemingly in the wake of American Idiot’s smash success, seemed perfect for an interview that would make them look as stupid as they distantly seemed. Political punk too often consists of some unschooled Pabst slob content to scream about how some leader or policy or country sucks with only a self-imposed tattoo and a cheap hangover as evidence. Almost completely unfamiliar with long-angry AF and their music, I stupidly thought I could trap cleverly monikered drummer Pat Thetic into revealing his own Bush-bashing spew for the idiot-fodder it most certainly was.
So I composed interview questions the way all hard-ass rock skeptics do: as a mini-quiz. If Thetic has enough gall to put out endless angry punk records and ask to be considered intelligent, he better be able to back his sting up with detailed knowledge.
To show my journalistic bias for the bullshit prejudice and pretense it was, here’s a rundown of the Political Punk Quiz as passed by Anti-Flag’s Pat Thetic. My snide grading comments are in italics:
Requisite first question about new album/tour:
Guardian: So is For Blood And Empire anything new? Is it even good?
Pat Thetic: The new record fucking rocks my ass off. We’ve got some really interesting ideas. Musically, we went in some directions that traditionally Anti-Flag would be a little bit afraid of.
G: Hmmm, interesting. Yawny reply, now for a real quiz question. What got you interested in politics?
P: We grew up in Pittsburgh — it has a blue collar, workers’ rights kind of feel. Justin’s parents were activists and had one of the first vegetarian restaurants [there]. My family just discussed politics and ideas a lot around the dinner table. My parents don’t agree with many of the things that I’m interested in.
(The most important credential.)
G: Yeah, I’ve got conservative parents, too. Which is weird, because lots of my friends’ parents are old hippies.
P: We don’t have those in Pittsburgh. People are interested in workers’ rights, but talk about gay rights and those kinds of issues and you run into a brick wall.
Why am I surprised that you’re not a homophobe? But let’s get to the real question, hehe.
G: So why mix music and politics, anyway?
P: We’re inspired by music in the same way we’re inspired by activism and social justice. It all made sense to us. Our heroes were always bands that put music and activism together. With music, we go onstage and we say it exactly how we want it to be. That’s a very unique position to be in.
OK, so that was a typical answer. But at least he mentioned “social justice.” That’s, like, a big word. (“Activism,” mind you, is merely fashion.) But now for the mean reporter smart-bomb, better-get-ready destructo query.
G: So does being on a major label (RCA) compromise your message, politics, or punkness?
P: So far they’ve been accepting of what we’ve had to say and how we choose to say it and all that. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationship goes. I think that AF was very lucky because we’re in a position of power [having already released six albums by themselves].
Damn! Foiled again with a reasonable reply! But let’s see how this complicity came about …
G: Were you guys actively looking for major labels or did they come to you?
P: There’s been a lot of major labels who’ve been wanting to talk to us for a few years now, and we told them from the beginning that unless you are willing to give us complete creative control of artwork, music, and Web site and those things, there was no point in us talking. But RCA said yeah, we’ll let you create the music and the artwork and the packaging that you want, and we’ll put it in writing. We said wow — we actually didn’t think that would happen.
Now I’m really starting to look like an asshole, I mean, a reporter. What shit can I talk about a major label these days, when they’re practically the same thing as independents anyway? My grip on the wheel of shame is loosening. The spark plug is ineffective — his mixture is too damn heavy. So let’s hit the nitrous with a potentially belittling question.
G: Do you think major label interest in you guys had anything to do with the success of American Idiot, another Bush-hating record with contrasty album art?
P: I think there’s a growing number of people who are disenchanted with the Bush regime and who realize that unjust wars and wars of empire are not what American soldiers should be dying for. In 1994 we were singing about the same things but nobody wanted to hear any of the ideas we were talking about.
Nice dodge. But now for the I-dare-you-to-talk-shit question.
G: Do you feel a kinship with other bands like Green Day who are just recently growing overtly political?
P: I always have felt that anybody who is willing to talk about social justice and make art about social justice is a friend of mine. I’m not the kind of person who says, well, if you do the math more of our songs are about social justice than theirs so we are cooler than [them] — that’s not the world of activism that I’m a part of. We actually did some shows with Green Day last year, they’re good dudes and they’re talking about things that are important, so I think they’re a great band.
How are you possibly this nice? Don’t you know you’re on a major label? Don’t you know this is a college newspaper? Don’t you know that Sid Vicious snarled and like, ate babies and stuff? But if you’re not a dick, maybe you’re still ignorant. I know I’m digging myself into a hole here, but let’s see what old Pat knows about the U.S. Gov’t.
G: Who is your least favorite political figure?
P: Wolfowitz or Cheney are some of the most evil people that the American political system has seen in a long time. They come off as being much less destructive and evil than they really are. This is true about Bush too.
Correct answer. But can a real punk ever say anything good about anything?
G: And your favorite politician?
P: We’ve had the amazing honor of being able to work with Congressman Jim McDermott from Seattle. I’m sure he has to go home and explain to his constituency that he is working with a band called Anti-Flag and we’re not a bunch of godless commies — or we may be, depends on which one you talk to.
Again, fuck.
G: If you could change any single American law, which one would you change?
He has to fuck up this one.
P: In the No Child Left Behind Act, there’s a provision that says that schools that receive federal funding need to hand over the private records of their students to military recruiters. In schools we should be looking for something better than violence and war. We were told by members of Congress that if we can bring enough signatures and show them that people are interested in this issue, they will adopt legislation and try to change this law.
See www.militaryfreezone.org to sign the petition, and then Google my music-crit obituary. Pat Thetic scores a 100 percent on the “I’m Not A Stupid Punk” quiz. Now if only their music was more interesting — ooohhh, I gotcha there!
