After the Sprawl

Some bands write long meandering concept albums featuring seven minute songs and dozens of tracks on each song. Others release 20 song albums that clock in at about a half an hour, with songs that were written in the studio from start to finish.
Count F-Minus in the latter group. Hailing from Orange County, a place known more for its ska-core and melodic skate punk, F-Minus is one of the most furious hardcore punk bands to come along in quite some time. Their self-titled debut album was produced by Tim Armstrong of Rancid, who signed them to his own Hellcat Records. Their second album, Suburban Blight, was released earlier this year and rails against the establishment at a time when such resistance is a highly unpopular stance. Their songs are short three-chord punk songs filled with such power they sound as if they could literally explode into a thousand pieces. Created by members Jen Johnson on bass and vocals, Brad Logan on guitar and vocals, Erica Daking on guitar and vocals and Adam Zuckert on drums and vocals, the album was an shot in the arm to what is becoming an increasingly dull genre. Through heavy touring they gained a fan base and are now working on their third album, which will feature guest vocals by Gabba from Chaos U.K. Jen was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions.

What are you guys up to right now? You have a little bit of time off before your next tour.
There's a million local shows this month. We're playing tonight and then doing some shows this weekend. In about a week we're doing some shows with H2O.

Do you guys all live in Orange County, or where are you all living now?
Adam lives up in LA right now, but basically, yeah. We all live down in Costa Mesa, Huntington.

So when you guys started this band, most of the bands that were popular and well known out of Orange County - especially when you started, around '96 and '97 - most of the bands out of there were a different kind of punk rock, more pop, melodic stuff.
Definitely, even ska.

Is any part of the reason you started this band a reaction against that or was it just what you guys were into?
We definitely didn't pay attention to anything that was going on. We always just did what we were into and we all had played in lots of other bands and we always had wanted to be in a hardcore punk band. It just came together that way.

You all shared an interest in hardcore punk, is that the kind of music you all listened to?
Definitely, we all grew up on that. We always played in bands like that. Everyone that was in the band kind of came together on that same page. There wasn't a plan, it just kind of came together that way, is what I'm trying to say, I guess. It wasn't like, "Let's do this kind of music." That was just what was coming out of what everyone was writing.

Were you all writing as much in the beginning as you are now?
In the beginning it was mostly Brad. The lineup changed a lot. In the beginning it used to be just Brad and Sara. On the first record only me and Brad wrote anything and then on the last record everyone pitched in a bit.

When you guys first started playing shows down south, what was the reaction to you guys, seeing as there weren't bands like that coming out of there?
I don't think anyone really cared. I don't think anyone really got it, you know what I mean? People were just kind of like "Hmm?" We didn't really start playing till like '99 really because Brad was gone a lot 'cause he used to work for other bands roadie-ing and stuff. Everyone was kind of gone a lot. Then once we started playing, it seems like right around that time, a lot more bands started emerging that sounded like that, when we had already been doing it for a little bit. It made a little more sense for everybody.

How long did it take before you started getting a better audience reaction, where you noticed that people were into it finally?
Recently. Like this last year, 2001 seemed like the year that people finally started knowing who we were and going to shows. That's when I started noticing it.

Have you guys progressed as a band to a point where maybe you're better now and that's why people are coming around to you?
I don't know. Maybe. I couldn't say that. I don't think I'm any better, maybe worse. I think we're all getting worse.

Really, that's too bad. Well, it sounds pretty good for getting worse.
I guess you'd have to ask somebody that listens. It's hard to give your own opinion of yourself.

How did the more collaborative songwriting begin for Suburban Blight?
It was more of an established band. No member changes had happened and it was easier to be in a room with four people and everyone would come with something, like, "Let's do this, or this." There was more of that if anything, where before it was just me and Brad. Finally Erica and Adam became definite members, where we had three second guitar players before. Once we finally kept everybody the same in the band it worked better to write together.

Are you guys all pretty political, or is that just a couple of members?
Probably more Brad. We don't even all agree. We all have different views. I know Adam doesn't agree with everything and I don't agree with everything. We have our own personal opinion on different issues.

Does that make it difficult lyrically, maybe someone has to sing something that they don't agree with?
No. We keep it a pretty open forum. Whoever's writing their lyrics gets to write them about whatever they want to. No one gets like, "Hey wait, I don't like that." That's one of the cool things where it might be confusing to people listening, but if you buy the record and say, "Oh , okay Adam sang that song" or "Oh, Brad sang that song." You'd have to pay attention I guess.

You guys produced Suburban Blight yourself. Was that a daunting step, and how happy were you with your own efforts?
That was something that we always wanted to do. There's not much to producing that kind of music. It's kind of goofy that you would need a producer. On that first record, where we worked with Tim [Armstrong of Rancid], it was just because we all value his opinion and we like him and he's really into the band. None of us had ever worked with a "producer" in any of the other bands that we've played in. We've all played in other bands and worked alone before, so it was kind of more natural that way. It made more sense. It was more fun because we were completely in control. We did it pretty dry. We recorded everything live and if anything, in the mix we turned up certain things or turned down other things. That's when we decided, "Okay, you sing this song" or "You sing this song" or "Fuck that song. Let's do another one, write one real fast." It was fun. It gave us a lot of freedom of whatever we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it.

How long did it take you guys to write that album? Were there songs from the past that you were just recording finally?
The band was living bicoastal when we first started writing. It was kind of weird. The band moved out here in August and we started getting together then. In December everything changed. We rewrote it in September - I guess a couple of months of screwing around with ideas. We're kind of a weird band because we write a lot of stuff just on the spot. We don't really know what we're doing until we're actually recording it. We changed and rewrote a lot of stuff in the studio even.

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