Union of the Dead

Being the avid music fan that I am, my wardrobe contains a multitude of rock-band T-shirts. Many have shiny graphics, bright colors and fascinating logos. But the shirt that draws the most interest is by far one of the simplest; it is black, with three white skulls placed in the center, framed by crossbones and the slogan "Union of the Dead. A Punk Rock ‘n’ Roll Band," in plain white text.
This stark design is by no means accidental, and neither is the seemingly perplexing statement, "A Punk Rock ‘n’ Roll Band." How else do you describe a band that is as much old-fashioned greaser rock as it is AFI hardcore? As much psychobilly as it is straight-ahead punk? Union of the Dead is a band that defies definition, and as result, they’ve accumulated an impressive and diverse résumé of shows played in the last year or two, including sharing stages with the likes of AFI, Murder City Devils, International Noise Conspiracy, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Tiger Army, Guttermouth and The Catheters.
While many bands are content with saying that they’ve played with great bands, Union of the Dead is not among the easily satisfied. Not content with merely playing with the big boys, they plan on being one of the big boys. Although this goal may seem ubiquitous, I assure you that the boys of U.O.D. are anything but your typical band. There are many things that set them apart: their talent, their tattoos, their smorgasbord of influences. But the one thing that most distinguishes Union of the Dead from multitudes of wannabes clawing at the pearly gates of the music world is their desire. By desire, I mean the willingness to sacrifice everything in pursuit of a single goal, the perseverance in the face of long odds, the ability to believe in themselves. While these qualities are far easier to talk about than to achieve, I’m sure that no one within the Chico music scene would deny that U.O.D is in full possession of all these virtues.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the release of their eponymous full-length debut CD. Self-funded and self-released, the album nevertheless reeks of absolute professionalism, not just in its production, but also musically. To commemorate the release of this fine CD, in addition to the upcoming release parties, the Synthesis recently spoke with the members of U.O.D.: Cliff Greenwood (bass / vocals), Gerardo Wackenhut (guitar) and Fred Telles (drums).

Let’s talk about the album. Where you guys do it?
Cliff: Pus Cavern in North Highlands near Sacramento, with Joe Jackson, who did Cake and lots of other Sacramento bands. So, pretty much the album sounds like Cake [laughs]. Not really; but it sounds good like that.

Why Pus Cavern?
Cliff: Basically, we just followed the footsteps of Oddman, because their full-length came out so awesome — it’s really loud.
Gerardo: We wanted the quality, but we knew that we couldn’t afford, like two weeks in the studio on our own, so we just picked the best place we could and did it as fast as we could.

So are you guys stoked on the on the final product?
Fred: For what we had, two days, no producer, no money, it came out really good.
Cliff: I don’t think we could’ve done any better. I’m real happy with it.

Is this album kind of the proverbial next-step for you guys to kind of broaden your horizons beyond just the local scene?
Cliff: Hopefully. But for the most part, just having the album is good enough. But it would be nice to go beyond the scene that we’re a part of. I mean it’s a really great scene, but it would be nice to expand. Since we have so many copies of this album, hopefully we can spread out.
Fred: It’s definitely the next stepping stone. A lot of people won’t even give you credibility unless you have a full-length album. It shows devotion, to have enough conviction to go out and use your own money to create what we did. That’s a big step for most bands. Most bands don’t even last a year, but this is probably our fourth recording, first full-length. It’s probably the first CD that actually represents what we’re like.

What is Union of the Dead like? How would you describe yourselves to someone who’s never heard you guys before?
Cliff: It’s hard to say. I hear that question and cringe.
Fred: Going back to the basics, we’re just a rock ‘n’ roll band.
Cliff: It depends on who I’m describing us to. You know, if my uncle asks me, "What do you guys sound like?" I know he’s not going to know any of the bands we like. I told one of my relatives once that we were like the Rolling Stones, but punk rock. I don’t know how else to describe it to someone who doesn’t know who the Misfits are or who Rocket From The Crypt or Slayer is.

So, would those be your influences?
Cliff: It depends on what day it is, but the list goes on and on. One day I’ll wake up and it’s Wu-Tang all day long. Next day it’s Dwight Yoakam. Next day it’s Slayer. Throw those three together and you don’t have Union of the Dead, I’m sure.

Listening to this album, it seems like your sound has become more refined.
Fred: I think we’re getting more of our sound. We’re definitely darker, and we definitely have more songwriting structure, more than just putting three chords together. Gerardo’s been trying to go different ways, trying to do new things. If we do something that happens to sound like someone else he’ll try to change it up, maybe try to make it sound really weird.

I was also pretty stoked that along with the new stuff on the album you threw in some of the older songs, too.
Cliff: There’s two songs on there that are basically from the first couple months of Union of the Dead.

What was Union of the Dead like back in the days?
Gerardo: We were a hardcore act. A bedroom hardcore act.
Cliff: We have video footage — Fred had a shaved head.
Gerardo: We were a hardcore band, but we couldn’t find a singer. We tried a couple out but we never found one we liked.
Fred: They had wanted to start a band forever and were looking for a drummer forever. I told them that I was going to learn how to play drums, but Gerardo never believed me.
Cliff: I remember the day I walked in and was all, "That’s Fred up there?!! Holy Shit." He used to play along to AFI on headphones and one day it was just like "Damn, Fred can play. I’m gonna go get my bass." So we ended up playing all these cheesy hardcore songs.
Fred: We have a whole album of hardcore songs.
Cliff: Originally, one of the reasons I even came here, is it was going to be my brother playing guitar, me on bass; we were gonna find a drummer and Gerardo was gonna sing. But I guess Fred ruined that. Thank God for Fred!

Hasn’t playing in a band gotten old yet?
Fred: Every day gets better, for me, at least. We’re writing better songs and every time we come up with a new song I’m more excited about it than the last. Hearing the new stuff has given us hope; it’s made us believe more in what we’re doing. Before we were more of a regular punk-rock band, but now we have more of a distinctive sound.
Cliff: It’s not just hope, it’s confidence. We always knew that there was something there, but now with the album, it’s hard to explain, but it’s just that I know that we have "The Sound."

But don’t you reach a certain point where it starts to feel like work?
Cliff: It hasn’t ever felt like that onstage. We just played at Duffy’s last week and I thought it was gonna suck. But it ended up being one of my favorite shows that I’ve ever played. We’ve been a band for almost three years and I just now had my favorite show. I love it. I wish we could play somewhere everyday. Sometimes it gets old to play the same venue all the time, but it’s always fun.
Fred: Especially now with the album, each time we play we have a new person singing along, which is the greatest feeling, having someone know your lyrics. When people are there to see you, you feel really good about yourself and you’re gonna rock 110 percent more.
Cliff: It definitely feels good when people are there to see you, but even if there’s one person there, or no one there, we’re gonna rock out.
Gerardo: We rock out at practice. Some of our most exciting shows have been at practice.
Cliff: I think if we didn’t love our music, then it might not be as much fun, it might start to feel like work, but we really do love our music.

Any thoughts on the local scene?
Fred: There’s so many really great bands out there: Socially Pink, The Imps, Hit By a Semi, The Slicks, The ‘Nines, Isabel. Damelo, Face Down, The P.A.W.N.S, The Asskickers, Ivy Always Wins. Then there’s the whole indie Blue Room scene; I’d say the names but they’re always changing members. There’s a great music scene here, a scene that would kill a lot of other towns. You don’t have to drive out of town to see a good show. And there’s diversity. You got Slow Car Crash, Why Haters Always Trippin, good hip-hop stuff. Then there’s guys like Marty Garton [of Scapegoat Wax] coming out of Chico on Grand Royal Records; this town has produced a lot of good music.
Cliff: There’s just a lot of good shows, not just locally, but national acts coming through Chico. Like tonight it’s Dropkick Murphy’s, last night was Homegrown, and Rocket From The Crypt is coming with International Noise Conspiracy.
Fred: That’s another thing, when people dis on the local scene, saying that punk shows are weak and nobody goes, it’s kind of a slap in the face to all the promoters who are bringing these great bands — bands that you can barely see in other towns — through Chico. So, I just want to give a big shout out to all the promoters in this town, like Justin at The Brick Works, who are trying to get all the best bands here, even if people don’t go.
Cliff: All the bands in this town are just really good. Like the other night, I went to see Isabel, then I went to see Oddman at The Brick; those two bands just blow me away live and they’re both local; you can just walk down the street and see them.
Gerardo: People take that for granted.
Cliff: You don’t have to go anywhere, it’s right here. It’s a beautiful thing.

So what do you guys see happening in the immediate future?
Fred: We’ll hopefully start touring, getting around to the bigger markets, in the Bay and down south.
Cliff: I don’t know. I’m just having a damn good time.

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