Alkaline Trio

Ask most people to conjure up their impressions of Chicago in a sentence or two, and they'll probably freely associate a few words about 'da Bears and bratwurst, the El train or Michael Jordan — not punk music. But as Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba (guitar, vocals) will tell you, there's quite a bit of punk to be found there.
With influences from hometown heroes Screeching Weasel to the more new wave sort like The Clash, Alkaline Trio have built quite a following in five years from near constant touring, while humming along to the American Dream.
The thought that you might just be able to make a living doing something you love if you work at it long enough is something they continue to preach about. Heck, they're living it, opening stadium gigs for major pop / punk powerhouses like Blink 182 in between headlining gigs at medium sized venues all over the country. That's nothing to scoff at, and with band mates Mike Felumlee (drums) and Dan Andriano (bass, vocals) in cahoots on this venture, A3 does nothing of the sort. For a couple of former bicycle messengers, one could say they're doing quite well. But whatever you say, don't call them "emo."

Are you a pretty serious guy?
No, I'm not very serious at all. I'm like a 7-year-old stuck in a 25-year-old body. Most everything is hilarious to me.

Have you ever played Gilman Street before?
Gilman is one of my favorite places to play; both Dan and I are very fond of the Gilman. I love playing shows there; not a huge fan of going to shows there, but definitely love playing there. The crowds are always rad and the people are super nice.

What was touring with Blink 182 like? Did some of your older fans find that weird?
Of course there were people who were upset for whatever reason, but we had a good time. I mean, we're fans of their last record and we found out that they liked our band when they asked us to go out with them, so we were stoked. We had a really fun time, they're really nice guys. It was definitely a fun experience and we are supposed to be going back out with them this summer to do some shows for a couple weeks or something, a little of the big stadium craziness, you know?

How have things changed since you first started out?
It's been a slow progression. We've always taken it step by step. Musically, I think obviously we're not reinventing the wheel or anything, it's just three-chord rock music, but I think definitely we're a tighter band. I'm the only one left of the original line up, so the make up is completely different now. There's more people at the shows and there are a lot more songs to play, so we've eased into it.

What do you imagine you'd be doing if not making music?
I don't even know. I was going to school for graphic design. I was a bike messenger for three and a half years while we were trying to get the band off the ground. Thank God I'm not doing that anymore, but who knows? I would not nearly be as happy as I am right now. There's nothing better than getting paid for what you love to do.

Were there any specific themes you were trying to tackle on the new album lyrically?
With every record we've kind of progressed into more of a darker theme and definitely some of the songs I wrote on this record I was going for that and trying to make it maybe a little darker than the last one and maybe a little more graphic or whatever, without being cheesy. Or maybe it's cheesy already, but definitely we're down with the dark imagery.

Is that how you get more of your "emo" label?
I don't really know. I haven't heard that in a while and I'm sorta happy about it. But I would assume so. I don't really know what that means but I guess anything that's personal or dark or sad is "emo," I don't really know. Lucky for us, we haven't heard that word in a long time.

I would say, musically and melodically, you don't really come across that dark, just your content.
Oh yeah, we're not Bauhaus or anything. We're just a pop-punk band, so it’s just a little sugarcoated, or a lot sugarcoated, as it goes. It’s just the themes, the songs, that are about the unhappy times.

Tell us what growing up in Chicago was like?
It was a pretty tight punk scene. I was like 12 or 13 when I first started going to live shows, growing up just a little tyke seeing Screeching Weasel and Naked Ray Gun and those. The city itself was pretty inspiring, it has romantic qualities.

I just remember it being so cold and windy.
It is cold and windy, man. It's the Windy City.

And that Sears Tower didn't look that tall. I remember thinking that too.
It's fucking huge.

I guess you had to go to the top to really feel it.
Well, when you get to the top you can see that it bends. When I was a bike messenger I used to lay down and eat lunch under it and when you looked up, you could get a focal point on like a cloud or something and you could tell it was moving like, back and forth. And there was this small part of me that wished it would fall. I'm a sicko, I guess. I would be like "If that thing would just fall, it would level half the city and I could just go home for the day."

I would think being from Chicago you'd want to be a commodities trader or something.
One would think so.

You'd get to wear the funny jackets.
Yeah dude, wear like a vest with some chilies on it.

For all us people who've never been on tour before, what do you think would be the biggest misconception about the glamour of that? Is it all hookers and blow or what?
Actually it is. It's all just a sex-drug-party every night. So everyone that thinks that is a misconception is wrong. It's balls to the wall fucking party central every night. Not really, Mike's wife comes out with us and his kid. Dan's engaged, so his girl is going to come out, but we're lucky because we have a big bus and there's plenty of room. I'm a bachelor, the single man.

Where's the love?
What do you mean?

It's a rhetorical question.
Oh, Show me the love. I see. No, I'm the one with all the hookers and blow.

More for you.
All for me.

Bookmark: