New School With a Twist

The genre of new school punk has over the years broadened its reach, dipping liberally into other genres to create new and heretofore unseen combinations of styles. Pop, emo, new wave, indie-rock, metal, hardcore; just about every style of music has been incorporated into the ever-expanding world of punk rock. Punk purists often label this as "selling out." Others just consider it to be evolution. A fine example of this evolution is Alkaline Trio, a group that bucks trends both musically and lyrically, and is creating itself a well-deserved niche in the overall landscape of punk rock.
The band started out in Chicago around 1996 with Matt Skiba (vocals/guitar), formerly of the band Jerkwater, Glenn Porter (drums), formerly of prominent Chicago new-schoolers 88 Fingers Louie, and Rob Dornan (bass). The trio released an EP before Dornan ceded his spot to current bassist Dan Andriano. In 1999 they released Maybe I'll Catch Fire on Asian Man Records, followed by a self-titled singles collection in 2000. That year also saw Glenn Porter replaced behind the kit by ex-Smoking Popes drummer Mike Felumlee, who was with the band on their debut album for Vagrant Records, From Here to Infirmary. Felumlee was later replaced by Derek Grant (ex-Suicide Machines). The Synthesis caught up with frontman Matt Skiba just before the band embarked on a short West Coast tour with The Bouncing Souls.

The tour hasn't started yet right?
Yeah, I'm actually in Chicago still. We start this little tour we're gonna be on this weekend. Saturday is actually the first show, but we're going to Las Vegas to bowl in the Punk Rock Bowling Tournament, so we're all flying out on Friday.

Punk Rock Bowling Tournament? What the hell is that?
It's the fourth year they've done it; BYO records puts it on every year. It's just basically all independent labels and 'zines and bands all competing against each other. Alkaline Trio has a team, Fat Wreck Chords has a team, different bands have teams; it's all a lot of fun.

How to you feel about the term "pop punk?"
I don't mind it. That's the kind of music that I grew up with and that's the kind of music that I guess we play. I love pop music and I love punk rock music, so I take it as a compliment.

So are you pretty stoked about being on Vagrant, who seem to be at the top of the pop-punk world?
I think it's great; Vagrant's always done well by us. They're obviously a pop label and we feel at home with that. I suppose that we've just fit in there. We wouldn't sign to like Skin Graft or something, and I love that label, but a pop punk band being on a noise label… So naturally Vagrant puts out a lot of pop music and fortunately they're really stoked. And we're really stoked that they're doing well; it makes their resources more plentiful and available.

When do you think you guys will be putting out another full length?
We're recording in April and it should be out late summer or early fall.

Do you already have the material or are you going to write it in the studio?
We've already began writing the songs; we wrote the first three, so we're just getting started.

Is it the same kind of feel as From Here To Infirmary?
I don't know; we've always just kind of done what came naturally to us. It's not much more than three chords, I'll tell you that.

I remember hearing that Pete from Face to Face was playing drums for you guys for awhile.
When we lost Mike we needed someone to fill in, but all of our friends are in other bands. Pete couldn't do it full time because he's in Face to Face, and our friend Adam Willard who used to be in Rocket From The Crypt; everybody had prior commitments. But this band is our life and we couldn't just take time off to go through drummers so we just had some friends come out and play with us so we could keep playing music until we found someone permanent.

What kind of goals do you have, as a band? What do you see happening in the immediate future?
We've already reached the goal that we set out, which was just to have the band to be our only job. But it doesn't even feel like a job. I mean we were doing it long before we ever made any money and we'll be doing it after we're done making money. I feel like we're leaps and bounds from where I thought we'd be. We just make records and tour and have fun. We're just gonna keep doing that. That was always our goal so now we're just kind of enjoying it.

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