in an internet chatroom somewhere are several nerds discussing the idiosyncrasies between the version of jawbreaker's
'boxcar' on the old glory seven inch and the version that appeared on 24 hour revenge therapy. and as they prattle on
about the hundred bucks they just dropped for a first pressing of whack & blite on ebay, the fanatics behind jawbreaker's
posthumous hysteria will talk about chris bauermeister, the newest member of chicago's long-established punk outfit, horace pinker,
and some silly person will label the band 'ex-jawbreaker.'
it has already happened-nevermind that the band existed for eight years before bauermeister joined. but a new line-up is only part of
the new horace pinker era. guitarist matt arluck joined the band in the spring of 1998, shortly before bass player miguel barron left
the band. during the interim, karl eifrig from lynyrd's innards filled in and co-wrote and recorded the bandıs new full-length, pop culture failure.
chris bauermeister joined in the spring of 1999; it was his first musical foray since the break up of jawbreaker.
after a four-year drought of any substantial releases, hp has an onslaught of records out this year. not that the deluge was premeditated;
pop culture failure has endured a long, complicated road to get released. originally for onefoot records, it is being released by jump up
records. copper regret, a cdep released by coldfront records, was recorded nearly a year after pop culture failure but came out first.
the band also plans to release seven mile road in the fall, a collection of seven inches, b-sides, compilation tracks and new material.
despite the releases, there are geographic. guitarist|vocalist scott eastman now lives in boston, where his is studying for a ph.d. same
thing, different city for bauermeister, who goes to purdue. with jobs, careers and marriages (eastman's tying the knot this fall) on the horizon,
never before has horace pinker had such demanding lives outside of the band.
nevertheless, horace pinker has survived and evolved-and it might be just in time to test their mettle. in a scene still smitten with a three-piece
from san francisco, horace pinker has to shine as a four-piece from chicago.
scott eastman: guitars|vocals
chris bauermeister: bass
bryan jones: drums
matt arluck: guitars
explain how the record ended up with jump up. you had already signed a contract with onefoot, but at the last minute...
bj: we had an agreement in '97 to do our next record with onefoot, but since then onefoot had gone through a lot of changes. the owner of onefoot, rick heyman,
is a great guy. he does the label out of love for the music, and he and onefoot have done a lot for horace pinker, but some of the decisions he has made about
the operation of onefoot have not been what we thought were in the best interest of the band. everything is cool between us, and onefoot has gotten back the
investment that they put into the recording, so no one is getting screwed.
se: we twisted our old friend chuck wren's [from jump up records] arm, and he cried, and he said, 'okay, goddammit, i'll put that fucking record out, now stop
twisting my arm.' and we're down with a cool band on the label called telegraph, who also twisted his arm and made him cry. i think he runs a great operation,
and he's cool, and he lives in our hometown, so we'll be able to work closely with him and not have to talk long distance to our label. and he pushes those units,
if you know what i mean.
the confusing part is the chronology of your records. pop was recorded quite some time ago but came out this summer. copper regret, recorded
nearly a year after pop and with a new addition to the band, came out in april. clarify the line-up changes and how the records ended up being released the way they were.
cb: a new addition, huh? what am i, a new playroom for the kids, a guest bedroom for grandpa?
yes, you're the 'new addition,' featuring a pool table, big-screen tv and wet bar. hp's hoping to up their resale value by adding you on!
bj: we started recording pcf in september of '98. due to schedule conflicts, we didn't finish the record until april '99. then we had some issues with onefoot, and
that was not resolved until january 2000. so, it's been a long and weird process. as for copper regret, we decided to record this cdep for coldfront in october of '99.
we booked three days in the studio and knocked the sucker out. there were no issues with coldfront, so the record was pushed through.
chris, why don't you explain how you ended up in hp and how the songwriting process has differed from jawbreaker, if it has at all.
bj: unlike jawbreaker, we try to get him to sing!
cb: it's sort of convoluted. i moved to chicago because i'm going to grad school at purdue in indiana. i ran into the pinker boys at a jets to brazil show last year
and got scott's e-mail. lucy, my girlfriend, and i didn't really know anybody here in chicago, and we were looking for someone to hang out with besides our schoolmates,
few of whom know jack about punk rock. i think it was at last year's super bowl party that bryan asked me if i wanted to join. i wasn't sure if i had the time, but
then my roommate in indiana, mass giorgini, who recorded pop culture, played me a few songs off of it, and i thought it was great. so, one thing led to another, and
here i am.
as for the songwriting process, it's different in that there's a lot more equal input from everyone in the band; i feel like i'm part of the band rather than just
playing bass for someone else's songs.
let's talk in order of release, beginning copper regret. five songs, and it seems the prevailing sentiment among you is that it's hp's most
ambitious release. why is that?
cb: i think it continues with the kind of songwriting from pop culture that brought me to horace pinker in the first place.
bj: it just worked. we put this record together in two weeks and recorded it in three days, and it turned out to be the best thing we have ever done. i think we were
very focused on the record, and that made it easier to pull it together. plus, vocally the thing rocks. we tried a lot of different things vocally, and they all seemed
to work out. scott sang his little heart out!
se: i sang a lot, and we practiced very little prior to recording it. this equals ambition and/or stupidity.
how do the songs differ from pop?
bj: i think they take pop to the next level. it just improved upon itself. pcf defined the musical direction the band is headed in, and we all play really well together.
hell, after nine years, we had better play well together.
se: i thinks the songs on copper regret are more melodic, pop culture failure is more of a mosaic of diverse influences from emo to hardcore and pop.
ma: i think the new stuff sounds, for lack of a better word, more mature. i know that collaborating with scott, and even miguel back in the day, helped bring a lot of
different influences to the mix. we love all kinds of music.
it seems copper was written and recorded in hp's typical, somewhat hurried style because of geographical and time restraints. how does the
songwriting process work now that you can't practice regularly and live apart?
bj: we are back to the way things used to be! when hp was at its most active point, none of us lived in the same town. i think we work better that way. i think that
is why we have been able to stay a band for this long. it's like when you go home to visit your parents. things are great for the first week or so, but then it's time
to leave. hp works the same way. i think that is why we have been able to stay friends and work together.
se: we write over the telephone; i sing a melody, matt sings a guitar harmony, chris hums a harmonious bass line, and bryan adds the rhythmic mellifluence of his
percussive instrumental stylings.
scott, lyrically, probably the most engaging song on the record is 'carnival nostalgia.' can you talk about its lyrics?
se: i was thinking about a specific old friend of mine who committed suicide, who bryan actually knew better than i did. he was a friend through the band. i don't
know why i was thinking about him, but i wanted to write about friendship and things that are always left unsaid. i wanted to write the song about whether you really
know someone or not, with respect to their actions that may come as a surprise or a shock to a lot of people.
bj: this song has a special place for me. i was the drummer for cletus on their spring '97 u.s. tour, and i played on their second record, protein packed. i spent a
month in a van with kevin, 24/7. after the tour, he went home, and he killed himself. i had no idea. you would think that we would have noticed something, but none
of us did. it still makes me sad. he was such a great guy with a really big heart, but i guess we never really knew what he was thinking. scott's lyrics are right
on point: you never can really know someone.
chris, copper was your first release since 1995's dear you. you'd been away from the studio for five years. what was it like coming back?
bj: pure rock!
cb: actually, it was surprisingly easy, especially recording with mass. i actually prefer to work much more quickly, although that's apparently not mass' usual technique.
it worked out fine on this. i'm actually kind of unprofessional when it comes to recording; i don't sweat too much about perfection. i just try to play along with
whatever's going on. hey, i've got it easy-i only have to play one note at a time.
it's interesting because it seems that so far, there's been little fanfare about your joining hp, at least not compared to the hoopla over
jets to brazil-and you really don't seem to mind. you probably prefer it. how do you think jawbreaker's legacy will impact your work with hp?
cb: i do prefer it. i think a band should be dealt with as a whole, not individual celebrities. as i've said before, that's what i really like about hp. that's one
thing i really hated about the whole major label thing; they don't seem to know how to market anything but divas. i'm realistic enough to recognize, though, that
copper regret is going to get a certain degree of 'ex-jawbreaker' marketing, but if that gets more people to listen to hp, great. on the other hand, i think it's
preposterous if that eclipses the band in any way. i mean, the band was around long before i joined it. hell, we toured with them; that's where i know them from
originally.
bj: i also think jets to brazil was pretty much signed from the get-go and had a pretty big label hyping the hell out of them before they ever released anything.
hp has not had that.
chris brings up an interesting point. how do you feel when someone labels hp 'ex-jawbreaker'?
se: we would of course have to terminate them.
bj: i could care less. the way i look at it is if more people check us out because of chris, that's great. but i think it is the music that will keep them coming back,
and that is what is important to me. and maybe these people will also get turned onto the old stuff too. i just want people to have access to the record. we gave up
on being rock stars a long time ago.
ma: i haven't had anyone label hp 'ex-jawbreaker.' not kids, not friends, not fans, zines, etc. i think people do realize the band has been around for awhile and just
accepts that 'hey, we got a new bass player.' it just so happens he was an integral part of one of the most inspirational punk bands ever.
moving on to pop. how frustrating has it been to get this record released?
bj: it's always been this way for hp. all of our records have taken forever to get out. we have never been a 'signed band' for a recording process. we have always
recorded the records without a label and then put the pieces together later. it sucks to have to do it that way, but we are used to it. i think that has been a big
problem for the band though. we have never had a label constantly hyping us, and that's what it takes. hell, we have toured 17 countries and released dozens of records,
but we are still an unknown band.
scott, lyrically, it seems you've moved to more personal subject matter, and the 'scene' seems to be less of an inspiration to you than in
the old days. why do you think that is?
se: probably because i'm not as involved in the scene as i used to be, which is definitely detrimental to the band. i've been involved in punk for over 15 years now,
and i've gone from going to punk shows in high school to putting on all ages shows in arizona (phoenix) for two to three years. and then we toured constantly for four
years, but now i'm more focused on school. when i think about writing, it is usually inspired by personal issues rather than frustration with the scene, seeing as i'm
not really a part of any scene living in boston for grad school where i don't know many people.
'refined' is about the scene, but it's a diatribe almost masquerading as an emo song.
se: refined is definitely the one 'scene' song on pop culture failure. i was just thinking about bands who write ridiculous lyrics, and i wonder what inspires them.
i mean, i love murphy's law as much as the next guy (at least i did in high school), but there are bands today that write such bullshit lyrically, and they sell
40,000 records! it amazes me. i can't take them seriously. i don't think of myself as an 'artist'; i consider myself to be in a band, but we have a serious side which
is reflected in the lyrics, and i don't see it in a lot of the hip, punker bands today.
copper and pop are clear departures from the path hp was taking with burn tempe, and they're light years away from power tools. what do you
think is behind the change?
se: i have to disagree with you. i think the new stuff is more like power tools in that the songs are dissimilar. some are poppy, some are-dare i say-emo, and a couple
are more like hardcore. i think power tools has songs that fit in all those categories as well, and it couldn't be pigeonholed. we never wrote according to the uni-song
theory (like a few west coast bands i know), and maybe that's why some people don't like us. if anything, what separates the new stuff is that it's more refined and has
clearly superior production but without sacrificing the inner punk of the songs.
bj: i think we have kinda gone back to the power tools era of writing songs, with the main difference being that we are better musicians now. after nine years of playing
together, we are writing better songs. we were doing this kind of stuff back in '94, but we got diverted with burn tempe.
se: one of the most important things is writing with and for two guitars. i really like writing songs with matt, and the songs are so much better when we write as a team.
and matt is very handsome.
now seven mile road will be released on your label, offtime. it also experienced a sort of rejuvenation as well, but it hasn't all been good
stuff.
bj: yes, after two years of hell, i am getting offtime going again. i was so sickened by this emo band that was on my label, their management, and their l.a. record label,
that i practically gave away their cd to another label. after all the threats and shit-talking (the owner of this l.a. label, a grown man, called me and threatened to
have skinheads beat me up) i decided to take a break. it's a real shame when bands that you have known for years and thought were your friends turn out to be nothing
but a bunch of music industry back stabbers. they talk all this shit behind your back but are your best friends to your face. all i know is what goes around comes around.
brutal. moving on, though, with all of these releases, it seems as if hp has been reborn this year-just when you all have busy lives outside the
band. do you have any concerns about how your schedules?
se: no, i'm cool.
ma: i do. i mean, i work 40-something hours a week, play in deminer and have other projects. plus, i'm trying to get some time to take some classes to learn how to use
my goddamn computer. so it can get tricky for sure.
cb: actually, one of the things i like about hp is that we're all busy; i don't feel bad that i can't devote all my spare time. i've got papers to write, dammit!
bj: yeah, i guess you could say we have been reborn. as for schedules, not really. i have a really cool job that allows me a lot of freedom (i'm a web developer), but
at the same time i am not looking forward to living in a van again. the cool thing now will be to balance the two, which i think we can do.
speaking of deminer, why don't you talk about that a little.
ma: deminer consists of myself on guitar|vocals, miguel barron [former bass player of hp] on bass|vocals and mike echimendia drums. we have been around for almost two
years, playing live and recording.
how's it different from playing in hp?
ma: i guess just the fact that we all live in the same city! we practice and play a lot more than hp. i need to rock at least two times a week, or i get restless and
irritable. i think at this stage in my life it is one of my only releases. so if i go without it, i fucking snap!
now if these records do really well, how will it affect your plans outside of he band?
se: we'll hit the road, jack.
bj: i'm not counting on any of that. it's like i said, we gave up on being rock stars a long time ago. if people get into the record, it will be cool to play in front
of some more people when we tour, but that's about it. maybe we will be able to cover our expenses on the road. that would be a first!
cb: i'm kind of committed to the grad school thing right now. i begin my ph.d. program next year, so if this hits big, hp will either have to a) find another bass player
or b). . . ?
what are you studying, anyway?
se: i'm working on a history ma, i'm a year behind herr bauermeister, who is my history mentor-i get all of the goods on early modern germany from him. just ask him
about the issue of agrarian reform in the early modern period under the habsburgs, i dare you.
cb: yeah, right, the people reading this will be thrilled to know i'm examining the development of the state in early modern europe, particularly the interdependence
of social, cultural, and political ideologies and practices in the holy roman empire.
upcoming releases and tours?
bj: a live cd on vml records, seven mile road cd on offtime records, a u.s./japan tour in june or july and hopefully a europe tour in the fall. we will be recording a
new full length this year too. we're not sure who for-because as usual we are not signed!
