Jeff Rosenstock, provocateur behind Bomb the Music Industry! and Quote Unquote Records recently sat down with Jewcy for an interview about his influences, goals and feelings about the punk scene. For example, he explains the short road from Dookie to Operation Ivy:
I did the Epitaph thing a lot more than I did the Lookout! thing just because Epitaph had better produced records. I wasn't ready after listening to Green Day, to take in Crimpshrine right away. But I was definitely was ready to listen to NOFX and Down by Law and Rich kids on LSD. Then somebody had the Operation Ivy Record. I remember listening to it in somebody's basement and just sitting there and reading the lyrics and being like, "Oh fuck!" From that point on I was listening to stuff more like that.
He also notes his love of Titus Andronicus and LCD Soundsystem and the real reason he thinks people were disappointed in Against Me!:
It's no secret to the public that Tom Gabel feels like he's been rejected by the punk scene that he really cared about ever since they signed to Fat and got their tires slashed. So I can see where he's coming from. I don't personally like New Wave or White Crosses and not because they signed to a major label. I was a little disappointed that instead they became a more focused and polished rock band. But that's just me. I think a lot of us were like, "Yo, Against Me! is this band that plays loud and hard every night and they don't even care how many tickets are counted at the door! I could do this too!" I guess seeing them sign to a major label was a little disenchanting but, I mean fuck, who am I?
Check it out here.