Out of print: Q and A with A Wilhem Scream

A Wilhelm Scream: Bassist Jon Teves on far right
Initially, I setup an interview with A Wilhelm Scream in order to get free admission to a Rise Against show during winter break in January 2005. In prepping for the interview, and even more so since the release of their last album Ruiner, I have grown to appreciate the Scream's brand of "ADD"(according to bassist Jon)or "technical"(according to Wikipedia) punk. As for the actual interview, it turned out to be an entertaining chat with now former bassist and then "tipsy" Jon Teves. Check out an edited version of the Q and A below.

Q: So you guys have your latest album, Mute Print, out now. You worked with Bill Stevenson, established punk rock producer. What was that like?

John: We had a really small budget, only 11 days to do it. For 3 months straight we were in Trevor’s basement going over and over these songs, so that when we got to the studio, 11 days would be enough. When we go there, it was like “Hey Bill, let’s get to work.” There was no time to be like “Holy Shit, this guy was in the Descendents and Black Flag, etc.” The only time we really thought about that was late at night, when we were hanging out and he would tell us fucked up stories about the road.

Q: You were happy with him right? You’re doing your next album with him.

John: Oh yeah, and the studio was great. It’s out in Ft. Collins(Colorado), I love it out there. The whole Denver area, we have a lot of friends out there from touring. It’s gonna be fun, we’re going out there in March. Jason Livermore worked on our record.

Q: He’s worked with Good Riddance?

J: Jason Livermore? He’s worked on pretty much everything that has come out of the Blasting Room). He’s awesome. He’s actually a phenomenal drummer himself., as well as Bill (Stevenson).

Q: Did you guys pickup any playing pointers from them?

J: It was a crash course. We had recorded a lot, but never had done anything on that professional level. That’s why we worked with them, because we wanted to push ourselves to the next level.

Q: So do you guys have a principle songwriter?

J: Our guitarist Trevor, for the most part. We do arrangements together. We take Trevor’s songs and add some fucked up shit to it. It’s like we have ADD. A lot of our parts won’t repeat, simply because we don’t want to play them again, it gets boring. It probably turns some people off from our music, but it keeps us playing.

Q: Do you have a favorite song on the new album?

J: It changes. In terms of popularity, “The Rip” and “Famous Friends and Fashion Drunks” are the songs people always ask us to play.

Q: Do you have a favorite song that you or the band likes to play?

J: “The Rip.” We’ve ended our set with it for a while now.

Q: I heard a few days ago your bus broke down.
J: It was our trailer. We had just done the Strong Out Tour, and we took a few months off. We are broke and never come home from tours with money. When we got home around Christmas from the Strung Out tour, we actually had some money this time. We all got 100 bucks. I don’t know why I am telling you this, but I’ll go on. So we were going to buy Christmas presents for our families, our grandmas, shit like that. Then Ray, our tour manager, and myself were driving in the trailer looking for a parking spot, when we hear this wicked high pitch sound. Sure enough, our tire was completely smashed, the bearings were off, and the axel had broken. One side of our trailer was completely held together by duck tape. So we call the tow company get it towed, drive into Philly and get a trailor the next day. Wow, that was way too long a story. In short, our trailer died and we got a new one.

Q: So, hometown show last night in Boston, how was that? Soldout?

J: It was great. It was soldout, I don’t think because of us, I think because of Rise Against; which is great, they are a great band are getting some attention. We are so happy for them. Being on this tour and seeing how Rise Against is becoming a real prominent act in the punk rock world, gives me hope for punk rock. Real talented guys, great values. It’s just been great to be on tour with them.

Q: I interviewed Rise Against a few months ago when they were on tour with Bad Religion and they said the same thing. You think Bad Religion, this established act, might be kind of arrogant, but they are just down to earth people.

J: Yeah. And being home was great, a lot of our friends drove up to Boston to see us.

Q:…and now you are in your rival city, New York.

J: I gotta tell you something about New York…I fucking hate it. I don’t hate the people, we have a lot of friends from here. It’s just this general attitude, “I’m from New York, fuck you!” Everyone is in a rush to get nowhere. I hate New York for the traffic and trying to park. If you wanna park in New York, you have to deal with the fact that the Red Sox won the World Series.

Q: That must have been great for you. Were you on tour?

J: No. We were home for the playoffs! It was fucking awesome. And now we are going to be home for the Patriots playoffs.

Q: Did you go to the parade?

J: No, they switched it. It was supposed to be Friday night, but I guess they thought, Friday night, 5-6 million people drinking, it would be crazy. So they switched it to Saturday morning, when it would rain, and people wouldn’t be drinking…as much. So we watched it on TV.

Q: So you just did a tour on the West Coast with Strung Out. How do you like the west coast?

J: I like the West Coast. The people are completely different, you have to get used to them. Of course, I was bragging about the east coast to them. You are more likely to meet very superficial and polished people. New York, Boston, Philly, even Chicago, it’s very blue collar, down to earth people. I don’t know, maybe its poverty. Out in LA, they separate the rich and poor people, and put different races in different neighborhoods. In my hometown it’s mostly working class, pretty diverse, the white kids are the minority. I guess on the east coast, you can’t escape poverty or diversity.

Q: How did you guys get into punk rock?

J: I don’t know we got into punk rock…we got bored with comic books. Me and Trevor(lead guitarist), used to play around with his dad’s 900 dollar guitar. One thing led to the next, and here we are.

Q: If you could tour with any band or artist, who would it be?

J: I would love to meet Bruce Springstein. But in terms of touring, probably what we are doing right now with Rise Against. I know a lot of the guys in the band would say Metallica, because they went through a big heavy metal stage when I was listening to a lot of alternative shit.

Q: Is the new album petty much done?

J: Yeah, most of the songs are written. We are working on our approach. On the last album we wanted it to sound live, a very raw record. This time we want to explore production, maybe a bit of a different feel.

Q: So are you planning on doing more in post-production, more polished guitars and such?

J: Well, we still want this to be a punk record. Are we going to sound like…I won’t mention band names, but we aren’t gonna auto-tune vocals or anything like that. If it takes you 40 times to lay down a vocal track correctly, then it takes you 40 times. And if you don’t get it right, then you move on. Most of the albums I grew up listening to and loving didn’t have all this production value. Albums don’t have to be perfect, and I hate it when they are perfect. It hurts my ears. Trevor’s dad who does some recording himself always says, “You can’t polish a turd.” Well, now a days you can polish a turd. It’s a weird time for our genre and music in general. Albums sound like they came out of a factory. I don’t feel like mentioning names, but I think people can tell what I am talking about.

Q: What’s your take on file sharing?

J: Yeah I’m all for it. If you’re Metallica, you can see why they are against it, but for us, we are just trying to be heard.

Q: Rise Against, who you are touring with and you mentioned you respect greatly, is signed to Geffen Records? Do you want to see Major Labels go away or sign more bands like Rise Against?

J: I have no problems with major labels in theory. Maybe some of the bands they have on them, but not the concept. The whole point of forming a band is to get your music heard. So if Rise Against signs to a major label to make it happen, then more power to ‘em. One thing I have noticed is all these labels signing really young guys, younger than me, as A&R guys. That’s kind of weird. Maybe you should be an A&R guy.

Q: You think?

J: Yeah, and sign some friggin good music! As for us, I don’t think we’ll ever be approached by a major label, because, as I said, we kind of have an ADD approach to songwriting. But who knows?