THE MENZINGERS

INTERVIEW WITH DRUMMER JOE GODINO AND VOCALIST/GUITARIST TOM MAY BY BEN SAILER

March 14, 2020 was a grim up as a full-band effort. No night in Melbourne. As ideas were considered off the the lights went off at table, and with no real deadthe Croxton Bandroom line to turn the record around, following a tense set they took their time producing from the Menzingers on the final something that can stand on its night of their Australian tour, own while offering a new pernews of the COVID-19 pandemic spective on the record. reaching the United States forced the band to find the first flight That process wasn’t necessarback to Philadelphia. What fol- ily easy, though. Despite living lowed was a frantic, two-day trip close to one another, social navigating packed airports while distancing forced the band to the Western world prepared to work together remotely deviface a viral threat it was only be- ating from their usual process ginning to understand, one that of jamming together in a room would eventually slow society to a and vibing off each other’s halt and shut down live music for ideas to piece together songs. the foreseeable future. Finding new ways to collabo“Those 48 hours were some of the on effects. weirdest we’ve ever gone through on tour,” says drummer Joe “There was a new element that Godino. I think really helped us grow as Hunkered down in their homes and as friends,” guitarist and as future tour dates were can- vocalist Tom May says. “And that celled and the gravity of the sit- was that we had to decide what uation sunk in, the band began we were going to do before we discussing what their path for- started to do it, meaning that we ward might look like. That led to had to be able to describe what From Exile, an acoustic reimag- we're doing or what we wanted ining of their fittingly fatalistic to do, and then we had to come late-2019 full-length Hello Exile. to an agreement on it.” With the songs still feeling fresh, collection of acoustic renditions rate had some positive knockmusicians and even as people it gave them an opportunity to Without much collective recontinue exploring new tones cording expertise, the band and textures within their struc- turned to the internet to learn tures while staying creative and how to cut their tracks and productive under lockdown. combine them into something that producer Will Yip could “It's important to note that we polish into a finished product. had just cracked into the cycle The results feel remarkably like of touring for Hello Exile,” Godino a studio album, and it’s likely says. “That album had come out listeners otherwise would have in October, and at that point in little idea that the tracks were March, we were right in the thick stitched together in bedrooms, of it. We had just done a U.S. tour, basements, and attics. Thanks European tour, and Australia, to DIY ingenuity and sheer and we had plans to repeat them force of will (no pun intended), all this year. It was just like the the band turned a commercarpet getting pulled out from cial death blow for the songs that whole album cycle.” on Hello Exile into something If From Exile was a slapdash not exist. unique that otherwise might played verbatim from their “Will really knocked it out source material, it may have felt hard,” May said. “He absolike something intended to satisfy lutely fucking crushed it at a contractual obligation rather his house. He brought some than a specific creative vision. equipment back from his studio However, such a description and did an incredible job of couldn’t be further from the truth. very quickly and fantastically Instead, the songs were stripped making it sound incredible.” down to the studs and built back �� �� ��