RUSS RANKIN
ON GOOD RIDDANCE “PEACE IN OUR TIME” BEING VEGAN AND POLITICS
“I think if you ask somebody one on one they will say they care, but I think that there’s decisions that we all make every day – or don’t make – that have a larger repercussion than we may realize at the time.”
Russ Rankin / Photo J.B
INTERVIEW WITH RUSS RANKIN/GOOD RIDDANCE @LEE’S PALACE
OCTOBER 03,2015 COURTESY OF
MELANIE KAYE PR JB: Hey this is JB from Within Punkzine and we are here with Russ Rankin of Good Riddance. How’s it going? Russ: Pretty good man. JB: So last time I talked with you was at Rockfest and we touched base on Peace in our Time, so how’s the tour going with “Off With Their Heads” and “Iron Chic”? RUSS: It’s been amazing, Off with their Heads and the Iron Sheik are both great bands so it’s been really fun to hang out and watch both of them every night so it’s really cool. JB: With the Rockfest tour being such a big show how did it feel to get back out there with that type of volume, that type of presence? RUSS: So we went and did Groezrock in Belgium in April and so Rockfest is a little bit smaller than that so it’s the same vibe, we’re pretty comfortable playing in those kind of places, obviously it’s different than a club show with people right there but it was awesome. The response we got at Rockfest was great, we had a blast. JB: I did run into Bill Stevenson at Rockfest and we had a conversation about the turning point in your guys’ career and he was referring, not to Operation Phoenix, but actually My Republic so, do you feel that was the turning? RUSS: I feel My Republic was a strong album, I feel like for me as a songwriter and as a vocalist Symptoms of a Level Spirit was where I really felt comfortable. I think a lot of times when you’re a singer in the studio and you’re like me - I wasn’t blessed with vocal talent, it’s always hard to hear yourself played back. I’m reluctant to try things because I don’t want to fail and I don’t want to sound silly and Symptoms is where I was comfortable and confident enough to try different things and experiment and not worry if it sounded good or not and it was really a cool feeling to actually feel like I had some artistic thing to offer the project - I always thought of myself as the weak link, like this band is really good and I it’s too bad I have to ruin it with my
vocals over the top, so Symptoms was the turning point for me where I really felt that I became sort of a functional singer. JB: On Peace in our Time you do focus more on the singing and it does shine through, more vocal, more harmonic, especially with Taken Apart, as it has that catchy sound. Our Better Nature is about caring about things in the world around is and noone cares in regards to that anymore – do you find that people don’t really care about that and just care more about social networking and their lives? RUSS: I think generally that’s true, I think if you ask somebody one on one they will say they care, but I think that there’s decisions that we all make every day – or don’t make – that have a larger repercussion than we may realize at the time. And I think that looking at the album since it’s finished, I think there does seem to be a theme, mostly about the climate change and our failure as far as our stewardship of the planet. I believe we are closer to a tipping point than some people do and that we have a long way to go to arrest the various causes that are going to make the world uninhabitable. And I feel that its selfish and ignorant and it’s human nature and it’s also - I know that you can’t tell people what they’re doing is wrong, you can’t force people to live a certain way, everyone needs to have free will and I just keep waiting for this upheaval of personal consciousness and it just doesn’t ever come. It’s like everybody’s just content
Luke Pabich / Photo J.B
to just kick the can down to the next generation. People who are just going to spend and spend are confident that by the time gets really bad they’ll already be passed on and I feel that it’s selfish especially for the younger generation / babies that are being born today – what are we leaving them? And the saddest part is, the things we could all do that would make an instant impact, such as going to a plant based diet, people don’t think about or want to do. JB: Glory Glory also has that sound and reminds of Mother Superior – that is one song that you guys haven’t played in a long time. RUSS: Mother Superior? JB: Is there any possibility of that tonight? Maybe for an encore? RUSS: There’s a really good possibility of that tonight. JB: Nice. In regards to the soundbites, I was driving along the road today and stuck in traffic and everyone’s staring at me and on comes Article 4, so are you going to touch base back on that at all? RUSS: Putting the soundbites in? Yeah, like I told you before, it wasn’t so much a conscious decision to not do them, I thought Phoenix, there was too much. Symptoms there was maybe one or two. I wanted the album to be memorable not for those but for the songs but I think it might be cool to revisit those at some point if there was another album to come along, yeah probably going to revisit that.
Russ Rankin / Photo J.B
JB: What’s next after this tour, because you guys have been touring extensively so maybe a 7 inch you’d think about releasing? RUSS: We have no plans for any new music at the moment, we’ll finish this tour- this is the last show but then we meet back up with Off With Their Heads in 10 days in Portland and do Western Canada and then we have Fat Wreck Chords 25th anniversary show in Tokyo in November and after that probably looking at Europe for early 2016. With an album out we’re trying to play as many places as we can given our schedules and our lives are much different than they used to be – we can’t really pile into a van and hit it like we used to, but with that being said, with an album out we’re doing our best to play as many places as we can and play some of these new songs live and support the album. So, we did the East Coast, Eastern Canada, the West Coast, Western Canada, we did Australia, we’re going to play Japan and so we just have to get back to Europe and play some festivals and hopefully some club dates. JB: And everything’s full speed, everything’s back like nothing really stopped? RUSS: Well, we’re all older and we have much different lives at home, before it used to be most of our lives were on tour so home was weird now it’s like, you’re really just jerked out of your life into this weird van and hotel club, you know, get to bed at 2 or 3 am kind of life, whereas at home it’s not that kind of life for us. But I think we are enjoying it a lot because given that we have nothing else to prove or accomplish and we’re not on any sort of career arc like we were before. I feel like myself, I ‘m able to have a really good perspective of this band’s journey and I’m really grateful that we get to do this. So I’m happy to play live still with these guys in the band, I’m happy to connect with fans and hear what’s going on with them. It’s really humbling, the things I hear, some of the things people tell me, it’s really hits you. Even though we were caught up in our day to day working band lives, what we did impacted a few people in a positive way. And that is amazing, that is really cool and humbling. JB: Yeah the spirit of hardcore and the message. Speaking of November I heard you are actually going to be touring back for your solo project? Russ: I’m not really touring, I’m playing one show in November Fatty’s 40th Birthday with Sick Of It All. JB: Is there any plan for going back to a solo? RUSS: Well I’m trying to write another solo album right now but I just
don’t have a lot of time. That’s my next focus, its gathering new material for a solo album, demoing that, finding a label to put it out and playing as much as I can. JB: Well you talk about being not that good of a vocalist, but wow that album is powerful so… RUSS Thank you…After 25 years I’ve beaten myself into a serviceable singer. We went on tour with a band called Tilt and they were on Fat Wreck Chords and their singer Cinder, she would go up for sound check and she would just knock out a Janis Joplin song, Chuck Platt / Photo J.B perfect, we’re talking about people who come out with that ability to sing – I’m not that person. I’ve taken direction, I’ve learned, picked things up here and there but I’ve always envied people who have a natural perfect pitch and control their voice like that. JB: Departures is one of those songs that really shines through and that’s a song that really touches base about having to say goodbye. Do you feel it’s hard having a family life and touring? RUSS: I think it is. The other guys have kids and I don’t have kids, but I have a girlfriend at home and she’s never dated anybody in a band before and when we started dating, it was when Good Riddance wasn’t playing so this is all new to her, it’s tough being away, tough for her but what’s funny is that – I mean the girlfriends I had before, it was way worse because we were gone all the time and there was no such thing as FaceTime or phones or computers -- with my girlfriend I can see her and talk to her, but she’s a really good sport about it, she understands and luckily this tour is not as long – this is the absolute longest we can be away, just because of job restrictions, we all have careers at home and
things that we do in real life that prevent us from going longer than this. JB: You did mention last time that you were away – The Pet Cube and I did check it out, that is pretty awesome. Your cats I heard are named after Boardwalk Empire. RUSS: Yeah Nucky and Chalky. I’m surprised how many people don’t get it. Maybe that show was not as popular as I thought. JB: Is it true that you are a scout for hockey? RUSS: Yeah I’ve been scouting in the Western hockey league, I scout California. I started in 2007, I worked for the Kootenay Ice for 5 years and then in 2011 we won a Western Hockey League championship, so I have a championship ring from that year, it was cool to be a part of that. And this will be my fourth year working for the Tri City Americans. Same league, same area, I still do California. And I want to work in the NHL. My goal is to be a scout for an NHL team and so I just keep sending resumes out and networking and learning as much as I can and hopefully I will get a shot. JB: So you’ve been a vegan for a very long time, is there any kind of shout out that you want to say for that? RUSS: It’s something that I feel really passionate about mostly because I feel that it’s something that everybody can do that will make a huge impact, not only on their own personal health and wellbeing, but on the planet. And I meet so many people who love their pets and then they’ll eat a steak or a burger. I’m about breaking down that wall that thing that makes it be like ‘if anyone treated my pet this way I would be furious but I would be okay with doing it to that other animal’. I want
to break that down. I believe at our root, most of us are compassionate people but we keep it locked away and cherry pick or we save it just for certain things we’re compassionate for. That’s what the song Take it to Heart is about, that feeling is in all of us, but let it apply to everything and don’t believe the lies that we were told when we were too young to think for ourselves. The meat and Dairy lobby in Canada and the United States spends billions of dollars to keep that disconnect going and it’s up to us each individually to break through that to see it what it truly is and practice true compassion. And truly there’s no downside you will feel better your health will be better the planet will be more sustainable, your money won’t be participating in cruelty and abuse and torture it’s completely needless. I just feel that way it’s something that I’ve always just drummed the beat about and I’m passionate about it. At the same time I don’t want to be a guy that preaches I don’t want to be a guy that tells people they are wrong, it’s more about presenting it and letting people make their own decisions about it. I became a Vegan because of the music because the bands that I listened to were singing about it and I paid attention to it because they were singing about it. I feel it’s my duty to keep that ball rolling and keep it going and say check this out this is what I’ve learned and see if it applies to you. It’s important to never confront people and tell them they are wrong or get in their face about it in my experience that doesn’t change people’s mind really that just pisses them off. So it’s really about presenting we have free stuff at our merch table and people can grab it and learn about it it’s free it’s colorful it grabs your attention you can put it in your pocket read it in a week maybe think about it in a month come back to it to you know. The feedback I have received is numerous enough to make me believe that it’s worth continuing. J.B: That’s an amazing positive approach! You guys have always been a political band and currently in the United States you have a racist ignorant running on the loose and then a party that supported by the top brass with Hillary is it just hold on folks here comes the end? RUSS: Well the Hillary Clinton that is running now is much further to the left than the Hillary Clinton that ran before I don’t know I’m resigned to live in a country where she will probably be president. And I think that’s preferable than a republican alternative but ideally there’s so much wrong with our entire electoral system that I don’t even know where to start. I will vote for the Green party candidate that no one has heard of that is never on the news is never invited to any of the debates has no signs up on the streets and will probably have another pathetic
turnout because most people are marginalized right off the whole process, because they are told there are only two choices and that’s something that’s different in Canada you guys have more options and you aware. I walked down three blocks of a street in Montreal and I saw signs for five different parties so I think that we need something like that. J.B: Well it’s the same here for the Green Party and Elizabeth May she never gets invited to the debates even though she has some really good ideas and issues to address. RUSS: Yeah but people know that she’s not! I’ve read news articles in probably 2008-2009 when this was going on and I was reading about that when it was going on and that it was a big deal and Canadians were upset that she wasn’t invited to the debates, where as in our county nobody even knows that it is happening. So every country has issues even though up here the Liberals and the Conservatives are so the usual and have messed things up but the N.D.P over the past ten years have gained so much ground and really exploded and much more traction than before it’s still such a new party. I still can’t figure out how you guys can call election just like that? J.B: Yeah when there’s a minority government the opposing parties joined have more counting seats than the party in power which can force a resolution before the speaker to dissolve and let the people vote for a change of representation. J.B: So you know we end with a famous book or Quote that inspired your life? RUSS: Yeah I gave you my best one last time but I am reading a new book in the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson but he
Sean Sellers / Photo J.B
died before any of his three books could be published so this is written by David Langercrantz (The Girl in the Spider’s Web) it’s kind of controversial because nobody thought someone else should be writing those characters. I have never read the first three books but I saw the Swedish films of them so I just started this new book.
“Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity”. George Bernard Shaw