biancarose

Recently, I was able to have a chat with drummer Pat Thetic from the Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag.

Bianca Rose: What has Anti-Flag been up to lately?

Pat Thetic:We've been working on a new record. We're writing new songs, informs Anti-Flag drummer Pat Thetic, chatting from the offices of A-F Records. This last week we've taken some time off because for the last four weeks or so every day from about 10am till 5pm we've been stuck in a cold dark room writing for the new album."

BR: When do you think we'll see it?

PT:We're hoping for October of this year.

BR:Everyone always focuses heavily on the political aspect of Anti-Flag, there's got to be another side to you guys, tell me about that?

PT:(laughs) A lot of people think that we're not that interesting other than our political ideas. Although we are very passionate about our political ideas and, even if you sit down and have coffee with me I will probably steer the conversation towards some political or idealogical discussion... I have a motorcycle, I love to ride my motorcycle. I have goldfish, I love my goldfish. There are other aspects of our lives other than politics.

BR: Do you ever think sometimes people get so caught up in the bands politics that they forget you're musicians making art?

PT: I don't know? I think most of the time it's the other way around. People think that we write angry music and that appeals to them but they don't hear the politics. If they always hear the politics and gloss over the fact that we're in a rock band then that's a better option for me.

BR: Do you think there's a stigma attached to musicians making money from their art?

PT: There always is, yeah... I think that it's a stigma until you actually sit down and think about it. For someone to be able to create art they have to be able to eat. To be able to eat you have to be able to make a living. Once you look at it in that sense, it gives you a different perspective. To be able to provide for your family and your own needs, I think is a responsibility of people who consume and enjoy your art to make sure that you have the ability to produce more art. To do that you sometimes have to pay for it. In a perfect world they'd be able to give me a vegan sandwich and I'd be able to say 'well here's the song I wrote' but, we're not in that world right now.

BR: So you do Anti-Flag full time now?

PT: We're never really able to do... in punk rock you always have to do about five things to be able to survive. We have a record company and a booking agency, we have a band so we do a lot of different things. Each of us are able to make a little bit of money so we're able to do the things we love to do and that we believe in.

BR: With Anti-Flag becoming more successful, do you hear the cries of sell outs yet?

PT:(laughs) When I played my first show I was already sold out. One of the things that Anti-Flag (and each of us as individuals) has always done is that we gravitate towards situations that make people uncomfortable. We like to dwell in that world where people are uncomfortable and we're willing to make people angry because we believe in things. We're willing to take unpopular stances and we're willing to do unpopular things because we believe in what's going on. We've been sold out since we were a beginning band and we've done not just "sold out" things in that sense people perceive, but people think we're godless commies. There's a lot of things that we've been that people have put on to us. That doesn't scare us. We don't make our decisions based on that. We make our decisions on what we think is best for us ourselves, our community and the music that we create.

BR: I was reading on your friend Mass' (Giorgini) blog that Anti-Flag went before the United States Congress late last year?

PT: Yes. We actually weren't there. There was a photo of us there as we were not actually in the chamber at the time. We had been there the day before. It was an amazing experience because we feel very passionately about ending the war in Iraq. We think that it's a complete scam. We think that every day we have troops there defending an empire instead of people, and that there's people dying needlessly. That was one of the things they were talking about, the draft and how the Bush administration has it all going on, which I won't bore you with the American politics of it. The essentials are that the US needs to get out of Iraq sooner rather than later.

BR: I read some of the transcript of the Congressman's speech, and he said 'Mr. Speaker, I want to introduce you to four young men. Justin Sane, Chris Head, Chris Two, and Pat Thetic'... did you hear what he said or read the transcript?

PT: Yeah we saw a video of it. It was an honour because we've met with him a couple of times. He's a good guy and he has a good agenda that he's trying to put together. He believes in people not power. We were honoured to work with him.

BR: A little off the subject but, I read in an interview that Justin is allergic to cigarette smoke and that you try to play in non-smoking venues?

PT: That is correct. Justin has a lot of health issues. He has a lot of food allergies and cigarette smoke is also one of the things that he is allergic to. It makes it very difficult for us to do touring. We ask people to work with us and try to not smoke at the shows.

BR: You're straight-edge?

PT: Yes, we are straight-edge in the sense that we feel as though for us, (and I speak for myself specifically), I get through the day much better without drugs or alcohol. However, that is only a choice for myself. If you choose to do drugs or alcohol, god bless you (laughs). Whatever makes you happy. I'm not here to tell anyone else how to live. It's my choice, the way I choose to live and to be straightedge.

BR: You're on the road for months at a time. Is it hard to come home and adjust back into normal life?

PT: Yes it is. It's interesting you say that because we've been home. Usually our touring structure is: three weeks on tour, three weeks home, three weeks on tour, three weeks home, and since we're writing a new record, we've been home for two months maybe. It's been a weird feeling to be home as long as we have. It's a whole other world. We haven't been home for more than three weeks at a time for the last two years.

BR: Do you ever feel that you lose yourself on tour?

PT: Yes I definitely do. It's a very weird experience. I wish everyone could have it. In the States a lot of bands get that chance to go on tour and it's good they get to experience that a little bit. The comradely of it is great, getting to be with your friends 24 hours a day for a long period of time. It can also be very stressful too. The main thing that's a problem for us is to be able to have relationships with our friends and family at home because we're on tour so much.

BR: Have there ever been times on the road that you just wanted to quit and walk away?

PT: Yes, (laughs) with us I'm very lucky because I really like the people, the four of us and the people that help us when we tour. They are good people and they're people I consider to be my best friends. It does get difficult but because there is people that understand me and that will cut me some slack when I'm being obnoxious or crazy or will help me out in a situation, I couldn't ask for better people to be out on the road with.

BR: I've heard Anti-Flag like to get out amongst the crowd and connect with the fans on tour, I also heard that you guys don't like to give autographs?

PT: The fact that you say fans, it sounds clich and everything but we really believe that the people that are their at the show are just like us. One day I will be in the crowd watching some of my other friends on stage and the next day I'm on stage and my friends are down in the crowd, so in that sense I wouldn't ask my friend for an autograph and I wouldn't expect them to ask me for one because I feel as though we're on the same level. It's very difficult to explain that to some one in thirty seconds. We have decided that I will sign an autograph it's not that I don't not do it but, the idea is that we're trying to create an environment and a community of people, that there is no hierarchy there's just each of us trying to achieve a similar goal. Because of that, that is why the autograph thing has come up.

BR: What's the biggest change you've seen in your band mates since the beginning of Anti-Flag?

PT:Justin is skinner, Two has funnier hair, Chris still doesn't say anything he hasn't changed at all and I like to think I'm a little better at playing drums than I used to be.... but, not much (laughs) The rest of the guys would say not very much better than I used to be, a little bit better.

BR: Didn't Justin used to play drums as well?

PT: Yeah, when we were kids Justin would play anything that we couldn't find someone else to play. If we couldn't find someone to play bass Justin would play bass and if we couldn't find someone to play guitar Justin would play guitar. The only reason I'm playing drums now is because I was incapable of playing any other instrument. For us to work together he was like 'oh I guess you can play drums 'cause you can't do anything else'. Justin is actually a very good drummer. So is Number Two actually.

BR: What's one of the most inspiring places you've visited on tour?

PT: You talked about us being in front of Congress. It was Congressman McDermott we met with when we were in DC last year. He was able to show us how everything worked and that was an amazing experience for us. We saw the realities of how politics and government work and in many ways how fucked up it is. It really gave us the impression that there needs to be significant change and it's not just going to happen through one punk rock song it has to happen through thousands and millions of people on the streets protesting. That was a real eye opening experience and hopefully inspired us to say 'how can we achieve this, there's a problem that needs to be solved how can we lend our voices to solving this?'

BR: Then is it important to you to reach beyond the punk community?

PT: I will reach out to anybody that I think is a ally in the struggle for justice, equality and peace. I don't care what you look like or what colour skin you have or what gender you are or who you are, if you are willing to lend your voice to tearing down boundaries between nations and between people and finding the truth and justice than join my team and I'll join your team.

BR: What's the most fulfilling thing about what you do?

PT: The most fulfilling thing about what I do is after the rock show to talk to people and exchange ideas. To be inspired y what other people are doing. We're very lucky and, you're a perfect example of this, lucky to be able to talk to people from different countries and places with different belief structures and to be able to understand their ideas and be able to communicate my ideas and find the common ground between the two of us is an amazing experience. I wish everyone in the world could have a band so they could travel around and get to communicate with different people. I think we'd be in a much different position I don't think we'd be dropping bombs on people in Iraq or Afghanistan. I think we'd be able to see them as human beings, now we see them as religious fanatics and not human beings. I think with us being able to communicate with people we're able to see different people from different countries with different ideologies as human beings where many other people are not.