story by Josh Zanger
When one speaks of punk rock, thoughts of rowdy teenagers with Mohawks
and skateboarding chain wallet-wearing youth are always not too far
behind. Time and again these general misconceptions are shown to be
incorrect by a Chicago group that has been part of the punk community
for over 15 years - and is made up of members that are almost 30 or
are well into their 30s. Despite their age, the Methadones still continue
to keep punk fresh.
Bringing up the question of age to anyone in the band is like trying
to tell a date that they have lettuce stuck in their teeth after dinner.
"Why are we still doing this?!" 33-year-old drummer Mike
Soucy finally shouts, breaking the uncomfortable silence resulting
from such an inquiry. He then laughs and acknowledges that he knew
the question was coming.
"We can't help it," he truthfully states, like a child
who knows he is doing wrong but cannot stop. "It's weird. It's
like some kind of drug. Every year I say I'm not going to do it…It's
just a love for what we do."
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SOUCY'S INNER VIEW
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"Once punk rock became mainstream,
the scene kinda fell apart."
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Dan Schafer (35, vocals/guitar), Mike Byrne (28, guitar), and Pete
Mittler (33, bass) all earned their punk rock stripes in various bands
(Sludgeworth, the Vindictives, the Queers) just as Soucy did. The
most notable biographical resume comes from Schafer, who once was
known as Danny Vapid and played with Screeching Weasel and the Riverdales.
Certainly the Methadones are a thriving endorsement of the punk credo,
"punk's not dead." At the same time one wonders, after all
these bands and years, what causes each of these seemingly independent,
roving musicians to stay with the same band throughout two albums
and for the last four years?
"We're good friends and are honest with each other," Schafer
said. "We don't always get along great and [we] have had our
fair share of problems, but at the end of the day we find a way to
laugh."
Cooperation between like-minded musical people can also - just like
the Methadones - be considered old school in this punk rock game.
During the '80s and '90s punk rock was an introverted genre that lived
to sustain itself and its participants. D.I.Y. was a way of perpetuating
the non-mainstream lifestyle that utilized a cohesive support system
throughout punk venues, labels, bands, and fans. And with this connection
came a sense of community. Throughout playing in different bands,
the further that the Methadones become acclimated to the notion of
scene in Chicago and the nation, the more that "scene" and
a general sense of punk identity has rescinded. Whereas punk rock
shows were once common every weekend somewhere in or around the city,
now they are quite sparse.
"There are so many bands that it is hard to get a feeling for
a scene," Soucy said. "When the Fireside [Bowl] was around
there was a sense of a home base. But no one has really stepped up
in its place. Across the nation, the scene is kinda splintered. Once
punk rock became mainstream, the scene kinda fell apart."
The Methadones tread a fine line of steering clear of the mainstream
and adjusting to continue to be part of a genre that diversifies around
them. Their latest album Not Economically Viable speaks less from
a specific style - call it punk, or pop-punk, or power pop, they don't
care - than from a mindset of the emotionally frustrated. Critics
have used the words "concept" and "political"
to describe the album but Soucy claims that both, if achieved, are
coincidental. What the band did try to express in their work is a
sense of friction and increasing maturity.
"People identify because they have gone through the same things,"
Soucy said. "We wrote songs about relationships and stuff that
is applicable to being 33 instead of 23. Now we have wives, live-in
girlfriends, rent, and so on. Unfortunately some of the stuff is going
to be more serious."
Just like the lyrics, the music has reached a new level of passion.
Gone are the days of pitting spastic tempos against sloppy three-chord
melodies. The Methadones make songs that are simple verse-chorus-verse
patterns with two-part vocal harmonies, dirty guitar, and clean recordings;
a description that is most influenced by one of punk rock's finest,
the Ramones.
Now that's old school.
The Methadones :: with The Bomb and The Matics :: Bottom Lounge ::
February 5 (late show.)