Down by Law

by Su Chon

When we first met Down by Law, we were bombarded by requests for songs, any song, and they serenaded us with Weezer "Sweater Song" and "Buddy Holly." They also sang TV theme songs and any song that they could think of. Then they wanted to go bowling downstairs before the show, so we went down to meet them and hang out with them. Hunter Oswald, the drummer, hung out with us to play video games and pinball. His favorite pinball game: World Cup Soccer. Hunter spoke to us after the show. I had a friend with me ("RN") and let him ask some questions.

RAD: How long have you guys been together?
DBL: Ever since like '91.
RAD: Is Punkrockacademyfightsong your third album?
DBL: Mmhmm.
RAD: What were the other two albums?
DBL: The first one was self-titled, and the second one was called "Blue."
RAD: Were you on a different label then or have you always been on Epitaph?
DBL: Always been on Epitaph.
RAD: How do you like Epitaph?
DBL: LOVE it! It's just awesome.
RAD: They treat you good?
DBL: Yeah, they're really, really, really, rea they're really, really, really, really good. There's no other label that I'd want to be on.
RAD: Are you guys all from California, where are you from?
DBL: I'm from Florida and Sam, the guitar player is from Florida.
RAD: Did the band start out in Florida or start out in California?
DBL: Yeah [it started in CA].
RAD: How did you end up in California?
DBL: Just moved out there to join the band, yeah, and I ended up missing Florida and moving back.
RAD: So you live in Florida but you get together with the band?
DBL: Yeah. We get together to record and to tour. We tour all the time so when we have time off and when we get back together it's like one rehearsal that we need, like an extra day in the opening town and we're fine.
RAD: How long have you been on tour now?
DBL: Oh, I don't know, four weeks maybe...
RN: What's life like on the road? Do you guys have fun or does it suck?
DBL: I have fun. I drink, too.
RN: Non-stop party or is it a lot of work?
DBL: It's work, I mean, especially like this area of the country, drives are like hell. In the East Coast, all the major cities are really close to each other. Out here, it's just, pfff, like we just came from Denver last night and beform Denver last night and before Denver we were in St. Louis and before St Louis, Minneapolis. It's just a huge drive.
RN: What vehicle you got, you got a van?
DBL: We got a van with a U-haul in back.
RAD: It's the vehicle of choice for Epitaph bands...
DBL: Yeah, unless you're NOFX and Offspring.
RN: You guys all travel in the same van?
DBL: Yeah, six guys in one van.
RN: You guys all take turns driving?
DBL: No, we have one guy who just injects caffeine every night.
RAD: How would you say that you are different from all the other Southern California punk bands that are out there 'cuz there's a whole ton of them and not all of them are good?
DBL: I think out of like 75% of them sound like NOFX and Bad Religion, exactly like NOFX and Bad Religion but not as good. I guess we're more poppy...
RAD: If you can say that
DBL: Am I right?
RAD: I don't think you're poppy, you're not, you don't sound like Bad Religion or NOFX but it's kind of like, some songs you sound like British old school punk...
DBL: That's the songs that Dave writes.
RAD: So are those some of Dave's influences then?
DBL: Yes, he's very, very into British punk rock.
RAD: Yek rock.
RAD: Yeah, I noticed the riff from the Clash.
DBL: Well, we did a Clash song.
RAD: What do you guys want to do after this tour, do you want to go back into the studio and record?
DBL: We're going to record in June a new record.
RAD: So you're going to have a couple of months off?
DBL: Not too much, I guess.
RN: How do you guys like the studio?
DBL: It's fine.
RN: Do you have a good time?
DBL: A really good time. From what people say, they just like come up and said, "Wow it sounds like you had a really fun time making that record." That's what we try to do. We just went in there and said, "Fuck it, let's just do whatever the hell we want to do and just have fun." I mean the Rolling Stones were recording right next to us so we got to hang out with Keith Richards - it was AWESOME.
RN: Where did you guys record?
DBL: At AandM Studios in Hollywood where the "We are the World" video was filmed.
RAD: What bands do you like?
DBL: Replacements, Ramones, New York Dolls, Supersuckers, the Devil Dogs, actually anything on Crypt Records, I don't know if you're familiar with them...
RAD: I've heard the Supersuckers. They're pretty funny.
DBL: Thnny.
DBL: They're awesome...One of my favorite bands of all time and the first punk rock band I saw is a band from Florida called the Pink Lincolns, and they're just....if you ever see anything by the Pink Lincolns, get it, they're just amazing.
RAD: Do you guys have a punk attitude?
DBL: I can only speak for myself, I guess I'm the troublemaker in the band if that counts for anything. So they tell me.
RAD: What kind of trouble do you cause...?
RN: ...You're the only one that doesn't like bowling....
DBL: I hate bowling.
RN: The rest of the band loves it?
DBL: Yep.
RN: So, what happens when the rest of the band goes bowling?
DBL: They never go bowling...but if they were to go bowling I would not be there. I would be at a bar.
RAD: Where do you get ideas for your songs, what kinds of things do you write about? Some people say punk isn't punk unless you're advocating revolution.
DBL: One thing I refuse to write about or talk about is politics. It's just one of those things that I'm not personally into. Like no way would I ever try to tell anybody to do this, like this, or vote this - it's just stupid. Tons of different things that my songs are about, disco music, to my girlfriend, to this asshmy girlfriend, to this asshole guy that produced one of our records, I don't know, all kinds of stuff. Actually, I am writing an anti-rape song, it's probably as political as I'm going to get.
RAD: So you and Dave both write the songs or does the whole band do it?
DBL: Dave and I, he writes half and I write half, although on the next one, I hope it's going to be everyone, I'd just rather it be like that, it'd be more of a band thing instead of just Dave and I.
RN: Do you guys get hassled a lot?
DBL: No, never.
RAD: So do all the guys just break out in song, is that why they keep asking for requests?
DBL: Just tonight, hanging out before the show, we were just like, "Oh man this is gonna suck." And I don't know if you follow The Replacements, they had a tendency to get wasted every single night and would play any song that the crowd said, whether it was Bachman Turner Overdrive or Prince, they just played it right away. They knew every song. So I told everybody upstairs, we're going to play whatever the hell we want.
RAD: What song did you have Timmy sing, he's your road manager, right?
DBL: Yeah, he used to be in a band called Token Entry in New York, they're an old hardcore band. They're awesome. When I was little, when I was first getting I was first getting into hardcore, they're a really awesome band. He sang a Seven Seconds song, they're really good friends of ours. The only reason we did it is because some kid yelled out a Seven Seconds song, yelled "Walk Together, Rock Together." We just happened to have played a Seven Seconds song, screwing around at soundcheck the other day.
RAD: I had forgotten that you guys did that Proclaimers' song, I like your version much better...
DBL: ...a lot of people say that...
RAD: ...well it's just 'cuz the other one's so sappy.
DBL: Evidently, those guys heard our version and they really liked it. We're supposed to do...yeah, we were really surprised. First when we found out they heard it, we were like, "Oh fuck. We're gonna get sued." Then they said that they loved it. Big sigh of relief. Now they want to be in our next video.