Fucked Up Interview

Here's an interview I did with Damien from Fucked Up before their set at King Tuts on November 16th. Listen to the audio here with a couple of other tracks. Thanks to Stephen McLeod for the live shots.



How’s the tour going?

It’s going pretty good. It’s really weird because Fucked Up’s gotten like a lot of hype in the UK, specifically England and stuff. Like it hasn’t translated to huge shows or anything but what it has translated to is every night there’s about five or six huge freaks that are at every show. And those people are people who like aren’t necessarily into the music, but they’re just into celebrity and stuff like that. It’s weird because we’re used to playing shows to like 100/200 people, but there’s like five or six real insane people there. Like these weird cougar type women were scratching me like with their nails. It was really weird. It’s been a learning experience because it’s like a tour is a tour is a tour, but this time there’s just been weirder things that we’ve never had to deal with before. Stuff like that never happens in North America. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had to give an autograph in North America, but like on this tour I’ve had to give a lot more, which is fine, like I’ve asked bands for autographs, even recently when we played with the Stooges I got an autograph, but at the same time it’s really weird to be like Damien from Fucked Up playing to like 70 kids in Oxford and having to stand around taking photographs and signing autographs at the end of the night.

Is it quite different from the last tour with Gallows?

Oh, it’s definitely different from the Gallows tour. The Gallows was like probaby the first time we’d ever done a tour like that. Like we’ve opened for our friend’s band Alexisonfire in Toronto and they’re like huge so those were big shows, but like to go on tour with a band like the Gallows, and they’re all like, y'know, relatable people, like hardcore kids, punk kids and stuff, but like the shit that goes on around them is like, I’m sure even for them, completely weird and alien, but for us it was like mind boggling. Like little teenage kids like offering to trade sexual favours. Like shit that like really weird and you think think that like when you get into punk or like alternative music or anything kinda underground you’re like, “I’ll never have to see that.” Then to be in that situation. And those guys are like just as mortified as anybody else by that kind of stuff. They weren’t like super into it. I’m sure if they were super into it we wouldn’t have done the tour. It was just like so weird to have like kids come up to you and like beg you to give something to Frank from the Gallows. It was a great tour, but this tour is a lot more low-key. Still having to deal with weird things like that for the first time on our own, but still way smaller. Playing to like ten times less people every night than on the Gallows tour.

What are you making of Glasgow itself?

I love Glasgow. I really wish we’d come here on a weekday or a Saturday so I could’ve gone record shopping. I love Scotland. I think it’s like really picturesque and really beautiful. Especially coming from Canada where the oldest thing we have is like really young. Even today, driving by Hadrian’s wall. There’s nothing like that in North America except for maybe rocks. I’m sure there’s like Native Canadian artifacts, but most of that stuff’s been destroyed over the years. It’s a really cool experience to come from North America. And Glasgow...tonight I’m going to have deep-fried pizza and it’s going to change my life. Glasgow is one of those places like London or Manchester that’s been such a hot bed of music over the years for us, hearing about bands and stuff. It’s cool to come to a city like that that has a musical past that’s influenced us: some of the twee-pop, Mogwai, stuff like that. It’s really awesome.



Did your 12 hour show really last 12 hours?

Hell no. We played like seven or six hours. Rest of the time was like other people would come on. Like Vivian Girls did a set. Endless Boogie did a set. A bunch of our friends bands came and did sets. Then we had guests come out and help us do songs with us. J Mascis, Matt Sweeney, and Jim White from Dirty Three and Cat Power did like a jam session together and stuff. We had a stand-up comedian do some comedy. It was like a 12 hour show, not a 12 hour set. It was a lot of fun. We met a lot of huge weirdos. There were people there that were there for 12 hours. Maybe like 4 or 5 that stayed for the whole thing. Most of the time it would be like people would leave and there was a line all day, so people would leave and then people from the line would come in. So it was kinda changing over. Then people would come back and be stuck in line and complain. But yeah, I think it went the best possible way it could have gone: we got to play all our covers with all these cool people; everyone we met was super awesome, like all the guests who we didn’t really know. It was a really fun day. We actually had to end it like fifteen minutes early because people had been drinking malt liquor all day and were getting kinda amped so we called it fifteen or twenty minutes early. Then at the very end Michael Stipe showed up. When we were leaving. Just to congratulate us on playing 12 hours. It was pretty cool. He was like a pretty nice dude.

How did you get Moby involved?

I think we just kinda like sent out, well we being Matador, sent out mass emails to everyone and just kinda hoped people would write back. And a lot of people were out of town at the time, but Moby was one of the people that wrote back and he came back with 3 songs and we were like, “Yeah, absolutely, we’ll do them.” And then he showed up, hung out for like an hour and watched us play, had to go to a birthday party so he did his songs with us and left. He was like real nice. Funny thing though is his reasons he picked - when he picked all his songs he gave reasons why he picked each song in our e-mail - then he pretty much said exactly verbatim what he’d said in the e-mail on stage. He made it look like was all a surprise though like, “How ‘bout we do...I dunno...Blitzkreig Bop? Do you guys know that one?” We’re like, “Yeah..you gave us and e-mail about it. Of course we know, we practiced it.” But he was like an awesome dude and you know Moby had no reason in the world to come out and do a thing with Fucked Up and the fact that he did, like yknow, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Moby.



Has the amount of press you’ve been getting affected your personal life?

Oh yeah. My ego’s insane now. I think of myself as being on a higher level. I’m sure if you asked the rest of these people [the band] they’d say it has affected me, but I don’t think it’s affected my personal life at all. When the NME came out here it was in a plastic bag, but when it came out in North America it wasn’t, like there was no bag, it was just the big picture of me. So I went to this local record store that gets the NME in Canada and bought like 10 copies to give to my family and stuff. Buying 10 copies of a magazine with me on the cover is kinda embarassing. But no I don’t think it really affects anything. The only thing it really affects is like there’s people that’re like, especially in the UK where I think, well I shouldn’t say the UK because I don’t know about Scotland, but I think definitely in England it’s very celebrity obsessed, like you’ve got Big Brother and all these TV shows where you basically make celebrities overnight, so I think there’s some people who are definitely affected by celebrity in a weird way, and even minor minor minor minor celebrities, like myself. It’s weird to see people’s reaction, like being really excited and wanting to take photos with you and stuff, once again, I’ve definitely taken my photo with people in the past, but normally they’re a little more impressive than me.

Was there debate about whether or not you should go on MTV?

Well first time we did it there was debate amongst the band. Actually even this time there was debate. First time there was more debate because it was like do we want to go on MTV. But MTV Canada’s really different. MTV Canada, especially when we were on the first time, was like the underdog channel. Much Music’s the big music station. Now MTV owns Much Music, but at the time it didn’t. So MTV, in addition to having like Kanye West and Fallout Boy on, any small band could get on MTV Canada, within reason. So so many like mainly indie bands have been on it before us. Then they asked us and they were like they want to do a pre-record and we’re like, “No we wanna do it live.” Then people were debating like, “Oh let’s not do it. Let’s not do it.” We ended up doing it and it was crazy. It was like the best possible situation. So when they asked us again to do it, and like I’ve done a lot of stuff with MTV, just like coming on to discuss stuff on panel shows, and interviewing the Black Lips and weird shit like that, so when they asked us to come back it was like well there’s no way we can top what we did before, yknow like it was crazy, all we do is like at best like make something that looks like it but isn’t as fun or it’ll suck. So we said we want to do it but we want to do it on different terms, like we want to do it in a smaller room, and it’s in a Masonic temple right so we’re like, “Let’s do it in one of the Masonic ceremony rooms.” And they’re like, “Uhhhh. How about a bathroom?” And we’re like, “OK.” So we did it in the bathroom. The whole day they were coming in to a dressing room like this being like, “You gonna trash that room?” We’re like, “I dunno. Maybe.” So by the time it came time to we had all this expectation on us to do it and shit got out of hand. Like it was really kinda scary. They had a barricade set up to keep kids out. Kids knocked in the barricade, flooded in, knocked down a motorbike we had in there, gas was spilling over the floor.

Why was there a motorbike?

We thought it’d be, when I say “we”... I thought it was a dumb idea, other people in the band said it’d be a great idea. MTV found matches that I’d brought in cause I was going to light a sink on fire full of lighter fluid just like cause I knew it’d burn and then burn out, and they thought we were planning on blowing up the motorbike, which would’ve killed us. It would have killed everyone in that room. We would not be having this interview right now, and if I die, I’m definitely not going to die on MTV Canada. But yeah, it was a kinda weird scene. And now they’re trying to get us to pay for the damages.

I thought they said they were happy about the damage you did last time.

Exactly! And that’s what we’re saying. Part of the things they’re trying to get us to pay for is like injured cameramen who were hurt when the barricade fell down on top of them, but that wasn’t us. It kinda felt wrong because it felt like we were playing into their hand, but at the same time we definitely were not in cahoots with them at all because they freaked the fuck out at the end of it.

Do you do stuff like that for the coverage it brings?


I don’t even think it’s the coverage cause like, once again, not too many people watch that show. I think it’s more just because it’s funny, or exciting, or different. I think that governs a lot of the decisions we make as a band. Like, “Will it make our lives more interesting?” None of us are going to get rich out of this band, but we’re gonna have fun doing it, and trying to find a way to constantly have like weird things happen is what we’re trying to do. So that’s why we did the MTV thing. It was funny. That’s why the second one didn’t feel as good, because it wasn’t fun, it was just creepy and weird. Definitely have weird reservations about it.

Is there any TV show you wouldn’t do? Would you do MTV if they asked again?

Probably if they asked us again we’d say no, or we’d want to do it very much on our terms. But no I wouldn’t want to do something like a join the army telethon or some shit like that. So next time time we do it, if we do it again..well yknow, when you get an opportunity to do something like that you can always freak out people and that’s kind of exciting.



Are you still sticking with sigils?


Yeah. Oh yeah. I dunno I haven’t done one in a while, but I think this band is proof that sigils work. How else can you explain it? But yeah, the idea of trying to integrate that into day to day life has been more of a thing. There’s this interview with Grant Morrison where he talks about how The Invisibles became one giant sigil, maybe Fucked Up’s become one giant sigil.

I read a post you made about K-Foundation.

That was him [points to Mike]. He was really into that stuff at the time. I think it’s really interesting to read about stuff like that, but I think it’s kinda, I think Mike is one of these people that gets like obsessed with something until he burns himself out on it, and talks incessantly about it then once he burns himself out on it you never hear about it again. I’d just chalk that up to one of his fucking obsessions. Now it’s football but I’m sure that’ll disappear and there’ll be something else.

So you wouldn’t say they have a particularly big influence on you?

Oh no there’s definitely an influence, but I think the level of influence has diminished over time, or just become so integrated that’s it ceased being an influence and just become a part of the lexicon of the band. But yeah, it was like an obsession that faded away with time.



What’s the deal with your show in Japan?

We want to do a Japanese tour and Jonah’s band, Career Suicide, have done Japanese tours where, yknow, you tour Japan. So we have like a booking agent in the UK now and we went to him and he’s like, “Yeah, I’ll set you up a Japanese tour.” And the thing is, when you go to Japan you will lose money. Mostly you’ll lose money or break even. And they came back with an insane offer, where we will now be able to afford a trip to China, Japan, and Australia, but they’re like, “You can only play 2 shows in Tokyo.” So that’s the tour.

But you’re playing China as well?

Yeah we’re playing China. We’re trying to get our visas sorted out for that, but yeah that’s a separate tour. But out of the money we’re getting in Japan we can pay for everything. It’s insane. Like the amount of money they threw at us was ridiculous for only two shows.

So have you been getting press in Japan as well?

Yeah. It’s really weird when you do a Japanese interview because you do it with a translator, well at least all the times we’ve done it, and the translator will be reading the questions and from what I have gathered they know nothing about the band. So someone will write the questions, someone who likes the band or has heard of them at least, and they’ll give it to a translation company and then they do the actual interview with you. So we’d have this like, “Uhhhh so the next question says, ‘Why do you stick drumsticks up your behind?’” And you’re like, “Ohhhhhhh. Uhhhh.” They have know idea. They’re like, “It says here you bleed a lot from your forehead. What is the reason for that?” And I’m like “Uhhhhhh”. But yeah it’s weird. We’ve been doing a lot of press over there. It’s funny cause like Japanese hardcore for us has been such a major influence to us and to talk to this people and it’s like there’s, everywhere’s got cliques, but it’s so cliquey there. They talk to punk bands and they’re like, “I’m really into punk,” and you’ll list off like, “Oh Guaze, GISM, Bastard?”, you know all these bands that like meant a lot for us as a band and they’re like, “Don’t know them.” When Career Suicide went over they went over through Burning Spirits hardcore and they did a lot of tours with those bands. We’re going over as a Matador band. So we’re like removed from it all. I kinda knew it was going to happen cause I have a friend from Japan who I’d talk to about Japanese hardcore and they’d be like, “I don’t like that stuff. I only like American hardcore.” It’s really weird. I can’t wait to go there. After that if the band breaks up I don’t give a fuck, cause that’s what I wanted to do: just go to Japan, and then everything else is gravy.

Are there other exotic locations you’d like to play?

Oh anywhere. Like I’d love to play South America, the Middle East, you know. The thing that gets hard like, not so much with the UK cause I really like coming here, but a lot of times it just feels like a replication of experiences. Like you’ve done it before. And a lot of times you’re playing to the same kids, probably less because they think you’ve sold out, and you’re doing the same thing, and you’re going through the motions, and it can really get like a pantomime, which is the worst feeling. But like when you play somewhere new that you’ve never played you have no idea what to expect. The UK is different though because there’s always weird press thing that’re happening. Like, “Oh shit, we’re being interviewed for like the Guardian.” So every time it’s like a new experience. But a lot of times in America, I’ve only been to Europe once, but I have a feeling it’s going to be like that in Europe. You just kind of get a little bit of dread about doing the same thing. So I’d really like to play like South America, the Middle East, places where I might have a different experience.

Do you think there’s any prospect of that happening?

Yeah. We were talking about doing an Israeli tour and going to Palestinian areas and doing shows and like it’s possible but the problem is it’s like this band has become a job and as soon as it becomes a job like anything else you’ve got concerns like paying the rent. Before we used to treat Fucked Up like a terrible vacation. You’d be like, “Oh I’m going to go on a terrible, terrible vacation with me ‘friends’ next week. We’re going to hang out.” And now it’s become really different.



Is it true you all don’t like each other?

Yeah it’s true. We get along fine sometimes. I have mental health issues. People in this band have undiagnosed mental health issues. We’re six very different people with very few things in common. We like some food the same and that’s about it. We agree on some bands and some movies but even then like it’s not a band that’s like people united by their love of one thing or, “We’re going to be this band because we’ve got to get our message across.” That ended very quickly in this band, and this band became very much about survival.

So what would you say holds it together? Would you say it’s survival?


Yeah, I’d say it’s survival. I think it’s the band that holds the band together. Like no one in the band really wants to admit that when this is over this is over. I think it’s like things being interesting and exciting. The past two years have been like some really weird, new experience every couple of months and we’re all kinda like hanging around to see how this ends. It’ll probably just end like it began. Like randomly we’ll all just walk off into the sunset. But like we all kinda wanna see where’s this going and where’s this going to end.

Was the aim to end it before when you made your discography CD?

The aim was to make the discography CD and then put out Cascades and Crusades simultaneously, like 2 LPs, then put out a Back to the Womb 7” and that would be the end of the band. Then we recorded Hidden World and ended up signing to Jade Tree. Shit started getting fun. Not fun, like it was fun before, but shit started getting interesting and weird yknow. And once stuff started getting weird and fun we kept going and it kept getting weirder and weirder and that’s where we’re at now. Shit’s got really weird.

Did Jade Tree collapse?

No, they’re still around, they’re definitely still around. Our relationship with them definitely collapsed, but I think that was just because we wanted something very different from what they wanted to give and it just didn’t work out. They’re still around. Like they put out Cloak/Dagger record and the Paint it Black record I think were the last two releases. But yeah they’re still chugging along. It’s weird cause like the thing the “crisis in the music industry” really relegated the mid-level labels, those labels couldn’t function so you kinda had to go big go small or go home and I think Jade Tree just decided to scale back what they’re doing and that’s where they’re at now.



Do you still keep up your zine?


I wish. I still talk about doing it.

When did you last make one?

I did one issue about four years ago, three years ago, and I’ve got three articles written for the second issue.

So there’s only been one issue?


There’s only ever been one issue. One issue and then a million articles that never got used. Maybe Fucked Up will get to a point where I can hire a ghost writer to do all the work and then I’ll just put my name on the cover. I’m really good at coming up with ideas for articles. Not very good at execution of said ideas.

What did you put in that first issue?

A lot about records. A terrible list of my favourite singers of all time which came out of a time of immense bitterness in my life. I really regret some of the choices on there. Wish I’d put some other people on there.


 Who did you have on it?

We’ll I’m just going to put this one out there. The best opinion of all time in my opinion at that time was Ian Stuart, from Skrewdriver. Not because of lyrics or anything like that, which I made expressly clear, but still the fact that I put him as the number one punk singer of all time is completely... I’ll chalk it up to mental health issues. Yeah, a lot about records. Like obscure Canadian punk records, a 7” by this band Chopping Block. I like to think that I was one of the key factors in causing the rush on Chopping Block on ebay for like 3 months after my zine.



Do you keep up your record collection?

Yeah I’m a terrible nerd. I’ve been keeping it up, but I have a kid coming, my wife’s pregnant so she’s like, “You can’t buy records now.” And I’m like, “Okay,” then try to figure out ways to smuggle records into the house.

What’s the most expensive record you’ve bought or sold?

The most expensive record I’ve ever bought was about $200. I’m not allowed on ebay because my wife took my password way because I told her too cause I was spending way too much money on it. It’s made me a better record collector because now you have to dig. The stuff that I’m really excited about right now is like really weird DIY records. Finding a record that nobody’s heard of that I can’t find any information about that’s slightly good is like the best feeling on earth. On the new record there’s that song, Black Albino Bones, and one of the lyrics is, “the purity of obscurity.” That’s like my mantra now. There’s something about knowing that you’re the first person. I imagine it’s what it feels like to be a skier and get heli-lifted onto a mountain and be the first person to ski down that hill. Or be like a weird peadophile and be the first person to molest a kid or some shit like that. That was horrible. But for me that’s recording collecting. To be like the first, or to be the person to find this little gem. I guess the most valuable record I’ve ever found is the Bunny and the Lakers 12”, which is like a $750 record. I guess I’ve got some test presses that are probably worth a lot of money too, but yeah it’s more just like finding that weird little diamond in the rough.

What are some of your favourites?

I got all these records from this London, Ontario music school and there’s one or two great power-pop songs on these comps. I have a record by a band from the UK called Thunderstrike, who did a Canadian tour. They’re like little kids. They do a bunch of glam rock songs on it that are really good. Just records that have one good song and the rest is terrible. Weird Canadian power pop records. But that’s the great thing about records. You can go out with, relatively speaking, very little money and come back with something cool.
Then there’s the joy of filing it away. I have my record collection organised by countries. And then there’s genres in there. Sometimes I’ll just be like, “Oh no. I have to put all my minimal synth records together.” Then I’ll be like, “No no no. That’s stupid”. So I’ll have to file them all back. But those are the things that bring me the greatest joy in a really selfish way.

Was it you who made the soul mixtape?

That was Mike who made the soul mixtape. I’m planning on doing a minimal synth mixtape when I get home. I don’t have a record player hooked up to my computer yet, but once I do, I’m sure I’ll talk about doing a lot more things that I will never end up doing. But yeah, Mike did the soul one. Jonah did one not too long ago up there. Mixtapes is like a big part of everyone in the band’s formative years. Like making mixtapes or getting mixtapes. It’s kinda hard to keep that going because of the way technology is right now, but you can still provide like mixcomps for people and stuff. But yeah, the mixtape is the greatest medium of our time for people who can’t find a way to express themselves trying to express themselves.



What are your new release plans?

We just finished recording before we left. Year of the Rat, which is coming out on What’s Your Rupture just before Chinese New Year, which is in January. Then when we get back Jonah and I are going to do a Japanese hardcore tribute 7” and a comp track for a Japanese compilation of worldwide hardcore bands that’s coming out in Japan. And a track for a Swinging Udders tribute comp, cause Swinging Udders were a big band for myself and Jonah. Then we’re pretty much going to tour solidly until the end of April, then I think we’re going on a break while I have a baby. Then we get back together doing festivals. Then we’re going to put out a singles compilation. Then we’re going to start working on the musical, David Comes to Life. We’ll see if that comes to pass.

Have you put much work into that yet?

Uhh, I dunno. I think Mike has got some ideas. I think the song David’s First Christmas is going to be on there. I think the first thing you need in a musical is a storyline and I don’t think we really have one. Oh, we’re also doing David Valentine’s Day. Another benefits single.

What’s that for?

We haven’t really decided yet. Still really in the preliminary stages. But yeah, cause the David Christmas thing was like the coolest thing we ever put out and it raised like a ridiculous amount of money, by our standards, I’m sure Bono could probably raise it in a hungover afternoon or something, but for us it was a lot of money we raised and it was like a lot of fun to put together.

Was that the one for the prostitution thing?

No no that was different. That was a show we did where it went to SPoC, the Sex Professionals of Canada. But this was for George Herman house, which is like a women’s mental health centre which practices holistic care. It’s very much not an institution, it’s like a home environment for these women. It’s a great organisation and we ended up raising something like $7000 for them off of putting out these records. We got to wrap them in Christmas paper and put ribbons on them and stuff so yeah we’re going to do one for Valentine’s day and probably make it come in a valentine or something. Really crass and people will make fun of it but it’ll be fun to do.