Features Bomb the Music Industry!
Brooklyn-based Bomb the Music Industry is one of those bands that you hate to categorize because it seems to go against everything the band stands for. Namely fun, and yes, punk rock, too. As I interviewed band member Jeff Rosenstock before the show at DC’s 3rd Street Co-op (a cooperative house with an art/bike-punk vibe where shows are held in the basement), I was reminded of early Against Me!, and not just because of both bands’ fondness for exclamation points and quirky song titles. I appreciated Jeff’s laid-back, do-it-yourself approach, and I was knocked out by the energetic, fun-as-hell show. The basement was so packed with the dancing audience singing along to every song that as soon as I descended into the room, my camera was fogging up. But back to our conversation: Jeff explained that he was representing some dozen more band members that weren’t on the Bring Your Own Band Tour, a trip down and back up the east coast.
Jeff: [Bomb the music industry is] like a collective, with people that come in and out. But for this tour, it’s just me performing and in case anybody wants to play some songs, they can bring an instrument and join in. It’s been a fun thing.
You have a new CD out?
We have one on Asian Man Records called Scrambles and an EP on our website [bombthemusicindustry.com] for free called Adults!!! with a lot of exclamation points.
How would you classify your sound, if you had to?
Really annoying. Annoying, loud, not fun. Frustrating.
Anything else?
I dunno. It’s a little jammy.
When did you guys start out?
2005. It sounds dumb but my buddy John and I were in the basement smoking weed and bored, and decided to start a band because we were broke and needed to buy more weed.
What do you play?
A little bit of everything. Keyboard, guitar, saxophone.
What would be some of your influences or inspirations? Do you have any goal you want to achieve with your music?
We just want to have a good time. A lot of the stuff we were into growing up was into DC hardcore and Dischord Records. They were really inspiring with their do-it-yourself mentality. And jam culture; we were also into bands like Widespread Panic and Phish, so we wanted to combine those things. Nobody we knew had really done that before.
How long have you been with Asian Man Records?
We’ve been with them for two albums, about two or three years, but we’ve been doing stuff on our own and releasing stuff on our own since we started.
During the interview, Jeff was cutting out a “BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRYYYYY!!!!!!!” stencil.
We’re pretty into do-it-yourself stuff. We don’t sell t-shirts; I’m making this stencil so kids can bring spray paint and t-shirts and make it themselves.
What would be the best experience you’ve had making music or performing as a band?
Playing Harvest of Hope, a benefit for migrant workers. It’s awesome ‘cause it’s just a really, really good cause, and it’s cool to be a part of something like that. And also at the same time we get to play with insane bands, like this year we’ll play with...Billy Bragg, and last year KRS-One played, and John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats parked next to us last year.
Where is it?
It’s in St. Augustine, Florida, and it’s a big festival, it’s a three-day-thing, and a lot of our buddies are a part of it...and its really neat to have like a community of buddies that...all kind of feel the same way about punk rock; like it’s not just a musical thing anymore, it’s an ideological thing, you know?
What’s one of the worst experiences you’ve had?
I think just generally, you know, getting bummed out at people starting to get cynical about stuff gets really frustrating. We try and stay excited. I think as people get older it’s natural to feel like everything sucks ‘cause you see so many more things that do...and it’s easy to start getting really pissed off because, you know, you’re at that show that’s a little too small for the band that’s playing, is a little too big for the room, there’s that drunk guy that’s acting like an asshole and ruining everybody’s night, and like there are those...scenester mall-punk bands that show up with eighty different shirts and asymmetrical haircuts, and on the other side there are the way-too-punk kids who are telling you that you can’t drink certain kinds of water or something and it’s tough...not to get cynical with that kind of stuff....I get really bummed out when I see people starting to get bummed out about it, ‘cause I think there’s a lot of good stuff happening too, you know.
Try to focus on the positive?
Yeah, and I mean not like, ignore that there are bad things happening, but not take for granted that there are good things happening, you know?
What do you do when you get bummed out, to ask a cheesy question?
I don’t know. Hopefully - if you want a cheesy answer for a cheesy question - hopefully I’ll play a show and then I’ll feel better, usually, after I’m done playing. Or like, I dunno, complain. Do what everybody does. But hopefully try to not take it too much to heart and keep enjoying what I’m doing.
How long have you guys been touring?
This tour, like two weeks....We were supposed to start in Maryland, but we actually started in Richmond, because of the snowstorm. [We’re about to finish up and head home.] I’m gonna be happy to be warm. I’m gonna be happy to not be jumping around every day - I broke my foot right before the tour....It hasn’t been a drag but I’d be lying if I was saying I wasn’t looking forward to not having to be on my foot for a couple of days. I get to kind of elevate my foot and let it heal instead of jump on my foot for an hour.
