Russ rankin good riddance

RUSS RANKINON GOOD RIDDANCE PEACE IN OUR TIME BEING VEGAN AND POLITICS

Russ Rankin / Photo J.B

I think if you ask somebody one on one they will say they care, but I think that theres de-cisions that we all make every day or dont make that have a larger repercussion than we may realize at the time.

INTERVIEW WITH RUSS RANKIN/GOOD RIDDANCE

@LEES PALACE OCTOBER 03,2015

COURTESY OF MELANIE KAYE PR

JB: Hey this is JB from Within Punkzine and we are here with Russ Rankin of Good Riddance. Hows it going?Russ: Pretty good man.JB: So last time I talked with you was at Rockfest and we touched base on Peace in our Time, so hows the tour going with Off With Their Heads and Iron Chic?RUSS: Its been amazing, Off with their Heads and the Iron Sheik are both great bands so its been really fun to hang out and watch both of them every night so its really cool. JB: With the Rockfest tour being such a big show how did it feel to get back out there with that type of volume, that type of presence?RUSS: So we went and did Groezrock in Belgium in April and so Rockfest is a little bit smaller than that so its the same vibe, were pret-ty comfortable playing in those kind of places, obviously its different than a club show with people right there but it was awesome. The response we got at Rockfest was great, we had a blast. JB: I did run into Bill Stevenson at Rockfest and we had a conversa-tion about the turning point in your guys career and he was referring, not to Operation Phoenix, but actually My Republic so, do you feel that was the turning?RUSS: I feel My Republic was a strong album, I feel like for me as a songwriter and as a vocalist Symptoms of a Level Spirit was where I really felt comfortable. I think a lot of times when youre a singer in the studio and youre like me - I wasnt blessed with vocal talent, its always hard to hear yourself played back. Im reluctant to try things because I dont want to fail and I dont want to sound silly and Symp-toms is where I was comfortable and confident enough to try different things and experiment and not worry if it sounded good or not and it was really a cool feeling to actually feel like I had some artistic thing to offer the project - I always thought of myself as the weak link, like this band is really good and I its too bad I have to ruin it with my

vocals over the top, so Symptoms was the turning point for me where I really felt that I became sort of a functional singer.JB: On Peace in our Time you do focus more on the singing and it does shine through, more vocal, more harmonic, espe-cially with Taken Apart, as it has that catchy sound. Our Better Nature is about caring about things in the world around is and no-one cares in regards to that anymore do you find that people dont really care about that and just care more about social net-working and their lives? RUSS: I think generally thats true, I think if you ask somebody one on one they will say they care, but I think that theres deci-sions that we all make every day or dont make that have a larger repercussion than we may realize at the time. And I think that looking at the album since its finished, I think there does seem to be a theme, mostly about the climate change and our failure as far as our stewardship of the planet. I believe we are closer to a tipping point than some people do and that we have a long way to go to arrest the various causes that are going to make the world uninhabitable. And I feel that its selfish and ignorant and its human nature and its also - I know that you cant tell people what theyre doing is wrong, you cant force people to live a cer-tain way, everyone needs to have free will and I just keep waiting for this upheaval of personal consciousness and it just doesnt ever come. Its like everybodys just content

Luke Pabich / Photo J.B

to just kick the can down to the next gener-ation. People who are just going to spend and spend are confident that by the time gets really bad theyll already be passed on and I feel that its selfish especially for the younger generation / babies that are being born today what are we leaving them? And the saddest part is, the things we could all do that would make an instant impact, such as going to a plant based diet, people dont think about or want to do. JB: Glory Glory also has that sound and reminds of Mother Superior that is one song that you guys havent played in a long time.RUSS: Mother Superior? JB: Is there any possibility of that tonight? Maybe for an encore?RUSS: Theres a really good possibility of that tonight.JB: Nice. In regards to the soundbites, I was driving along the road today and stuck in traffic and everyones staring at me and on comes Article 4, so are you going to touch base back on that at all?RUSS: Putting the soundbites in? Yeah, like I told you before, it wasnt so much a conscious decision to not do them, I thought Phoenix, there was too much. Symptoms there was maybe one or two. I wanted the album to be memorable not for those but for the songs but I think it might be cool to revisit those at some point if there was another album to come along, yeah probably going to revisit that.

Luke Pabich / Photo J.B

Russ Rankin / Photo J.B

JB: Whats next after this tour, because you guys have been touring extensively so maybe a 7 inch youd think about releasing?RUSS: We have no plans for any new music at the moment, well finish this tour- this is the last show but then we meet back up with Off With Their Heads in 10 days in Portland and do Western Canada and then we have Fat Wreck Chords 25th anniversary show in Tokyo in November and after that probably looking at Europe for early 2016. With an album out were trying to play as many places as we can given our schedules and our lives are much different than they used to be we cant really pile into a van and hit it like we used to, but with that being said, with an album out were doing our best to play as many places as we can and play some of these new songs live and support the album. So, we did the East Coast, Eastern Canada, the West Coast, Western Canada, we did Australia, were going to play Japan and so we just have to get back to Europe and play some festivals and hopefully some club dates.JB: And everythings full speed, everythings back like nothing really stopped?RUSS: Well, were all older and we have much different lives at home, before it used to be most of our lives were on tour so home was weird now its like, youre really just jerked out of your life into this weird van and hotel club, you know, get to bed at 2 or 3 am kind of life, whereas at home its not that kind of life for us. But I think we are enjoying it a lot because given that we have nothing else to prove or accomplish and were not on any sort of career arc like we were before. I feel like myself, I m able to have a really good perspective of this bands jour-ney and Im really grateful that we get to do this. So Im happy to play live still with these guys in the band, Im happy to connect with fans and hear whats going on with them. Its really humbling, the things I hear, some of the things people tell me, its really hits you. Even though we were caught up in our day to day working band lives, what we did impacted a few people in a positive way. And that is amazing, that is really cool and humbling.JB: Yeah the spirit of hardcore and the message. Speaking of Novem-ber I heard you are actually going to be touring back for your solo project? Russ: Im not really touring, Im playing one show in November Fat-tys 40th Birthday with Sick Of It All.JB: Is there any plan for going back to a solo?RUSS: Well Im trying to write another solo album right now but I just

dont have a lot of time. Thats my next focus, its gathering new material for a solo album, demo-ing that, finding a label to put it out and playing as much as I can.JB: Well you talk about being not that good of a vocalist, but wow that album is powerful soRUSS Thank youAf-ter 25 years Ive beaten myself into a serviceable singer. We went on tour with a band called Tilt and they were on Fat Wreck Chords and their singer Cinder, she would go up for sound check and she would just knock out a Janis Joplin song, perfect, were talking about people who come out with that ability to sing Im not that person. Ive taken direction, Ive learned, picked things up here and there but Ive always envied peo-ple who have a natural perfect pitch and control their voice like that.JB: Departures is one of those songs that really shines through and thats a song that really touches base about having to say goodbye. Do you feel its hard having a family life and touring?RUSS: I think it is. The other guys have kids and I dont have kids, but I have a girlfriend at home and shes never dated anybody in a band before and when we started dating, it was when Good Riddance wasnt playing so this is all new to her, its tough being away, tough for her but whats funny is that I mean the girlfriends I had before, it was way worse because we were gone all the time and there was no such thing as FaceTime or phones or computers -- with my girlfriend I can see her and talk to her, but shes a really good sport about it, she understands and luckily this tour is not as long this is the absolute longest we can be away, just because of job restrictions, we all have careers at home and

Chuck Platt / Photo J.B

things that we do in real life that prevent us from going longer than this.JB: You did mention last time that you were away The Pet Cube and I did check it out, that is pretty awesome. Your cats I heard are named after Boardwalk Empire.RUSS: Yeah Nucky and Chalky. Im surprised how many people dont get it. Maybe that show was not as popular as I thought. JB: Is it true that you are a scout for hockey?RUSS: Yeah Ive been scouting in the Western hockey league, I scout California. I started in 2007, I worked for the Kootenay Ice for 5 years

and then in 2011 we won a Western Hockey League championship, so I have a championship ring from that year, it was cool to be a part of that. And this will be my fourth year working for the Tri City Americans. Same league, same area, I still do California. And I want to work in the NHL. My goal is to be a scout for an NHL team and so I just keep sending resumes out and networking and learning as much as I can and hopefully I will get a shot. JB: So youve been a vegan for a very long time, is there any kind of shout out that you want to say for that?RUSS: Its something that I feel really passionate about mostly because I feel that its something that everybody can do that will make a huge impact, not only on their own personal health and wellbeing, but on the planet. And I meet so many people who love their pets and then theyll eat a steak or a burger. Im about breaking down that wall that thing that makes it be like if anyone treated my pet this way I would be furious but I would be okay with doing it to that other animal. I want

Chuck Platt / Photo J.B

to break that down. I believe at our root, most of us are compassionate people but we keep it locked away and cherry pick or we save it just for certain things were compassionate for. Thats what the song Take it to Heart is about, that feeling is in all of us, but let it apply to everything and dont believe the lies that we were told when we were too young to think for ourselves. The meat and Dairy lobby in Canada and the Unit-ed States spends billions of dollars to keep that disconnect going and its up to us each individually to break through that to see it what it truly is and practice true compassion. And truly theres no downside you will feel better your health will be better the planet will be more sustainable, your money wont be participating in cruelty and abuse and torture its completely needless. I just feel that way its something that Ive always just drummed the beat about and Im passionate about it. At the same time I dont want to be a guy that preaches I dont want to be a guy that tells people they are wrong, its more about presenting it and letting people make their own decisions about it. I became a Vegan because of the music because the bands that I listened to were singing about it and I paid attention to it because they were singing about it. I feel its my duty to keep that ball rolling and keep it going and say check this out this is what Ive learned and see if it applies to you. Its important to never confront people and tell them they are wrong or get in their face about it in my experience that doesnt change peoples mind really that just pisses them off. So its really about presenting we have free stuff at our merch table and people can grab it and learn about it its free its colorful it grabs your attention you can put it in your pocket read it in a week maybe think about it in a month come back to it to you know. The feedback I have received is numerous enough to make me believe that its worth continuing.J.B: Thats an amazing positive approach! You guys have always been a political band and currently in the United States you have a racist igno-rant running on the loose and then a party that supported by the top brass with Hillary is it just hold on folks here comes the end?RUSS: Well the Hillary Clinton that is running now is much further to the left than the Hillary Clinton that ran before I dont know Im resigned to live in a country where she will probably be president. And I think thats preferable than a republican alternative but ideally theres so much wrong with our entire electoral system that I dont even know where to start. I will vote for the Green party candidate that no one has heard of that is never on the news is never invited to any of the debates has no signs up on the streets and will probably have another pathetic

turnout because most people are marginalized right off the whole pro-cess, because they are told there are only two choices and thats some-thing thats different in Canada you guys have more options and you aware. I walked down three blocks of a street in Montreal and I saw signs for five different parties so I think that we need something like that. J.B: Well its the same here for the Green Party and Elizabeth May she never gets invited to the debates even though she has some really good ideas and issues to address.RUSS: Yeah but people know that shes not! Ive read news articles in probably 2008-2009 when this was going on and I was reading about that when it was going on and that it was a big deal and Canadians were upset that she wasnt invited to the debates, where as in our county nobody even knows that it is happening. So every country has issues even though up here the Liberals and the Conservatives are so the usual and have messed things up but the N.D.P over the past ten years have gained so much ground and really exploded and much more traction than before

its still such a new party. I still cant figure out how you guys can call election just like that?J.B: Yeah when theres a minority government the opposing parties joined have more counting seats than the party in power which can force a reso-lution before the speaker to dissolve and let the people vote for a change of representation. J.B: So you know we end with a famous book or Quote that inspired your life?RUSS: Yeah I gave you my best one last time but I am reading a new book in the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson but he Sean Sellers / Photo J.B

died before any of his three books could be published so this is writ-ten by David Langercrantz (The Girl in the Spiders Web) its kind of controversial because nobody thought someone else should be writing those characters. I have never read the first three books but I saw the Swedish films of them so I just started this new book.

Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity. George Bernard Shaw