Good Riddance
It would be naive to think we're the only GR, because we happen to share our initials with plenty of others. Some of them, I like a lot. Gene Roddenberry invented flip phones in the '50s, Grand Royal was a hot magazine and record label when we started, and Gary Roberts helped the Flames win the Stanley Cup in 1989 with his physical play. Okay, maybe you only approve of "hard" science-fiction, squandered money on the BS2000 album, or root for the Oilers, but can anyone truly dislike the Golden Ratio?
And then there's Good Riddance. Mixing the newer-school melodies of Bad Religion and old-school breakdowns of Black Flag (or perhaps their hometown heroes, B'last), the Santa Cruz-based band has been cranking out tuneful and powerful politics-inspired punk since 1995. The lyrics touch on economics ("Uniontown"), waste ("Fly First Class"), and macho jerks ("A Credit to His Gender"), and they can be really catchy, too, like "Steps" (which is about affecting change). The group walks the walk as well, donating a portion of album sales to causes like Food Not Bombs and PETA, as well as local efforts. Fuck yeah!
Earlier, this year, Good Riddance announced that it was going to play three more shows and call it a career. Feeling sentimental, I shot over some questions to the singer, Russ Rankin, who's getting ready to slam the door shut in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Cruz this weekend. Like his no-nonsense answers, the live show is all power, and no BS.
Is that a Down By Law tattoo on RR's left calf?
GR: Santa Cruz seems like a place where punk, vegetarianism, and skating is almost the norm. Does that make it easier or harder to be in a band like Good Riddance?
RR: I don't know if it necessarily makes it easier, but it definitely played into cultivating our ideals and some of the things that mean a lot to us.
GR: Do you ever wonder what it would be like if the presidents you vote for won ever election? Sometimes I think that guys like Reagan and the Bushes help punk immensely.
RR: I'm sure they have served to stoke the fires of dissent, but I would gladly stop writing angry punk songs if, for instance, the Green Party was elected and able to activate its platform because i believe it would make the world better.
GR: When I was young, it was a little scary to go to a dive like Fender's and see drunk skinheads at a B'last or GBH shows. On one hand, it's great that you can go to a show and not worry about shit like racism or violence, but do you ever miss the danger or mystery of what punk was like when you were a kid? Maybe it's me having some sort of misguided nostalgia?
RR: I think that any of us who were going to punk shows in the '80s miss that sense of the unknown in a weird kind of way. At the time, it was a nuisance and, in some cases, a real hazard to one's health. But today–as punk has been for the most part relegated to a consumer product to be purchased at the mall–I think we definitely look back at the days when punk was its
own, vast culture that was operating parallel to, but completely separate from, the pop culture industry.
GR: I'm pretty sure you guys have "real jobs' in addition to being in a band. Were there ever aspirations of being big-time rock stars? Do you think it is possible for a straight-edge, vegetarian band to make the jump? Or perhaps is the medium (hardcore) more problematic than the message (the ideas)?
RR: First of all, Good Riddance has never been "straight edge" or 100 percent vegetarian. I am constantly baffled by the prevalence of this assumption. Where did you get that? As for your question, I don't think we ever entertained the idea of "rock stardom." When we were getting the band going, the culture industry was telling us that Blind Melon were a "really important" band, so it was never anything I wanted anything to do with.
GR: I always forget how hard it is to find vegetarian food outside of California. Even in a place like Chicago, it can be hard. During your tours, have you noticed any improvement for non-meat-eaters in mainstream America?
RR: Definitely. Awareness has grown a lot, even in the relatively short time I've been involved in the animal rights movement. And if you can't find vegetarian food in Chicago you must not be looking very hard. Supermarkets regularly stock meat substitutes and soy milk, and many restaurants offer veggie options. There is always the standby of hitting up Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. which carry lots of vegetarian items and always have.
GR: What do you think about mock meat? I eat it all the time at Buddhist Chinese restaurants, but some vegetarians get grossed out by the concept of soy shrimp or soy chicken-especially when fake fish has seaweed- skin, etc.
RR: I think it's okay. I could definitely get sick of it, but it doesn't gross me out or anything.
GR: You guys announced the breakup a couple months ago. Was that just for finality's sake, so you guys wouldn't go on and on? Or did you intend to have a "farewell tour," like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did during his last season?
RR: It was mostly so we could go out on our own terms rather than limping along to an anonymous end down the road. Some bands that we all like broke up unexpectedly or after a fight on tour and their fans never got a chance to go see them one last time. We wanted to give our fans the chance to do that.
And then there's Good Riddance. Mixing the newer-school melodies of Bad Religion and old-school breakdowns of Black Flag (or perhaps their hometown heroes, B'last), the Santa Cruz-based band has been cranking out tuneful and powerful politics-inspired punk since 1995. The lyrics touch on economics ("Uniontown"), waste ("Fly First Class"), and macho jerks ("A Credit to His Gender"), and they can be really catchy, too, like "Steps" (which is about affecting change). The group walks the walk as well, donating a portion of album sales to causes like Food Not Bombs and PETA, as well as local efforts. Fuck yeah!
Earlier, this year, Good Riddance announced that it was going to play three more shows and call it a career. Feeling sentimental, I shot over some questions to the singer, Russ Rankin, who's getting ready to slam the door shut in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Cruz this weekend. Like his no-nonsense answers, the live show is all power, and no BS.
Is that a Down By Law tattoo on RR's left calf?GR: Santa Cruz seems like a place where punk, vegetarianism, and skating is almost the norm. Does that make it easier or harder to be in a band like Good Riddance?
RR: I don't know if it necessarily makes it easier, but it definitely played into cultivating our ideals and some of the things that mean a lot to us.
GR: Do you ever wonder what it would be like if the presidents you vote for won ever election? Sometimes I think that guys like Reagan and the Bushes help punk immensely.
RR: I'm sure they have served to stoke the fires of dissent, but I would gladly stop writing angry punk songs if, for instance, the Green Party was elected and able to activate its platform because i believe it would make the world better.
GR: When I was young, it was a little scary to go to a dive like Fender's and see drunk skinheads at a B'last or GBH shows. On one hand, it's great that you can go to a show and not worry about shit like racism or violence, but do you ever miss the danger or mystery of what punk was like when you were a kid? Maybe it's me having some sort of misguided nostalgia?
RR: I think that any of us who were going to punk shows in the '80s miss that sense of the unknown in a weird kind of way. At the time, it was a nuisance and, in some cases, a real hazard to one's health. But today–as punk has been for the most part relegated to a consumer product to be purchased at the mall–I think we definitely look back at the days when punk was its
own, vast culture that was operating parallel to, but completely separate from, the pop culture industry.
GR: I'm pretty sure you guys have "real jobs' in addition to being in a band. Were there ever aspirations of being big-time rock stars? Do you think it is possible for a straight-edge, vegetarian band to make the jump? Or perhaps is the medium (hardcore) more problematic than the message (the ideas)?
RR: First of all, Good Riddance has never been "straight edge" or 100 percent vegetarian. I am constantly baffled by the prevalence of this assumption. Where did you get that? As for your question, I don't think we ever entertained the idea of "rock stardom." When we were getting the band going, the culture industry was telling us that Blind Melon were a "really important" band, so it was never anything I wanted anything to do with.
GR: I always forget how hard it is to find vegetarian food outside of California. Even in a place like Chicago, it can be hard. During your tours, have you noticed any improvement for non-meat-eaters in mainstream America?
RR: Definitely. Awareness has grown a lot, even in the relatively short time I've been involved in the animal rights movement. And if you can't find vegetarian food in Chicago you must not be looking very hard. Supermarkets regularly stock meat substitutes and soy milk, and many restaurants offer veggie options. There is always the standby of hitting up Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. which carry lots of vegetarian items and always have.
GR: What do you think about mock meat? I eat it all the time at Buddhist Chinese restaurants, but some vegetarians get grossed out by the concept of soy shrimp or soy chicken-especially when fake fish has seaweed- skin, etc.
RR: I think it's okay. I could definitely get sick of it, but it doesn't gross me out or anything.
GR: You guys announced the breakup a couple months ago. Was that just for finality's sake, so you guys wouldn't go on and on? Or did you intend to have a "farewell tour," like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did during his last season?
RR: It was mostly so we could go out on our own terms rather than limping along to an anonymous end down the road. Some bands that we all like broke up unexpectedly or after a fight on tour and their fans never got a chance to go see them one last time. We wanted to give our fans the chance to do that.
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6:05 PM
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