PROPAGANDHI INTERVIEW
JUNE 17TH, 2009
In the alley, outside of TURNER HALL : MILWAUKEE, WI

** this interview was filmed by Jon Creeden : www.myspace.com/guyoncouchmusic

** this interview was conducted by the Ghostwrite : www.theghostwrite.org

** this interview includes dialogue from Jord and Todd : www.propagandhi.com

** this interview contains random interruption from a guy looking for a train ticket, background scenery from a girl on her work break, and two people riding by on a golf cart.

*******************LEGEND*********************
ME == the Ghostwrite.
JON == Jon Creeden.
JORD == Jord, from Propagandhi.
TODD == Todd, from Propagandhi.
LAUGHTER == Jon, Jord, Todd, and/or the Ghostwrite.
*******************LEGEND*********************

To be frank, this interview started out with some very awkward and uneasy tension.  For starters, Propagandi is [ in the here and now ] my absolute favorite band.  I would have been less "star-struck" interviewing Barack Obama.  No lie.  On top of this, Todd was having a rough day, as he proclaimed later in the night, during Propagandhi's blistering set, "I was feeling like shit earlier.  Thank you for understanding."   Also, it probably did not help that I started with a drum trigger question..  Alas, the supporting caste [ of Milwaukee, WI ] turned out to be the ice breaker of this show.

ME:  Okay.  So since you are here [ in this interview, pertaining to JORD ], one of my drummer friends, after listening to the amazingnes that is Supporting Caste, was wondering, do you trigger your drums?

JORD:  Trigger?

ME:  Yes.

JORD:  Not live.

[ Dialogue takes place between Jord and Todd, pertaining to studio triggers.  However, Jord does not use live triggers. ]

ME:  Okay.  So did you watch the Stanley Cup Finals [ Totally awesome!  Game 7 for the win! ]?

TODD:  No.  I do not like hockey.

ME:  No? You don't like hockey? [ thinking, holy shit, these crazy Canucks are about to trash my viewpoint on Canadians ].

JORD: I like hockey.  I've been watching hockey my whole live.  I managed to only catch, actually, a couple of games of the Stanley Cup Finals.  I was really, really busy the past few months -- while the Finals were going on [ Propagandhi has been busy thrashing the world.  Prop is forgiven for missing Stanley Cup Finals action.  However, if you missed any of the Finals, and you are not in Propagandhi, you are not forgiven ].  But I did win the playoff pool by one fucking point.

[ LAUGHTER ]

ME: We missed being in Pittsburgh by one day [ for Game 7 ].  I grew up outside of Pittsburgh.  Jon and I were in New York City.  It was a nightmare trying to find a bar that was showing Game 7.  There was a Subway Series going on [ Yankees vs. Mets - fuck that ].

INTERVIEW IS INTERRUPTED.

GUY LOOKING FOR A TRAIN TICKET:  Are you guys from around here?!

[ ME, thinking:  No, sorry.  There are three Canadians and one non-resident of Wisconsin in your presence right now. ]

GUY LOOKING FOR A TRAIN TICKET:  Can I ask you a question?  None of you are not racists?  I have a good feeling none of you are.  I mean no disrespect.  I fucked up, man.  I just had a racist experience.  You do not want to hear about it.  You don't have a problem with black people?  No disrespect.  My wife is white.  Not all black people are bad.  Not all white people are bad.  I'm not a Pasteur or any of that crap.  I'm an engineer.  I have a wife and kids, and I messed up.  I left my wallet at home.  I need your help.  I'm legit.  I've never been in jail.  I've worked my whole life.  Can you help me get home?  If you don't help me, I understand.  But I don't live in the hood.  I live in a predominately white neighborhood.  I don't live in the hood.  You know what the hood is?  I have a 100,000 dollar house.  Can you hook me up with 5 more bucks?  If you help me out, I'll have 100 bucks waiting for you [ somewhere down the road, allegedly ].

[ TODD and I give the GUY LOOKING FOR A TRAIN TICKET 23 dollars.  Meanwhile, a girl, wearing a black and white dress, busts out of the door in front of us, the door with a bright orange sign that proclaimed, in bold letters mind you "NO LOTTERING." I am going to assume she was on her work break.  Seconds later, a duo stormed down the alley in a golf cart.  I could not think of a better way to start this interview.  Even sweeter, the awkward tension seemed to vanish after this encounter.  Let the games begin. ]

GUY LOOKING FOR A TRAIN TICKET:  5 more bucks?  It cost like 35 bucks to get on the Wisconsin Coast Line.

ME:  You just got all our money.

GUY LOOKING FOR A TRAIN TICKET: Okay.  Okay.  I understand.  [ to JON ] Are you Irish?

JON:  No.

GUY LOOKING FOR A TRAIN TICKET:  Why do you have that shirt on?

JON:  It's a band from Boston that I like [ Gaslight Anthem, if you were wondering ].

GUY LOOKING FOR A TRAIN TICKET:  Okay.  Thank you.  Well, god bless.  [ If possible, please remember this remark - I use it in the afterthought ].

INTERVIEW RESUMES.

ME:  Interesting way to start this.  I was reading in an interview this past March, especially with the hiatus of G-7, that you were going to be working on a new album?

TODD:  We hope so.  We have a bunch of riffs.

ME:  I guess you haven't had much free time?

JORD:  No.  This has been, by far, the busy year of touring we've ever had.

ME:  And you are busy for the remainder of the summer?

JORD:  Yes.

ME:  How has the touring been thus far?

JORD:  Everything has been pretty easy-going.

ME:  I read about a show being shut down in Sheffield, England?

JORD:  Oh, yeah.  There were flames on stage.  The electrical panel or lighting system was shottey (sp?).  It went up in smoke.  They had to clear the venue out.  I don't think it was anything threatening, but the venue's safety protocol required the shut down.  It could have been way worse.  It happened with about a quarter of the set left.  If it happened earlier it could have been more of a problem.

ME:  I know you are heading to Canada after this run for a few dates, but do you have more dates lined up for Canada?  I mean, there has been a lot of chatter on message boards and such pertaining to the lack of Propagandhi shows in Canada.  

JORD:  We have a tour lined up for Canada, out west, later this year after we get back from Europe.  I think we're doing 7 or 8 dates.

ME:  Hopefully this will put a few minds at ease.  So this is your first album [ Supporting Caste ] on Smallman.  Can you explain the transition between Fat Wreck, G-7, and Smallman Records?

JORD:  Well, the G-7 project is on indefinite hiatus right now.  I haven't been involved with G-7 with the last four or five years.  The reason we went with Smallman was for a few reasons.  One reason being, records are not paid for [ by record labels ] any more.  It's a new era.  This combined with a lack of confidence with Fat Wreck on certain levels.  This allowed us to pursue a regionally-based label, which is a better way to go for a band like us.  We've been treated pretty well by Smallman. They're enthusiastic about our band and the new album.  We're not a drop of the bucket to them, which is something that can easily happen when you're on a bigger label.  Plus, Smallman was, sort of, managing us already.  We've known them for a number of years.  They're in the same town as us.  Everything is a little more transparent, and everyone is a little more accountable.  Everything is closer to home.

[ Young bands, if you want to save face, take note of the dialogue directly above. ]

ME:  [ to TODD ]  Any chance of an I-Spy reunion?

TODD:  No.  I haven't played with them in like 12 years.

ME:  And it's not coming back ever?

TODD:  No.

ME:  Have you been paying attention to the Iranian elections?

TODD:  Yes.

ME:  What did you think of the coup?

TODD:  Well, it's obviously a scam going on there.  I do not think that
election was right or fair.

JORD:  I always find it kind of interesting when people in North America comment on foreign elections.  Meanwhile, 2000 and 2004 [ in the States ] were stolen, and they were absolutely illegit.  I think there should be international observers for American elections and anywhere where Canadian and American interests are being served.  They can go around the world and do whatever they want, without opposition.  That's not wrong or immoral or unfair.  Let's consider foreign competing interest giving money to the Democrats or Republicans, that would be outrageous. Obviously, what's going on over there is far from ideal, but what can we relate the criticism to?

ME:  I absolutely agree.  I guess what I was trying to get at is the mass media's attempt to cook this particular coup into a reason for the US to invade Iran.

JORD: I agree with that.

ME:  All the mass media shows here is the losing candidate's voters rioting.  They never go beyond that.

JORD:  I wouldn't put that past their system.  But look at Saudi Arabia.   Why
can America endure their corruption?  That's never in the news.

TODD:  I think the Iranian riots are absolutely real.  I think most people in Iran want to be more forward-thinking than they have been in the past.  Those riots are real.

ME:  I don't disagree.  I think the riots are real, but the perspective show here is far from real.

JORD:  And let's not forget that the Americans helped Shah come to power in the 50s.  Totally illegitimate.  They overthrew a democratically elected candidate and put him in place.  Meanwhile, thousands of people are killed, and now we pay attention and complain about their elections.  What's going on now is a dubious complaint about something that is real and problematic.  It raises eyebrows to me.

ME:  I mean, we [ the State ] have not had an opposition press since when?  Was it William Blum's Free Press?  And now he has the Anti-Empire Report.

JORD:  I love that, the Anti-Empire Report.  He's fucking awesome, that guy. He has three books out, eh?

ME:  Yes.

JORD:  His biography, Rouge State, and Killing Hope.  The biography is actually pretty funny in some spots.  

ME:  He has a good sense of humour.

JORD:  Hilarious.

ME:  Which is good.  You almost need a witty sense of humour to effectively write about American foreign affairs, especially for the first-time readers, as it is absolutely horrific.  Chomsky and Blum.  Good thing for those two.

JON:  I think what's really fuck up about this country is you cannot go into any bus station without having to endure a CNN or FOX News broadcast.  The tempers are already raised in that situation.  It's not something that should be played in such a setting.

ME:  I like when they're playing sports highlights.

TODD: For me, that would be the real torture, being stuck at a Greyhound station watching sports highlights.

JORD:  But at least you can believe the sports highlights.

[ LAUGHTER ]

ME:  Well, that's about it.  I'm glad I cleared up the drum trigger debate.

TODD:  Yes.  Jord is the real thing.

ME:  I thought so, but I'm not a drummer.  I mean I watched you kill it twice on your last east coast tour.

JORD:  Oh yeah?  Where at?

ME:  Virginia Beach and the Ottobar in Baltimore, MD.

JORD:  I like that place.  That band that we played with from there..

ME:  Ruiner?

JORD:  Yes.  That band was one of the best bands we've played with recently.  I've been meaning to grab their records.  They have more than one album?

ME:  They have a few records.  I'm glad to hear praise for Ruiner. They destroy.  A Charm City Arts Collective band, them and Pulling Teeth [ amongst many,many more ].  Well, that's about all.  Safe and happy travels.  Thanks, guys.  Keep doing what you're doing.  There aren't nearly enough bands doing it.

JON:  See you in Toronto.

JORD:  Toronto?

JON:  Yeah.  I'm from Canada.  I'm heading back in a few days.