Just six months ago, OFF!'s situation was very uncertain. The band had just released its First Four EPs vinyl box set in the latest of late days in 2010 and, while it had been warmly received by the portion of the punk rock community who knew about it, there was still some concern that the band may not be able to break bigger than that. There were reasonable concerns that the aggressive, adrenaline-saturated, minute-long songs that the band was making wouldn't translate so well with a pop audience accustomed to knowing punk as a set of songs about girls, featuring saccharine-doused melodies coupled with standardized three-and-a-half-minute lengths. In that kind of climate, no one seemed to be sure if OFF! would work the way everyone was hoping.
The hand-wringers needn't have worried. OFF! turned out to be exactly the sort of shake punk needed; fans responded immediately and then band took off in a big way. Fans responded immediately to the live-wire attack that singer Keith Morris, guitarist Dmitri Coats, bassist Steven McDonald and drummer Mario Rubalcaba presented and fell in line excitedly behind the band.
That was all the push they needed, now OFF! has decided to try and take over the world.
Now taking on larger shows with more diverse bills, OFF! has unanimously decided to see just how far they can take their band and how much they can get away with, but they haven't found the wall yet; fans turned out en masse to catch the band's set at Coachella and played to a crowd of between five and ten thousand people when they took the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto as part of the North By Northeast Music Conference. The day after that show, Coats, McDonald and Rubalcaba [Morris had a couple of other commitments and was only able to join the band for a couple of photos as Ground Control was wrapping up -ed] sat down to talk about how things have gone so far and what's to come next, but the first thing that was noticeable about that conversation was just how relaxed and comfortable it was; the apprehensive vibes that surrounded the release of The First Four EPs is gone and the laughter that regularly erupts between band members isn't nervous at all. The band has broken through, and now the plan is to see how far they can take OFF!
Bill Adams vs. Dmitri Coats, Steven McDonald and Mario Rubalcaba of OFF!
BA: So, we were talking about it already, but how was last night for you guys?
DC: I had a good show except for the fact that the audience was pushed so far away from the stage; like, the barrier was about fifty feet away from where we were playing and, for the kind of music that we do, it's hard to make a connection when there's that sort of a separation. Other than that, it was fun! It was awesome playing with Fucked Up and The Descendents.
SM: For our first show in a city, it was pretty sweet.
BA: I was gonna say, you had a pretty good-sized crowd….
SM: Yeah, I know! I loved it. I like to keep the people far away from me. I like to be high on a stage!
DC: I want 'em on the stage, jumping off….
SM: It was the exact opposite at the Portland gig [McDonald and Coats laughing]. We played one show in Portland where the place was so small; and so packed, and there was maybe a one-foot stage–
MR: Not even that. Six inches [laughing].
SM: I had to have my back to the audience because they were leaning on me. If I was facing them, they'd have been leaning on my bass and I couldn't have played.
DC: That was one of those shows where, when you see the photos later, all you can say is, “Yup, that's a proper punk show.”
BA: I can understand that. It's funny though; last year was the same set-up at Y-D, and The Stooges played. Iggy Pop went to jump in the crowd, and it looked like he had to do a long-jump to get there.
SM: He'd have needed a jet-pack if he'd have done it from the stage. Waitaminit – a jet-pack might not be a bad idea; we'll have to do it quick though, before Keith goes and does it…. [all laughing]
BA: So was last night sort of consistent with the average OFF! show? Other than discovering that jet-packs may be a handy tool. How has your reception been?
SM: Well, [to Coats] was that the biggest crowd?
DC: Coachella was pretty big.
SM: Oh that's right, but the crowd last night was pretty big for the event. We usually do our own shows, playing clubs. They've been really good though; they've all been really exciting and really energetic.
BA: And decent and well-attended – I'm sure you're not playing to any empty rooms.
SM: Yeah, but we're not playing to ten thousand people like we did yesterday either.
DC: Ten thousand?
SM: That's what I was told.
DC: Yeah, but that was Kastner [Rusty singer/NXNE associate John Kastner –ed], man.
SM: Oh yeah right – well, we rarely play for five to ten thousand people [both chuckling]. I can say that it has all been well-received; the record has been well-received and the number of people that have been coming to the shows have been packing the venues we play.
BA: And who can complain about that? Now, everybody in the group has other bands but, given the reception, is it safe to assume that OFF! is an ongoing project and not just a getaway.
DC: Yeah – I mean, I'm the only one with a job outside of the band at this point, and that job is pretty much to manage the band. I do a couple of other things, but this is it; I think we're gonna see how much we can get away with. People want us to go all over the world, and they're paying us decent money to do it and we like each other – at least for now….
SM: Yeah – so far. We're gonna take out at least another six month lease [all chuckling].
BA: That's fair enough. Now, given there is the record out but there is also a couple of singles, I'm assuming that the writing process is ongoing. Is there the outside chance of seeing another record within a year's time?
DC: Oh yeah. Definitely within a year. I know it's not going to happen before the end of this year, but certainly next year. There's even the chance that we might throw out another seven-inch just to keep the ball up in the air. We tend to work pretty quickly, we just need a reason to start writing; give us a deadline and we'll get to work – otherwise, we don't really do anything.
BA: I know there's already two or three seven-inches out since the First Four EPs came out right?
DC: There's a live 7'', and then the one we did with Southern Lord, and that's it – I think.
MR: And then there's the box set. So there's six seven-inches.
BA: Right – but I thought there was one with a running shoe on the cover too or something.
MR: Oh that's the tour edition. The Southern Lord seven-inch has two covers.
SM: That's the trick.
BA: I was going to ask about that too; the box set and CD came out on Vice and then the single seven-inch came out on Southern Lord, was the Vice deal a one-record deal and then you're free to do as you choose?
DC: No, Greg Anderson from Southern Lord rented me an office in Southern Lord's headquarters and he just really likes the band and wanted to do something with us so we got permission from Vice to do that one-off. As cool as Vice is, they flat-out said they didn't want to put out a vinyl seven-inch of everything we do so we could feel free to talk about other options. We like to have our merch table full of different options. A bunch of different stuff; rare, limited edition stuff, that's always cool.
BA: The rare, collectible stuff. So I'm getting the impression that the bloom hasn't come off of OFF! yet.
DC: Well, you know look – [pointing at McDonald] this guy goes back to the source. This is a new thing for me, but both Mario and Steve have played in a few hardcore bands and that has been really inspiring to me. I have two kids – I didn't really think I wanted to go out on tour anymore – and I was planning on changing my life a bit but then this happened and I feel like I'm eighteen again. I'm totally into it, and the fact that there's proven to be the potential to make a living doing it makes it even more appealing; we all have kids.
BA: Yeah – that's right, Keith was telling me. He's the only one without kids right?
MR: Yeah, that's right, but he's Uncle Keith to our kids [all laughing]!
BA: Nice. So what happens now? Yesterday was the first date of this tour right? How far's this one going?
SM: This is ten days – we do this, then Montreal, then we hook up with Dinosaur Jr. while they're doing their Bug album in its entirety, then we're home for a while before we go to Europe with Fucked Up and Trash Talk.
BA: Cool – so what else am I very obviously forgetting to ask about?
DC: It's up to you – what do you want to know?
BA: So let me just make sure I've got this straight – as it stands right now, everything has fallen into place; Keith's other band is not an issue anymore, this is what's going on for everyone.
DC: Well, we're here, it's good times, man. And it's looking like we're going to get to play chameleons and play with a wide variety of bands and shows and festivals which is good because we planned that from the beginning. You brought up Epitaph, and they wanted to sign our band but we decided to play against what was expected of us and try to cross over a little bit.
BA: As far as crossing over goes, has that happened?
DC: It seems to have.
SM: By cross over, I don't think the plan was to break into a mainstream environment. It's still underground music, as opposed to being directed toward a Warped Tour environment. Instead, we're going to play with Fucked Up; it's not like we're aiming to compete with Black Eyed Peas – although that would be awesome [Dmitri laughing]. And nothing against Epitaph; maybe we'll end up doing something with those guys someday. Thing is, there's ANTI– and there's Epitaph and, when we were talking with them, we told them that we sort of saw ourselves more as an ANTI– band and they were sort of stuck on putting us on Epitaph or nothing and that didn't really thrill us.
DC: It was funny though – some of these bigger rock bands are already asking us if we'd play with them – like Foo Fighters and Chili Peppers – so we may find ourselves in a position where we have to decide if that's all something we want to do, or if we want to just stay in the clubs and do our own thing.
BA: That begs he obvious question of whether you've actually entertained those offers. Like, 'We could go play the ACC with Foo Fighters…
MR: I actually think that's the tour coming up. The shows with Rollins and Dinosaur Jr. are almost going to be a sign of, like, playing to a totally different crowd who doesn't really know our music so much. Like, some of these older Dinosaur fans, they probably come from a background of growing up with Black Flag and that punk scene, but we haven't played places this size before so I think we're going to get a taste of where we can go from this tour.
DC: I'm really happy with how open-minded these young kids who have been coming out seem to be, and how knowledgeable they are of what happened in the past and what's going on now. Like, it's not uncommon for a kid in the know to be a Deerhunter fan, but also a Mastodon fan and a Fucked Up fan.
SM: Yeah – bills can be a lot more eclectic than they used to be. In the last twenty years, tastes have gotten a lot broader, and I think it's great. I'm just happy I stayed in the game long enough to see it happen and reap those benefits; a lot of musicians my age would sit there and think, 'It wasn't that way when I was doing it! It's lame!' I like the fact that I get to participate in it and maybe I even helped to make it that way in some small way. I think kids have really broad and sophisticated listening tastes, and that just didn't happen when I was a kid; when I was a kid, you found a label that you were really into and you just stuck with it and had tunnel vision and weren't easily exposed to much else.
DC: Yeah – there's this kid who's an intern at Vice and he was coming up to bring us a van and drive to Atlanta with us. He can't be older than 21, and he fires up his iPod on the way to the show last night, and he's playing Feedtime. Like, how does this kid know about Feedtime? I know about them, but I worked at record stores and my journey to that record wasn't all that obvious – but these kids are just ON IT; it's a different world.
Further Reading:
Ground Control – Live at Yonge-Dundas Square – [Live Review]
Ground Control – "It's Time To Go OFF!" [Feature]
Ground Control – "The Rest Of The Story with Keith Morris" [Column]
Ground Control – The First Four EPs – Box Set [Review]
Ground Control – The First Four EPs – CD [Review]
Ground Control – "Compared To What" b/w "Rotten Apple" – 7'' Single [Review]
Artist:
www.offofficial.com/
www.myspace.com/keethmorris
www.facebook.com/offband
Album:
The First Four EPs box set is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
