Singer/songwriter/punk hero Ted Leo seethed as he drove from Rhode Island to New York City on Sept. 1. National Public Radio was reporting police brutality in St. Paul, Minn. "Armed groups of police in the Twin Cities have raided more than half a dozen locations since Friday night in a series of 'preemptive raids' before the Republican National Convention," noted Democracy Now! "The raids and detentions have targeted activists planning to protest the convention, as well as journalists and videographers documenting police actions at protests."
Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and two of her popular radio and television producers (as well as CL blogger Kelly Benjamin) were arrested at the RNC. "First hearing about it, I was trapped in my car," Leo says from his home in Rhode Island. "I just listened and stewed about it. It was one of those things, I don't know, it makes you question why you do what you do? We're not just entertainers. We're a punk band."
Leo, who turned 38 last month, has been in well-regarded punk bands since the early 1990s. His resume includes stints with Animal Crackers, Citizens Arrest and Chisel, the latter of which Leo formed on the campus of Notre Dame, where he studied English. Leo has been recording with his band Pharmacists for nearly a decade. The band issued the politically charged, stylistically diverse Living With the Living in March of 2007 (it ranges sonically from power-pop to reggae). Last month, Leo released the digital EP Rapid Response. It's his barbed reply to what occurred in the Twin Cities during the RNC — and his attempt to aid the victims financially. Leo's peddling the four songs for four dollars, and all proceeds go to benefit Democracy Now! and Minneapolis Food Not Bombs. The EP can be downloaded at the website for Leo's label, Touch and Go. The most pointed track is the new original, "Paranoia: Never Enough."
"The song is generally just about the idea that you never thought you'd need to be afraid of the people who are ostensibly there to protect you," Leo says, "ostensibly there to serve you. Throughout the past eight years, there's an ever-spreading influence of the executive branch, steamrolling opposition and gaining all these powers via national emergency and wartime law. Now, they're able to spy on citizens, and it all filters down to what happened at the RNC, the lawmen feeling empowered, detaining innocent people and beating quite a few up."
Leo will perform songs from his new EP when he plays Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg Friday on a bill with Gainesville punk quartet Against Me!. Both bands are known for playing the political provocateur in song. On Against Me!'s 2005 album, Searching for a Former Clarity, for instance, frontman Tom Gabel sneers "Condoleeza, what are we gonna do now?" on "From Her Lips to God's Ears." In June, Ted Leo + Pharmacists opened a string of dates for Pearl Jam, another act that proudly touts its anti-Dubya stance, particularly in the songs "World Wide Suicide" and "Bushleaguer." Unlike other bands with low opinions of the current administration, though, Leo has not been seen on the campaign trail stumping for Barack Obama. "That's not to say I wouldn't go on record as saying I plan to vote for him," Leo says. "It's not a big secret. No one expects me to vote for McCain. But the only reason I'm a registered Democrat is to vote in the primaries. I don't trust anybody who gets that high in national politics."
Leo pauses.
"I will say, though, I, like [Obama]," he continues. "I do. So I do hope he wins. I believe, I think, he's been a real good candidate. And I do believe he'll be an even better president than candidate. I just get that vibe. It's real important for him to win."
Leo's records have become more melodic with each release. On Living With the Living, there's a song titled "Colleen" that's a catchy, sincere love song of the highest order. It's poppy as hell and, had it been recorded by, say, Weezer, would probably have been a smash. You can't help but wonder if perhaps Leo has pigeonholed himself as a punk when the label no longer fits, at least in regard to his music. I also have to ask Leo if he ever considers it futile, as a musician, to attempt to influence listeners politically. "Never. Not in that way," he says. "The thing is, I get a little miffed, just because something is political and topical doesn't mean it can't be a good, catchy pop song. I've written those, too, if I can toot my own horn."
He laughs, then adds, "I am never under the impression that the music I write can influence people politically. I don't write to influence an election, with this naïve idea that politicians are going to hear what I'm doing and change their ways. I write to help me make sense of the world and maybe help others the way other music has helped me.
"I'm quite confident that — from my conversations with my own fans, for lack of a better word — I have a small effect on people's lives. That's as much as anyone can hope for. If you shoot beyond that, you're trying to be Bono. I don't want to be Bono."
This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2008.