The annual traveling punk rock/extreme sports/youth-marketing circus known as The Vans Warped Tour usually winds down sometime around 8 p.m. Here in West Central Florida, that means even the last main-stage headliner will finish its set before nightfall. And while that's all fine and good for some of the new-school acts, for whom words like "aesthetic," "mood" and "vibe" translate into little more than volume, energy and, uh, jumping around, there's at least one band on the bill whose style — and lifestyle — is a bit tougher to pull off during daylight hours.
"I don't have any complaints, but we're definitely more of a nocturnal band," says Alkaline Trio guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba. "The nighttime is way better for rock "n' roll, I think. The vibe is just better when it's dark out."
Alkaline Trio may be the best rock band to be pigeonholed as pop-punk since Green Day. They're certainly the most evocative. The threesome's cathartic and sardonic tales of booze, heartbreak and noir-ish fringe characters border on the poetic, accompanied by straightforward (more or less), hooky riffage that manages to sound both familiar and fresh.
The music itself might be all-ages, but the Trio often creates something more than the sum of its parts, a black-comedy feel redolent of dive-bar rumination and dead-of-night reflection. Skiba and fellow lyricist/singer/bassist Dan Andriano's phrases can be clever (""Cause if assholes could fly/ This place would be busier than O'Hare"), oblique ("You have to be the cutest gravedigger I've ever seen"), or effectively crass ("Shaking like a dog shitting razor blades"), but they're always richly resonant. They might be singing about breakups, friends and beer, but the presentation comes off as far more substantial than the great lost loves of, say, Hoobastank. The Trio's burgeoning, obsessive fanbase subverts the cliche that the kids could give two shits about the words.
"The lyrics are all that I can really do — I'm not much of a musician," deadpans Skiba. "I definitely have a good time writing. It's definitely the one thing that I really try and do a good job at."
When asked if he's concerned about being confined in the band's hardening reputation as kings of liquor-fueled melancholy, the guitarist seems less than agitated by the prospect.
"Johnny Cash is booze and heartbreak, and that guy rules," he points out with a laugh.
Early on, that reputation seeped out of the songs and into Alkaline Trio's image at large. Since forming five years ago, one bassist and several drummers ago in Chicago, they've engendered countless rumors of substance abuse and hyperbolic alcohol consumption. The group has also endured the stubborn notion that they're mopey, dark-hearted types — an inference not exactly dispelled by such attempts at levity as their photo on the back of their first full-length Goddamnit in which the guys wore Goth/satanic eye makeup and lipstick.
Skiba insists that, while most of the songs are inspired by real people and/or events, they're certainly not all about band members. And that he, Andriano and relatively new drummer Derek Grant cannot usually be found drinking poison whiskey from the still-beating hearts of the women who wronged them.
"A lot of our songs are about friends of mine, and not necessarily coming from the way that I feel. Everybody has their ups and downs, but I don't spend a lot of time down," he says. "I think self-loathing is rather boring and tasteless … we're all pretty happy people."
After two full-lengths and a slew of EPs and 7 inches (compiled on a third CD) on the tiny, respected Asian Man imprint, Alkaline had garnered an astoundingly high underground profile — seemingly everyone had an opinion about the band. The Trio elected to sign with skyrocketing California indie Vagrant Records for their third album proper, 2001's From Here to Infirmary. At the time, Vagrant was the subject of virulent controversy in the punk community, both for their appropriation of major-label marketing tactics and a roster of what many purists saw as opportunistic "emo" outfits jockeying for rock-star status.
The band's buzz and Vagrant's aggressive promotion combined to land Infirmary in the Billboard Top 200 for its first-week sales, and Alkaline Trio scored the opening slot on one of Blink-182's arena tours. Ascending to the next tier wasn't without its attendant drawbacks, however. Previous drummer Mike Felumlee left the band. Scheduling conflicts arose around Asian Man owner Mike Park's annual Plea for Peace tour; Skiba honored his commitment to his friend and former business associate by doing the jaunt solo, assisted by his friends in Hot Water Music. And, perhaps most visibly, the Vagrant affiliation, streamlined sound and somewhat slower tempos of Infirmary begat all kinds of chat-room and fanzine drama.
"That's just inevitable," Skiba reasons. "As our band became successful … when that happens, a lot of people aren't pleased. I think it just kind of comes with it. Every band we've ever toured with has people talking shit about them on the computer. There are a lot of people out there with a lot of time, and nothing better to do."
He prefers to consider the attention a backhanded compliment, subscribing to the old aphorism that there's no such thing as bad publicity.
"If no one was talking about us, then it means nobody cares, either one way or the other," he says.
Infirmary's comparatively pared-down sound is less a stylistic shift than a successful attempt to shed some of the excesses of their earlier efforts — the speed for speed's sake, the occasional sense of carelessness. While those elements clearly helped endear them to some, the latest disc just as surely features many of Alkaline Trio's best songs to date ("Bloodied Up," "Another Innocent Girl" and the incomparable "Private Eye," to name but a few). With a rock-solid lineup, and the touring cycle for Infirmary winding down, the Trio is now looking forward to their next recording sessions, with equal attention to their own goals and their fans' ears.
"Where a lot of people try to reinvent themselves, we're just trying to get better at doing what we want to do," Skiba says. "We definitely have our fans in mind, and as music fans, we ask ourselves if we'd like to listen to it."
After that, they can get back to their nightcrawling ways.
"We played at sunset in Vancouver the other night, and it was amazing, definitely a high point," says Skiba. "It was as close to nighttime as we've gotten so far on this tour — that definitely had something to do with it."
Music critic Scott Harrell can be reached at 813-248-8888, ext. 109, or e-mail him at scott.harrell@weeklyplanet.com.
This article appears in Jul 31 – Aug 6, 2002.
