Comadre play their final show tonight in Berkeley, CA. From The Youth to their self-titled record, The same five guys have been writing and touring since 2004. It’s going to be sad to see them go, and we are so glad that we got the chance to interview them earlier this year. You can read the entire interview below.
Hi, how are you today?
Pretty good. Sun is shinning and work ain’t that bad today.
Firstly, you’ve just released your new S/T album to a rapture of applause from critics and fans alike. Did you expect such a response?
We really didn’t know what to expect. We knew some people would probably not dig it compared to our “older stuff”. And we were hoping that other people would appreciate the fact that we were not trying to re-write the same songs we already have. But honestly, we didn’t mind whether people would love it or hate it; this is the best record we feel we have written and we are all very proud of the final product. But yes, it is very humbling to hear such a good response from our peers.
The album very much maintains the late 90’s short, fast, loud punk sound, but there’s also a real B52’s/ Beach Boys summer vibe as well. How did you come to such a shift in sound?
Well first of all, we all listen to different styles of music (some of us maybe even more so than punk/hardcore). And it started as just a fun idea of trying to see if we could write a more “studio” record and take influence from easy/ pop-driven song writing and structures. And as we demoed and recorded some new material, people just started getting more and more on board with this direction the record was going in. Then when it came to recording, shit just got crazy as far as what instruments we thought could replace certain instruments that you would normally hear (loudly) on a hardcore/punk record (like guitars and cymbals). And as we wrote and recorded more, it all just got more and more fun to do and try out.
In previous interviews you’ve mentioned your love of bands like Kid Dynamite, Rites Of Spring and At The Drive-In. What do you think about the resurgence of that late emo/post- hardcore/Screamo sound that we’re seeing?
There are some bands right now that sound like other bands right now that sound like other bands that broke up in the past 5 years. And that’s cool if that’s what you’re trying to do (and don’t get me wrong, I loved everything Level-Plane growing up), but it is always more fun when you hear/see an artist trying out some different shit.
How do you feel about At The Drive In reforming and the possibility they may record another album?
I would not mind seeing them play (a lot). And shit, I say go ahead and record a new record. I don’t care, I would absolutely listen to that record and probably be very excited to.
To this day Comadre has never missed a Fest, what is it about The Fest that separates it from other shows/festivals?
We get asked to play this one. Hah, jk, but the Fest is a huge family reunion for us. The bands that play and the people who come to it from all over the country (and world) are some of my best friends involved in punk/hardcore. And I swear, I live on the same coast as some of these said homies and the only time I see them all year is in Florida for Fest.
Outside of the band, both Juan and yourself are heavily involved in the DIY art scene, which seems to be a recurring theme amongst punk bands. What attracted you to get involved and how did Dark Arts come about?
Juan and I have always loved getting involved in DIY projects, from screenprinting shirts in our parent’s garage in high school to now printing and releasing these quality magazines for this art collective. It is just something fun to do. Same as being in Comadre, where we are all heavily involved in the whole artistic field and end result for everything we do. The D/A art collective was just another way to get a bunch of good friends of ours together and work on art projects that we really believed in. The D/A crew came about simply after we realized that a good amount of our friends were real good artists and we all needed to back and support each other.
Since your inception as a band you’ve maintained a somewhat Fugazi-like DIY nature. What was the main influence to keep the band as in-house as possible and do you think we’re seeing an increase in bands with a DIY attitude?
When the band started, it was simply cause no one else gave a shit and no one else wanted to put out our records (which was totally fine). So we said fuck it, this is our band, our art, so why not put in all the effort needed into seeing our finished product the way we want it to be done. We did it ourselves because we really believed in ourselves and this band. And after some people started throwing around offers to release shit, we still liked our idea of being able to put out a finished product exactly how we wanted it to be better (no matter how much more work and/or more money needed to be put into it). And to the second part of this question, yes; the internet (with all these new and fancy websites, blogs, social media, music players, merch stores) has recently made it very easy to be a DIY band and that is totally fine by me.
I read recently that your label Bloodtown Records has somewhat gone on hiatus. What were some of your favourite aspects of having your own label and what were some of the pitfalls you came across?
Putting out our own records meant that we could see the release as we envisioned it to look like at the end. If we had to spend the extra cash to get a gatefold cover, or full colour insert, or multi-paged/glossy/matte whatever, then we just did it. The pitfalls came when we started to put out other bands’ stuff. It was a cool idea obviously, and they were our homies, but we were not too involved in it all to really have that part of the label take off. We all have day jobs and other shit going on, and in the end, we didn’t have enough time to put in to running the label too.
You guys toured Australia with local band Quiet Steps a few years ago, how did that come about?
We were planning on going back to Japan two summers ago and also had offers to tour in Malaysia. So with those two countries in mind, it only made sense to hit up Australia (which we had wanted to go to for a while) right after Malaysia. And then I believe a friend recommended that we talk to the Quiet Steps dudes and the rest is history. Those guys are some homies and were great to us in their country. Definitely good people who hooked us up.
What did you enjoy most about the tour/Australia and what was the most difficult aspect to work around?
It was a beautiful country to be in. The scenery was definitely one of my favourite parts of being there (especially when we got to the beaches/coasts). Also, the people we met were fun and showed us a great time, the Quiet Steps dudes were awesome, the shows were rad, and personally, I got to see The Get Up Kids on our last night there (they are my favourite band and coincidentally they were playing a show in Melbourne the night we had a day show). And as far as difficult, the only thing I can think of is that it got straightup cold a few nights.
Finally, what are some bands you would recommend our readers check out, new or old?
Dangers, Dead To Me, Creative Adult, No Sir, Painted Wolves, Terry Malts, and Bullets In.
Thanks homies!RIP COMADRE, 2004-2013
