Punk rock’s always reared its snarling head when a good dose of rebellion was needed. The late 1970s. The mid 1980s with Reagan and Thatcher. American hegemony in the 1990s.The post-9/11 world. Covid.
Now America finds itself in the middle of another war. Joined by a crashing economy and a blatantly corrupt administration gutting social programs while subsidizing billionaires, punk is needed more than ever.
On March 27th renowned Santa Cruz punks Good Riddance heeded the call with the release of their 10th studio album, Before the World Caves In. To celebrate, they’re playing a record release show at The Catalyst on Friday, April 10th with fellow 1990s punk peers Fury 66 and two newer bands, Planet on a Chain and The Government.
“I woke up at four in the morning [on March 27th] because I was so fucking excited,” says bassist Chuck Platt. “And the reception has been really, really good. Some people are even saying it might be our best record ever.”
Of course, that’s a cliche in the music industry. Every record is supposed to be the artist’s best yet. However, in Good Riddance’s case, this might very well be true.
The album is 13 songs and 31 minutes of tight, thought provoking and catchy punk rock. While the title speaks for itself, surprisingly, they’ve been sitting on the record for over a year. They anxiously waited for the perfect time to release it during the transition of Fat Wreck Chords–a label they’ve been on since 1994–as it closed down and sold its vault to Hopeless Records.
“That’s the longest we’ve ever waited,” Platt says. “It was weird. I didn’t listen to it for five or six months.”
For singer and lyricsist Russ Rankin, the transition was bittersweet.
“The people at Hopeless have been awesome to work with so far, it’s been great,” he says. “But I’m super grateful for everyone who’s been at Fat all this time. They took a big chance on us and we’re just now realizing how lucky we were.”
Unlike previous records, the band took their time to prepare, work on and dial in tracks before hitting the studio.
“I write all the stuff in my office and record it in Logic Pro,” explains Rankin. “I had Chuck and Luke [Pabich] come in with their bass and guitar, plug them in and we’d learn the songs together. Then I recorded them over what I had done.”
So not only did the band get to learn the songs, the guys heard how they’d sound on the recordings before even hitting the actual studio with long-time producer and Descendents drummer, Bill Stevenson.
“Through that process they’d come up with ideas even before we got into the rehearsal studio with Sean [Sellers, drummer],” Rankin continues. “So by the time we started practicing the band was much more familiar with the material than we’d ever been.”
This also allowed Good Riddance to stretch their chops a little more and experiment with different tempos, shifts and dynamics. While still firmly rooted in their melodic hardcore sound, a track like “Posse Comitatus” is much slower than what they’ve written in the past. “In Pieces” has moments when the intensity of the music lets up to allow some space in the track before changing tempo. It’s little things like this that show how Good Riddance has evolved for the better over the years. They’re still themselves but older, wiser and angrier not to allow themselves to be trapped.
Looking at their career that spans roughly four decades,it can be said that Good Riddance is the ultimate, essential Santa Cruz band. And despite their normally humble demeanor, it’s something at least one of the members has recently noticed.
“Does any other band in Santa Cruz have 10 records and done the amount of touring Good Riddance has done?” Platt asks. “There might be bigger bands like Camper Van Beethoven–who had a radio hit–or Drain, who is definitely now bigger than Good Riddance, but nobody else has that.”
Yet for Rankin, there’ll always be one Santa Cruz band that takes the crown.
“The biggest band ever in Santa Cruz will always be Bl’ast!,” he says. “But for me, I’m backing any band that puts Santa Cruz on the map. It’s really cool to be from this little beach town and throwing down worldwide. The more focus that’s put on the scene here, the better.”
Hopefully the state of the country begins to improve in the next few years. But if it doesn’t it’s safe to say we’ll probably get album number 11 sooner rather than later.
INFO: Friday, April 10th, 7pm, The Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $34.12 – $37.86. 713-5492.
