What would you say if George Stroumboulopoulos, charismatic, fast-talking former Much Music VJ, CBC host, and all-around rad guy in black, called you “the best punk rock band in the whole country” on national TV? Very cool, right? Such was the adulation aimed at Ottawa’s premier punk rock group The Riptides, a band so down-to-earth that their response to Strombo’s comment was pure reticence: “We are and always will be honoured to have received that kind of support from George. Even though we thank him, to us that title will always go to the Dayglo Abortions,” said vocalist Andy Vandal and bassist Bob Goblin. In case you haven’t heard of them (what’s your excuse? They’ve been around for over a decade!), The Riptides are a punk rock group whose sound is along the same vein as Screeching Weasel, The Queers and The Dwarves. A fixture in the Canadian underground for over 10 years, the band released their first full-length, Hang Out, only this year. Vandal, a seemingly supremely nice guy, offered some enlightening advice on how to keep it rocking for over a decade: “Try to have a bunch of decent songs that are still fun to play after 10 years; be able to make minimum payments on three to five maxed out credit cards due to music-related expenses; try to have girlfriends that are cool with you being in band; [band mates] always got to be ‘friends-first’; your band should always be your hobby [because] the very second you set lofty expectations or give yourself a deadline to make it then you’re totally done. Game Over. Never try to attach [your music] to commerce, to gain from it financially because your gain is creative. Oh yeah, keep the hard drugs out of it. That only spells B-A-D relationship [and] fucks everything up for everyone.” Believe him: the man appears to talk from experience.
The word “punk” today is thrown about so loosely that, much like the fashionable “indie”, we can never come to a collective agreement on what really defines it anymore. “The media has labeled these bands as “punk” because they need to sell magazines and cellphone subscriptions. Sure, some of them may have started out playing music akin to the punk rock aesthetic, but as soon as money and royalty cheques enter the equation, you can throw that shit right out the window.” To exemplify his point, Vandal referenced media-branded “punk” bands My Chemical Romance and Good Charlotte, who he said “built their ‘legacy’ by paying other musicians to write their own songs.” Vandal continued, “if you want be looked at in 20 years from now as being a band that crassly manipulated water cooler topics and packaged them into a big budget product placements; marketing shallow, pretentious and bloated jingles to the pre-teen fashion-scene, then go for it and be proud of yourself. Just know that your market is smarter than what you take them for. They all know you sold your last piece of integrity for a buck.”
With loud riffs and aggressive beats capable of inspiring a mosh pit within mere moments, The Riptides lack nothing but gimmicks. The band is currently comprised of vocalist Andy Vandal, bassist Bob Goblin, drummer Pat Bitch and guitarist Skottie Lobotomy, the two latter musicians only joining the band within the last year or so. On Pat’s subject Vandal recounted, “We remember this super nice kid from out of town who’d hitch-hike or find any way he can to get to see us play he always had this “fans-first” kind of mentality which is really cool and humbling. Skottie, on the other hand, had already carved out a niche for himself for being a top-notch punk-rock singer/songwriter in his own right with his band, The Creeps, so we felt totally lucky that he was into taking on guitar duty with us.”
Since the inception of the band over a decade ago, the Riptides have toured with the Donnas, the Slackers, Chixdiggit, Mad Caddies and Dayglo Abortions to name only a fraction. Vandal seems to harbour mixed feelings towards the assortment of groups they’ve had to share the stage with: “I remember we played with the Groovie Ghoulies for the first time; we were nervous,” the lead singer admitted. “But then you hang out for a while before the gig and they’re just super-nice down-to-earth people. Then sometimes you open for huge rock-star-asshole bands who don’t want to have anything to do with the openers unless you’re bringing them a tray full of cocaine to their tour bus parked out back! You still walk away though with great material for a new song. Wankers!” Brutal.
Though the band released their first record in 1997, and consequently five full-lengths that appeared on various compilations over the years, most of their records went out of print with the exception of 2002 Drop Out. It was at this point The Riptides began carving their name into the Canadian underground and were taken on by labels Union 2112 in Canada and Red Scare in the U.S. to release Hang Out, produced by right-hand-man Mass Giorgini. Vandal said, “The reaction to [the new album] has been overwhelming. I think it’s because we took a little bit more time with the songwriting aspect of it. The songs bounced around for years before we put them to tape with Mass, but we only did it at that time because we knew he was the one person who could handle them the right way. We figured after he’s worked with bands like Anti-Flag, Rise Against, Screeching Weasel, and Alkaline Trio (to name a few) this type of album would be a ‘no-brainer’ for him. It turned out great.” And why such a long wait between albums? “This is our first LP release because vinyl costs a shitload of money (comparatively to releasing a CD), and that’s money that our parents wouldn’t lend us.”
The Riptides play
Les Foufounes Electrique,
Jan. 17 at 8 p.m.
w/ The Queers & The Heart Attacks
