The Damned Things – Joe Trohman

The Damned Things are set to tour Australia, kick starting the Counter Revolution Festival on the 24th of September. The band is a super group amalgamate; consisting of Anthrax members Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano, Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley and Every Time I Die vocalist, Keith Buckley.

Metal Obsession’s newest contributor, Dil had the chance to interview Joe Trohman ahead of their Counter Revolution tour. Here is how that transpired, not necessarily in point form.

Metal Obsession: After salutations and introductions were done, it was straight onto their impending tour.
…so the Counter Revolution festival kicks off on the 24^th, are you pumped to be playing?

Joe Trohman: Am I excited to be playing? I’m totally thrilled, are you kidding me?

His incredulous tone turned slightly serious when grieving the demise of Soundwaves Revolution, the festival that they were originally set to play.

Joe: It’s great, I mean we were really looking forward to coming and playing Soundwave, and when that got cancelled, we were extremely bummed out and we’re actually trying to set up another tour… Counter Revolution kind of saved the day…It’s all cool now so yeah, we’re very happy that we’re still doing it.

I asked if the festival vibe was preferable than to that of a smaller gig.

Joe: Actually, I more like doing a festival for a band like The Damned Things.

Then he cast doubtful aspersions onto the “kind of fan base” they have “if any”.

Joe: But when you’re a band like we are coming to a new place, festivals are fucking awesome! [Because] you get a chance to play in front of a crowd. So people who don’t come to our show, pay up their hard earned cash just to come to festivals…so more than likely we will have a crowd at a festival than if we came over and did our own show.

I mentioned that when I listened to the band’s debut album ‘Ironiclast’, I visualised mass partying where a good time was simply a given. Music that definitely sits well in a festival environment. Joe agreed and emphasised some points of enjoyment fans might take note to enjoy. Those points included “pints of beer” and “maybe take some acid tablets”.

On that note, I asked him what it was like playing with fellow talented musician, Scott Ian. But using the word ‘idol’ didn’t agree with Joe.

Metal Obsession:And you’re playing with one of your idols Scott Ian?

Joe: I’m not much of an idol guy, I’m more of an admirer. I’m one of his many admirers…and I also play in a band with him.

Joe couldn’t speak more words of praise for his band mate and so concluded that discussion with, “I’m very lucky to be playing with him.”

In previous interviews, Joe had mentioned that he had always been interested in putting together a heavy/classic rock driven, bluesy, riff based band.

Metal Obsession: So what made 2008/2009 the right time to put all of it in motion?

Joe:  Scott and I started [hanging out] together four years ago, but at that point in time it was definitely jamming and just in its ‘baby’ stages.

With the recruiting of fellow Anthrax and Fall Out Boy members and Keith Buckley, was the time when The Damned Things “started coming together”.

Joe: Actually, it would be like two years ago when we announced that we were an existing band. That’s when it kind of put the fire under our asses to finish the record and get out there.

When I was asked if I wanted to interview Joe Trohman from The Damned Things, I said yes first and looked into their music after, not being too familiar with the music. Listening to the first track, ‘Handbook for the Recently Deceased’, the first thought is ‘different’…after being more accustomed to the sounds of Anthrax.

I made the comment that most songs from ‘Ironiclast’ have a laid back feel to them. Joe could see where I would get this from although he thought that some songs went deeper than your typical party song. He suggested that this laid back feel could be because most songs have a “groove” to them. I had mentioned earlier that their style of music goes well at a festival. Joe foresees the crowd at The Damned Things set to engage in “a bit of a shoulder to shoulder mosh” and some obligatory “head bobbing”. One such song, which will most likely be played as part of their Counter Revolution festival set, is ‘Black Heart’.

Joe: I enjoy playing it live, it’s fun to play…I like the groove of it. It seems to be the song…loved within the band and even outside the band…[when] other people enjoy it, that’s like a double bonus for me.

Metal Obsession: How has the whole experience been so far now that you’ve released an album?

Joe: It’s been awesome. I think like the cool thing is the reception to the band and the record. While people have been wary, [they] have been a little bit more positive than I expected. The shit talking and all that, I expect that no matter what; it’s expected no matter what you do or who you are, there is no one universally loved. That being said, I’m definitely very, very surprised with the way people have reacted to our record.

During our short interview, a couple of the most cliché questions happened, unplanned and unpredicted. One of those questions was, “which band are you looking forward to playing with at Counter Revolution?”

Joe: You know, I don’t even remember who’s playing [because] the line-up has changed so much between Soundwave, and now, Counter Revolution. So I kind of forget who’s playing…I tried answering this question in another interview and I blew it, so, I’ll say…everybody?

Good enough answer for me. Mental note to self: don’t ask mundane questions. The second mundane question was, “what are you looking forward to doing the most in Australia?” To which Joe exclaimed, “Playing shows, man, that’s what I’m there for!” with great enthusiasm.

Joe: I have a good job, so I’m looking forward to doing my job.

He also mentioned something about giving people “erections”, by which I assumed would result from The Damned Things’ awesome live show.

Metal Obsession: Will there be any new material played at the Counter Revolution festival?

Joe: We’ll play the whole record…be doing maybe a cover or two and we’ll see what the set gives us. We’ll maybe have like an hour set. We recorded a new song so…I’m hoping…we can get our shit together and figure out how to play it [live]…it might be hard to do on the fly, but we’re gonna try.

You can catch The Damned Things in Australia for the Soundwave Counter Revolution, which kicks off in Brisbane tomorrow. Tickets are still available via respected ticketing outlets. For more info, go to the Soundwave website or The Damned Things official website.

Soundwave Counter-Revolution lineup includes…

Panic At The Disco
All Time Low
Yellowcard
Story Of The Year
Face To Face
The Damned Things
Set Your Goals
Funeral For A Friend
Hellogoodbye
D.R.U.G.S
Young Guns
This Providence
Go Radio
Make Do And Mend
Alesana
The Swellers
We Are The In Crowd
Terrible Things
We Are The Ocean

Counter-Revolution dates:
Saturday 24th September – The Riverstage, Brisbane
Sunday 25th September – Luna Park, Sydney
Friday 30th September – Festival Hall, Melbourne
Sunday 2nd October – Fowlers Live, Adelaide
Monday 3rd October – Amplifier and Capitol, Perth