Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Interview - Night Birds' Brian Gorsegner

Night Birds have been quickly taking over the Northwest Northeast (oops) hardcore punk scene over the past 4 or so years. It should be no surprise to anyone who listened to Riot Radio or reads this site that the jersey hardcore surf punks are currently one of my favorite modern punk bands. Singer Brian Gorsegner was cool enough to take some time to answer questions. Enjoy...
PiOK: Let’s start with the basics. If you look at the song writing credits, it seems like you and Joe both write a lot of the lyrics. Could you walk us through the typical songwriting process?
BRIAN: We work together most of the time... I will write a chorus, Joe will help out with a verse, or vice versa. Sometimes I'll just have a riff, or a lyrical idea, and Joe will take it from there. Sometimes we'll write a whole song by ourselves. But even when we write a whole song by ourselves once it gets brought to practice everyone has say in it if we want to change a part, or suggest doing something different. We're really brutally honest with each other, all we want is to write the best song possible so no one gets hurt feelings or any thing like that.
PiOK: You seem to have a lot of different directions in songwriting: movies, murder, daily life, prescription drugs, and a wide range of other topics that a lot of punk bands don’t touch.  What pushes you guys have such a wide variety of subjects in your songwriting?

BRIAN: I guess just not wanting to be bored with what we write. No reason not to touch on as wide a variety of topics as you can. A lot of our songs are just our own social commentary... We are like the SEINFELD of punk rock lyrics... OK, that's giving us way too much credit. 

PiOK: How many songs have you written based on b-movies?

BRIAN: Oh man, no idea. 

PiOK: After I listened to Hoffman Lens I went out and bought They Live. I’ve always been curious about some of the other references you make, especially in Midnight Movies. What obscure films would you suggest for the readers to go check out?


BRIAN: Let's see... "Midnight Movies" references Eraserhead and Pink Flamingos... The song Bad Biology is about a Frank Henennelotter film with the same title... Triple Feature reference 3  Frank Henennelotter movies, hence the title; Basket Case, Frankenhooker, and Brain Damage. 

PiOK: The biggest comparison I usually hear for Night Birds is that you sound like Dead Kennedys. Obviously this is meant as a compliment, but do you ever get frustrated to hear that comparison?

BRIAN: Not frustrated at all, though it seems a bit lazy sometimes. I don't put us in the category of bands like Bl'ast where there one goal is to sound like Black Flag... Or a band like the Queers who just want to sound like the Ramones. We draw from all over, and I think if you listen to a lot of music like we do that pretty easy to see.

PiOK: You seem to get paired up playing with older bands like The Dickies and Zero Boys. Do you draw a lot of influence from the older sound of bands like them?

BRIAN: Yep for sure. That's the stuff we grew up on and love.

PiOK: What modern bands are you most into right now?

BRIAN: Give, Culo, Nervosas, Tenement, and Big Eyes are some of my favorites at the moment.

PiOK: Up to now, your full lengths and Fresh Kills, Vol. 1 have been released on Grave Mistake Records. This summer you released the Maimed for the Masses 7” on Fat Wreck Chords. Do you feel like you are 
getting to a point where you could see yourselves signing with a more prominent label? (No disrespect 
meant to Grave Mistake, they seem like a great label)

BRIAN: It's not out of the question. We love Alex and we love working with Grave Mistake, so I really have no idea at this point. Luckily BORN TO DIE IN SUBURBIA is brand new so we don't have to worry about that quite yet! Next on our plate will be an all surf instrumental EP on WALLRIDE RECORDS.

PiOK: From an outside point of view, the band has always seemed very self-sustained. Every time I order something, it comes with Joe’s return address on it. One time I got a Night Birds hoodie shipped in a Black & Decker iron box. Would you say you are a fairly DIY band?

BRIAN: haha, glad to see Joe is recycling! But yea, we like to be in control of every aspect of the band. It's more a quality control thing than it is some DIY warrior type stuff. If someone mail orders from us we want to know it's getting done quickly. We wanna throw in extra stuff and let them know we appreciate them buying from us. We also make most of our money as a band through tee shirt sales, so you really shoot yourself in the foot by having an outside merch company handle that for you... granted it takes a lot of time and work to get it done, and can often be a pain in the ass trying to find time between regular jobs and regular life shit, but it's going that extra mile that makes it more rewarding.

PiOK: Is it getting to the point where it is getting overwhelming to do it yourself?

BRIAN: In some aspects, yes. Actually, as of Jan. 1st 2014 we are bringing on a booking agent for the first time. Ron who sings in FINAL CONFLICT does a booking agency called CRAWLSPACE BOOKING and he will be taking over Night Birds booking duties come the start of the new year. He books some cool bands like Cock Sparrer, The Dwarves, Meatmen, Negative Approach, Giuda, The Casualties, etc... I have always been the main show / tour booker for the band, but with my wife and I having a baby in the new few weeks I really don't think I'll have the time to do it correctly so we are going to give it a shot.

PiOK:This is somewhat of a random question. I have seen a lot of your fans use the phrase “we don’t need a joke” but I just can’t figure out what that means. Where does that phrase come from?

BRIAN: This guy MITCH CLEM does comic strips and he did one about us in 2011. That is where that comes from. 

PiOK: Was there one match or instance involving Mick that made you say “this guy needs a punk song”?

BRIAN: No, just his general attitude about his passion. It's about loving something so much and working so hard for it that you will put it above and beyond your personal well being. Tossing yourself into barbed wire, jumping into fire, all in the name of putting on a good show.

PiOK: I read that Foley likes the song. What did he have to say about it?

BRIAN: He messaged us and said "Thanks for the tune! That's a big honor for me. I really like the song."

PiOK: Thanks again for your time, and I know there are people who really hope you make a stop in Oklahoma on your next full tour. Is there anything else you’d like to add?


BRIAN: Thanks for the interview! Now have some OK pride and go listen to NOTA's "toy soldiers"!


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