Louis Posen [Take Action Tour]: Trust In Hope (Part II)

After I finished typing my interview with Louis Posen, the head of Hopeless/Sub City Records, and also, the creator of the Take Action Tour/compilation record, I sat for a while trying to figure out how I could possibly write a short introduction to this interview. I found it very difficult to try to put into words how I could set this interview up, so that a reader would be enticed to read the interview. I consider Louis to be one of the best people involved in the music business. Looking back at the interview [associate editor] David conducted with Louis in 2003, the metaphor of a superhero that David used to describe Louis is the only word that would do justice to what Louis has and continues to do.

What made you decide to start Take Action, both the tour and the compilation cd?

Posen: Well, Hopeless Records launched Sub City, our imprint label, in 1999, when we realized how many people we were reaching, we wanted to do something positive with that and give back to the community, who had given us so much. So we launched Sub Citywhich donates 5% of the retail price of each record to a non-profit organization. We put literature in the records and all the mail outs we send. In that same year, we decided it would be a cool idea to take that concept to the road and that was the birth of Take Action.

When you started [Take Action] did you have bands approaching you for the tour/CD, or did you have to contact bands to get the ball rolling, per say?

Posen: The first year was primarily Hopeless/Sub City artists on the comp and tour: Fifteen, The Weakerthans, Dillinger Four. And then some other bands we were friends with, like F.Y.P, were on the tour and compilation. Later years, it has slowly become more known to the punk and hardcore world and we have more bands coming to us now, than us going out and finding them. This year we had, I think, 400 submissions for the compilation and over 100 submissions for the tour. It’s been growing and it’s been great to see how many bands are interested in supporting Take Action, and supporting suicide prevention and what this tour’s all about.

You said you had over 100 submissions, what’s the selection process like when you have that many bands wanting to do the tour?

Posen: It’s very difficult. We bring out a booking agent who is, sort of, the point person who corresponds with all the bands agents. But we go through the list, we look at it here in the office, and we ask some people outside the office and the main criteria we’re looking for are: bands who are going to fill out the room, so we can raise the most awareness; and also who really supports Take Action, and supports the cause. They are spokespeople for the tour and for the hopeline. That ends up being as important as anything else.

You have worked with the National Hopeline Network for several years now, what made you decide to stay with them and would you ever consider working with another charity?

Posen: Well, the first year benefited several organizations, and the hopeline wasn’t one of them. The second year we did the tour, we realized that we needed to make the message more focused. So that people leave and know what the tour was about. And we went on a search for an organization that fit what the fans were telling us was important to them. And that’s when we found the Hopeline Network, which was the only 24-hour, confidential hotline in the United States. It was a great fit and ever since then they have been very supportive of the tour. It’s something they work hard on as well. It’s not like they are just raking in the benefits of the awareness and the funds that come in. They are active participants in making the tour great. They organized, what’s now, our second annual press conference on Capitol Hill, to kick off the tour. It’s been a great partnership. We’d love to support lots of different organizations, and luckily we are able to through our various SubCity releases we put out. We’re working with over 30 different organizations.

Will Take Action ever support another organization? 

Posen: I don’t know. I believe that this issue of mental health and suicide prevention are at epidemic proportions amongst young people. It’s the 3rd leading cause of death amongst 12-24 year olds; approximately 13 12-24 year olds die from suicide everyday. You never hear about any of those deaths, unless it’s a celebrity’s kid, and we need to do something about that and we can. It’s something that we can treat. It’s something we can do something about. So it seems to me at this point, it’s the right connection for the tour.

When is the press conference for the Take Action Tour?

Posen: It’s on March 1st at 10:30 am, in the Cannon House Building on Capitol Hill. Speaking will be Representative Patrick Kennedy from Rhode Island, who spoke at our press conference last year; he’s a very powerful speaker. Also speaking will be members of Silverstein and Matchbook Romance. Matchbook will also be doing an acoustic set at the end. It should be pretty cool; because, it’s going to be on the Hill and congress people are going to be there, [members of the] media are going to be there, fans can come as well. There’s a capacity of only about 100-150 people. So you gotta get there early.

Would you ever consider doing a Take Action Tour twice per year?

Posen: We’ve though about it. We’re open to it, it just takes up so much of our time and we don’t make any revenue from it, because we put everything back into the hopeline. So I don’t know if we could financially be able to do it. But we do the Take Action area at the Warped Tour. At every Warped Tour stop there’s a Take Action tent. And we’ve also thought about doing Take Action internationally. We’ve talked to people in Canada and the UK, and Japan. If we find the right partners, we’d love to do it. It’s just a major time and financial decision.

Does it disappoint you that, for some people, it’s just a tour of a lot of bands they like rather than a tour that’s benefiting suicide prevention?

Posen: Not really. I believe that everyone’s and individual and has right to enjoy the show the way the want to enjoy it. Some are just there for entertainment and the music. But it’s great when the fans also embrace the cause and want to get behind it, and want to volunteer or donate money or give their support. Really, Take Action is a little more indirect about not just suicide prevention. For us, it’s about empowering young people to realize they can make a difference. Sometimes it doesn’t hit them when they’re at the show. But later they realize, “Wow. I could be doing something to help out something I’m passionate about.” I don’t know if that makes sense or not.

Oh no, I think it makes perfect sense. You touched on earlier that Sub City is an imprint of Hopeless. How do you select which bands release records on Sub City and which on Hopeless; or is that completely up to the bands?

Posen: Its up to the bands. When a band signs to Hopeless, they are signing to both labels. During the course of being on the label, they can decide “I want this album to come out on Hopeless. I want this album to come out on Sub City.” Some have done all on Hopeless and some have done all on Sub City. Some have done both. The difference being if they decide to put it our on Sub City, that royalty (5%) half is coming from the artist’s royalties, it’s a really big commitment from the bands. And its not always financially possible for them.

Is it the bands who decide what charities get benefited or is it up to the label?

Posen: It depends on the band. Certain bands have very specific organizations they want to give to, and others have said they want to benefit certain causes, but they don’t know organizations that work in that area, and we’ll go out and help them do the research and find an organization that fits those needs. On compilations the label picks. That’s our opportunity as a company to give our input.

What can we expect from Hopeless/Sub City and the Take Action Tour for the rest of the year?

Posen: We’ve got a big schedule this year: February 21st, Ever We Fall’s debut record starts it off. That same day, Take Action Vol. 5 comes out. It’s a 2-disc set that’s just $5.99. Then we’ve got a new band we just signed, Royden, their debut EP comes out in April.  The full-length comes out in June. Against All Authority’s long anticipated full-length comes out May 9th. It actually hasn’t been publicized yet, but its definitely coming out May 9th. And Hopelessly Devoted, our label sampler, will be coming out in June. And we signed a progressive-metal band from LA called The Human Abstract, that’s coming out in July. Take Action, the tour, kicks off March 1st. We expect it to be raising more money and awareness than any previous Take Action tour. And we’ve got, though it’s not set yet, but it looks like we’ll have a Take Action Party at South by Southwest. We also own and operate, DownloadPunk.com, and that takes up a lot of our time too. We have over 400 labels on there now, so we’re going spend some time and money to make sure everyone knows they can get all their punk and hardcore and emo that they want digitally at DownloadPunk.com.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Posen: I actually didn’t mention the Youth American Hotline, which I probably should. Its number is 877-YOUTHLINE. It’s the only national peer-to-peer hotline. For someone who wants to talk to someone their own age. It was actually started by the Hopeline because of the Take Action tour. After doing the tour for 2 years, together we realized a lot of fans would feel more comfortable calling a peer-to-peer line. For more information on the Take Action Tour, please visit www.takeactiontour.com. And for more information about the National Hopeline Network, please visit www.hopeline.com.

A Night with Lagwagon

02.11.06 @ HiFi Bar, Melbourne, AUS
w/ Chase Manhattan, Armageddon Sky

In the seven odd years between my first and most recent Lagwagon show, the members of the band have aged (some more gracefully than others), they’ve had to say goodbye to one of their own, and it seems, the kids at the shows are getting much younger. This was none more evident than their recent trek to Melbourne. Skepticism rose early during the announcements of the opening acts- in 1999, when they played Philadelphia’s Trocadero, it was Wretch Like Me, All, and Latex Generation warming up the crowd. All of the bands could have been lumped together in one pseudo genre group- an acceptable slate of artists one would expect to open a Lagwagon show. Fast forward to the present day and wagon fans are (mis)treated to a couple of bands trying their very best to ape Taking Back Sunday screaming inside a trash can rolling down a hill. Chase Manhattan were crap, and there’s little else to say about it other than the folks arriving early (that’s us), had the chance to check the merch booth or buy overpriced beer before the crowds came.

Armageddon Sky were decent- if not trying too hard to sound like Senses Fail. Their sound was a little muted and their songs lacked the thump needed to energize an already impatient audience. To add, they acted like rockstars, and that dear readers, is no-no numero uno: rockstar posing is for dickheads. And after they trudged through their seemingly long set, the crowd finally seemed bothered to pay attention. $30 and almost three hours of waiting, Joey Cape and friends graced the stage to rapturous, thank-god they’re finally here, we’ve sat through the muck applause.

And like a tectonic shift in plains, the atmosphere exploded with the kind riotous energy reserved for storming a Danish embassy. Oh sweet chaos! Lagwagon broke into “Heartbreaking Music” and “Automatic” as bodies began flying off the stage left and right and finally … finally, the show was on. They raced through an impressive setlist that included some of their best tunes from their extensive discography, making sure not to skip over their earlier work on Duh and Trashed, as well as their later work- “Making Friends,” “Sleep,” “May 16th,” “Island of Shame,” and “Mr. Coffee” all made their appearance- stopping every so often to fraternize with the crowd that had made their way on stage. And this would be an ongoing theme through the night- the staggering number of concertgoers who ultimately ended up on stage. Security came in the form of one solitary, weedy stage hand who spent the night pleading with rushers to “please clear the stage.” (Side note: the number of dudes who made their way on stage to kiss Joey was more than two)Spending time to acknowledge the audience and former drummer Derrick Plourde who took his own life last year, the overwhelming sentiment of the evening was rocking out and having a good time without any of the bullshit. There was a sense of closeness between the crowd and the band often lost at rock shows. They played their way through their tunes and the crowd recognized the band by providing them with the kind of organized anarchy not seen since Fear destroyed the SNL set in 1981. Closing the night with “Razor Burn,” Cape announced that this was the crowd’s last chance to “rock” the evening away, and like they had done through their hour-or-so long performance, it was beautiful carnage from beginning to end.

Slow Runner – No Disassemble

There are a lot of bands out there in the world, you know? Just the sheer volume of them is absolutely astounding. And, every single one is trying to carve out its own little niche, trying to garner a little fanfare, trying to piece together a few good songs, and trying to, eventually, be very rich, and heard by millions. Now, there are quite a few bands that have actually accomplished this feat. Look no further than the cover of Rolling Stone, or Blender; and you’ll find some act that the media is just fawning over. And, sadly, for something to garner fanfare across the board, it usually has to be thinned down to a point. The quirkiness must often be shed for time-tested hooks, and introspective lyrics must be left only in the notebooks; to pave way for a catchy, easy to remember chorus. What we really need is some good music in the mainstream. Death Cab’s recent breakthrough success and the growing popularity of The Shins are doing some good; but there is still a lot of bad music out there that we as the listening public are forced to muddle through. And yes, there is a point to all of this.

More important than all that sad truth, I’m happy now to finally tell you about a band that has remained unaffected by all this, for lack of a better term, mainstream stupidity. I’m happy to say, that it seems like none of these pathetic traditions have found their way into the path of the members of Slow Runner. Pushing out through the hordes, this is a band that’s really worthy of attention. Ever since their debut album, No Disassemble, landed in my mailbox I have barely been able to turn it off. It’s some of the most compelling music I’ve ever had the pleasure to hear. It now lives happily in my iPod; where it will likely stay for quite a while.

Walking a tightrope so comfortably that it’s almost shocking, the sound seems to have come from a million influences, but it all still fits together so perfectly. I see remnants of The Beatles, the biting wit of Ben Folds, a pinch of the Postal Service, a whisk of Aqualung, a touch of Death Cab, and some nagging tidbit of Radiohead. That may sound a bit convoluted, but trust me: it works.

The band is fronted by singer-guitarist Michael Flynn, former finalist in a John Lennon Songwriting Scholarship Competition (through which he had the opportunity to meet Yoko Ono). After this small uplift, and tiny foot into the music industry, Flynn soon hooked up with Josh Kaler in Boston. The two of them worked out the nuances of the Slow Runner sound, and wrote the songs that would eventually fill up No Disassemble. The rest of the cast rounded out, and Slow Runner was born.

For a debut album, they band shows a lot of maturity here. The vocals have a falsetto to them; which accents the Beck-ish type mix of electronic, guitar, et al quite well. There’s not really a weak track among the lot. The album opens appropriately, with a 44 second instrumental of sorts of quasi-electronica. This leads to the catchy wit of opening song “Break Your Mama’s Back.” The lyrical quality and musical style that is to follow for the remainder of the record is represented well in this track. Other highlights include the sparing track “The Sea Is Never Full,” and the jaunty “Redneck Bar.” “Don’t Let Them See Me Like This” is also another great addition to the lot; a slow-to-mid-tempo, echoing number that will linger in your mind long after you’ve heard it. The Death Cab For Cutie-esque “12.19.03” is also a heck of a song.

If Slow Runner takes the right path down the fickle road that is the music business, they very well could be poised to, someday, receive the passing of the mellow rock crown from Ben Gibbard & Co. I highly recommend you check out Slow Runner, this is one band that definitely deserves some mainstream attention.

(Red Ink / Red Music)

Train – For Me, It’s You

The new Train record is most definitely a welcome treat to anyone who was a fan of (the album, not the song) Drops of Jupiter. On Jupiter, Train traded in the grittier side of the roots-rock sound for a more Counting Crows-esque polish to the tracks; and it was most definitely a change for the better. On their follow-up to Jupiter, the abysmal My Private Nation (2003), they kept the sound; but lost something far more important: the songwriting. Excluding lead single “Calling All Angels,” the whole album was nothing more than fillery mush. It amounted to nothing more than a so-so, fully hollow ‘vibe’ type of album.

Now, they’re back. It’s been two years since Nation sucked up record players around the country, and what do they have to say? Well … the answer is a lot. For Me, It’s You ranks, in my book, as the best Train record ever. Beating out their solid debut, and stellar follow-up. Both of those records were good, but flawed. But this one, this one is solid gold.

The song writing is phenominal on the album. Settling back onto simpler song arrangements, and more thought provoking lyrics has proven itself to be a wothwhile formula for Pat Monahan and Co. First single “Cab” really caught my attention, as I first heard it on a hotel room TV, along with seeing the video on VH1. I was brushing my teeth, when suddently I caught myself fully entranced, listening with all my attention to the catchy tune that had so suddenly filled the room whilst I wasn’t even looking. I could tell right off by the vocals that it was Train, but after Nation broke my heart (and bled my ears), I hadn’t really kept up with the band. I was excited, to say the least. Back in the day when it was all shiny and new, Train’s debut album practically lived in my stereo for months. A return to goodness was (literally) music to my ears. I jumped online right there in the hotel, and pulled up the info on the album’s pending release.

Brendan O’ Brien’s production brings back the earthy, Counting Crows-ish sound of their Jupiter-era work, but also with a dash of the rawness from their self-titled record tracks. And, most importantly, something wholly new. The songs, as well as the sound, all feel familiar; but not in that ‘bad’ way. The album feels comfortable, like it’s speaking straight to you. Perhaps the maturation and direction can be somewhat accounted for by the personal struggles Monahan has faced on a personal level; losing a friend to suicide, and a bouncing, tumultuos line-up in the band itself over the past year or so has obviously led to far more introspective song-writing for the group.

Look no further than “Cab,” “I Can’t Change Your Mind”, or the title track “For Me, It’s You” for some of the best songs to be released yet this year. There really isn’t a weak track to be found in the lot, as the whole album fits together like some convulted, storybook of a massive puzzle. The entire thing flows together so nicely that’s it’s shocking that this is the same band that put out such dribble only two short years ago. No out of place tracks here, or any filler material to up the length to be found. Clocking in at 13 tracks, that’s quite a feat to say the least.

I’m about to ramble for a second, but it’ll be worth it, trust me. If you’re at all a fan of The Wallflowers, Train’s older work, the Counting Crows, Better Than Ezra, Will Hoge, Graham Colton, Howie Day, Matt Nathanson, or Ari Hest: you will love this record. It’s one of the best releases yet this year, and sets the bar quite high for the many artists set to follow. I highly recommend it.

(Columbia Records)