Dan Schafer (The Methadones) Interview (July 2008)

Finally, I've actually lost count of how many times I've seen The Methadones. It's somewhere around 22 or 23 by this point, and they're definitely holding the number one slot for now (though Chronic Seizure has to be getting close). If you don't know who Dan Schafer is and you claim to like punk rock then you're an idiot, plain and simple. Over the last 20 years the guy has been in too many bands to count, most famously fucking Screeching Weasel, Sludgeworth, The Riverdales, The Mopes, and of course the Meths. The man can sure as hell write a song

Bill: So the Meths and Copyrights split just came out this week. Why did you decide to do it on your own label as opposed to doing it on Red Scare?

Dan: Well we decided to do it on our own label because we found out that… for one thing we know a lot of the same people, a lot of the same labels just because we’ve been in bands for so long and we made the same contacts that they had. We realized that doing it ourselves is the only way at this point to turn a profit, you know. CD sales have been down and in order to make up for that, a lot of it’s been digital sales and what not. So by doing it ourselves we just found it a lot easier to have control and to actually see a profit from it. The other reason we did it is that Thick Records is really dishonest.

Bill: (laughter)

Dan: (laughter) Red Scare has been great but as a business move we had to go ahead and do our own stuff, from now on we’re just doing stuff on our own label, ours and the Copyrights’. We share the label with them.

Bill: Cool. Career Objective just came out on vinyl real recently with Underground Communiqué, right?

Dan: Yeah

Bill: I saw on the record that it was a split release between Transparent and Underground Communiqué.

Dan: Yeah, from now on with wanting to do our own stuff, I just asked him (Justin Schwier, UC Commander-In-Chief) if we could put the logo on it and he said it was fine. I mean he actually put it out but it’s kind of… that name just kind of represents us, you know, from now on.

Bill: I also noticed last time I saw you guys play you were back down to a four piece. Is Ken out of the band?

Dan: (sigh) Yeah, yeah, we’re back to being a four piece.

Bill: You’re set to go to Europe pretty soon?

Dan: Yeah

Bill: That’s the first time for The Meths, right?

Dan: Yeah, we’re going September 10 and we’ll be back October 1.

Bill: Oh so that’s right before Riot Fest then, that same week

Dan: Yup, we get back and we’ll have the Riot Fest and then the Gainesville Fest right there.

Bill: So you played Riot Fest last year, you did the pre-show and the big show and the big show.

Dan: Right

Bill: What’d you think about it? As opposed to the other fests you guys have played?

Dan: What do I think of Riot Fest?

Bill: Or just festivals in general like that, because usually you’re playing smaller shows and clubs, but when you play a huge place like the Congress Theater it’s gotta be kind of a mindfuck.

Dan: It is, it is a little bit but it’s also a great way for people to get to see bands that they haven’t, you know? I mean last year I got to see Stiff Little Fingers, you know? To me that was great.

Bill: Yeah it was.

Dan: Stiff Little Fingers and Naked Raygun in one bill, which would have never happened if it wasn’t for a festival, you know what I mean? And just a lot of other bands that he’s (Mike Petryshyn) been able to put together for a reunion or whatever. It’s just a lot of bands that people did get to see the first time around, and here’s the chance.

Bill: Yeah that’s true.

Dan: I think it’s a lot of fun, I think the bands are good and diverse. It’s been fun every year that I’ve been there that I’ve been there and that I’ve played it.

Bill: Alright. Maybe this is just my own observation but it seems like the last year or two The Meths have been less active with playing live but much more active with recording. Is that just me or has that actually been happening?

Dan: Well, locally a little less. Well for one our bass player Pete broke his arm so we’ve been on a bit of a hiatus, but now his arm’s back and you know, it’s in pretty good shape. We did play the East and West coast last year, we did some local stuff, but we’ve been continuing to do stuff out of town. I’d say your perception is probably somewhat accurate but not entirely because we have been out there the last year but we’ve also recorded a lot as well. It’s been heavier on that. This year, in 2008 I’m hoping to get away from that a little more, just concentrate on playing live more so than recording.

Bill: Gotcha. You mentioned Pete’s arm; that was actually going to be my next question. It’s fully healed up and ready to go?

Dan: It’s not fully healed up but we had rehearsal this Saturday and he played fine. He’s able to use it so as far as our band goes it’s… yeah, it’s not causing him any pain or anything like that so we’re back to where we were. At the same time he’s still having treatment and physical therapy and whatnot on his arm.

Bill: That’s good to hear that he’s somewhat back at least.

Dan: (chuckle) Yeah he’s back in terms of playing a bass, you know what I mean?

Bill: (chuckle) The other stuff not so much, but the most important part though

Dan: He still can’t extend his arm completely forward, he can’t get it completely straight yet.

Bill: Is Transparent just going to be for Methadones and Copyrights stuff, or do you see that branching out farther?

Dan: For right now it’s just us, we’re putting out our own stuff. If anybody wanted to put out a record I would probably encourage them to do it themselves. I mean, if they wanted to share a name they could, we could pool in our strengths but for now we’re still figuring a lot of stuff out because it’s so new to us. We do have it out, it’s available through Interpunk, we had some sent out to Insubordination Records, and just started getting it out there, so I mean, it is available.

Bill: Alright, yeah. That’s pretty much all I’ve got, do you have any other last words or parting thoughts you want to say?

Dan: If you want to contact us to go Myspace.com/themethadones, look out for Transparent Records which is also on myspace. We have a CD release show July 25, that’ll be at the Bottom Lounge. Besides that? That would probably be it. Is there anything else you need from me?

Bill: Nope, I think we’ve got all the bases covered, thanks for your time.

Dan: Alright, bye.