The So So Glos Talk Britney And Brooklyn

The So So Glos are a bit like the Brady bunch boys – a debauched alternate reality version of the Bradys that drink, smoke, cuss and generally act like they’ve got an ounce of awareness between them, as they strike fear into the hearts of Reagan worshipping puritans.

The brotherly Brooklynite’s sort of formed at the age of four when drummer, Zach, was conscripted into Alex and Ryan’s family via divorce. Since then, they’ve added Matt on guitar, championed all-ages shows and appealed to fans via MySpace for floors to sleep as they slum through tours; they’re the Minor Threat of the social networking age, ‘except that they can actually play their instruments.

We loitered around the Old Blue Last’s fire escape like delinquents on a fag break in the school toilets, talking all things New York and punch ups with Britney Spears’ entourage.

Noisey: Am I right in thinking you’re all Mets fans?

So So Glos: That’s right.

Is that a really big part of your band identity?

Zach: There’s a couple of things to do with it, one is that the Mets are like the underdogs of New York. The Yankees are the prime time spot and the Mets are the underdogs. The other part is that our parents were Mets fans, it was kind of passed down from being Brooklyn Dodgers fans from our grandparents and they hated the Yankees because the Yankees always beat the Brooklyn Dodgers so it’s kind of like a rooting for the underdog kind of thing.

I’m a Mets fan too, I’d never watch baseball, but I’ve got a thing for New York and underdogs… I’m a Knicks fan.

Ryan: Oh, sick…

Zach: Now that we’ve got the Brooklyn Nets…they’ll always be associated with New Jersey for me. For us it’s Brooklyn’s home team, y’know? We gotta rep that.

Ryan: We haven’t had a team since the Brooklyn Dodgers left.

But what if they pick up the Brooklyn Nets and move them somewhere else, are you just going to stop supporting them?

Ryan: I mean, it’s kind of cool, you see that stadium by Atlantic avenue – that’s where the Brooklyn Dodgers stadium was supposed to be and now you’ve got the rights to do another stadium or whatever it’s kind of like… I’m not gonna say I’m gonna root for one over the other but it’s like… we got a Brooklyn team, we’ve got to support them.

Zach: And they got a good logo…

And pretty much the coolest chairman you’re going to get in sports…

Zach: Jay Z!

Ryan: The real owner’s some Russian mafia dude or something'…

Really?

Ryan: But that’s pretty cool too

Yeah, he whacks people for a living.

Ryan: It’s Brooklyn, come on, we’re into that kind of thing.

Alex: You’re really just rooting for the uniform I guess, none of the players are from New York or anything like that.

So Matt, do you ever feel left out by technically not being the brother of anyone in the band?

Matt: Do I feel left out? I mean, it goes both ways; I’ve been to more family functions over the past five years with these guys than with my own family. I’ve certainly been taken in as the surrogate brother and I guess that’s for better or for worse.

Have you ever thought about recruiting any of your siblings to even up the balance?

Matt: Yeah, my little sisters on the tambourine who are 13 and 9? They’re practicing right now. I put them in the conservatory get a little string section going on, haha!

You could market yourselves as a proper family-friendly band… so let’s talk about Tourism / Terrorism [note: their second album]…. What sort of activities would be included in a terrorist package holiday?

Zach: On a terrorist package holiday? Water skiing on oil plumes!

Ryan: Skiing down fucking’ volcanoes!

Matt: Snorting big lines of anthrax off the bar table!

Those terrorists know how to party.

Alex: Transformation of neighborhoods, like…

Bombing them?

Alex: Yeah, bombing them with Starbucks and stuff like that.

Ha. I like the corporate angle. So you, being Brooklynites, are you bothered about the whole gentrification of Brooklyn over the past few years?

Alex: Brooklyn’s Brooklyn, it changes just like any place in a city. New York is a constantly evolving monster. But it’s become a question of authenticity which is kind of stupid ‘cos our band was born in Brooklyn in what… 1990, when we were 4 years old or whatever. But people look at it like it’s some sort of crown, and while we do have pride in where we come from, it doesn’t make you more real, it’s just a place. The whole export of Brooklyn culture has got way out of hand, y’know?

Ryan: Hip neighborhoods have always been expanding in New York: the Lower East Side was one of them, the East Village is one of them, in the 60s the West Village, TriBeca. They were all shit neighborhoods and then they became hip baby stroller neighborhoods.

Alex: What should be exported is that feeling of community because that’s a very Brooklyn thing, like knowing everyone on your block. That side of Brooklyn doesn’t really get shown as much but how can you show it? It’s an idea, it’s feeling welcome and making other people feel like they’re welcome, y’know?

Zach: When people say Brooklyn now its become so diluted now or focused on one neighborhood of Williamsburg, which is a tiny piece of a huge borough – we’re from south, south Brooklyn and it’s different down there, y’know?

Bay Ridge ain’t it?

So So Glos: Yeah!

I should come crash with you guys. Speaking of which, I noticed ages ago you made a MySpace appeal for somewhere to sleep when you were on tour, any bad experiences?

Zach: We stayed with Britney Spears’ tour crew once. When security found out that we were in there, they came in and started harassing us until we got into a big altercation and had to leave. A physical altercation with Britney Spears’ crew!

Ryan: The Britney Mob!

Zach: The underworld of Britney Spears, the dark underbelly. Something bad always manages to happen to us when we’re in Detroit anyway, so this was likely.

What sort of people were in Britney Spears’ crew? Because I’m imagining back up dancers busting moves?

Zach: Nooo, this is the security crew.

Matt: The costume designer, the guitar tech… could you believe it, they have a guitar tech? I found a photo of the security guys on the internet actually. This Oddjob looking guy, Fu Man Chu, big tough Asian guy.

Zach: This guy was BIG.

Matt: I saw pictures and I got shivers looking at him.

Zach: They nearly choked us out, beat the shit out of us, y’know? We need to be more careful of in the future, Britney Spears will kill us.

She’ll FUCK YOU UP.

Matt: But generally when we’ve toured, people have put us up no problem, even over here when we were told people are cold in Western Europe…but it isn’t like that at all.

Ryan: They’ve got more blankets over here than they do in America.

Matt: And thicker duvets! They know how to be hospitable.

Is that one thing you think American culture could learn from Europe?

Matt: I think we are the worst at that. At hospitality, taking thy neighbor in…

Oh I wasn’t talking about that, I was just talking about blankets…

Matt: Haha, we could definitely adopt thicker blankets, fluffier pillows. I guess this is more of a Goose-centric part of the world…

What do you use in American pillows?!

Matt: Styrofoam.

Ryan: Plastic bags.

Matt: Gore-tex?

Rather than organic pillows?

Ryan: Right, you can eat the pillows over here.

I know you’re big on all ages shows, so you’ve never gotten into any sticky situations with groupies where you’ve had to check their IDs first?

Ryan: There were probably a couple times we should have, maybe I should have…

Matt: Cold pitchers of water pre show… down the trousers!

Is that one of your tour demands?

Zach: It’s a rider, yeah.

Ryan: We actually make someone else pour it down there for us.

Do you pick a lucky member of the audience?

Ryan: They have to be older!

Zach: Over 40…

Ha. Final question! A lot of places online call you a punk band, are you?

Alex: No. We’re not happy with any tag.

Ryan: If we have to say something I usually just say rock ‘n roll…

Zach: I just say rock. We’ve got to rep ROCK, man. Nobody claims rock anymore.

Ryan: Like Creed, y’know? ROCK!

Zach: Capital R!

Alex: Pre-Nickleback, P.O.D, Staind…

Zach: So we're pretty much we’re nu-metal.

No one claims that anymore these days.

Zach: I know, it’s a shame.

So is that your motivation?

Ryan: We’re bringing back nu-metal.

LOL. Thanks guys!