From fronting punk band Bomb the Music Industry! to his own solo output, Jeff Rosenstock has spent years thinking about age and responsibility and whether they will one day intersect with punk’s youthful ideals. That time may be upon us. Speak to Jeff today, ten-years into his musical career and on the cusp of his fourth trip to Australia, and you’ll find a musician with an acceptance that we do, in fact, all get old together.Noisey: What drew you from Bomb the Music Industry! to releasing records under your own name?
Jeff Rosenstock: I was just recording songs in my bedroom and had written We Cool? when we played the last Bomb shows. I was excited that people cared and thought that it might be fun to record it with a band. SideOneDummy got in touch a few days later and it just circumstantially got stuck with my name [laughs].Some psychologists believe that adapting a pattern of constantly working on a ‘thing' can result in anti-social tendencies.
I like that idea [laughs] I totally see that. I just sit and work on stuff like that all the time. I mean, if it ever does stop I just won’t make records anymore, I’ll just try and find a normal job. I’m sure that my family will wipe the sweat of their brow and say “Oh that was a close one, I thought he was going to be a musician forever” [laughs].A common narrative for late 20s musicians is that all their friends are getting married. Age is something that permeates your music.
It’s not the same kind of age-old tale of “Oh yeah, some day you’re gonna just want to have a kid,” it’s the other people in my band who are the same age as me – I want to make sure that when they get back home from tour they will have rent money. With Bomb it was like – we’d have jobs, we’d go on tour, we’d make no money then we’d work whenever and scrape by. It’s hard to expect anybody to do that once they hit their 30s, you know?On that note, you got married recently. Congratulations.
Thanks man, it’s been great. My wife and I have been together 13 years or something now, so, we had a wedding! It was fun, it was cool, we still went back to the same apartment we lived in so it none of it really changed.You are a New York Knicks fan. What do you think about the punk community’s general aversion to sports?
I used to feel like I was picked on by jocks at school, but I also felt picked on by jocks in the punk world as well. You hear shit coming out in football all the time about sexist women beaters – it’s a very rape-apologetic culture. But when fucked up shit happens in basketball they get called out and I think the league is really good with that. Just look at the dude who owned the Clippers who said all that racist shit, and then he wasn’t the owner of the Clippers anymore! He was like “You can’t do that,” and the league was like, “We don’t care, fuck you!”Is Bernie Sanders the real deal?
I think so. I don’t know exactly how much he’s going to get done and I’ve been told that people are the “real deal” before… I think he’s an actual outsider who wants to do some good and get our country back on track for all of us, not just the richest. I don’t like to fucking tell people who to vote for or anything like that, so I always feel weird talking about politics in general. Can you see a point where you stop touring?
I’ve always just been waiting for my body to fall apart or my voice to not work anymore, like, just wait until I’m injured or horribly disfigured and can’t stand up and play anymore. [laughs] But really, if you’re thinking about the end, then why are you doing it now? I’m just stoked it’s happening while it’s happening and if at some point we can’t afford to do this anymore or my body is broken, I’ll be glad I got to do it.Jeff Rosenstock Australia Tour 2016
March 2 – Launceston at Club 54
March 3 - Adelaide at Enigma Bar
March 4 – Melbourne at The Reverence Hotel
March 5 – Forrest at The Wonky Donkey,
March 6 – Melbourne at Sydney Road Community School, (AA)
March 8 – Wollongong at Rad Bar
March 9 – Sydney at Factory Floor
March 10 – Sydney at Blackwire Records (AA)
March 11 – Newcastle at Hamilton Station Hotel
March 12 – Brisbane at Crowbar
March 13 – Brisbane at Foundry Records (AA)
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Jeff Rosenstock: I was just recording songs in my bedroom and had written We Cool? when we played the last Bomb shows. I was excited that people cared and thought that it might be fun to record it with a band. SideOneDummy got in touch a few days later and it just circumstantially got stuck with my name [laughs].Some psychologists believe that adapting a pattern of constantly working on a ‘thing' can result in anti-social tendencies.
I like that idea [laughs] I totally see that. I just sit and work on stuff like that all the time. I mean, if it ever does stop I just won’t make records anymore, I’ll just try and find a normal job. I’m sure that my family will wipe the sweat of their brow and say “Oh that was a close one, I thought he was going to be a musician forever” [laughs].A common narrative for late 20s musicians is that all their friends are getting married. Age is something that permeates your music.
It’s not the same kind of age-old tale of “Oh yeah, some day you’re gonna just want to have a kid,” it’s the other people in my band who are the same age as me – I want to make sure that when they get back home from tour they will have rent money. With Bomb it was like – we’d have jobs, we’d go on tour, we’d make no money then we’d work whenever and scrape by. It’s hard to expect anybody to do that once they hit their 30s, you know?
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Thanks man, it’s been great. My wife and I have been together 13 years or something now, so, we had a wedding! It was fun, it was cool, we still went back to the same apartment we lived in so it none of it really changed.You are a New York Knicks fan. What do you think about the punk community’s general aversion to sports?
I used to feel like I was picked on by jocks at school, but I also felt picked on by jocks in the punk world as well. You hear shit coming out in football all the time about sexist women beaters – it’s a very rape-apologetic culture. But when fucked up shit happens in basketball they get called out and I think the league is really good with that. Just look at the dude who owned the Clippers who said all that racist shit, and then he wasn’t the owner of the Clippers anymore! He was like “You can’t do that,” and the league was like, “We don’t care, fuck you!”Is Bernie Sanders the real deal?
I think so. I don’t know exactly how much he’s going to get done and I’ve been told that people are the “real deal” before… I think he’s an actual outsider who wants to do some good and get our country back on track for all of us, not just the richest. I don’t like to fucking tell people who to vote for or anything like that, so I always feel weird talking about politics in general. Can you see a point where you stop touring?
I’ve always just been waiting for my body to fall apart or my voice to not work anymore, like, just wait until I’m injured or horribly disfigured and can’t stand up and play anymore. [laughs] But really, if you’re thinking about the end, then why are you doing it now? I’m just stoked it’s happening while it’s happening and if at some point we can’t afford to do this anymore or my body is broken, I’ll be glad I got to do it.Jeff Rosenstock Australia Tour 2016
March 2 – Launceston at Club 54
March 3 - Adelaide at Enigma Bar
March 4 – Melbourne at The Reverence Hotel
March 5 – Forrest at The Wonky Donkey,
March 6 – Melbourne at Sydney Road Community School, (AA)
March 8 – Wollongong at Rad Bar
March 9 – Sydney at Factory Floor
March 10 – Sydney at Blackwire Records (AA)
March 11 – Newcastle at Hamilton Station Hotel
March 12 – Brisbane at Crowbar
March 13 – Brisbane at Foundry Records (AA)