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Surviving the Apocalypse with Damiam Abraham

We asked Damian Abraham what he would do to prepare for the mutant apocalypse.

Everyone has fantasized, at one point or another, about how they would fare in a sudden mutant apocalypse. Some people have an exit strategy regarding how to get out of their neighbourhood and into a safe space in a hurry, while others may have spent years training in a specific form of combat, awaiting the perfect time for them to put those skills to good use. But what about the details you haven't thought of, like where you'd find the will to continue living, or which Canadian celebrity you’d sacrifice to save your own skin? In anticipation of Sunset Overdrive, available October 28 on the Xbox One, we asked Damian Abraham of Fucked Up about some of the tough decisions he would have to make in order to survive a mutant apocalypse.

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Noisey: What’s your favourite post-apocalyptic movie?
Damian: Probably Zombie, the Lucio Fulci film. It’s meant to be a prequel to Night of the Living Dead. A zombie fights a shark in it and it has a pretty graphic scene where somebody gets their eye taken out by a giant, wooden splinter. For zombie movies, that’s the high-water mark. But there’s kind of a post-apocalyptic vibe to it too.

What albums would you bring with you to survive a mutant invasion?
I would definitely have Evil One by Roky Erickson. He’s a psychedelic rock icon and the album was made in the mid-to-late 70s. It’s obsessive about horror movies so the song “I Walked with a Zombie” is on there. “I Think of Demons,” “Creature with the Atom Brain,” “Bloody Hammer”—it’s got a really dark, brooding, post-apocalyptic vibe. I think it also would have… Pain of Mind by Neurosis. There’s something so dead-on about it for me, if I’m in a post-apocalyptic world. It’d be a real life told-you-so moment for Neurosis. They really hit the nail on the head with this one.

Is there a particular song suited to slaying radioactive mutants?
I would say anything off of Integrity’s Season in the Size of Days. There’s something about the breakdown in “Rise” that seems appropriate. I want to be listening to that on headphones when while I had to take out hordes of mutants.

Sunset Overdrive gives you a fully-stocked arsenal of deadly and unconventional weapons. If you were trapped in a sporting goods store and your weapon choices were golf club, a shovel, or nunchuks, what one weapon do you choose and why?
Nunchuks because when I was a little kid and I was 6 years old, there was a construction worker in the house next door (in 1986). I went and got his autograph because I had never met someone with nunchuks before and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I don’t think he was that good with the nunchuks either. He was probably just some guy who went to a headshop on Yonge Street and bought a pair of nunchuks for 50 bucks. And also, what is an adult doing walking around the city with a pair of nunchuks?

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If you had to push one Canadian music celebrity into a horde of mutants to save yourself, who would that be?
Probably Kevin Drew because he’s my friend and I’d make him understand it’s cool because I’ve got kids. I’d be like, ‘I’ve got to save myself, dude. We’re homies, so you know I have kids. You made a record about having sex with other people; I’m making a record about having sex with my wife from now on. I’m not saying it isn’t worth it, but it might be.’

Say you had Sunset Overdrive’s High Fidelity gun, which fires vinyl records at your enemies and lets you hear songs on them playing as they fliy through the air. What albums would you load into the gun and why?
I want to say “Freebird” but they used it in that Rob Zombie movie Devil’s Rejects… just because I picture the Fabulous Freebirds just walking into the ring, ready to kick some ass. It’s super obscure, but there’s this band called Harrier. They were like this British hard rock band from the early 80s. It is something so over-the-top awesome that would be incredible if guns were going off while the record played. The song is “Shine On.” It’s like the song that was meant to be playing in the Top Gun jet… and I say that as someone who has never actually seen Top Gun. But it’s a super ballad-y song. I’d want something slow and epic playing. Like I like Hatebreed, but I wouldn’t want Hatebreed playing in that situation. I’d want something kind of slow-mo—explosions going off and some guitar-ballad rock. If I’m going out, I’m going out with this in the background.

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In Sunset Overdrive, you’re able to join with up to seven players to take on challenges with your Chaos Squad. If you could have any three Canadians from any point in history join your Chaos Squad, who would they be and why?
I would have Marc Emery because he’d bring the good weed. I’d have Joey Keithley from DOA because he invented the term hardcore… that dude cut his teeth playing punk rock in lumber camps in the BC interior: nothing probably makes you harder. And Anne Murray! She’s been Canada’s punching bag for far too long and I think she deserves some kind of comeback on my team.

I really have a diverse group of people, man. Also I’m saying Anne Murray—on the surface, it looks like she might be the weak link, Marc Emery being someone who’s survived prison and Joey Keithley who’s cut his teeth touring the world. He played in Poland under the Iron Curtain type thing, and was a part of the first band to do that. But Anne Murray, she’s going to have skin like an alligator. She’s been taking it from people for so long.

Which of your physical attributes would prove most valuable in a post-apocalyptic world?
Probably the fact that I’m bald, because no zombies could pull my hair and keep me from escaping.

Which of your secret skills or hobbies would help you survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland?
Well I’m pretty good at yo-yos. I actually beat Jack Black one time in a yo-yo battle. I have it on videotape but MuchMusic never aired the clip. If we ever put up a Fucked Up DVD, that will be the entire selling point of people buying the DVD—watching me beat him in a yo-yo battle.

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What’s your favourite energy drink and would you drink it if you knew one of the potential side-effects would be turning you into a blood-lusting ghoul?
Well I had a problem with energy drinks, so I try to avoid them now. Once I had seven at a VICE party. And it was sponsored by Red Bull, so everyone was drinking Red Bull and vodkas and I don’t drink vodka, so I slammed a bunch of Red Bulls. So I’ve got a problem after that night. I don’t know if it’s my favourite, per se. I have a plethora of favourites to keep away from.

Which fictional characters would you draw inspiration from in your quest to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland?
Ash from the Evil Dead movies. Bruce Campbell—in addition to having a remarkable chin, had a chainsaw for a hand in Evil Dead 2: Army of Darkness, which is the first thing I’d want to have happen in a post-apocalyptic scenario where you can really justify chopping off your hand and having a chainsaw there instead. I think I’d have—I don’t want to call them fictional because wrestling is real to me—but Bruiser Brody, rest in peace, the last true outlaw of professional wrestling and a guy who took no shit from no one and walked around with a chain. And then I’d probably draw strength from Ripley from Alien. Her determination made her survive even in the fourth movie where she wasn’t even herself anymore, she was just a clone of herself.

How would you rebuild the old civilization? Where would you start?
I’d probably start somewhere that was temperate all year round that had optimal growing conditions. So I’d probably go to BC. Also, you’d have to find a crop that has a quick turnover that also cleans radiation out of the soil that also gets you high. If you could find that plant, I’d probably plant tons of it. If only we knew a plant that did that.

The apocalypse has robbed you of everything you hold dear in life. What is your motivation to keep living?
Revenge—at that point, I’m going out swinging. That’s the thing: when you have nothing left to live for, that’s it, revenge. When this whole Fucked Up thing goes away, that’s going to be my next thing: voiceover in movies.

Sunset Overdrive is available exclusively on Xbox One, October 28, 2014.