The Returners. Photo courtesy of the artist
Punk’s not dead. Or so I’m told by the many leather jacket patches I inevitably end up standing behind at shows.
But punk definitely looks different than it did in its heyday. Southern California band The Returners is an excellent example of a punk band that’s evolved into a new sound — in this case, punk tinged with psychobilly, death rock and horror punk — while still staying true to genuine punk roots.
In this post-Blink 182 world, it’s refreshing to see a band that not only takes punk seriously, but has evolved it well. The Returners’ sound is richer and fuller than it is sparse and gritty, the band’s admiration of love, death and the macabre seeping into its songs in the form of psychobilly and horror influences. I wish I could find a better word to describe it than ‘epic,’ but that’s what popped into my head over and over as I listened to The Returners’ 2010 album Lost Souls — it’s that rebellious punk energy infused into truly epic-feeling rock ‘n roll.
You can thank Santa Fe Tattoo Parlor for The Returners’ visit to Beaumont this weekend, and I suggest you do so at a pre-show meet-and-greet at the tattoo shop before you head to the PaceSetter to check out what’s going to be a real thrasher of a Sunday night show.
I talked to Returners’ guitar player Jae Rose about what it means to be punk in 2012:
Q I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that this moment in time is not exactly punk’s heyday. Having toured for 10 years now, what does the landscape of current punk music look like? How does it differ — and mirror — punk’s early stages and the years when it really caught on in the U.S.?
A Members of this band have toured on and off for the last 10-plus years now, and have all seen the rise and downfall of punk. It comes and it goes in new forms. The ideals remain the same, while adapting to contemporary beliefs, expressed in newer mediums.
Punk, in the old fashioned sense, isn’t broadcasted or reported by the various outlets of entertainment as it used to be in the late ’90’s, early 2000’s. Record labels such as Epitaph/Hellcat and Fat Wreck Chords aren’t selling like they used to as a result of the ever changing world of punk rock, and in music altogether. The lifestyle isn’t embraced with commitment and dedication as it once was. Everything is quickly accessible, and just as easily disposable.
This is why you’ll see friends who were into punk a couple years ago fully take on another lifestyle almost overnight. Tangible music collections are a joke now. Records and CDs that would have taken many years to acquire and build up can now easily be downloaded overnight — 30-plus years of a musical revolution in an instant, and it’s pathetic.
Independent bands are faced with a difficult task of gaining recognition when iTunes samples can make or break you. This doesn’t derail our faith in what we do, we just have to work harder to demonstrate it to the world.
Q You guys have an old school punk rock sensibility, but what attracts you to genres like deathrock, horror punk, gothic, and psychobilly?
A The band was founded on the concept of integrating punk rock with a gothic vibe, which seemed prominent in the late 70’s and 80’s with bands such as Christian Death (Rozz Williams era), TSOL, Misfits/Samhain and The Damned.
The Returners wanted to resurrect the notion that genres such as punk, deathrock and psychobilly shouldn’t be segregated from each other.
Some bands refuse to stray from their formulaic, stagnant sense of direction, and that’s exactly what it becomes: boring. Exploring punk rock with a different perspective helps us expose ourselves to those with a like-minded view, to those who aren’t quite psychobilly or gothic. Incorporating new ideas influenced from these other genres also keeps us motivated, and sane.
Q Punk, moreso than most genres, is really centered around a certain kind of lifestyle. Do you feel like you live that lifestyle, or any particular kind of lifestyle? Or is the punk ‘lifestyle’ unimportant?
A The four of us live the lifestyle to a different extent. One can stereotype or list off certain characteristics of said lifestyle, but they may not all be applicable to our lives. The four of us are very different individuals united by our passion and our love for punk rock and we show it, both emotionally as well as aesthetically. Our choice in tattoos, piercings, or hair style isn’t gaining us social status by living this way, and we’re okay with that.
Q Do you feel like it’s possible to sustain that kind of lifestyle as you get older?
A We have an outlook on life based around our own individual traits that we associate with punk that keeps us highly involved while the rest of the world is moving on.
It’s easy to say that we all have been centered around punk for at least 15 years, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon, so I think it’s very much possible to maintain the lifestyle.
I can understand one not keeping up a certain look as they get older for whatever personal reason they may have, but still remaining true to their passion for the music and that’s what counts at the end of the day.
Q You say that through its rise and fall, punk ideals remain the same — what do you think those ideals are?
A While my punk ideals vary from the next guy, I think a general sense of rebellion, whatever it may be directed at, is a punk ideal. An outlook where one must question everything fed to us by the media and those in power is certainly a topic touched by many punk bands that everyone should follow, not just in punk rock. Anything else I feel is a personal added trait, whether it’s your stance on religion, politics, human/animal/gay rights, etc.
As long as there is a need for authority, great or small, there will always be a need to rebel.
The Returners, with The Ramblin’ Boys
When: 9 p.m. Sunday
Where: PaceSetter Lounge, 6358 Phelan Blvd., Beaumont
Cost: Free
Pre-show BBQ
When: 3:30 p.m. Suanday
Where: Santa Fe Tattoo Parlor, 4227 Calder Ave., Beaumont
Cost: Free
beth@thecat5.com
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