Brian Baker interview from Mix Tape Webzine by Shawna Kenny - Feb 2002.


Brian Baker has played guitar with Minor Threat, the Meatmen, Government Issue, Dag Nasty, Doggy Style, Lickety Split, Junkyard and Ric Ocasek, among others. Recent reports have him rockin' out with Bad Religion and dropping big dollars on "rock-n-roll" clothing in Urban Outfitters. Here's what Mr. Fancy Pants has to say for himself.


ARE YOU LIVING BACK IN DC NOW?

Yeah, they say you can never go home but I don't believe that. I left LA in '95. I joined Bad Religion and did a couple of tours and realized nobody in BR really lived in LA anyway, and that basically all I needed to do was be near an airport, so I chose the airport closest to where I grew up. Now here I am in Washington.

WHY/WHAT THINGS DO YOU MISS/LIKE ABOUT LIVING THERE (IN CONTRAST WITH LA)?

Weather. The lack of fire, famine, riots, earthquakesthe fact that people here don't believe the entertainment industry is real life. Some sense of history, architectureBasically the east coast is just where the smart people live. Everyone likes LA at first but I lived there for nine years and the last three were just a living hell. It was a total overload, and I had the option of just running for the hills like all my friends do, overpaying for something just to get out of Hollywood, which I thought was just ridiculous, or going homeso I went home.

WHAT'D YOU THINK OF THAT DANCE OF DAYS BOOK?

In general it's pretty accurate, it's just really not pleasant being reminded of what a prick you were as a child.

DO YOU THINK YOU WERE A PRICK?

I was a total asshole. I'm well aware of that. My therapist and I have dealt with this many years ago and it just was a little interesting to be portrayed as a villain. The guy who wrote the book is a local person. I could never stand him. There were certain problems-I was never interviewed for the book and it says that I was. If I wanted to make a big deal about it I could get all hostile and in fact, it's not really that important. The book as an overview is relatively accurate. Ya know, I just think the guy's an ass.

WHICH ONE?

Mark Andersen. They're both asses but Mark Andersen's the real one. It's interesting being told about what my motivations were in making music by someone who moved here about 5 years after punk rock started. That sort of attitude bothers me. But generally I think it's best not to start a hate-mail campaign or busily writing songs saying how awful a person Mark Andersen is. He lives his own life and good for him.
It pissed off virtually everyone who's in the book. Interesting. I haven't seen Mark Andersen around lately. I'm not sure why.

IS IT WEIRD HAVING THREE GUITAR PLAYERS IN THE BAND?
No it's cool! I really like it. It's pretty punk, like "there are no rules-there can be three of us." Obviously I was thrilled with the fact that Brett's return didn't mean I had to leave. They made great pains to point that out immediately: "It's cool-no no-don't go!" It's cool to have him on the record and realistically we don't know how much touring Brett can do because he does have this little independent label to run, so I'm confident there's gonna be times when he's not gonna be able to come and so it's gonna be kind of a free-floating thing. I've been in the band now seven years and nothing surprises me anymore.
Our first shows live will be the KROQ acoustic Christmas.

ARE YOU A METALHEAD?

I consider myself metal-savvy, but not a "metalhead."

FAVE BANDS?

That's a tough one. My favorite singers are George Jones and Merle Haggard. The Damned is my favorite punk rock band. I haven't been listening to any new stuff at all. When it's time to listen to music I usually listen to something not in direct competition with the Bad Religion thing. I get enough of that at my day-job. I'm really mired in mid 20th century country music-type stuff now.

ARE YOU SELF-TAUGHT ON GUITAR/DID YOU EVER TAKE LESSONS?

My parents are kinda left-wing hippie parents. I got a guitar for Christmas when I was seven, so I took lessons for like three or four months at first, and that kind of set me on my way to playing Beatles' songs out of the Beatles songbook, and then I kind of went out on my own after that.

DID YOU ALWAYS PLAN/KNOW THAT MUSIC WOULD BE YOUR CAREER? WAS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANTED TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?

There was nothing else I wanted to be, but I didn't realize music was my career until about 10 years after it was. I just kind of always was doing it and I would have jobs when I needed jobs and switch to a cheaper group house if I didn't want to get a job, and justI kind of just floated through life in a real no-college slacker-ish kind of way and eventually I realized I was actually doing this for a living. It wasn't really a living but it was my "thing." I play guitar and that's what I do. I didn't find that out 'til about like '88, when I just started to realize that this is what I'm doing.

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST PUNK SHOW?
Oh yes. My first one was the Cramps and Teen Idles at the Ontario Theater in Washington in probably August of 1980. I remember it distinctly almost as if it's on a tape loop. The most insane thing I'd ever seenthe reaction of the people around me in the audience is what was so memorable for me. I didn't really pay as much attention to the bands as, like, "wait a minute-everybody's hitting each other but they're not REALLY hitting each other. They don't hate each other!"

THIS IS EXCITING!

Yeah-"this is exciting, but it COULD be dangerous!" I was learning the ropes.

WHY STILL PLAY IN A PUNK BAND? (considering you've played in metal ones and were asked to play w/R.E.M.?)
'Cuz this is the most fun you can have playing music. The tangible energy that comes back at you when you're playing this kind of music is unlike any other audience I can think of. I don't know if I'd have the same visceral experience if I was on stage watching a bunch of loping deadheads kicking a fucking hackysack around. There's this intangible quality punk rock has based on the idea that between the band and the audience the division is not supposed to be there. Of course there is one because there's a bouncer issue, but the theory is what makes it work. There's nothing more fun than doing it. That's why I'm doing it because it's really still fun-not just saying it, it really is.

DO YOU STILL CONSIDER YOURSELF PUNK ROCK?
No, I don't know what I consider myself. When you get to be my age, you don't think things like that. I consider myself to be a poker-player and a motorcycle enthusiast.

WHAT KIND OF MOTORCYCLES DO YOU HAVE?

Two-a new Suzuki SB650S and a '68 Triumph Chopper.

IS THERE GOING TO BE A DAG NASTY REUNION?
Yeah-we're gonna do a record. I just got back from a demo studio. I was working on songs for it today. We are supposedlyunless there's a paperwork issueI don't know how much I'm supposed to say or not but we're signing to a relatively well-known independent label and we're gonna do a record I'm gonna record in early January. I don't have a name for it yet. It will be the original line-up much like that Epitaph one we did in '91Four on the Floora one-off that we did where all the original members got together. We don't have any plans to tour or anything like that. The creative process in making a record with these guys is great because they're old friends and we really like to do this once in awhile, but somehow I think dragging the carcass out on the road might spoil things. I don't want to defeat the myth because the myth is a lot bigger than the actual product.

WHICH SINGER?

This would be Dave Smalley. I guess Shawn is the original singer, but I'm thinking about the originalthe first record. No disrespect to Shawn who, uh, does live here in DC.

HOW HAS SEPTEMBER 11th AFFECTED YOU?

It's really tough living in Anthraxia over here. It's incredibly disturbing as I'm sure it is to most people. You know, it's hard to imply things have been hard for me when I have so many people who live in Manhattan. The way it's affected peoples lives there is more far-reaching than Washington. But I have to say it's pretty weird driving by the Pentagon, which I go by every other day in my general business of being Brian, and there's a big hole in it. And the Anthrax stuffI'm not paranoid and I'm a little realistic--I don't think I'm gonna get it from my email, and I'm not gonna spray my mailbox with Lysol because I really don't think I merit special hand-delivery, but it is pretty weird. My girlfriend lives on Capitol Hill, behind the Capitol, and I live in front, so you have to go through this gauntlet, and it's so eerie to have the extra security and office buildings closed. It's incredibly unsettling. Imagine if someone was really pissed at us and really wanted toI definitely have thought about how nice it would be to live in Vermont.