The Weakerthans

The Weakerthans are one of the latest bands to come from the Winnipeg punk scene in the past several years. They sing about day to day living. About the boredom and alienation that comes from working day jobs under bosses ("Ten to six or nine to five / Trying, dying to survive / Never knowing what survival means"). About personal relationships and the barriers that we put around ourselves and each other ("Maybe some day the lies we've led around will crawl under our beds and sleep off the years.")

In person they're quite soft-spoken, without any pretentious rock star posturing. I spoke to singer John Samson and John Sutton, the band's guitarist and bassist, during the soundcheck before their gig with DOA at the Starfish Room.

Peak: I've got to ask, where did the name The Weakerthans come from?

Samson: It comes from a movie adaptation of a novel by Margarite Durat called The Lover. The scene is, this man's in a restaurant and someone challenges him to a fight. He says "Go ahead, I'm weaker than you can possibly imagine."

I always thought that if I was looking for a band name I would use that. Band names in general are pretty dumb. So that's the least dumb we could come up with at the time.

Peak: To what extent are you guys a product of the Winnepeg scene, that environment? There seems to be a lot of that influence in your music.

Samson: I think to a great extent. We've all played in bands in Winnipeg for the past ten years or so, off and on.

Peak: The publishing blurb that came with your CD said that you're already being courted by major labels.

Samson: That's a bit of an exaggeration. A guy gave us a card and said he was interested or something, I don't know, I didn't talk to him for very long.

Sutton: That's probably just hype generated by the label.

Peak: They said choosing [G-7 Welcoming Committee Records] was the worst and nicest mistake you'll ever make.

Samson: [laughs] There are a lot of reasons we went to G7. I like the way they run their business, the politics of it. It's a collective and they push a lot of radical ideas just through being a record label and working the way they do. We have a lot of control over our band, over our record. That's incredibly important.

Sutton: I would assume that their drive as far as popularity would be... not really falling into those major corporate sponsorships. Just taking it on your own terms, playing music. If people like it, fine. That's what it comes down to.

Samson: Yeah, having realistic expectations... We've all learned that after being in bands for so long. You know, we're not going to be stars. We're not very interested in that and I don't think it's possible.

Sutton: It's way better than getting a job at whatever doing whatever for whoever.

Peak: I'm interested in the whole punk rock connection, here. How did you guys end up playing with DOA?

Samson: The guy who booked our tour got us the shows, it should be pretty interesting. I never actually listened to them [laughs]. I've never heard DOA. [scolded kid's voice] I feel ashamed. I was listening to the Beatles in high school.

Peak: Listening to your album Fallow, my first impression was 'Wow, anarchist musicians who aren't punks. What a concept.'

Samson: It certainly wasn't a conscious decision, but I think my politics show in the lyrics as much as they ever have. I try to write honestly and I think anyone who writes honestly can't help but reflect their understanding of the way the world works. And that's what politics are.

Some people that we've encountered on this tour seem to think that my politics have some relation to how fast and loud my music is. Which I find incredibly insulting and actually kind of disgusting, because I think those people are living in a ghetto. They ghettoize themselves.

I have no interest in being in some punk rock boys club. Not that I ever really was and not that Propagandhi ever was. But I think that happens and I don't want any part in it. But a lot of punkers, a lot of people who define themselves as punks have been really receptive and open to it. The people I relate to and care about accept that this is the kind of music that we make.

Peak: So there hasn't been much resistance in the Winnipeg punk scene?

Samson: No. It's a really close knit musical community and political community.

Sutton: That's the joy of a smaller city. There is no such thing as a punk scene in Winnepeg, there's just bands that happen to sound like whatever sort of style. But they're still going to watch a band that doesn't sound like that the next night.

Samson: I guess a good example is [that] the Anarchist Black Cross often comes out and tables at our shows. I love that because you draw a different crowd than most hardcore bands do.

Peak: So I've been using the word anarchist a lot but you call yourself more of a libertarian socialist.

Samson: I guess so. I've just been scared off the term because it annoys so many people. And also just the work I've doing in Winnepeg. I started a radical publishing house right after I left Propagandhi about two years ago. It's called Arbeiter Ring Publishing.

We try and publish leftist, activist, useful books and one of my big concerns is city issues. Issues that relate to me directly. I've been working a lot with people who don't even know what the word anarchist means so I stick with "progressive." Though I relate to a lot of anarchist thought.

Sutton: I guess I'm a big fan of taking your self and removing it from the obvious problems with capitalism, and try and think every time you go and buy something "I'm buying this grocery from this store because it's a collective or co-op run." That type of thing. I'm pretty strong into my idea of how to eat and how to consume things.

Samson: Just how to live your life.

Sutton: Yeah.

Peak: Are you guys vegetarians or vegans?

Samson: Yeah, John and I are vegans.

Peak: Your lyrics really seem to emphasize the personal aspects of politics. What do your politics mean for you on a personal level, in terms of how you relate to each other as a band or just as people?

Samson: As I said before, I think all honest writing is political and I try to write honestly. I think this record especially, Fallow, is about the city of Winnipeg and a lot of it's about struggle for people I know and people I don't know to survive under capitalism and how essential an issue that is.

Peak: What do you think of this whole Chumbawamba thing that's going on now?

Samson: I think Chumbawamba are wonderful. I think they're an incredible band. I think politically they're brilliant. You should visit their website. It's one of the best websites I've seen. They do a huge feature on a different revolutionary every month.

Peak: My jaw dropped when I heard Chumbawamba all over commercial radio, number one.

Sutton: I think it's pretty interesting what they're doing. I don't know if it's a little game they're playing. Just seeing how far they can push through the corporate ladder or something, cause they're on TV commercials now. You can buy beer listening to "Getting Knocked Down."

Peak: They were on Letterman a little while go.

Sutton: I just want to see how far they can go and it's kind of amusing for me to see how much they can do it.

Samson: I think the message is still entrenched in their music and I think it's great.

Great for them and I think great for, you know, middle- America, middle-Canada. Great for Nowhere, Saskatchewan where you can drive into the gas station and listen to Chumbawamba. It's incredible--I think it's a fluke but it's great.

Sutton: It's the same reason that I want to make a video for country, CMT or whatever it's called. [laughs] Just by chance it would get huge and we'd be country music stars or something.

I would love that and people would buy the record and go "oh wait, this first song is pretty cool but what's with all this stupid rock stuff." [more laughs]

Samson: See, I think, like every situation has it's own uniqueness. It could certainly never happen to us.

Sutton: It could! [laughs]

Samson: It couldn't happen in the same way, and... it wouldn't.

Bassist: Yeah, [chuckles] I guess not.

Singer: Any closing, inspirational statements, John?

Bassist: Uhh.. inspirational. [long pause, then laughter] Yeah... down with the whatever-archies, man.

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