No Age played its first show just two years ago. Were you expecting things to take off as quickly as they did?
Well, not really, but we did sort of design things in such a way where that sort of thing would make sense. I mean, we started making posters and stickers and stuff before we played a show and put them around town and sent them to friends. The design was provocative enough and the name catchy enough that you kinda had to look at it and say, "What is that?" So to speak, we came out of the gates running.
You guys got your start at The Smell, which is really more of an underground community than just a venue. What are some of the other bands that came up there that you admire?
Early on, long before we were a band, there were "Smell bands," like, from 1999 to 2003. Really great bands like Godzik Pink, Young People, Uphill Gardeners, even the Get Hustle. They were on a slightly arty-er tip, and those bands really influenced us when we were younger. We started the band WIVES and started playing the Smell a lot, but WIVES were sort of the first band that was younger and came from hardcore instead of an avant slant. We were like 19, and the other guys were all in their mid-20s at the time. Now there are bands like Mika Miko, Abe Vigoda, Mae Shi, Health, Silver Daggers that are all doing great.
How has the success of the band impacted the workings of your independent record label, Past Present Medium?
It has brought a bit more attention to it, but honestly, not much more. I was already doing okay with the label and I am glad it is still underground. The best thing is that I got a distribution deal with Touch and Go, which has been amazing so far. So I have been able to step it up as a label person.
What was your goal when you launched the label? Is there anything you wish you would have known about trying to sustain a small label before starting out?
I just wanted, and still want, to put out records by friends. It is sort of how I can collaborate with them on a different level. I love music, and I love vinyl, so it just sort of made perfect sense. When I first started, I made mistakes and learned from them, so I am glad I didn't know everything. I still really have no clue what I am doing.
In a Los Angeles Times article earlier this summer, you talk about performing on a TV show sponsored by Snickers. You're both vegan, so just before you went on air, you wrote "Go Vegan" on the guitar. Do you lose any sleep worrying about how your music might be connected to companies that have agendas in conflict with yours?
That is a tricky one. It would be easy for us to not play things that are corporate in any way, but we look at those things like a challenge. We started the band not to just play to the same people over and over, but to challenge and discuss. So we enjoy talking to people we would have never had the chance to before. The Snickers thing was lame, so we reacted how we thought we should. But we were on MTV, and they are running McDonald’s ads on there and that was disgusting to us–but at the same time we have been in magazines that advertise this sort of thing and cigarettes too. So we take it as [being] in their court for a quick second.
We do not like the companies, nor support them, but like I said before, we enjoy a challenge and like being on the other side–like a spy or something. We don't do Clear Channel shit and we have turned down a laundry list of companies who want to give us money for crap, like Mountain Dew and Hot Topic. We feel good not taking their money.
No Age recently appeared on Pete Wentz's new, live MTV show. Was that sort of a surreal experience? How did the kids in the crowd react?
The kids in the crowd loved it–they were told to love it and cheer. It was very funny and we felt odd and great at the same time. Especially since we could really care less about being on MTV.
Sometimes people discount the Los Angeles music scene as somehow less exciting or innovative than, say, New York's. Yet you've chosen to stay here. Why?
We are from here. I would never leave. Maybe New York is more exciting, but I mean, is disco punk really more exciting?
What do you learn about yourself after spending months on end--and in the back of a van for 14 hours at a time--on tour?
That you need to shower every day or you will stink. And that you really miss home.
In a recent Pitchfork interview, you said that you admired bands with concepts, like Black Flag or Nation of Ulysses. If No Age had a concept, what would it be?
Have fun. Be yourself. That would probably be it. If you aren't having fun and you are trying to be someone else you are doing something wrong.
