Looking for some good solid punk music in the ATL or Athens these day? Check out the band, APOB, and you're sure to be entertained. Fast pounding drums, raging guitars, and dead-on vocals fill the stage at an APOB show. The stage presence and antics between these five guys make it clear that they enjoy playing music together.
We were lucky enough to catch them at the Masquerade a couple of weeks ago. The energy was high and the sound was massive. We caught up with one of their guitarists, Rory Riley, for an interview, take a look:
Q: What inspired you to start playing guitar?
A: I wanted to play the music I listened to.
Q: When did you realize you were listening to predominantly punk music?
A: My record collection just started to mainly consist of bands that were on punk rock record labels like Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph.
Q: How is APOB different than the other bands you have been in? What do you like the most about APOB?
A: The music that we play in this band is the style of punk rock that I want to play. More of the new-school feel to it. Fast all the time. A lot more energy than the other ones. What do I like the best about ABOB? I’d say our stage show, our energy and performing.
Q: Has the dynamic changed since APOB has taken on new members?
A: It’s changed a lot. In the beginning, when they were playing a lot, they were a three-piece. And as any band would say, adding more guitars has made the sound more solid. The new members have definitely helped pick up the energy. We can be a lot more technical now.
Q: Has it made writing songs easier?
A: In the early days, it used to be mostly Cramer (Chris), and Vinnie writing guitar and vocals. Now we also have Dustin and Chip doing there thing to add to the mix (& I started throwing my own little parts into it.) Ten years ago, Dustin and I played guitar together every day. Cramer is doing a great job focusing a lot on the vocals. It’s definitely changed the style completely. I really like the live set and the energy that comes off. The basis to any good band is the song writing and it’s a lot more technical now.
Q: What is your favorite song in rehearsal?
A: It’s hard to say just one. The newer stuff we’ve written coz it’s fresh. It’s always interesting to test new material and push your limits to see what you can rehearse.
Q: What is your favorite song to perform on stage?
A: Anything I can go nuts to. Some of the older stuff is easy to rock out to coz we’ve played it for a while. Basically anything that the crowd gets us moving to.
Q: What band influences you the most to play music? Gets you pumped to play guitar?
A: I would def say Big Wig, which is my favorite band obviously, & NOFX.
Q: What show has been your favorite since being in APOB?
A: A show in March with The Bastard Suns, Karbomb, And So It Goes. It was at Caledonia Lounge in Athens. It was packed out. There was a lot of people, and we were the opener. We played really well that night and the energy we put out was awesome. It really set the temp for the other three bands that played after us. It was incredible an incredible show.
Q: Do you still feel Athens has love for local music and that Athens is still relevant?
A: I would definitely say it’s relevant, and for sure the most musical friendly city in GA. A lot of the clubs are punk band friendly but it’s come increasingly hard these days to re-build the scene to what it used to be.
Q: How do you feel about punk today & how does APOB fit into what you feel punk is today?
A: There are so many stereotypes associated with the word punk now and so many sub genres. With APOB, we just write the type of music we want to play. Put our own personal spin on “punk.” We just take it and roll with it and have a blast. It’s really heavy and there’s definitely some metal influence in it. It’s not just that we’re out to write punk music, we’re out to write good music. There are five people in the band and we all have similar tastes, but there are also big differences too. It’s always fun to collaborate.
Q: One word to describe each of your fellow band members?
A: Cramer - Yankee
Dustin – Dustin
Vinnie – Italian
Chip – Broken
Q: How did covering “Cry Me a River” come about?
A: That was totally Cramer. He had wanted to cover a non punk genre song. I’m sure there was a lot of humor behind it. I mean Cry Me a River was only four chords. The break down was just the same chords, in the same order, just strummed different. I’m not an expert in transcribing the “Prince” of Pop. Isn’t that what they call Justin Timberlake? But now, since Michael’s dead, does that make him the “King” of Pop? I dunno…
Q: Is it true that APOB kidnaps unicorns?
A: Only on the weekends!
Q: What does APOB stand for?
A: Cramer was playing out in the streets with his acoustic guitar, just him. He came up with ‘A Product of Boredom’. I think when Vinnie and him got together they just shortened it to the acronym APOB. And now we just tell people they can make it stand for what they want. Get the fans involved.
Q: In the studio, did you record take by take or did you play together live?
A: The last demo we did was at the Art Institute of Atlanta. A close friend of the band offered to record us for free. It was an opportunity we couldn’t pass on. She practically recorded us live. Cramer, Dustin and I were in one room and Vinnie had his own drum room. We just kept playing the songs all the way through and kept the best tracks. The vocals were laid down afterwards. Of course there was a little doctoring in the mastering stage, but it was a pretty straight forward way to record.
Q: Tell us about the future plans of APOB:
A: I feel like ever since I have joined the band, we’ve been going through a transitional period. I think we are finally at a point where we have settled down and are writing songs. We are definitely going to record and have new music out by the end of the year! Of course there’s plenty of shows in GA to be played plus we will branch out soon and hit some other South East states.
Q: Any final words?
A: If you like punk music, give us a listen, come to a show. If you don’t like it…tell us to fuck off and Cramer will give you your money back!
Come see them play:
------>July 31st show @ Caledonia Lounge w/ Guff and Wrist Bandits. Shows @ 10
------>@ Swayze’s on August 1st w/ We Won’t Stop, The Erratics, and All Left Out shows at 7
------>And @ Swayze’s on August 22 w/ Treephort and Wavepool. =) shows at 7
~Mark&S
