Against Me! Singer Gets Advice From The Boss
Against Me! have gone through a lot of changes in the last few months, including leaving Sire Records and playing with new drummer Jay Weinberg. Lead singer Tom Gabel says that he learned to ignore critics with the help of The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen.
Gabel said Against Me! came from a scene who will turn on a band as they get more successful.
"We come from a scene that's been super-critical of us -- we're the sellout band or whatever," he tells Spinner. "That's just the way it is, from the punk scene, from the DIY punk scene. You kind of severed those with the choices moving forward in life, so there's no going back because those people won't take you back. The only way they'll take you back is if you let them browbeat you, shove it in your face and make you feel guilty about the choices you made in your life that had zero effect on them."
A lot of Against Me! fans (translation: music snobs) complained about the group when they released their successful 2007 album New Wave.
"Right after 'New Wave' came out, I exchanged a couple of e-mails with Bruce Springsteen," Gabel continues. "He came out to a couple of shows and I mentioned this subject in one of my e-mails and he replied to me talking about when the Clash's second record, 'Give 'Em Enough Rope,' came out, and how so many critics and punks were up in arms about it, how it was such a change in sound and all that. He was talking about some of his experiences he had with his music and he said Bob Dylan told him, 'You get busy living or you get busy dying,' and that's always been his attitude about it. Getting that e-mail from him, it's definitely something I've carried with me for sure."
It must be nice having Bruce Springsteen as your own motivational speaker.
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