After 4 years of hard band’s work, Eugene, Oregon based rock’n’roll infused punk rockers NOT A PART OF IT are keeping it up and are currently on their US West Coast tour alongside NYC punk act SPIKE Polite and Sewage. We caught up with them in early January to ask them about their recent 4-way split 7” with D.O.A., DWARVES, and POTBELLY, touring, traveling, their favorite events and records released last year, and a lot more. Read the full interview below.
These guys uncage some fine energetic, raw, and genuine and contagiously imaginative punk’n’roll, and you simply can’t miss them if you’re around Cali or Oregon in the coming days.
Oi oi lads! What’s up? How’s Oregon? Lucky to be on the calmer side of the States?
Jason: A lot is going on right now! A lot is up! Oregon? I can take it or leave it. Actually, we’re leaving on a two week tour February 2nd. Calmer? Hey, there’re no power outages and angry storms so, yeah.
Daylon: Yeah, we’ve been keeping busy preparing for our upcoming tour. I didn’t even know about any angry storms, I guess I should be paying more attention!
Jay: Enjoying the sunshine while it lasts for five minutes.
Haha, awesome. Let’s stick to the weather for a while. I often wonder how different local conditions, including weather, affect local art scenes. Do you travel a lot? How would you compare the local scenes you’ve experienced so far and what makes your favorite destinations and their local environment special?
Jason: We tour as much as possible so we see different places. I know that when we’re loading gear into a venue in the rain it’s not fun. That’s not just a problem in Oregon of course. We don’t get very difficult winters or snow here, but when we’re on the road, we’ve had to load gear in a hotel room so it wouldn’t freeze while slipping around on the ice and enduring snot freezing on our noses as fast as our membranes could produce it. That was Wyoming in February. I’m sure the weather has something to do with the art in any given locale. The weather definitely affects my moods. Mood in turn affects art. I’m not sure that would affect my opinion on favorite destinations. We mainly only see the Punk scenes when we travel, but I appreciate what I’ve seen from the people involved in the scenes in Chicago, Austin, and Washington just to name a few.
Daylon: I’m not sure how weather affects art in different areas, I’ve never thought about it. I personally thrive in moderate climates like volcanoes and lightning storms. Being from the northwest, sometimes I go to places like LA, and the air there is so hot and heavy, I feel like I would go crazy there, and in turn I might make some pretty crazy sounding music. We do travel a lot, so we get to experience a lot of different punk scenes. Some of my favorite scenes that I’ve experienced are Seattle, Chicago, and Austin. THAT is an original thought. MY idea!
Jay: Certainly love to travel! We travel as much as we can, really. It’s always interesting to see bands from other areas ‘cause I’m surprised how different some punk bands are from one another. Las Vegas is definitely my favorite destination. There is so much to do there. It brings a lot of excitement on tour!
How about more distant trips? Where’s the farthest you traveled so far? Also, are there plans to take the band overseas?
Jason: The farthest we’ve been is Chicago I think, but I may be wrong. We’ll be on the east coast in June and July and the plan is to go to Europe from there. It’s all in the planning stages right now with one show booked in Boston. You can check notapartofit.com for updates.
Daylon: Actually Jason, you’re wrong. I looked it up and Houston is actually farther from Eugene than Chicago is, and we’ve been there my friend, we have really been there! But you are right about one thing, people can definitely check out notapartofit.com for band updates, and they should too!
Jay: I know these guys (Jason and Daylon) have travelled a lot further than I have. I’ve only done west coast tours, so the furthest I’ve played is probably anywhere from Seattle to LA.
Jason: Actually, Jay, you’re wrong. I looked it up and Las Vegas is factually farther from Eugene than Los Angeles and we’ve been there, my pet, we have quite literally, really been there! That was my idea to say that and an original thought as well.
Ok, so how was 2017 for you guys? Please give us a brief wrap-up of what was accomplished by the band, what obstacles did you encounter and were some of the highlights.
Jason: Well, we were busy so it’s not going to be very brief. Highlights include playing again with our friends CH3 (we have a song called The Shotcaller about them on our “Don’t Let The Bastards Down” record) at Dante’s in Portland. We did a bunch of touring including our “Nine Lives Of The Night Life Tour” which had us heading east to Chicago, then back down through Texas. One notable portion had us going to our friend Jughead from Screeching Weasel’s birthday party in his basement where a lot of great bands played. Dan Panic, also of SW became a friend and will jump up on stage and play drums with us when we play in his area. He’s playing with us on our next tour at our Gilman Street show on February 10th if anyone reading this is in the bay area, we’d love to meet you. We met the artist Paul Russel at the same birthday party who is doing the artwork for our next 7″ which is being mixed and mastered this month (January). We toured a bit with Potbelly, who are good friends of ours as well. We released our second full-length entitled “The Nine Lives Of The Night Life” and released a lyric video for the title track. We were interviewed twice on Flabby Hoffman’s Radio extravaganza, made a lot of new friends and met up with old friends, were interviewed on Kaotic Radio, and of course, releasing the 7″ “Splitwad” on our label Act Out! Records is a highlight. It’s a 4-way split that includes Not A Part Of It, D.O.A., Dwarves, and Potbelly. That’s a handful of what we did but there’s more!
Daylon: 2017 has definitely been a busy year for us. Early in the year we toured out to Chicago and back, and it was a load of fun. During that tour we made a lot of new friends, and we released our latest full-length album, “The Nine Lives Of The Night Life”. We had the albums shipped to Chicago and picked them up there because they weren’t pressed by the time we had to leave for the tour. We’re always working hard on writing new music and recording new material. Some obstacles we faced this year? Well, during our tour, three of us had to go to the hospital on different occasions. Jason sliced his hand open with a shot glass on stage in Oklahoma City! That was definitely a Kodak Moment.
Jay: Lots of new songs and new energy!
We’re still running our End Of The Year feature HERE. Can we use this conversation and drop in your favorite picks? Records, gigs, movies wise. Feel free to give us your honest roundup if you will.
Jason: Okay, well it’s very difficult to remember what was released all year long. I like Not A Part Of It’s “The Nine Lives Of The Night Life” and “Splitwad” releases of course! For movies it’s the same, a lot of movies were released. In my most recent memories, I really liked what they did in “Baby Driver” with matching the acting and movements to music. I also thought “Dunkirk” was really unique. Not just for a war movie, but the style and tone was unique to me as well.
Daylon: I was far too broke last year to buy any new records, haha. To be honest I’m still completely stuck on listening to my favorite records that were released over twenty years ago. As far as last years flicks go, I really liked “Get Out”. I was pleasantly surprised by how well Jordan Peele handled a horror movie, it was really good. Also, call me new-fashioned, but I thought “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” was really good.
Jay: I did buy the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies’ “Zoot Suit Riot” remastered record that came out this year. I’m a huge fan. You can hear the keys more in the remastered than the original. Such a good record! And as far as movies go I thought “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” was killer! Gave me goosebumps watching it. Also, the new Netflix “Jerry Before Seinfeld” documentary was a lot funnier than I expected. Plus the movie had a lot of cool history.
Awesome! Speaking of records released last year, it’s been a year since the release of your last record, but just a couple of months away from that cool 4-way split with POTBELLY, DOA, and THE DWARVES you mentioned. Tell us a bit about this last record, who came up with the idea to put it together and how you feel about the outcome.
Jason: The 7″ was actually supposed to be a split with just Potbelly and Not A Part Of It. The Not A Part Of It song, “The War Is Over” (which you can only hear on the vinyl itself) that ended up on the 7″ that was released, was conceived and written in about 30 minutes to fill up space after the other song on our proposed side. I can’t remember how D.O.A. became involved other than Jason Potbelly being friends with Joey. I remember being on the phone with Jason, talking about the record and him mentioning that Joey was staying at his place that night so he’d talk with him about it. When we booked a Dwarves show in Oregon, we invited Potbelly on the show and Jason Potbelly asked Blag if we could have a track for a record. He said yes, obviously. I think it turned out great. I think it’s a good record that has some of the best songs of each band. It’s available now at notapartofit.com if you wanna check it out.
Daylon: Well, the original idea was to do a split record with Potbelly, and like Jason said, it sort of evolved from there. It’s a great record, and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. Each band’s addition to the split is really good, so it’s definitely worth checking out.
Jay: It was Jason’s idea. I was pretty stoked about the outcome and all the artwork. I actually bought a record player so I could listen to it lol.
Cool. Are you ready to pop up with some new tunes? Give us some insights on your recording plans.
Jason: The recording is already in progress for our next two releases, starting with a 7″ and followed by a full-length. We’re mastering the 7″ on 1/31/18, a day before our next tour begins. For the full-length, we have most guitars and drums recorded, but we’re going in tomorrow to add 4 songs. After this upcoming tour, we’ll go in and finish the tracking.
Daylon: Yeah, what he said! We’ve been working diligently on these upcoming releases, and I’m very happy with how they are turning out.
Jay: Yes! I will be recording 4 songs for the new record. Been practicing a lot to get them down solid. Some fast, and some a bit slower but real catchy.
Gig wise, you have a handful of shows announced for February. Give us some details on that. Also, will there be more touring in 2018?
Jason: We’re on tour with Spike Polite & Sewage NYC for half of February. We’re playing up and down the west coast, Reno, and Vegas. The dates are all available to see at this location. We will be on the east coast in June and July. You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook and check notapartofit.com for those dates. They’re not up yet so please keep checking back.
Awesome! Ok, so what else are you looking for this year? Feel free to wrap it up and recommend some cool records, shows and other stuff you’re excited about in 2018?
Jason: I’m just excited to put out these new records, keep writing and touring. I’m looking forward to meeting new friends on the road so come to a show! I don’t like being redundant, but the best way to find a show and keep up to date is to check notapartofit.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Daylon: Like Jason said, it’s hard to not be excited about everything in 2018, with so much going on. I’m looking forward to making new enemies on the road, so come to a show and hassle me already!
Jay: Really looking forward to this tour in February! Also, my other band Abandon Shoe is coming out with our second record this year. Has a lot of variety from soft gushy love songs to faster hard punk beats. Also excited for the new Godsmack album lol. Yes, I’m still a fan and always will be. One of the few bands I was a huge fan of since I was a kid that are still coming out with new records. 2018 should be a good one.
Cool. Thanks so much for your time guys! The last words are yours.
Jason: Well, now that the cat’s out of the bag and our Punk Rock street cred is shot, I’m really looking forward to the new Korn album and I think I want to be Celine Dion.
2/2 Seattle, Washington The Funhouse
2/3 Olympia, Washington Le Voyeur
2/4 Portland, Oregon White Owl Social Club
2/5 Boise, Idaho Liquid Lounge
2/6 Reno, Nevada Hideout Lounge
2/7 Las Vegas, Nevada Evel Pie
2/8 Pomona, California Characters Sportsbar
2/9 Los Angeles, California First Street Pool & Billiard Parlor
2/10 Berkeley, California 924 Gilman St. (featuring Dan Panic from Screeching Weasel playing songs with Not A Part Of It)
2/11 Crockett, California Toot’s Tavern
2/12 Sacramento, California The Colony
2/13 Redmond, Oregon Di Pizza
2/14 Eugene, Oregon Sam Bond’s Garage
