Against Me! Searching for, and Finding, the New Wave By Greg Pratt Since Against Me!'s humble beginnings as a one-man acoustic act, it's been a long strange journey for the Florida punk band. From being notoriously outspoken about DIY ethics to releasing a new disc - the stunning New Wave - on Sire Records, the group's career has been a tangle of contradictions, all set to an explosive soundtrack of some of the best high-energy, honest, and emotional punk around.

And while the punks are crying sell-out, the band isn't listening. New Wave is clearly its best material yet, featuring 10 succinct songs in a scant 33 minutes. But according to vocalist/guitarist Tom Gabel, the streamlined and straight-ahead tunes weren't a result of major label tampering in the least.

"The focus was just on writing good songs," he says. "Also, we were on tour the whole time the record was being written. For the past two records, a good majority of the songs were approached as a group effort. I would write the lyrics and we'd go to practice and try to work out music for it. These songs, I would write the music or lyrics in a hotel room or wherever and bring them to soundcheck, and be like, 'Here's the song.' So I was very much working out the song in whole beforehand. And a lot of excess fat was cut out during pre-production with Butch."

Butch? Yup, Butch Vig produced New Wave. The man behind Nirvana's Nevermind and the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream is helping the lil'-indie-band-that-could take its music to new heights. Gabel says Vig played a big part in how the songs on the album sound.

"He was definitely like, 'That part doesn't add anything, let's get rid of it,' or, 'Let's focus on that part.' It's a rare thing, having someone you feel that comfortable with in your world when you're in a band. In a lot of ways, it really was like adding a fifth member."

So, now that the album has been recorded with a huge-name producer for a huge record label and the first single - the incredibly perfect tune "Thrash Unreal" - is hitting airwaves, let the criticism begin. After all, this is all a bit elaborate for four guys known for wearing their DIY ethics on their sleeves.

"I think we're just kind of tuned out to it at this point because we received such a backlash from signing with Fat," he laughs. "When we signed with Fat, the backlash from that was completely unexpected. We didn't understand it. So, signing with Sire, predictably some people will be upset and they'll have their clichˇ standpoints and whatever. It doesn't really matter. You become more comfortable with the band you are, the people you are, and it really doesn't have that much of an effect at all."

And one of the conundrums that comes with being an artist is that, unlike the average Joe, your convictions and beliefs are all well-documented. So no matter what life throws at Gabel and his band, and no matter what decisions he feels are best, people will hold him to what he's said in the past, simply because it's on record.

"For sure," he says. "I'm a different person than I was when I was 17 years old, just as 17-year-old me was different from 14-year-old me, etc. I did a 'zine from when I was 14 to 16, and I cringe at the thought of someone reading some of the shit in there and trying to hold it to me now. But I've been fortunate enough to travel the world with the band a couple times and I've seen a lot of stuff and I feel like my views have expanded and grown. But I very much still hold on to all the important lessons that punk rock has taught me over the years."

Clearly, one of the main things Gabel has got out of his punk-rock education is the realization of when it's time to not give a fuck about what people think. And with a record as good as New Wave, Gabel has earned the right to ignore the naysayers. Although he does have one wish - that the disc will get into the hands of the punks crying sell-out.

"My hope is that anyone who is like that ... I want them to hear the record and have to be like, 'Oh, fuck, all right, it's an OK record,'" he chuckles. "Nothing would make me happier than for someone to begrudgingly have to admit, 'OK, it's fine.'"

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