Interview: Fake Names
We didn't really have a plan or a goal. It just kind of happened on its own momentum, like so many things in rock history
Fake Names, the brilliant band with a simply immense punk rock pedigree who feature guitarists Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion) and Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace, The Faith), vocalist Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, INVSN, The (International) Noise Conspiracy), bassist Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside) and new drummer Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket From The Crypt, Off!) have just released their new album Punk Ruins and it’s a storming album from start to finish, packed full of vital energy and harmonies that will be stuck in your head for days. Gavin Brown had the pleasure of talking to Brian Baker and hearing all about Punk Ruins, Fake Names and his life in punk rock, one that is stronger than ever today.
E£D: The new fake Fake Names album Punk Ruins has just come out. How excited are you to be to be back with this album?
Brian: Oh, incredibly. I mean, the whole reason we do this is because we’re really great friends, and we don’t live in the same cities. To do anything with Fake Names is a time to hang out. And as you get older, all the friends you had when you were kids, you saw all the time. It’s just the life has changed, and this is an opportunity for us to really to spend time together, not only playing and recording, but also, we have the record out, so everyone’s on the phone, and all the the group texts are all blowing up. It’s just awesome.
E&D: Is it a challenge with everyone being spread out geographically?
Brian: Not really. It’s not a problem because you just go and rehearse a couple days. We start our tour in Sweden in January, which may not be the smartest thing we’ve ever done. But who said we were smart? We’re gonna go a couple days early and make sure we can still play. I mean, I do this with bad religion. We don’t live around each other. It’s easy.
E&D: The track ‘If You Could See Me Today’ opens the album. Is that a reflective song for you and the rest of the band?
Brian: I think it’s mostly for Dennis because these are Dennis’s words, but I think it just describes a journey, It’s like how different you are now than you were as a kid, but all the core elements are still there.
E&D: How would the kid just getting into punk rock see you now doing it after so many years and being in so many bands?
Brian: I don’t know. I mean, the kid getting into punk rock now, the ones I know don’t care about our old bands. They like new things and interesting things, and I think that’s so much cooler than just being into the early good stuff. I think it’s really exciting that punk is still as vibrant and original as it is now, as it was then. It’s still vital and urgent, and it has nothing to do with Minor Threat or Void or Faith or any of that. They’re doing a new thing. So I hope they think we’re cool, but I realise we’re not in the same. It’s still kind of dad rock to them. I get it.
E&D: Are you still checking out for new bands?
Brian: Every chance I get. I live in a small town, and there is an amazing punk scene here, and I go see bands at house parties or at restaurants.. Most of the stuff I go to, they’re not venues. It’s a church or a meeting hall, just like it used to be, and it’s all very DIY. It’s really exciting to see this energy coming from people who are teenagers now.
E&D: Can you tell us about the cover artwork for Punk Ruins?
Brian: Yeah, the artwork came out of nowhere from this awesome dude Callum in New Zealand, who totally understood. He just heard our record and produced this thing that looked like art school to me, but kind of a 70s, 80s art school. It just reminded me of a language of art that was perfectly in tune with the kind of music we’re playing, and it just reminded me of old Factory records. It looked like a New Order record or something from the north. It’s definitely not London, you know. It just had this cool vibe, and it was great. It was his first shot. He’s just like, “Well, how about this idea?” We’re like, “That’s it”. There were lots of other artists, and the label was doing a great job trying, like, try this and that. People kept sending us pictures of safety pins, and it’s called Punk Ruins but we don’t mean literally, like Sid Vicious. But Callum got it, so we’re very lucky. It looks cool as shit.
E&D: What led you to call it that?
Brian: “Punk Ruins” was the band name of some guys that we grew up with. Punk Ruins basically became Iron Cross and Gray Matter, these great DC bands. It was our friend Dante, who’s still my friend. I went to school with. I think Punk Ruins started when they were like 11 or 12 years old, and it was Dante and Mark from Iron Cross and Jeff from Gray Matter, and that’s how long they’ve been friends. I was doing a talk with Michael Hampton and Mark Haggerty from Gary Matter, and Punk Ruins came up in the talk, and I’m like, that would be the best name for an album title. I said it right in front of Mark Haggerty, so I knew it was set. I’m taking your band name to be the album title, and he was like, cool man, whatever! So that’s where we got the title, and it just happened like right then. We’re like, God, what a great title, and it just it speaks to the era, and also it’s kind of a props to our friends.
E&D: You’ve got a new drummer in Mario. How are things working out with him?
Brian: He’s well, he’s fucking Mario. He’s great. I’ve known Mario for a long time. Bad Religion toured with Off! maybe fifteen years ago, and I think that’s maybe the first time I met him. When we were going to do this new record, Brendan was on our last record, but his band is doing awesome. The Messthetics. He’s really busy, and couldn’t come and record. Fake Names is kind of a collective anyway, so we’re like, okay, well, Brendan can’t record. Who should we get? Michael Hampton went, why don’t we call Mario? And I’m like,, that’s a great idea. And like everything Fake Names, we called Mario, and Mario’s like, oh yeah, I’m free. I’ll do it. Just the old network of friends from all of these years, so we got Mario, and he’s really, really great.
E&D: Was it always an idea to be a collective. Like, if someone’s busy with another band, you could call in someone else to play?
Brian: I think so. I mean, this is a serious band, and we want to go play and do great stuff, but it’s not full time. Everybody’s got other bands and other jobs, I’m not that worried. If I couldn’t make a tour because I had to do something else, I know three dudes who would take my place, who would be great too.I think it’s the same with everybody. Maybe we would still got to have Dennis. It’s always the singer, you know. You got to have the singer, but the rest of us definitely. If something came up, but the goal is of course to be together, so we’ll see.
E&D: Are you looking forward to to going out on tour in the in Europe and the UK early next year?
Brian: Yeah, I mean, we’ve never been. Our band kind of started during COVID, and all of our early plans just went away, so it’s nice to be able to get there. This is just the first time we’re testing the waters. We have to do a proper UK tour. It was really about schedule and how much time do we have where we can get over there and get back home? But hopefully we’ll be back later in the year because I’m such a fucking Anglophile. There’s so many places I want to play, so many record stores to go to. It can’t just be London!
E&D: How did Fake Names start as a band?
Brian: It was Michael Hampton and I. Michael’s one of my oldest friends, we’ve known each other since kindergarten, since we were like six. Michael was living in New York City, and I moved up to New Jersey, which is pretty close. I moved to an hour away from Michael in 2016, so now we lived near each other enough to just go up and have lunch, it was an easy drive. We started writing songs, just because it was something to do. We used to write songs when we were 8/9/10, years old. It was just a natural thing. We didn’t have a singer or an idea for a band, but we just started to make music, and started to just record stuff ourselves. And Johnny Temple came in, another guy we went to high school with, and it started to be like, you know, this is getting pretty good. We should probably try to make a band, and that’s really how it started. We didn’t really have a plan or a goal. It just kind of happened on its own momentum, like so many things in rock history, they work out pretty much at best. So it’s all been letting it just happen on its own.
E&D: How did Dennis come aboard as singer?
Brian: Well, I knew of Dennis and Refused because of The Shape Of Punk To Come, and Dennis was on Epitaph, and that is a fucking foundational record from that wave after mine. But the main reason we knew Dennis is that Johnny knew Dennis, and I was playing Riot Fest in Chicago, and Johnny was there too, and Johnny is in, of course, Full Side and Girls Against Boys, and Dennis was there playing and basically, Johnny and I met Dennis outside of catering, and I just said. hey, you want to try singing for the band? We just asked him right then because we didn’t have a singer, and he was a singer, and he’s a Swedish rock star. We were line, Look at this dude! He was really fun and cool, and we sent him a tape, and he’s like, “Yeah, I’ll do it. Again, just this same kind of accident. We weren’t thinking, let’s find Dennis Lyxzén ? We just ran into him!
E&D: It’s serendipitous!
Brian: Yeah, that’s that’s the correct word that I didn’t have in my brain. Yes!
E&D: Fake Names are obviously a punk rock supergroup, it has been said. Who would you have in your ultimate punk/hardcore supergroup?
Brian: Well, I think I’m in it! Pretty much! If there’s some way to get Captain Sensible on third guitar, I’d be into that because there’s still a lot to learn from him. I wouldn’t mind adding a little of that that to it. But in general, I think I could not ask for more than the superheroes we’ve announced. What I really want is to find a better word than supergroup. But I can’t. We really tried. When we first came out, we’re like, “Don’t say supergroup. This is lame, we’ll think of a better term”. Not only we couldn’t think of one, now I’m just like fuck yeah, it’s a supergroup! I’m just accepting, just taking it, living it, because I can’t think of a better way to put it. If anybody can find a better term to describe a collective of seasoned veterans, I would be happy to use it!
E&D: Has melody always been a big part of of the music of Fake Names?
Brian: Yeah, If there was any goal at all, it was we were making music that sounded like music we liked to listen to, that crosses a lot of spectrums. There’s some stuff that sounds like early hardcore. There’s stuff that doesn’t sound like that at all. Some stuff sounds like The Cure. It’s very weird, but of the whole thing, think melody is the unifying factor, and Dennis too. He’s been in tons of bands, and the band he’s most known for is the one where the vocals were the least melodic because with Refused, he’s singing, but he’s singing on a different type of plane, just a different intensity, and he really wanted to try to get back to where he’s finding melodies and doing things. I think that the juxtaposition of his lyrics, which are not really sweet or pretty at all, but the nice harmonies that he uses is what makes this interesting. It’s fun to sing about smashing fascism, and you can whistle as you go along.
E&D: What have you got planned with Bad Religion going into next year?
Brian: We’ve been trying to do a record for a long time, and we’re writing, but in our case, it’s got to be great, or there’s no point. So the writing has been slow, but also we’ve found out that if we don’t kill ourselves on tour, we have a lot more fun. If we don’t play a hundred shows a year, if we play like thirty, it’s such a joy. I think when you’re a band like ours with Bad Religion where we’re in this age group, no one wants to go see a bunch of old dudes who don’t want to be there. It’s just lame, and you got to respect what it is. Bad Religion needs to be joyous, and we are really enjoying the shit out of it now that we’re not playing as much. You know, we have shows for next year. We’re going to definitely get a record recorded next year, but just trying to enjoy it and not break it is the main thing now. The band’s been together for what, forty six years, which is a miracle-and so it can’t feel like a job. It has to be something that you love, and we’re trying to keep that relationship healthy.
E&D: Do you all still love it?
Brian: Yeah, absolutely. It’s so great. It’s such a good time, and these are my best friends. I mean, I’ve spent most of my life with these guys.
E&D: Does it feel does it feel crazy that you’ve been in Bad Religion for 30 odd years?
Brian: Yeah! I thought it would be 30 days! I can’t believe it’s been this long, but it’s been a defining experience of my life and the things I’ve gotten to do, the people I’ve met. I’m just incredibly lucky and grateful that I ran into these guys at a time in my life where I needed them, so we’re going to keep doing it until we can, and that’s why you preserve it. That’s why we’re not just going in circles in a van, that’s not the way to do it.
E&D: Will Dag Nasty ever do anything again? You’ve done sort of things sporadically here and there.
Brian: Yeah, I mean, Dag Nasty is always in flux. It’s out there. It’s not over. I just kind of got busy doing other stuff. But I love those guys, and we’ll see what happens. There’s only so much touring a man of my age can do!
E&D: Do you still look back at your time with Minor Threat fondly?
Brian: Well, it’s hard to remember most of it because it was so long ago. But yeah, that was a once in a lifetime experience, and the opportunity. I’m just so lucky to have been at the right place at the right time, so that I could have been part of this experience. Anybody who’s worked with or played with Ian MacKaye can tell you that this guy is a special man, and to have had the opportunity to do that is why I’m talking to you right now, so it’s been an amazing trip, and I’m just incredibly lucky.
E&D: Has a Minor Threat reunion ever been on the cards at any point?
Brian: No, it never was, but if you look at the history of Dischord records, it’s about doing new things. I think that Minor Threat was really a product of its time, more so than many bands. It was such a short period of time. The fact that we’re not minors anymore, there’s that. But after Minor Threat, only Ian and I kept doing other bands. So already, the other guys are focusing on other things. Lyle was in the music industry and is a lawyer, and Jeff is a graphic designer, and Jeff’s running Dischord with Ian, and it’s just, your life changes.I think even just a few years after, it would have been kind of silly, to try to go back and do it. And now, of course, it’s utterly ridiculous. It would ruin everything. There’s no reason for it.
E&D: A snapshot in time.
Brian: Yeah, that’s really it. I think part of why it’s good is that band was together for such a short time that there wasn’t that terrible crossover record. We weren’t out there fucking up the legacy. It just ended at the right time and that’s how it will be.
E&D: You were in Samhain after for a brief period. Was that a cool experience after Minor Threat?
Brian: You know, the only reason people know about was because of who was in the band. Just like many bands I’ve been in that that no one really remembers. We start well, hey, let’s do a band. We start a band. We get together and you try to write some stuff, and then it just kind of doesn’t really flush out, and you move on to the next. The thing is, is that we’re dealing with Glenn, who is a fucking genius. I love him, and I like everything that he’s ever done, so he had this idea for this band, and I was plugging into it, but it was clear that he didn’t really need me and Lyle. He needed his fucking monster guys. I mean, that’s why Samhain worked. It’s entirely Glenn’s vision. So it was kind of like a long audition. It was cool to be involved, but I didn’t really contribute anything. I just kind of the blonde guy cracking jokes in the corner. They didn’t need any blonde guys!
E&D: You were in The Meatmen as well for a while too.
Brian: Yeah, at the same time. The Meatmen is a whole different thing. The Meatmen is Tesco Vee’s performance art, and I bet you there’s been a hundred people in The Meatmen . When we were in The Meatmen, me and Lyle and Graham from Negative Approach, that was in that same zone. When we were first going to do Samhain with Glenn, it was Graham and me and Lyle, and I think we were going to get Chuck Biscuits, but then Chuck couldn’t do it. It all started like this, and then Glenn kind of moved that back to New Jersey, and then Graham had moved to D.C. to be in this band, and we just kind of well, Tesco needed guys to play in The Meatmen, so we went and played with Tesco because Tesco was our friend, and he was cool. I think the point is you might be able to tell no one’s taking any of this seriously. No one thinks that they’re going to be interviewed by a guy named Gavin, fucking 45 years later!
E&D: You couldn’t fathom people eulogising about Minor Threat, Samhain and The Meatmen so many years later back then?
Brian: Oh, dude, no, we were just fucking around. I was kind of trying to go to school, but not really into it. We didn’t think about any of this as something anyone would care about. It was not a career. It was not a job. This is just what you did. We were punk guys, and if you’re in one punk band and that breaks up, you go to another one, and then you go play with whoever needs somebody to play. It was all about a local community. Everyone thinks of Tesco. Tesco was living in D.C. at that time, so that’s why it was, even though many think of Detroit, but he was in D.C. and so there we are.
E&D: How does it feel looking back there, but still being in bands like Fake Names and Bad Religion 40 plus years on?
Brian: If I believed in God, I would say I’m blessed, but I don’t. So I think it’s luck, and I think that whatever it is that I have that gives me the ability to be in a bunch of bands. I’m glad I have it. I don’t know where it came from. It’s still kind of hilarious to me that this has been my journey, and I’m just really grateful that anybody cares. If it’s the people who come to the shows and the people who listen to the music that that’s why this happens. It’s not just because we decide we’re doing it. So it’s just really gratifying to have been a part of so many projects that people respond to.
E&D: Do you still get as excited being on stage and in the studio with Fake Names?
Brian: Oh, dude, it’s exactly the same. It’s so great. It’s adrenaline, but it’s also the collaboration and the gang mentality. We still get that. The jokes in the van are the same jokes from 45 years ago, and they’re still funny. It’s just fucking with each other. It’s great. It’s like a never-ending childhood!
