PropertyOfZack sat down with Tom Gabel of Against Me! not too long ago for a brief interview in New York City. Tom and I discussed the band’s tour with Lemuria and Screaming Females, updating dates on Warped Tour and with blink-182, and future music. Read up and enjoy!

Against Me! are currently out on tour with Lemuria. How have the dates been so far?
It’s been great. We’ve been out for like a week now, and Screaming Females are out here as well. The shows have been fantastic and everyone really gets along and makes it a good fit.

Is the band playing any of the new tracks off of the 7” yet?
We actually just put “Occult Enemies” into the set list the last show we played in Brooklyn, and I think we’re going to play “Russian Spies” tonight, but this is the first time that we’ve really played them.
POZ: Was it fun just to mix up the set a little bit?
Tom: Yeah, I mean, we try to mix it up every night. We’ve reached this point as a band where no matter how many songs we put in the set that it always comes out to be an hour and ten minutes. We’re playing like fucking thirty songs a night, and you can rearrange them, but those are a good amount of songs.

How has it been having Lemuria and Screaming Females out with you?
Oh it’s been great. I’m a huge fan of both the bands, so it’s good to listen to them play every night.

Following this tour, the band is doing a pretty major run on Warped Tour this year. The lineup is half older and half younger, which is how it always is, but are you excited to get out there?
Totally. Lucero is on the tour, and we just wanted to hang out with them all summer.

Is it tough to pick the set for that tour for Warped?
We did it in 2006 and 2008, and since then I know that they consolidated it to one main stage so every band has 40 minutes instead of 30 minutes. At least that’s a little bit more time. A 30 minute set is only like ten songs for us, so it’s definitely nice.

The new 7” comes out next week and it was recorded at the last sessions at Smart Studios. How was it closing that studio out?
I really wanted a chance to go in there. We had done vocal overdubs there before, but I wanted to actually record a couple songs there. It was great to be able to hang out in Madison during that time because there was so much happening with the protests at the capitol erupting. It had a fun vibe.

White Crosses was also the last on Sire. Are you happy with how things ended with the label?
I’m definitely thankful for all the opportunities we had while we were with the label, but I’m definitely glad to be going our own way now.

Against Me! just released Total Clarity on Fat Wreck Chords in late-May. Was it a cool release to do even though all the demos were already out there?
That’s kind of what that’s meant to be. It’s meant for people who are already familiar with the album and want to hear how the songs go in all the different shapes that they took.

All your new music will be on Total Treble Music. When did you decide to go your own route instead of signing?
Well, when we ended our relationship with Sire/Warner we didn’t really know what we were going to do. We had a couple of options, but none of it seemed right or exciting. It felt predictable. We’re not the only band to do something like this, but it feels a little scary in a good way.
POZ: It’s not a new start, but you’re on your own now.
Tom: It is a new start in a lot of ways and we are on our own. We still work with other people, but it’s definitely exciting. RED has a lot of assets to use too that a label would provide.

Is the band open to releasing music from other bands?
I’d love to expand it to other bands, but one thing at a time [Laughs]. We don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves.

Has the writing process for new music started yet?
Yeah, I’ve been writing for the past couple of months.
POZ: Are there plans to hit the studio this year?
Tom: Hopefully. I want to build a studio when we get done with the touring. The plan this fall is to build a studio while we finish writing and record it by the end of the year and New Year.
POZ: Would you be open to be producing other bands in your down time?
Tom: Yeah, I’m actually producing the new Cheap Girls record.

The big last tour of the summer is with blink and Rancid.
It’s going to be fucking awesome. I’ve waited my whole adult life to tour with Rancid. I think it’ll be a ridiculous cap to the summer. These three tours bleed into each other and they’re a ridiculous row of things to do.

Will there be fall touring?
We’re trying to get over to Europe before the end of the year, but probably not anything else in the States. We will be playing The Fest in October. We’d like to have the album out sometime next year.