Tom Gabel (of Against Me!) Interviews Chris Hannah of Propagandhi

Tom Gabel (right) of Against Me! recently had a chat with  Chris Hannah, co-founder of Canadian punk band Propagandhi, while playing the Harvest of Hope festival in Florida. In the conversation below they get into the nitty-gritty of recording Propagandhi's new album, promo demands, (not) making music videos, and much more.


After being a fan for the past decade I finally got a chance to see Propagandhi live when my band played with them on March 7th at the Harvest Of Hope Festival in St. Augstine, FL. I was not disappointed; The band played a great set, and it was all for a very worthy cause. I encourage everyone to check out both Propagandhi’s new album “Supporting Caste”, and what The Harvest of Hope Foundation is all about .


TOM GABEL: Which vegan mayo substitute do you prefer? “Veganaise” or “Nayonaise”. Or is there an amazing Canadian version that I just don’t know about?

CHRIS HANNAH: Veganaise is more subtle and perhaps more usable in a wider variety of situations while Nayonaise is more immediately satisfying to those with the palatte of an infant. I am a fan of both.

TG: Do you have any allergies we should be aware of?

CH: I am morally allergic to animal flesh and their reproductive secretions. I am also allergic to penicillin, so I always make sure to ask people if they are on antibiotics before I kill and eat them.

TG: You have a new album out called “Supporting Caste” and your previous album was called “Potemkin City Limits”. Why is the song “Potemkin City Limits” on the album “Supporting Caste”?

CH: If you had heard the version of the song "Potemkin City Limits" that was originally intended to appear on the record of the same name, you would nod your head vigorously in understanding as to why it was ultimately shelved until a later date. Wow, did it STINK. It is good now.

TG: This is the first time you’ve recorded with  Bill Stevenson, correct? What made you want to work with him? Were you a fan of any particular records he has produced/recorded or a fan of the bands he has been in?

CH: We had mixed “Potemkin City Limits” with him and Jason. We tried mixing it ourselves and in the process almost ended up committing suicide, so they really bailed us out with an emergency remix in the 11th hour. That was part of the reason we thought things might be a good fit: they are methodical whereas we are not. They are professional whereas we are not. They know what they are doing whereas we do not. The other important factor was Bill's deranged, over-the-top flatulence.

TG: How was the record made? Do you demo songs before recording? Did you look to Bill for opinions on song arrangements? How long was the actual recording process and mixing?

CH: We're always open to opinions, but we generally go into recording with pretty much everything worked out already, although Bill was really, really helpful with vocal ideas. We spent 3 weeks on the record in total, which sounds like a lot of time, but sure doesn't seem like it when you're in the middle of the nightmare. I think Bill and Jason were shocked at how bush league we were.

TG: What was your guitar set up for this album? Did it change from song to song? Has it changed much over the years?

CH: Jason (Livermore) plugged me into a stack of what seemed like about 97 amps, turned a couple dials and pressed record. I'm not too particular about guitar tones to be honest. Anything in the ballpark of loud and heavy is good enough for me. My philosophy is that things should sound "good" and only good. If they sound "great", something is probably out of balance. My favorite records of all time are the ones where I don't notice "tones".

TG: The song “Bangers Embrace”, off of “Supporting Caste”, is that about a particular band?

CH: Yeah, it's about a Canadian band called Sacrifice. For reference sake, they are sort of in the vein of American bands like Dark Angel, Death, Trouble and earlier Metallica. They fuckin' rule. Todd and I went to see them play a reunion show in Toronto a couple years ago and it was one of the best live band experiences I've ever had. They have a new record coming out soon and it's going to school all modern heavy bands on the art of being heavy.

TG: After over 15 years with Fat Wreck Chords what made you decide to leave? I’ve read that it was over conflicting political ideals with Fat Mike. True? And if so how come it took you song long to figure out what his political ideals were and that you disagreed with them?

CH: To be honest, Fat just didn't express any interest or enthusiasm in the record we were making. We asked if they wanted to do it and the only responses we would get from Mike (three weeks later) were some stories about how he was too busy too negotiate the terms because he was gambling in Vegas. Obviously, that is not the level of enthusiasm you want to have behind something you've worked really hard on, so we just thought we'd do it on our own. It seems to have been the right decision too: the record isn't even out yet and the people we work with (at Smallman Records in our hometown of Winnipeg) have managed to generate about a million times more interest in the record than any other record we've ever put out. Mike's a nice enough guy as far as I remember (I haven't had a conversation with him in years) but, yeah, the things he's interested in culturally and politically don't really resonate with me and I knew that back in 1993. Where we come from, money and celebrity don't count for very much.

TG: Which aspect do you hate more about being in a band, doing “press” or taking “publicity photos”?

CH: Having our pictures taken is tortuous as it just adds insult to our already injured self-esteem, but we've actually been getting a kick out of the photo thing lately. (see attached photo)

TG: Having been a band for over 20 years know what have you found to be the most rewarding aspect?

CH: Inching closer and closer to the ultimate sonic vision of the band that we had back when we were 16 and listening to Kreator, Voivod and Nils records has been pretty rewarding. Getting to work at it with your best friends is pretty rad too.

TG: Why have you never made a music video (you haven’t made a music video yet have you?)?

CH: I don't know really. It's just never really come up in any serious way. I've had a couple funny ideas for videos, but they involve thing like William Shatner and stampeding elephants, so they're probably never going to come to fruition.

TG: On what format do you prefer to listen to music and why?

CH: My favorite format was always cassette. I liked the test tones at the start and end of the albums. I liked what the tiny strip of tape did to the high end of the recordings. I liked that you had to work a little harder to find the start of your favorite song on an album (rather than just skipping forward by pressing a button on a CD player or picking up and dropping a needle on a vinyl record). I liked that I could carry 50 of my favorite records to a hockey tournament in Fargo and show them off to my fellow 14 year olds bangers in the hotel room. On the other hand, as far as artwork goes, obviously nothing can compare to the 12" vinyl format. Venom's "At War With Satan" or Possessed's "Beyond the Gates" are great examples of this.

TG: I’ve heard that you aren’t a fan of Myspace, AP magazine, or meat. Which would you rather be forced to do: read 10,000 straight issues of AP Magazine front to back (no skipping articles and you have to examine every picture), answer 10,000 Myspace messages or eat one hamburger?

CH: I haven't seen a copy of that AP magazine since about 2004, but if it were anything like it was back then, reading it would be equivalent to committing suicide, so I might just cut to the chase and shoot myself in the face with a bazooka. I'm pretty sure we have a Myspace page that Todd maintains, so I can't really mount the old high horse on that one. Can the burger be made of people? I might eat it in that case.

TG: Would you rather someone appreciate your band for the merits of the music you make or respect you for what you have to say?

CH: We'll take whatever we can get! Obviously, like everyone else on the planet, we would love it if the whole world adopted our core values and we all lived happily ever after, but we will take what we can get for now.

TG: You played the Harvest Of Hope Festival in St. Augustine, FL. How did you first hear about Harvest Of Hope and what made you all want to be involved?

CH: Somebody from the festival emailed us and let us know about it. It seemed pretty cool as far as festivals go. I don't know of many (maybe any) music fests whose express purpose is to provide emergency services for some of the most marginalized working people in North America (in this case, migrant workers).

TG: Would you rather live without sarcasm or metal?

CH: I could live without sarcasm. I probably wouldn't have much to say for the remainder of my life, but I could live without it!

TG: Which album of yours does Fat Mike like the least?

CH: I'm not sure. I would suspect it would be anything we released after 1993. I remember him having a rather limited musical palette. Anything that didn't sound like a musical cartoon was "death metal" to him.

TG: What is your favorite Weakerthans record?

CH: Ha! Well, I'm only familiar with the two that G7 put out in the late 90's, so I can't really comment with too much authority on the stuff they did after that. I thought their first record was pathologically cutesy, but I remember thinking their 2nd record was heading in an interesting direction. Then I think they discovered pro-tools or something and started making records that were strong on melody, weak on adventure. There's only so much "precious" a guy like me can take in the course of listening to a record. But, obviously, compelling art is a completely subjective experience and clearly I'm in the minority in this opinion. Most people eat that stuff up.