The Varsity: Why the name “Fucked Up”?
Josh Zucker: It came from a song by the band NOTA and we thought it was a kind of gonzo name for the band and something that would protect us from selling out. And it had to some extent, it has stopped us from doing certain things.
TV: Do any of you get annoyed with your band name getting censored?
JZ: No, not at all. More than anything it’s kind of curious and interesting the way that different people deal with it. The band has been talked about in the New York Times a couple of times and they just call us the band with the unprintable name. It’s great to think about the NYTs’ editorial room and them discussing how they are going to deal with this issue of printing our name.
TV: You guys released Glass Boys in June. Could you describe the recording process and how it was different to your past albums?
JZ: The main difference is that we’ve been more comfortable than we ever have been in the studio. We gave ourselves more time to record and that gave us the flexibility to kind of mess around and experiment in the studio or rush to create something like we have in the past. For creative and practical reasons, we recorded at different studios at different times and we didn’t overhear each other playing or hear the full song until we got together to listen to them to discuss how we would perform it live.
TV: Does recording separately affect the recording process?
JZ: A little bit. When we are writing a song, we don’t think about how we are going to perform it live. We usually just go with what sounds good and write the individual parts and understand that we’ll have to figure out how to perform these songs live, but that’s considered a separate project.
TV: Would you say that Glass Boys is a more personal album in comparison to what you have released prior?
JZ: In a way it is. It is more of a reflective album. We have covered a lot of subject matter and it in many way it is more honest and reflective with things there than on our past albums. I don’t think it’s more personal, it’s more the record where the band talks about themselves and our experience as a band as opposed to people making music about general life experiences. This is more of a musician’s experience as a member of this band, Fucked Up.
TV: Did you feel under any additional pressure coming out of your hiatus and recording this album?
JZ: The hiatus was only committed to print. We didn’t really have a hiatus, it was just more something we talked about. If you look at our show list, we really didn’t stop performing. I think there was some pressure, but there always is pressure when you’re putting out a record. You just always want to do something and put out t the world, you want it to be exactly the way you want it to sound like. We care about the product, so there was more of a pressure in getting things right. Then there is the pressure in hoping that people will like it. But we don’t really let things get to us for future’s sake
TV: Being a hardcore group, you tend to attract audiences who enjoy moshing. How do you feel moshing, do you feel it adds something to the performance or takes away from it?
JZ: It’s hard to say. If we play show and people aren’t moving at all, then we feel like it’s not a good show or something has gone wrong. But on the other hand, and it’s not a punk band and people aren’t moshing but they are moving around and having a good time. The nature of our music kind of has to have people mosh and enjoy the show. You kind of come to see or join a mosh pit at shows like this. Growing up and going to punk shows, part of the excitement is seeing what people are going to do.
TV: You guys are hosting an all-ages show at the Horseshoe Tavern. What is your opinion on all-ages shows in Toronto?
JZ: We try to do all-ages stuff as much as possible, because we went to shows in Toronto long before we were 19 and sometimes we would have to sneak into shows. We’ll always try to do that.
