Cause it’s just kind of meaningless after a while?

Yeah. If there was a word that meant more meaningless than meaningless…I would say that word right now.

Yeah, just like…devoid of feeling. But all your songs are very much like sex, drugs and rock n roll…

Yeah, cause I haven’t wrote some new lyrics in a while. Nah, I still got some in my phone. But I dunno, there’s a reason why more songs are written about one girl than five girls. I wish I kinda knew that already, and didn’t have to learn it myself.

It’s probably all part of the rock star’s journey.

I guess…I dunno, it’s a dying breed.

Well it’s like MGMT, you know, their first album was like get some models for wives, we’re gonna be rock stars…

What a bunch of badasses, those two. I saw them in New York on accident, I went to some hip New York bar and I was outside, and I just looked over and I saw them and I just had the biggest smile that took over my face, and they just smiled at me, and we just smiled at each other…and then I was like, that was enough. It was another situation like, what do you say to these people. I’m sure our songs do the same for some kids that their songs did for me. Their songs got me through so many days…it was just nice to see them. That’s actually super creepy. All I wanted was to smile at them.

Yeah, that’s awesome. I saw them in Boston and the crowd was ridiculous, it was so many bros and they only knew the really popular songs…

Yeah, I love that they play “Siberian Breaks” at every show. It’s like 15 fucking minutes long, I’m sure there’s a shitload of people that don’t recognize what a fucking masterpiece that song is.

Yeah, I love that song. All their psychedelic fuckin’ trippy songs.

Yeah it’s weird that I love that shit so much cause I usually hate trippy psych-rock bullshit, I really don’t care about that too much, but something about how they do it I just love so much. Yeah, those two fuckin’ guys. So cool.

So who else would like to meet or see or whatever? Your biggest idols these days?

Individual who had the most influence on me in wanting to become some sort of musician or whatever would be Tyler, the Creator. That was like in high school, that’s the only shit I would listen to. I think when I first heard Goblin, I was listening to it all day, every class, over and over, just would not acknowledge that I was in a class. I was taking too many amphetamines at the time but I was like no shit…they’d be literally taking out my headphones and I’d be like no, you don’t understand how important this is right now…he was just speaking to me. He was cutting class to record songs and now the whole world gives a shit about him. And I was like why the hell would I not do that. It made no sense that they were like, no you can’t listen to that song right now, there’s a class going on. It’s like no, this is so important right now, at this fucking moment in this classroom. I have to keep listening to this. Until they would try to take my iPod and I would just have to leave, just walk.

I was spending so much time hiding in the library and walking in the halls and avoiding confrontation…or leaving school, it was just so repetitive and I was just like, it had to be done. I had to leave forever. There was no other way my life was going to work out the way I wanted it to. I was telling my counselors just straight up like “let me try, I’m gonna try real hard…” I was like, so serious, cause I was a little serious-ass kid. “I don’t care if I die next to a garbage can.” I was telling her sick shit, like “I don’t care, I just want to try so badly I’ll die on the street.” She was the sweetest lady, she was pregnant and she said she was going to tell her baby about me. She was really sweet and she helped me cheat the system a lot, and I had to tell some teachers to get the ok for me to drop out. We had just gotten signed to a small label. Originally the plan was to go out to LA and do it out there, and then all these labels came out to Chicago to see us here. So then it kinda fucked with that, cause then there goes my California dream. Your dream just came to you. So now I’m just gonna keep rotting.

So when did you drop out, your senior year?

Yeah, halfway through. It was the same week I signed the signature for our first album, I did the papers….cause that’s just proof right there, you get a small label, this is how you hear it happens. That’s when I realized it was all possible cause it was sitting right in front of me. I thought everyone was so crazy that they didn’t think it was so possible. Like, that’s nuts, you can’t just go to California and do music, you know how many people try to do that? And I was like yeah, it sounds pretty crazy but like, these people who are based there really think that we’re okay, and then, you know, other people thought we’re okay too. And then we did that album with them, and then big giants, big giant old white men, with big stacks of money in their pockets…

They came and found ya.

Naw, they love us, they’re all interested.

So what do you think is different about you guys, that so many other bands try and fail…

Nothing.

Nothing?

Nothing. Uh, we try, and now we’re alright. Everybody should try, you know. Give it a try. But uh, I think we’re a regular rock n roll band that has things looking up for them. And I don’t know why, we’re a regular-ass rock n roll band, we make rock n roll music and nothing really separates us from other people doing the same thing, but I think that’s fine. Like a lot of critics and stuff saying like, “it’s not groundbreaking,” it’s like no shit, it’s rock n roll music. 5 kids trying to make rock n roll songs. When did that become so uncool that you can’t review it as that, like it can’t just be looked upon as good rock n roll music.

You know, it’s seriously getting too fucking crazy — like you can’t be renowned unless you’re this crazy fuckin’ thing with this weird-ass name, from a weird place. Maybe that’s why like, the Replacements never…you know, they deserved it, they busted their ass but they’re just some white Midwest dudes making rock n roll, when’s the last time that shit worked out, [Cheap] Trick and stuff?

Unless you have a certain demographic, like I guess there’s Fall Out Boy and shit, but that was all like fucking emo kids. At our show maybe there’s a few kids wearing black eyeliner — hopefully, yeah, that’s fine, but they’re not all in the same thing from Hot Topic, they don’t feel like a breed of people. Our shows, half the people have fuckin’ kids, and half the people are their kids, and it’s just crazy, it’s not just like a breed. You see a bunch of Fall Out Boy fans or whatever, that looks like a clique from high school. And that’s not the case with us at all.

Yeah, you guys have more of a broad appeal with your sound…

Which I’m super fortunate about, cause you know it’s real easy to be like the hip band and your fans are too good for their own shit, and then they forget about you real quick because some super important blog found the new thing and there goes all your fans because you were only the new thing. I don’t even want to be called a “new band” anymore, like up-and-coming Chicago band. We’ve been playing shows in the city now for a few years, so we could just be a band, you know…

Yeah, I mean this was your second album.

Yeah, and before that we made two other albums that were never picked up, they were like training albums. To figure out how the fuck you do this, how you make a record, and that’s really the secret—to make a record, you just make records. So I don’t know, the answer’s within the fucking question. Try to make a piece, and that piece’ll probably be kinda shitty, well, your next one probably won’t be that shitty, and then you just build on this pile of shit that you’ve created until one of em shines a little bit to somebody else. But I dunno. That’s just now. That’s just how it is now. Who knows.

David Letterman really seemed to like you guys.

Yeah, I dunno…I think he was just so fuckin’ bored. He was probably just bored as shit all week, with people playing on laptops, he probably forgot that instruments existed. I heard that week was slow, maybe some acoustic acts or something. Maybe we were just fortunate to catch him at that time. Maybe if we played after the Foo Fighters had a, what’s it called, a residency there, and he was seeing guitars and basses and drums all week, maybe he wouldn’t have been so excited.

I heard he likes interesting rock bands, I guess.

He seems like a cool dude though.

Everyone really talked about your first performance there. That probably helped you get a lot of attention.

Yeah, I just wanted to fuck it up a little bit.

Yeah, I liked it.

Like, don’t stress man, it’s fucking TV.

Do you find you perform differently when you’re doing that kind of stuff, or is it kinda the same?

The thing about that was that I was completely sober. Super stressed out, on the verge of a fucking panic attack since I woke up that day. You know, this is it, man — this is TV, make or break. Break a leg, you’re on fucking TV! So I was stressed out the whole fuckin’ day. But if you watch that, and could somehow splice that into a video of our set in some random town, and we were all shitfaced, you know, it would look like that. That’s what it would be. So I feel like in that sense I really did what we are justice.

[“Who Needs You”] used to be not so big a deal in our set, it’s worked its way towards the end now. I really don’t care about what that song is about at all, any of those…I’m glad I got that out of my system though. A few years ago, you’d hear about how for artists it was a huge thing, a political approach, a movement, like Conor Oberst and shit like that. And he’s like a good dude, cause he’s good at that and he knows how to do it and I totally respect that, but that was just me trying. So that’s what happened. But I don’t want to do that for a long time.

Do what exactly?

Just do anything political ever. I can’t watch fucking CNN, maybe the Daily Show, maybe Colbert Report. But other than that I just can’t fuckin’…I got my own problems. It’s kinda shitty but there’s so much shit going on in the world, like—do you know how lucky you are, you know that shit’s exploding in the desert over here? And it’s like dude, this girl doesn’t like me though. Like what the fuck, this kid’s getting his hands blown off and this girl doesn’t like you, but to me, like…I grew up in a nice place, that’s me getting my hands blown off, you know? So I’m still worried about stuff like that. You know, the girl that still doesn’t like me, that’s a big deal to me still.

Well, what I really like about you guys is really the fact that you are sort of this almost apolitical entity…

Everyone says like “be so aware,” you know like—I’m still young as shit right now. We have to throw down on a gram, we have to smoke some weed or else we’re gonna be bored. Or that’s how it was for a long time for me. “We need another case, what the fuck is going on in this world? We just ran out of beer.” While some kid gets shot in the head by a fucking sniper across the ocean, and I’m worried that there’s not enough beer in my hand. I didn’t grow up in a fucking desert so it’s just hard for me to like…it doesn’t hit me. Maybe I’ll watch a movie, you know, and that’s the closest I’ll get to…maybe I’ll watch American Sniper. Is it out?

I think it’s out, I’m not sure.

I’ll probably go watch that, it looks good. I like Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper seems like kind of a douche but I’ll give it to him, I’ll go see the flick. Maybe I’ll really feel something and for an hour after I see that movie I’ll really feel for them. But then I’ll be like “yo where’s the beer at? Where’s my friends? I wanna listen to music and fuck around.”

I think that’s what’s great about rock n roll though, that escape.

Yeah, I still think that there’s nothing wrong with that.

It’s an escape, you know. You guys were like fuck you to the system, I’m gonna drop out of school, I’m gonna be a rock star…I mean, I came from an area where they’re like you have to go to a fuckin’ fancy school if you’re gonna succeed and it’s like no, there’s so much more to the world.

Yeah, I saw older cousins go into a lot of debt and I saw how it just bummed them out so much. And I was like what if I just don’t go into debt. What if I just avoid owing people thousands and thousands of dollars. And then…I still owe my mom some money. But if I went to college, my mom would be totally fucked right now. Maybe not fucked, but they’d still be working and I want them to retire as early as possible, cause they busted their asses spooning Gerber into my mouth when I was hungry, so they deserve to chill out now.

Yeah, that’s good. Well I’m glad they’re proud of you and what you’re doing.

Yeah, they’re great.

So are your siblings coming to the show?

Yeah, I got a little brother. Not a little brother, he’s got like a big-ass beard now. He’s like 19. Yeah, he’s a little wild one, just like I was. Was, I’m not too wild anymore. But yeah. We have a great relationship. And I lucked out, cause a lot of kids have families that go south really quick, and I still got mine. So like, isn’t that enough? “You should be so fortunate for the food that you have,” and like dude let’s get real, I’m not gonna starve but it could be worse, you know, my parents could be divorced, my little brother could hate me…you know like, fuck the food, I’m used to eating when I’m hungry. There’s nothing wrong with knowing what you’re actually functioning for, instead of like “oh there’s a roof over my head,” well no shit, I’d have rain on my face right now…just common things like if you grow up that privileged, you see the other things that are really great, like family always being there. You know, it doesn’t have to be so primal. Like caveman shit, like “we have fire.” Yeah it’s fuckin’ cold, put the heat up, but I’m glad you’re here. That’s cool with me.

Well that’s great, it seems like you’re pretty humble considering where you’re at.

Yeah, right?

I’m sure what people say about you…

Yeah, what people think…I could write a dirty, dirty book about what people think. Waste of energy, right?

Fuck the haters.

Yeah, it’s okay to tell them to fuck themselves once in a while. I just got so fed up with people being able to reach me, like negatively. I’m guilty of that too but sometimes it bums me out that somebody has the power to just be like “hey fuck you” and you just see that on the Internet. So I don’t read comments and shit, like I’m gonna read something that just says fuck you, I’m an asshole because I’ve never had a conversation with them, you know? And then like, whatever—you don’t like the songs, that’s fine. It’s a product we created. To come at somebody as a person, like “I don’t like your art,” that’s okay. “I don’t like you as a person cause you’re a cocksucker,” like no, I’m not, or I see a lot of like “I like this band except that this guy’s a dick…” Okay then like the fucking band and shut the fuck up. It’s so unnecessary.

Yeah, I get kind of pissed, cause I saw some comment that was like “he’s a misogynist, blah blah blah” and I was like, with your taste in music, you really like female performers, you clearly have this emotional connection…

Their voices are even more powerful to me. My male ears are so receptive to like, the songbird. Yeah, you know, I do regular gentleman stuff sometimes, pay for meals…they’ve gotta pay sometimes too though, it’s gotta be fair. Unless somebody is like outwardly negative off the bat, I’m pretty good about being an okay person.

Well you seem to be one, so that’s good. Well I’m pretty psyched to see you guys perform tonight, tomorrow…I’ve been missing your shows all year.

That’s okay. This is a great way to see us. Big ol’ venue, lotta space, great slot, great time of year too — people are so cooped up, once an opportunity comes to have an experience somewhere, it’s a good time for the winter. Especially because people are sitting around so much when it’s cold out, they listen to a lot of music.

Yeah, I mean Spotify is great. Unless it fucks with your royalties, I dunno.

Yeah, it fucks with my money, but like, that one day I just sat down and listened to Angel Olsen’s Spotify for like 5 hours, and like, every song she ever made pretty much, on repeat, that was a great day to me. And I was stuck in a van and it was shitty outside, and we were just rolling across the country. I remember that, it was a super emotional day. I was just really, really listening to it. And if it wasn’t for Spotify I couldn’t have done that. And then the next day we were playing a fuckin’ in-store in Nashville and I bought everything she ever made. Like physical copies, I bought everything. I bought the vinyl and CD versions so I wouldn’t have to wait til I got home. So I could just put it in the CD player. That was money well spent.

If it wasn’t for that fucking website, or app, I wouldn’t have been able to get that, and I don’t know what kinda day I would’ve had if I didn’t have that to do. If I had nothing to listen to, and maybe I thought about something really shitty…but like, I dunno, now that’s one of my favorite artists. And how would I have heard about her, I don’t go on Pitchfork, I don’t know who’s killing it right now, and I probably wouldn’t have known who this girl was. And she’s just fuckin’ awesome. And I got to get that out of something that’s stolen my money, I get to get back at — it’s better than money. Almost.

Conversation turns towards merchandise and me trying to get backstage to meet the rest of the band. (I should have just asked to meet them in the hall itself since that’s where headlining bands hang out during the openers.) I tell him about how my friend and I used to dick around in her boyfriend’s band’s green room at their concerts.

Green rooms are not the happiest places usually.

We did pee in Deerhunter’s bathroom so that was pretty cool. I was pretty excited.

That’s cool. I shit in the toilet that Julian shit in, where they recorded Is This It.

That’s like a connection if you ever meet him.

I’d be like do you remember that toilet when you guys were recording, you probably shit in it all the time, I shit in there.

That’s perfect. Good opener for when you meet your idol.

Ah, I guess I’ll use that, I don’t got anything else to say to him.