CRAVIN MOORE: Ryan Young of Off With Their Heads, when are you playing in Bremerton, and where?
RYAN YOUNG: I don’t know. Sometime in March? I can’t keep any of this stuff organized. I know it’s at The Charleston and it’s going to be fun.
CRAVIN: So this tour is in celebration of 20 years as a band. Is this the longest job you’ve ever held?
RYAN: I guess I’ve never looked at it that way, but yes. Most definitely. I’ve definitely wanted to walk off the job a few times, but mostly figured it all out.
CRAVIN: What other jobs have you held in order to hold your job as the singer for Off With Their Heads for two decades?
RYAN: I was a house painter for the first few years. That was awful. Then I just sorta decided to live on the road full time making $5 a day. Once that finally drove me insane, I started Anxious and Angry and built that into something that kept me busy and put a roof over my head. That’s literally all I’ve done my entire adult life.
CRAVIN: OWTH is currently on tour as a two piece band. I’m a big two piece band fan so that really caught my attention. Over the last let’s say 666 days, has OWTH done more two piece shows than anything else?
RYAN: At this point, probably. I like rolling light.
CRAVIN: Something else I find attractive about two piece OWTH is that you are playing baritone guitar. Did you have to relearn your own songs to play them on a baritone guitar?
RYAN: I did. It’s tuned to drop A. It actually somehow sounds more full than when we play with a bass player.
CRAVIN: Is the two piece lineup a day to day habit or do you see the combo continuing? Maybe overseas, like say over to Europe?
RYAN: I’ve never enjoyed playing in this band more than as this current version of it. We are most likely going to pursue this setup in the future. It sounds cool. It’s loud. It’s got the energy. Fuck it.
CRAVIN: I think of Minneapolis and Chicago when thinking of OWTH. Your Midwest cold is the equivalent to our Northwest rain. A lot of Northwest bands carry a cloud of both depression and/or harshness in their writing because of that. Is your writing affected by growing up in the Midwest?
RYAN: I’ve heard that before. It’s probably a factor. It also makes sense why there is a strong Midwest / PNW connection. We are all gloomy and miserable. However, most of my songs are based on the super fun generational traumas that nobody seemed to really want to deal with. Now that I’m old, I know that and just act accordingly.
CRAVIN: The band The Hold Steady have a line in a song, it says: “I didn’t know that much about it, I knew Mary Tyler Moore and I knew Profane Existence” when speaking about Minneapolis. Ryan from Off With Their Heads, what can you say you know about Bremerton?
RYAN: I know there is a ferry there and it’s up on that stretch of land that somehow hasn’t broken off into the ocean yet. That’s about it. Also… that sounds like a Hold Steady lyric.
CRAVIN: OWTH plays everything from small house shows to huge open air festivals. In the case of Bremerton you are playing an old theater from the 1930s that is now an all ages punk rock venue. That being said… You just played your 48th state out of the Lower 48 states. What was that state, and why did it take so long to get there?
RYAN: Mississippi! Not really sure why it took so long to play there. I’ve always been one to try and get everywhere I can before my heart explodes. So it was really great to finally do that. Lot’s of cool people hanging out at that show. It was a skate shop with a bowl. All ages. Kids and adults. Felt good.
CRAVIN: Besides OWTH you have an online store anxiousandangry.com. Give us a quick description of Anxious and Angry?
RYAN: It started as just a way for me to side hustle a few tee shirt designs. Then it grew into a podcast which now has 330 episodes. I slowly grew Anxious and Angry into some sort of record label for myself and a few friends’ bands AND a merch store. I even carry about 1000 LPs ranging from Helmet to Fleetwood Mac and Phoebe Bridgers. It’s like my own little record store in my apartment.
CRAVIN: Besides OWTH and Anxious and Angry, you also have a screen printing shop? What’s your screen printing shop’s name, and what do you do there?
RYAN: It’s kinda combined with Anxious and Angry, but that division of it is called Fourth Shift Printing. It’s Kevin (OWTH bassist) and I. We do all kinds of things for small businesses, bands and supply everything for our own website. It’s a good place to work. I try and keep it organized, but ya know.
CRAVIN: Ryan, thank you for taking the time to sit down with us, and sharing all the stuff you are doing. We at Smokestack Free Press thank you for coming to Bremerton, and we thank you for choosing to play at The Charleston Theater. I would like to end this with a personal question, that is if you don’t mind… What is your favorite Nick Cave record and why?
RYAN: I don’t know if it’s even possible to pick a favorite. None of them are the same. At all. How do you compare things that have nothing to compare? He’s an interesting guy. I’ve always thought his world view was pretty fascinating. The first record of his I ever heard was Murder Ballads, so that definitely has a place in my heart. It’s all so goddamn moody and dark. Gotta be in that right mood. // CRAVIN MOORE
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS stops in Bremerton on their 20th Anniversary Tour March 10 at the Charleston. Tickets and more at thecharleston333.com, more OWTH at offwiththeirheads.bandcamp.com and anxiousandangry.com
