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Known for songs that are as fresh and punchy as they are short, Seattle-based quintet Fan Club (fka Lysol) makes rock 'n' roll for the devotee in all of us. Ahead of their upcoming tape Another Demonstration, we checked in with band members and housemates Noah Fowler, Anthony Gaviria, and Chad Bucklew to learn more about the band's latest incarnation, touring with The Briefs in the fall, and why they're one of the busiest bands of 2024.
Paperface Zine: What have you all been up to lately? What are you all listening to, reading, or spending a lot of time doing?
Noah Fowler: Currently we are working on writing, recording, and releasing demo tapes. We record our second one tomorrow. We plan to release at least three which should help us lay down the blueprints down for a full length record. I've been listening to MC5's High Time & reading the Gita.
Chad Bucklew: Been blasting The Equals, various garage 45's, and '90s hip hop.
Anthony Gaviria: I've been revisiting Slaughter & the Dog's Do It Dog Style.
PZ: I think we have to address the name change in the room... but hey it puts you in the same camp as Kleenex/Liliput, so it's all for the best! How did you end up settling on Fan Club?
NF: Xtine had been sitting on it for years and was nice enough to let us use it.
PZ: The change also comes with a really strong visual direction that reminds me of the ads in old rock weeklies. Who's behind the graphics and can you tell us more about them?
CB: I do most of the graphic design and yup you nailed it! I pretty much pull all my inspiration from vintage ads, catalogs, and posters. I am still pretty new to graphic design, but it's been a lot of fun experimenting more and more with it!
PZ: What's just the same as ever is how good you guys sound, as evident on the new Demonstration 2024. I love that the whole thing is just a no-nonsense pile drive. What was the writing-recording process like on this release?
NF: I just write the words and look pretty!
CB: [laughs] I mostly write the riffs but we all influence each other and collectively come up with the parts and song arrangements. Musically, we're pretty much inspired by the garage and punk classics. We wanted to keep everything raw, short, stripped down and lean.
AG: We basically wanted the songs to be short enough that they would be over before you can decide if it sucks or not.
PZ: The full stop and start on "I Want The Right" is such a good surprise. What more can you tell us about this track?
NF: Lyrically, it's like a combination of the Dead Boys' "What Love Is" and The Mighty Hannibal's "The Right to Love You."
AG: I was inspired by watching The Hives' show at Neumos in Seattle recently. They stopped and paused half way through one of their songs for literally like three minutes and it was awesome.
CB: We also did that in a Lysol song and it was a lot of fun. We love doing the stops and starts [laughs].
PZ: The whole tape has a very live energy to it. How do you go about capturing this energy when recording? How do you keep it up every time you perform?
NF: Regarding the vocals, I try to record them in one shot straight through to make it feel like I'm actually performing a set live.
CB: We've all been playing music together live for so long and jamming is such a crucial part of our song writing process it would be kind of hard to not capture that approach and energy.
PZ: Can you cue us in on the making of the karaoke-style video for "Exploit Me?"
NF: Xtine filmed the whole thing in like less than an hour or two and edited it herself, while we gave ideas to see what sticks.
CB: We filmed in front of a green screen in our living room before our first show as Fan Club in our backyard without any real vision. Then after Xtine finished the first edit Ken accidentally Facetimed the group chat and surprisingly everyone picked up and on that call was where we decided to lean into the karaoke theme. But yeah Xtine filmed, directed and edited everything and absolutely crushed it!
PZ: You've got some tour dates coming up in August and a longer stretch with The Briefs in November. Anything you’re looking forward to on tour?
NF: I'm excited to see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into!
AG: I've been listening to The Briefs since 2002, so stoked to party with them. We haven't visited the Midwest since before Covid, so I'm excited to meet new friends!
CB: Yeah for real, I am honestly just stoked to start touring again more regularly. Before Covid, I feel like I was on the road almost every other month and it has definitely slowed down since then. I'm excited to start diving back into the lifestyle. Also hyped to see The Briefs every night, obviously!
Demonstration 2024 is out now. Be on the lookout for Another Demonstration coming soon.