Wade McNeil
Punk’s not dead. It still exists wherever high-schoolers discover their parents’ old Ramones and Clash albums; dusty slabs of black vinyl, tucked away as a reminder of their bygone youth. It still exists wherever guys with perfectly coiffed mohawks and leather jackets, and teenage girls in tight jeans and Vans slip-ons go to drink, dance and escape the monotony of daily life. It still exists in dirty basement venues from London to New York City; their cracked tile floors sticky with spilt beer stains, where amps are piled in precariously high stacks and the floors are covered in a tangle of cords and effects pedals.
Tonight it still exists at the Kathedral, a concert hall located on Queen Street West downtown in the heart of Toronto.
The main attraction on the bill tonight is a punk band called Black Lungs. The band’s lead singer, a man named Wade McNeil, takes to the stage amongst an enthusiastic bout of cheering from the mostly under-age crowd. Dressed in a black sweater and a checkered, collared shirt with a “Creepshow Fan Club” pin on his left breast pocket, and sporting his trademark black bowler hat, McNeil grabs the microphone and begins to sing. His tattooed hands, covered in symbols including a heart and a crown, grip his Gibson electric guitar, while he keeps time with his white, leather shoes tapping on the stage. Between songs, McNeil introduced the rest of his band and cracked jokes about going to see the biopic of the iconic rapper Biggie Smalls, which the audience just eats up.
The band draws their namesake from a form of pneumoconiosis; which according to Wikipedia, is a “chronic occupational lung disease contracted by the prolonged breathing of coal mine dust”. Known as “black lung disease”, it is caused by silica and carbon in the coal dust, and is common affliction among miners. It also is the perfect description of McNeil’s raspy voice; which sounds like the product of too many late nights or as if the singer had been chewing on gravel before delivering his world-weary lyrics.
“People always ask if I’m sick,” McNeil guffaws heartily, as I follow him into a back room of the Kathedral. When I told people that I was interviewing one of the members of post-hardcore Alexisonfire, I received one of two general reactions. From the guys, it was usually something along the lines of “that’s awesome man”. From the girls, it was usually a dreamy-eyed and excited “oh my god, is it Dallas Green?” What they and most others don’t know is that about the Hamilton-born McNeil is also the frontman of his own band, the Lungs, who released their debut album Send Flowers last May. The album features eleven straightforward, honest punk songs performed by McNeil and a rotating cast of fellow musicians, including members of Cancer Bats,Bedouin Soundclash and Johnny Truant. After waiting in the wings while Exclaim! TV filmed an interview (which you can watch here), I got the chance to talk to McNeil about everything from the challenges of stepping from out of the shadows and into the spotlight as a frontman to his past struggles with drinking to what would happen if he got into a fight with Fucked Up’s Pink Eyes.
It’s impossible to even begin to talk about Wade McNeil’s musical career without talking about Alexisonfire. Who could have predicted approximately eight years ago, that the band from St. Catherine’s, Ontario – a city more one day well-known for its parks and waterfront location than for being a hotspot for musical talent – would become one of the most popular bands in Canada? If having song titles such as “The Philosophical Significance of Shooting Your Sister in the Face” or “.44 Caliber Love Letter” weren’t enough indication that their music may not be for everyone, there listening to the actual albums sealed the deal. Their music contrasts the emotive melodies of Green with the tear-your-throat out screams of George Pettipas, rounding out the five-piece with guitarists McNeil and Chris Steele and drummer Jordan Hastings, and was a refreshing breath of air into an otherwise lifeless Canadian hardcore scene. Described by the band as being the “sound of two Catholic high-school girls in mid-knife-fight”, while it may left most parents and anyone else over thirty wondering how this racket could be even considered “music”, the kids couldn’t get enough of them. The band’s upward trajectory was phenomenal; following the release of their self-titled debut album in 2002, they reached gold record certification in Canada (which according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association, is a distinction given to albums selling over 500, 000 copies). Arguably one of the most unlikeliest of bands to achieve mainstream success had – so far in their career, they have had five music videos reach regular rotation on MuchMusic, and have picked up hardware including two MuchMusic Video Awards and winning New Group of the Year at the 2005 Juno Awards.
“It was probably about three years ago, maybe four years ago, we had our first show,” said McNeil, when asked about the beginning of Black Lungs. “At the beginning it was just completely different people, and pretty much a completely different band, different songs. It was just an excuse to play with some punk bands in Toronto that we liked.” At the time, Alexisonfire had just finished a massive headlining tour that had taken them everywhere from Japan to Scotland to the United States and the members had decided to take a break from touring and recording. However McNeil was sitting on some songs that he didn’t feel “fit in anywhere” with the music Alexisonfire was making. So he decided if his band mate Green – who performs acoustic songs under the alias City & Colour – could have a solo project, than he could as well. He rounded up some friends, including keyboardist Sammi Bogdanski and drummer Ian Romano, and recorded what he described as “the soundtrack for punk rockers, hip hoppers, pill poppers, young ladies and show stoppers.”
Describing the fundamental differences between his role in Alexisonfire and Black Lungs, McNeil said, “I mean, it’s just kind of back to basics. With Alexis I don’t really sing that much, so I think it’s something totally new.” Talking to McNeil, it is almost hard to believe that he is a frontman. Maybe it’s his genuine, down-to-earth nature, maybe it’s the fact that he agreed to do this interview on such short notice, or maybe it’s the fact he gladly autographed my friend’s beaten-up copy of Watch Out! after we finish up, but there is no trace of that “egotistical frontman complex” in McNeil that we’ve seen in the past from so many others (see: Axl Rose, Liam Gallagher, etc.). Onstage he thrives from the audience interaction, and when he breaks into the chorus of Send Flowers’ first single “Hold Fast (Sink Or Swim)” (“When tonight is over and yesterdays are all we got/I hope you made it count/I know I made it count.”), draws an eager call-and-response from the one hundred or so people gathered to see Black Lungs. This is important for a man who once told Rolling Stone, “We don’t necessarily care how many SoundScans our album has done and how many plays our song is getting. We just want to be able to play to a roomful of kids every night.”
The old proverb that “blood is thicker than water” rings true with McNeil, as throughout the interview, he makes it evident how important a role family and friends play in his life. He told me that his entire family is from St. Catherine’s and that the closing track on Send Flowers, “In Memory”, is written about one family member in particular. “That’s a song about my grandfather,” he said, “About his life with my grandmother, and a bunch of events that they went through.” The song is one of the most poignant and emotional on the album, a slow-burner that starts off with McNeil’s low vocals which eventually build to a powerful climax. McNeil, who stated the main reason “we pretty much wanted to start the band [Black Lungs] to play with Fucked Up”, often, tours with bands started by friends that he grew up with. No wallflower himself in statue, when asked who would win in a fight between himself and Fucked Up’s lead vocalist Pink Eyes (also known as Damian Abraham), McNeil laughs and says, “He’s not really an angry guy. He might fight dirty though. He’s actually gentle as a kitten in real life.” Of the Ceremonial Snips, the opening band for this date of the tour, McNeil says, “We’re all roughly the same age. I’ve always kind of known the guys but not really well, I’ve seen them so much over the last couple of months, it just clicked and we decided that we definitely needed to start playing some shows together.” It is this sense of community and reaching out to friends and family that has helped McNeil get where he is today and he couldn’t be anymore grateful for it.
Listening to Black Lungs’ songs you notice that many of them sound like personal confessions, as if McNeil was exorcising his own inner demons. To which the singer agrees with. “I just want to write songs that real, that are personal. I just want to write honest music, just what it is. Its not really hidden or cloaked behind metaphors, it’s pretty out there.” said McNeil. The singer is candid about his past struggles with alcohol, admitting that while he was writing these songs, “I was just acting like a bit too much of psychopath and drinking way too much.”, said McNeil. All of a sudden this statement provides us with a glimpse into the dark subject matter that finds its way into his songs. He momentarily falls silent before continuing. “I guess that’s just that chapter in my life and what was going on.”
When asked what he has planned next for Black Lungs, McNeil replies, “We are probably going to put out a bunch of seven inch records, maybe put a few new songs up on iTunes as opposed to an actual album, just recording and playing shows.” He also fills me with the latest news from the Alexisonfire camp – the band is set to return to the studio this spring to record their fourth full-length album Young Cardinals. Alexisonfire is also playing the full Vans Warped Tour this summer which has dates all across North America. In the end, McNeil is determined to make sure that Black Lungs doesn’t remain a footnote in his musical career, and prove that this so-called “side project” is an integral part of who he is as a person and a musician. And while he may not be quitting his day job anytime soon, McNeil is proving that he can still have his own musical ambitions and live them out as a reality.
Note: This interview was conducted in January, but I only recently got around to finally transcribing and writing it this week, for which I have no viable excuses for such a delay. Luckily I had a profile piece that was due this past Monday for one of my journalism classes. Convenient? I think so… Also as a side note, Black Lungs will be opening up for Senses Fail at the Phoenix on April 15th. This show is all-ages and tickets will set you back $25.
MySpace (Black Lungs): http://www.myspace.com/dirtyblacklungs
MySpace (Alexisonfire): http://www.myspace.com/alexisonfire
