Roadburners
After More Than A Decade Together, One Of The Hardest Working Bands In Punk Rock, Smoke Or Fire, Continue To Travel, Write, And Record
>>interview BY gen x >>PICS Courtesy Of Fat Wreck Chords

When Joe McMahon, frontman of Smoke or Fire, was a college student in Boston, Massachussetts, he struck up conversation with a stranger simply because he was wearing an Avail backpatch. This chance encounter led to a fast friendship, and before long Joe and childhood friend Jeremy Cochran asked their new buddy Ken Gurley to start a band with them. Along with drummer Nick Maggiore, the quartet moved to Richmond, Virginia after they graduated college to work on their music in earnest and to drink beer down by the James (also in earnest).

Almost a decade later, their lives are very different after signing onto veteran label Fat Wreck Chords, recording and releasing two albums, touring tirelessly, moving to opposite ends of the country, losing a drummer, and finding a new drummer (the extraordinary and hilarious Dave Atchison of the now defunct hardcore band, From Ashes Rise). Despite these drastic changes, Smoke or Fire’s reverence for punk rock remains totally undiminished. Ask any member what his favorite Hot Water Music album is and he will absolutely light up before launching into an impassioned diatribe. Their guileless commitment to their band and each other still remains, and it is this charming and instantly endearing sincerity that separates them from most of their contemporaries. – Gen X


Hi Joe. Your new record has been receiving great reviews. Which is harder: writing and recording an album, or releasing it out into the world for everyone to hear?
It’s harder to write and record than it is to release. Recording is fun, but a lot of work goes into it. Releasing it is easy. You just have to remember that some people are going to love it and some people are going to hate it.
Which song on the record are you the most proud of or the most connected to, and why?
I think I'm most proud of the “Patty Hearst Syndrome” because it’s something I really kind of put my mind to doing after seeing a documentary about her abduction. Telling a story in a song is really difficult to do because you have such a short amount of time to make your point, but I like the way it came out.
Your new drummer Dave has been with you throughout the recording of the new record, and now on multiple tours. How is life with Dave after the honeymoon?
Dave is rad. We've had a blast with him in the band. I’ve never met anyone more addicted to coffee in my life. He’s a lot of fun to play on stage with and has made us a lot tighter live.
Speaking of Dave, I know the two of you share a birthday and spent the last one together while on the road. What did you do to celebrate?
Yeah, Dave and I were both born on April 12, 1979. Pretty strange. We played in Toronto on our birthday and spent a good amount of the day at a pub celebrating. We also went out and got huge steaks at a nice restaurant.
You’ve been doing a whole lot of touring to support the new album. Tell me your most killer tour story and your biggest bummer tour story from the last time out.
Not too many great tour stories come to mind from the last tour. We had a lot of fun, but there were more downs than ups for sure on the last one. We put thousands of dollars into our van, we had to chase down some huge dude in New Mexico who stole some of our gear, and then one of our band members had a death in the family and had to leave the tour for a week. It was a rough one, but there still were some great times: us kicking Fifth Hour Hero’s asses at bowling in New Jersey, or watching Tim Barry play until three in the morning at a bar in Montreal come to mind.
What have you been listening to the most in the van? Do you have a few collective band favorites?
In the van we've been listening to a lot of Alkaline Trio, The Draft, Body Count, Bob Seeger, Against Me!, Tim Barry, etc. The van rides have averaged eight hours a day on the tour we’re on right now, so there's been a lot of iPods going.
You, Jeremy, Ken, and Dave live all across the country. When you aren’t touring, what are you all doing and how do you cope with the loneliness?
We all work when we’re off tour. Jeremy and I work in warehouses, Dave works in a record store, and Ken sells rugs or something. I play baseball on the weekends sometimes and spend as much time with my wife as I can when I’m home.
As a front man for a punk band you have a unique view of the music industry today. With more and more young people acquiring their music for free on the internet, independent labels, zines, and record stores have been the first to suffer. How have you been affected by these changes, and what do you envision for the future of your band and for the industry?
Well, the obvious thing is we sell a lot less records. That does make things very difficult for us though. We have to rely on touring and selling merch to keep the band afloat. The music industry is going to have to come up with something or the labels just won’t survive. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. I think it’s going to force bands to be extremely good in their live performance to stand out among everyone else, which could be a good thing. The tough part is that it makes surviving as a smaller band very difficult.