School Damage walk a well-beaten path in terms of method: light-speed guitar, punishing drums and bouncing bass are the backdrop for snotty lead vocals, angry lyrics and sugary-sweet harmonies. But sometimes there’s no point in trying to expand on something that’s been tried and tested. Guitar, drums, bass, attitude: there’s really not much room for improvement there. Throw in a decent hook and you’ve got the formula for the best songs of the last 70 years or so.
Some people may try and dismiss this music as formulaic or repetitive, but the way this Toronto band manages to breathe new vitality into a genre perfected by bands like the Ramones is an impressive feat. This is music to throw on when you can’t take your job for one more day; when the wait time for customer service is 45 minutes. School Damage craft fun, youthful and exciting songs that will make you want to run harder and drive faster — all with a smile on your face. We caught up with guitarist/vocalist Brad Schmale to talk about pop-punk, Dr. Seuss characters and facial hair.
How did you guys get together?
My friend Hugh Steele told me that an old friend of his, also named Brad, moved to the city from Montreal and really wanted to start drumming for a band while he was down here. I was just recently bandless and really wanted to get back into it. Him and I met up and jammed some Ramones songs for a few hours and hit it off. I’ve known Jon [Cabatan] for years. When Jon got back from a year-long teaching stint in Korea, he started working with me at my desk job. I told him that Brad and I had jammed a week earlier and said we needed a bassist. The next day we all met up and jammed. Jon wasn’t even a bassist. He borrowed someone’s beat up old bass and brought it to rehearsal. We wrote our first song that day. So we pretty much became a band within a week, but since then Brad has left and we’ve recruited Jeff Robertson. Our legacy is pretty boring, really.
I know that pop punk was a big influence on you guys, but would you consider yourselves a pop-punk band?
I’d say that the style we play is pop punk, but due to my lack of harmony and vocal abilities, we’re not as polished-sounding as most pop-punk bands. I’d say we’re “pop-punk inspired.” If we could sound more like The Barracudas, then that would be rad. But we don’t.
There does seem to be a bit of a resurgence of pop-punk, or at least it’s influence seems to be more pervasive. Why do you think that is? Or did it ever really go away?
I think it didn’t really go anywhere. It just kind of got drowned out by that tsunami of crap that was coming out in the early 2000s with all those Warped Tour bands, who were also getting labeled as “pop-punk” but were nowhere near as good as the bands that came out of the early ‘90s. You know, mall punk type stuff. Luckily there are some really good bands out now that tour a lot and put out some really good records. It’s like a bunch of bands heard what was coming out and said “Screw this. Let’s show the kids how it’s really done,” and just wrote some really catchy but driving songs. Pretty much just getting back to the basics and blowing people away with this really fun and brainless music. That’s why the Ramones will always be one of the best bands of all time. They just did things as simple as possible and it couldn’t have sounded better.
Do you think getting a new drummer has changed your sound at all?
Yeah, for sure. He’s a better musician than Jon and me so we have to up our game. He’s also really fast so we get tired a lot easier these days since we don’t really take breaks in between songs.
Has Jon’s moustache affected his playing at all?
I honestly think so. He messes up a lot more now than he did before he had that thing on his face. He looks like he should be selling someone a used car with that push broom. Or an Asian version of The Lorax.
Your lyrics have got a lot of piss and vinegar to them. Tell me Brad, are you really that angry?
Nope. I’m actually a pretty positive person. If I grab a pen to write, it’s usually about something that’s affecting me. I’m not good at just coming up with stuff or writing about fictional things. In the past year I’ve gone through some life changes so that gives me some material to write about. I get a lot of material from the city and how people treat each other. A city filled with phonies, leeches and suck-ups can be draining but it also makes for some good content.
When are you guys going to put out a proper record?
We began writing for a new record, but then Brad left and we had to start from scratch when teaching Jeff the songs. I really hope to be in the studio this fall for either another E.P. or a 7-inch. I don’t think we are ready for a full length just yet. Nor is the world.
Any plans to tour?
We want to do a bunch of out of town gigs through out the rest of the year so we can get the name out there. Then we’ll put together a lengthy tour and hopefully take another band with us so they can drive while we have dance parties in the back of the van.
What’s coming up for the band in the near future? Any big shows?
I’m excited that we’ll be opening for The Spits on Sept. 23. I literally own a giant chunk of their discography catalogue, so finally seeing them live, and playing with them, is going to be pretty fun. We’re playing with By Divine Right too in October, which is really, really weird.
Recommended Track: “Stand Right Walk Left”
School Damage are:
Brad Schmale – vocals/guitar
Jon Cabatan – bass/vocals
Jeff Robertson – drums