PipemanRadio Interviews Pat Thetic of Anti-Flag at Welcome To Rockville 2023

0:04 Hey, you love them too, that's sure. From Why Wake Up of America, It's time for the Adventures of pipe Man on W four cy dot com West pom Beats his number one internet radio station. Here's your host, the White Man's Clear Away the Soil to the It's as pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man w for c Y Radio, and I'm here with one of my favorite guests that Welcome to Rockville who I am Pathetic from Anti Flag O. Yes, you're one of my favorite. Yeah. Well, every time I every I saw it on the list, I was like, oh, we're gonna I'm gonna do that one. There you go, And was so funny because your bandmates even we were talking over there, it's like you're wasting all the interview material, so they even know, Yeah, well, it's funny because we do a podcast that for our Patreon and uh we go into practice and we just start talking shit and we're like, oh, we can't. We gotta hit record on this before we could, because this is what totally this is what our Patreon podcast is about, just talking shit about

1:36 things, and uh yeah, totally yeah. I don't want to waste waste of good stuff. I can't remember have you been, because you know, we we've done so many festivals. Have you been to Rockville before? I can't even remember we have because I don't think I were Maybe intona speedway? Maybe? How wild is this? Yeah? Yeah? Well so what's the guy who died at this one? Aren't hard? Yeah? Yeah? They were talking about that on the way and the guys in the truck did you drive in the Yeah, we came in on it and uh, we're we have a van in a trailer because we're just out for the weekend. And you look up the side of it and it's like a ninety degree bank up there. You're like, if you if you're not going one hundred twenty miles, I don't know how fast they go, you fall off that thing?

2:17 Yeah, I was I was asking. I was asking Christina up front because I have my skateboard in my jeep. I'm like, can I go out there and skateboard? Drop it on that bro? Yeah? Well I get in trouble. Well. The guy was who drove us around in the golf cart said that he did seventy in a u. It was like a suburban or something, and he said it was scary because he wasn't going fast enough to feel like he was stuck on the wall. Oh, I wouldn't take my cheep in a heartbeat, like I was talking to somebody. They said, you need to at least be going fifty five miles per hour or no matter what you're in, you're gonna fall off. Yeah that's wild. Yeah, it's yeah. And you don't realize what the angles are unless you standing it there, standing there. Oh yeah, you don't see it on TV like I'm in amazement. I see it because they even said you can walk up that you won't make it back down without falling on your head. Oh.

3:12 Man, So I've never been to because we've been to other racetracks, but I've never been to this one before. Oh this is yeah. And I guess they you you spend a lot of money and you can bring your RV and you can park in the infield. I guess. Yeah. I don't know. I don't I've never done it. Yeah, you know, because I don't know. It might be to me red people for me, and I don't know, I don't mean skin color. I was amazed and impressed that uh NASCAR got rid of the Confederate flag in the being so I was like, hey, maybe there's maybe there's some change of heart. And I don't know whether there's been backlash. I didn't follow it anything. I live in Florida. I deal with these people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Like I don't don't get the people in Florida that are proud to call themselves crackers. Do they know where that word came from? I think they probably do, and that's why they're proud. Yeah, it's yeah, yeah, Florida is a whole, whole, whole beast of its own. Yeah, and they're gonna unleash it on the rest of us when DeSantis wins the presidency or so here's here's what we think, because we've accepted that politics is wrestling, and so what's gonna happen is DeSantis and Trump are gonna fight for the next um, fight each other for the next next six eight months, and then they're gonna join forces and one's gonna one's gonna allow the other one to be top Dick and m and be vice president and they're gonna they're gonna

4:46 win the WWE Championship belt in the presidency at the same time. Yeah. So I've been talking about, like I was just talking with my brother the other day and it was like, I'm moving to another country when Trump and DeSantis win the presidency because they are going to join forces and they have to because Trump can't win on his own. DeSantis could win on his own, but I don't think Trump would let him win on his own. So they're gonna have to join forces and figure out who's gonna be vice. The Trump's really gonna be like the second dog. Well, do you think DeSantis will either? That's the question did they have with it was one of them willing to take a second fiddle, And I don't know. It'll be interesting to see. Depends on who pays who off. Yeah, that could be Santis, I think at this point. But in a eight years, I'm sure DeSantis will have more than money than Trump. Yeah. Probably. And and and nobody you'll have any books or education will whitewash history and there will be no h no history of slavery in the US, and it's just nothing but white guys just doing great things for the last uh two hundred whatever. Yeah, and the bloke already evil, Yes, the ones trying to make human beings good again. Yeah, let's make human beings human beings again, But what with your Bible? I don't I'm not a big fan of Bibles, but they see there seem to be a lot of people talking about them and the first thing the Bible is to treat others like you want to be treated.

6:15 And that's exactly what WOKEA being woke is you don't don't be an asshole to somebody else. If I wouldn't walk up to some guy and be like, man, you're a fucking fat piece of shit, you said, just like you wouldn't walk up to a transperson and call them a he or a sheet if that's not the the what they're presenting. You just be nice to them, You respect them as human being. Cares really like the bottom line is how much does it really affect these People's? Absolutely nothing. I don't just it's so amazing that woke is the Republican platform. That's the DeSantis platform, and Trump's gonna take that over too. That that is, they're not worried about poverty, they're not worried about feeding and educating children. They're worth about being not people being too woken and keeping people angry and pissed off and like rilling up the haters and it's all theater, because you know we see that with the Tucker Carlson texts and everything. It's all theater. They're just doing it for their own power and their own their own economic benefits. So I was surprised when Trump was present. I didn't change the name in a country to the United States of Trump because listen and I grew up during the time where he was naming everything Trump. I remember in the beginning and I was like, oh my god, I'm still gonna play. I'm like, we're in Vegas the other day and I was like, there's really a Trump casino in Vegas that people go to that and don't piss on it all the time. I'm just it's amazing to me. It is amazing. Well you

7:46 should see, like I am fifteen minutes live from Mara Lago. I have to really pass it to go to my studio. I literally drive past mar Lago to go to my studio and there's still people standing out there. Trump twenty and twenty, he's he's our president. He won the election was stolen and how do how does a man who's a billionaire and you know, that's what he says I think he's probably close to a multi millionaire. But how does he convince people that he's a man of the people. That's that's inconceivable to me. And you know it's you know, you can full some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time. I laugh. He's a charlatan and a carnival barker. I laughed at the people that are his biggest fans are the people He would never bake bread within a million years and makes them and yeah, exploiting them to the end degree, because yeah, it's not it's never about you. You, It's always about Trump. It's not about helping anybody else except for Trump. I'll tell you something interesting that kind of explains it. And so I was at my door's house one day and my ex was there, and she's a Trumper, which is weird because when I met her, she was a Democrat. Okay, you ruined her, I guess so, but you know, she is a

9:18 redneck. So that's that's part of it, I'm sure. And I have a grandchild who's non binary, and I had to explain things to her because I was sitting there. I was in horror because she sat there and said to them that I don't care. I'm never gonna refer to you as they them. It's stupid. Yeah, And I tried to explain why her statement was stupid. Yeah, And I don't even care if she hears it, because I said straight, not say anything behind her back. I said straight to her face. And it's like, and it goes back to why I said, be for two, what the hell do you care? Like if it makes our grandchild happy and feel like a human respect human being. Sometimes I may mess up, but not on purpose, but to purposely not Why how does it affect your life? Yeah, I don't get that. Yeah, it's it's inconceiving and they and I don't know whether your act goes to church on Sundays, but she is a Christian. Yeah, I'm not to go to church on Sundays, and you know all that, all this stuff that you get in church. But then they can't respect their their grandchild, their hypocos like I can't imagine. It just makes you realize that all religion is about power, and and this and the anti woke thing is about power.

10:43 It's all it always is, it always will be. It's all about power. Abortion is not about saving life of a child. It's about power. It's about men having power over women and controlling their reproductive their reproductions. And even if you were a person that maybe you didn't believe in abortion, what somebody else does is they're freaking this raided that They're like, this is my body. I could do whatever I want to accept with abortion. Then I'm going to control other people. Wow, yeah, it's amazing. And we're allowing these people to control us, which is uh, yeah, yeah, it doesn't make sense. Yeah. Well, so with the attempted coup on January sixth, the only reason why that didn't work is because Trump didn't kill anybody. Trump or one of his lackeys start killing people, the whole thing changes significantly. And that's and so when Trump goes into power again, he is going to have to start killing people. Stalin killed people, Hitler killed people. All these are Towan Putin. They're always they're killing off their their their detractors, their their opponents. Trump never killed anybody yet, but if he gets power again, he's gonna start killing. He's kind nothing to lose. I always say that for a second pre and a second term, like that's why I was so scared of him winning that second term because then all bets are off. He don't he has nothing to lose. Well, And the thing the people that if you look at history, the people that they kill off first are put in the prison camps first. Are gonna be

12:13 McCarthy. Um, They're gonna be Ted Cruz. They're gonna be um, Uh, what's the speaker of the House? Um, Kentucky? What the fuck's that guy's mccon McConnell. They're gonna kill all the people would have any power. Those are the people are gonna get get knocked off first, and they're the ones who are protecting them, and they're in history. History always repeats itself. Come on, probably put us into camp two, but we'll be right there with the rest of them. Well, here's this scary thing about the santis. I'm a Jew. Forget the religious aspect for a second. Culturally, Oh my god, did you know there was a national Hate Day against Jews recently and in twenty three America twenty twenty three. I was in Bali at the time and I saw a note. I'm like, thank God, I'm not home, because in Boca Ratone, I was watching video of these neo Nazis saying nasty ship, threatening Jews going into temple and blocking people from going into temple and all this shit going on, and nobody was stopping it because of our great government here in Florida. Yeah, like why stop it? Let yeah keep it increases their power, increases their control.

13:31 God, it's just but it's it's that. That's the one thing. As being part of the activist community for so long, you realize that there is always an undercurrent of racism. There's always an anti Semitism, and it you have to confront it when it pops its head in the in Pittsburgh that you know, the Nazis would try and march in the streets. They would get a permit and everything, and you don't want to go on a Sunday afternoon to stand up to the Nazis, but you're like, this is what we have to do, because if nobody does it, then it grows and grows and grows. If somebody's there to confront it, it's it at least symbolically says that this isn't tolerated and we're not going to accept this, and it keeps pushing it down underground. It's always there. It's always going to poke out. You always have to have somebody there who is willing to People don't get it a lot of times too. Like going back to my ex when we were married, the kids came home from school one day and they were complaining about they were getting picked on for being Jewish because she didn't grow up with it, she didn't understand. Yeah, She's like, oh, you're just making a big deal about it, you know, because she said something about they like threw a penny. My daughter said they threw a penny, like and they were throwing pennies at them and stuff. Yeah, And I looked at him like I was that kid. Yeah, you don't understand what they're going through, you know type of thing, you know. And it's like that's the problem. Most people don't, especially I'm white. So it's like, oh, well you're you're white, so you're not dealing with that.

15:03 But I'm also vocal. I'll never hide it, like if I'm around people are talking shit about Jews, Hey I'm a Jew. Yeah, I got a funny story for you. My dad Okay, he was at this conference run time and this uh, this is uh Italian guy was talking shit to his friend calling him a dirty kike. His friend was Italian. Yeah, my dad stepped up and he goes, uh, yeah, he's not a kike, he's a guinea I'm a kike, and then knocked him out. All right, there you have it. Yeah, sometimes you just have to you know, you have to. That's how you handle boys. Yeah, you know, And that's what we're dealing with with our great politicians on the right. Yeah, we can't wish it away. And that's the thing that you learned throughout history is you can't stand on the sidelines and wish it away. It you have to have Now, I'm not saying that the forty year old guy or the grandmother need to be at the front of the line, but we need all need to be there in locksteps saying with this is unacceptable. You know, there there there are there are young bucks who can do the punching, but there are some of us older folks can stand in the back and be there to show numbers. Because it's always about boots of the streets. So you get if you get a million people in the streets, things change. Yeah, So you gotta you gotta know that that's the problem with so many people think their voice will not make a difference, so

16:37 they just ignore it. No, you just you have to be there to get counted by the news media. You gotta be. They're gonna they're gonna underplay it. They're always gonna say there's less activists there than there are the shitty people. You know, you gotta accept that, but you gotta be there in the streets to make sure that you get counted. And while they're doing that, you know, they have to have their headphones on listening to Anti Flag. I don't care about that. There's a lot of great bands to listen to, but yeah, but there is a new album they want to listen to. Yeah, we do have a new record that came out in February January somewhere, and I think it came out on January six. Actually, we did a we released a lot of songs before, so we were playing the record before the record actually came out. So when you're in a band, record released day in twenty twenty three isn't really that important because now already playing the music, everybody's listening to it already on streaming, So it's not like a U, you know, ninety four when you released a record, you actually got the records in your hand. Nobody has heard it until you get the actual give it to people. Yeah, totally. So how are people receiving the new album. It's awesome. It's with giving, with putting the songs out before the records released. It's awesome because people are able to engage with it. And when we played the shows, people had already been able to digest some of it and you know, singing along with the songs already, because that's a part of always sort of sucks. It sucks for the band. It sucks for the people who come to the show.

18:02 They just got they were just able to get the record the day before. They haven't had a chance to digest it, and then they go to the show and they're like, I don't really know these songs, and it's not any fun for the band. It's not. Yeah. I love hearing this positive spin because there's so many negative spins on how music is released today. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I to be honest with you, I want to record it and get it into people's hands the next day. That's that's the best way to do it. And you go on tour and everybody's everybody's out and they're singing your songs before the records even out. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, So what else you got going on after Rockville? What else do we have to tell the listeners that we're going to be in Europe? And then actually we do it. We're doing another two runs with the Bouncing Souls. So yeah, it was we did. Uh.

18:45 They like to do gentlemen's touring. They do short little runs and we were doing so we did two with them. Are we're doing three with them throughout the year. We were just out with Flogging Molly for six weeks and um, yeah, we go to Europe for weeks or so after this. Any festivals are you doing in Europe? All festivals? Ye? Yeah, you go to Europe to do festivals? And which ones are you doing? Hurricanes southside in Germany? I think, um, yeah, I don't know. I know, I leave and then I come back and what I do in the middle other people sort that out. It's just like you're it all runs in your Yeah. Yeah, Like last night, I drove nine hours in the middle of the night from Birmingham to get here and it's all one continuous day of rock and roll experience. I love it. Yeah, yeah, I'll be a download. Okay, hew Fast. We did how Fast last year? I think I saw you. Yeah yeah that was insane, right Bloodstock and uh probably fucking nice. I would like to do Rebellion, but it's always the same time I think as download, like yeah, yeah, I always wanted to Rebellion. It's differentials. Oh yeah, actually I was thinking of doing Beyond the Gates instead of Walking. I was invited to that one because those ones get fucking weird too. Yeah, they're like health Fest.

20:07 They're like, you're like like rock and Roll is like this, We're in a motor speedway. It's very uh, very safe and rednecky. You go to Sweden and fucking you're like, whoa, they're going to burn some churches here today. This is getting a little weird. Yeah, And like health Fest, it was like first week in one hundred and four degrees and thenwhere I felt yeah, yeah, it's it's definitely like a dystopian world at health Fest, and uh yeah, it's awesome. I love it. Well, I love you guys. I'm so psyched to have you here at Welcome to Rockville. Yeah, it's great and good to see you and well, I see you next week in Columbus. So I was gonna do Sonic Temple, but they're not doing any interviews there. They aren't. No, and see, you know what's interesting about that usual a like, because I do all the DWP festivals, I'm the loyalty to DWP. Most years, I do that over punk rock Bowling because the same weekend. But there's times I've caught punk rock bowling, so it's too late to do punk rock bowling.

21:14 But I'm doing Milwaukee Metal Festa, which is pretty is it a pretty cool one. There's some like bands I haven't seen since the eighties playing there, like Dark Angel, Wow is playing and uh explained might be all too, I'm not sure, but yeah, it's pretty cool. It's a cool festival. So I was gonna be a Sonic expert of the festival land because you go to all the festivals, you get to experience all of them. You know, we just you know, we obviously are going to more than punk rock ones and things like that, but you get to experience a lot of a lot of different ones. Yeah, and Christine up there was just telling me about the announcement for tomorrow for Punk in the Park, which I do that one too. I'll be doing the punkin drub like the final. Yeah, you know, no effect Mike's final. It's not really gonna be a final. It's like all the rest of them right there, ever finals.

22:06 But yeah, we're we're rockers. We're gonna be rockers until we die. So if there's a show and somebody wants them to play, they'll be like, all right, we'll play the show. Oh yeah. It's like I look at Aussie, I'm like, he would be he would die if he wasn't doing a show. Yeah, Like it's just part of your blood. You know. Well, I'm glad you're here at Rockville. I'm sure we'll run in again. And you know, it's funny you say about the festival thing because you know Amy from Adam Splitter one time years ago, she's like, you're in a King of All Festivals and I was like, can I quote you on that? She's like, not only that, you better go trade market. So that is now my trade you know. That's awesome.

22:47 So hey, yeah that and you know because you see me, Yeah, you're at more festivals than I am. Yeah, for sure. We're on tour a lot. We're on tour all the time. So last year was I was burnt out after last year because it's all catching up after COVID, So like I was on one every weekend from April till November. Yeah, you're you're on tour or you're at a festival every weekend. We're at a festival every weekend and then five shows in between and then going to another festival the next weekend. So yes, we all of us were in the same boat. After COVID. We're like, fuck, we gotta we gotta play some shows and get back into it. And so we just booked ourselves way too heavy. Yeah. And my my daughter, she'll say to me, she'll come to like one festival and be done by half a day. And I don't know how you do this every weekend, Dad, Like I'm done or again, it's in your blood. I don't know how. I don't.

23:42 Yeah, that's the point. I go home and it's like depressing. What will I do now? Yep, you're a lifer. They're like the rest of us, you can't. It doesn't matter. We'll be doing this till we die. I love it and I loved and get a see you every time till we die. So thanks for on the adventures payment once again, it's my pleasure. And hopefully next time we talk De santiss and President. If they do, I won't be living in Yeah you say Bally, I'll go to Bally. That sounds good. Yeah. The people are the nicest, most gracious, most inclusive people you ever met. Like they have nothing bad to say about anybody, regardless of skin color or sexual orientation.

24:25 They just love everybody. That's that's the things that people are. You know, people think that God bless America. That's the greatest place on earth. Have never been anywhere else. So Bengo, I call it the big lie. Yeah, that's what I think. I've often thought this. We should there should be a fund where we get young people passports and just give them a thousand bucks and say don't come home for a month. They need that. Yeah, because I remember what the world is, you know, see what the world is outside of this. I remember the first time I went to Europe and I was taught from you know, at my age. I'm fifty six, so I was taught growing up, don't go there else. It's scary out there. We're the only free country. Yeah, And I went to Europe and I was like, what were they talking about? Now?

25:11 The parents in Europe so they don't go to the States because everybody gets shot all the time. It's like, I go there another example of Amsterdam, went there like twenty six years ago and they waned the American money. They loved it. Last time I was there, I was out of euros. I'm like to accept US dollars and they're like, no, that's monopoly money. Like, oh my god, it's so embarrassing. Like everywhere I went was so embarrassing, and I hate that, Like why should it be embarrassing. The other thing is that you get stuck in when you go to other places, you get stuck in a position of having defend to defend US policy. Yeah, and you're like, I understand why it's happening. I don't agree with it, but I have to explain to people why it's happening.

25:56 And they're like, yeah, you guys are fucking crazy. I'm like, we're sort of a little bit. Yeah, but that's why we need voices like you, Dad well, and people need to travel and meet other people's that's we've been incredibly lucky if just as human beings to be able to interact with people and activists all over the world. All the people that we interact with are people were getting shit done and making stuff happen. So that gives us an optimism because we see, ah, the world isn't full of horrible people. The world is full of amazing people. Yes, we just have to fund about some of the horrible people. And I'll tell you one last thing. I will say it all that just popped in my head. So, like my youngest daughter, she's total woke and her mom doesn't like that. She's woke. Yeah, you know, and she blames it.

26:41 Are you ready? She blames it on our daughter going to college. Yeah, well yeah yeah, And it's like, yeah, that's why I said. I'm like, uh yeah, because you get a full rounded education and called a well round education. Like it was so funny. She even brought up she was like I remember it with specifically this one class. I'm like humanities and she's like yeah, I'm like, well, duha, teaching people to be humane to other human beings. Like that's a bad thing that we're trying to get rid of it. And Florida, we're trying to get rid of that that that experience of understanding other people. And you know, the people here love it. I hate to say it, I live here, but the people here love it. Or else DeSantis wouldn't have a place, he wouldn't been a landslide. So there's a lot of people who who think that he's on the right track. So and then they have the people leave in California, leaving New York coming to Florida because we're the only free state.

27:45 But you're not free to read, you're not free to go Disney, You're not you're not free to be LGBTQ. You're not free to be anything but a neo nazi. Yeah, fuck crazy, Oh my god, Well, thank god. We have a festival here and you guys and so yeah and and rock and roll. This the festival is a place for all the weird kids and all the everybody who's looking for something else in life. This is the music is very secondary in these situations. It's just a catalyst that brings people together. But people are able to come together and be who they are and be who they need to be, and that's an awesome thing. So we love that. Aspect of festivals is that, um, it's a place for people to express themselves in a free way and to nobody's an outcast.

28:34 Yeah, no matter where exactly, we're all outcasts, yeah exactly. Yep. Well, I love it. Can't wait to see your set yep. It be good rock show. A lot more from you, guys, yep. Thanks for being here, my pleasure, love to chat. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of plate Man on w for CUI Radio.