CAN'T HANG INTERVIEW
Performing high profile shows/tours, along with selling close to 10,000 CDs, Can't Hang has certainly established quite the name for itself in the East Coast Reggae Rock scene. This four-piece could even be regarded as veteran's, as it was a band even before the Year 2000 ticked over. However, it is only in the past few months the band got around to finishing and releasing its first full-length album. Guitarist Steve Lynch chatted with The Pier and informed us of all the Blood Sweat & Beers the band put into finally getting it released.
The Pier: So you must be relieved to finally get the full-length album out there?
Steve: It is our biggest accomplishment ever. We have been ready to do something like that forever. Finally we got to pull everything together and producer Jerome Maffeo had a studio at his house and he plays drums like a maniac. We went to his house one day a week and it took a long time to do it that way, but we got there.
The name Blood Sweat & Beers really describes everything it took to get this album made. In the past there was some type of bullshit stopping us from getting there, but the one constant thing was we were always playing - that’s the sweat and we were always drinking of course (beer). And occasionally we would kick each other’s asses (blood). That phrase really describes everything we did to get this album made.
The Pier: So how did Can’t Hang get together in the first place all those years ago?
Steve: We all met in a roundabout kind of way. We all grew up in the same area and I knew Luke (Mysko) and Rob (Eisenhut) since high school. About a year after we graduated the whole thing fell into place. Around ‘99 everyone was off doing their own thing and then they came back and all of a sudden we had a band. We just started from there and we owe a lot to underage drinking (haha).
Just because the kids could get into these small bars. We were only 19 at the time and all our fans were younger so it was like a high school party at the bars downtown. There was three relatively good sized venues that let us play and would let everyone in un-carded. We would have a couple hundred kids in these bars and they didn’t care cause they were making money. Eventually they got in trouble though, but by that time we had moved on.
The Pier: Do you remember how you came about developing your own sound and doing the whole reggae rock thing?
Steve: There was this vague understanding that’s what we were going for. Sublime of course, being one of the most influential bands ever, played a big part. Especially for kids that grew up in 90s. Luke was also really into reggae and I was into punk rock so it eventually became this mash of those styles.
The Pier: Did you think you would still be making music all these years later and saw Can't Hang as a long term project?
Steve: Yeah we did. I never saw it as a hobby. I always thought if we could get away with this as a living then I have defeated the system. Once it started taking off and people seemed to really like it, we thought maybe we did have a shot. Every time I think that this is not for me, something will happen to change my mind to keep doing it.
The Pier: So back to your new album. It is a lot heavier in parts than your previous stuff.
Steve: I think that is more of my influence displayed on the album, where in the past I was not the primary songwriter and my stuff does have a harder edge in certain songs. A lot of these songs I wrote three or four years ago. I always tried to have a punk edge on top of stuff, and it just took a while for everybody to come around to that.
When we started playing these songs everyone thought they were really cool and us in the band enjoy playing them. We don’t want to be a medium volume reggae rock band. We want to do something that makes you feel something and we need those musical changes in our music to help us achieve that you know?
The Pier: To tide your fans over until your studio album came out you released the live album - Live in Charm City. I have got to say it is one of my favorite live albums ever. You must have been happy with how it turned out.
Steve: We were really happy. We did it at the 8x10, which at the time was called the Funk Box. Tony Correlli, who was the guy who engineered our first two albums, came out and did it. He brought this 24 track digital recorder, we plugged everything into it and away we went. When we got to the studio and were listening back to it. We were like, ‘damn dude, this sounds pretty good.’ We didn’t expect it to come out so well and he just mixed it up perfectly.
Luckily we didn’t fuck up too much on the recording. We only had to cut out two to three songs otherwise the whole thing was a complete success.
The Pier: So being around as a band for close to 10 years, how has the East Coast reggae rock scene evolved in that time?
Steve: Yeah all the kids that like us like The Expendables, Pepper and Slightly Stoopid. There are kids now that are into this music and that’s their thing. While before it may have been, ‘hey I am into a couple of underground bands that you have never heard of.' Now it’s, ‘I am into reggae rock and that’s my thing.'
It is a whole brand on it’s own now. Out here they all listen to Can’t Hang, they have to hang out at the beach, they get completely hammered, they ride skateboards or go surfing all day and it’s this whole brand everyone is into. For the East Coast it is definitely a ‘California Dreaming’ type of thing. Compared to the West Coast where people really live it. California is sold repeatedly to the outside world on those few things. It will always continue like that forever.
We came to the scene through reggae and Sublime, but a lot of people that like that type of music don’t realize Bad Brains is from Washington DC, who was also doing reggae and punk. So it is not really that far away from us; the whole roots of reggae punk.
The Pier: What has been some of your best and worst concert experiences?
Steve: Some of the worst has to be graduation parties. We have played two graduation parties and without naming any names, our drums ended up in the pool at one and somebody ended up punching the girl’s father at another. So they are pretty bad for us. The wedding receptions we have played are not much better. About 75% of those, the couple are now divorced. I don’t know if that is a reflection on us or the culture. I don’t know what these people are thinking. They are like, ‘we don’t want to have a boring wedding, we want a crazy reggae rock wedding!’ They do pay us amazingly well though.
Our best shows, hmm, this summer we played at Pier 6 opening for The Wailers and Steel Pulse. That was an amazing show in front of 3,000 people. People 'got us' when we played those shows too, even though we aren’t a traditional reggae band. We also got compliments from the bands and that keeps us doing it.
The Pier: Have you though about putting out a DVD at all?
Steve: You know I have actually been talking to a couple of people about that. We would like to put some live footage together cause I have a venue and I think I have a production company. It is just getting the money to do it. We would love to do it in the near future because people can listen to you from the live CD but to actually see the show is different. If you have that on DVD it is kind of touring and being out there for people to see.
The Pier: So what is Can't Hang's plans for the near future?
Steve: Our next goal is to get professional. We have been managing ourselves for so long now and it has got us pretty far. Recently we have been sending our album to managers and professionals, as we need someone with real connections to push us further and get us to point where we can make money. That’s what Can’t Hang needs is money. If we had that we can expose the band to everyone in America and I am confident everyone would buy it.
Right now we are in the planning stages of what we are going to do next. We are working the scene around here and to be honest it has been completely worked by us. So we are in danger of being over exposed in our home town. That’s ok it is convenient to play here (haha).
We have this partnership going with Jah Works. They have a label called Riddim House and we are on there and it is a whole strength in numbers thing. We are promoting each other and trying to build our own little empire.
Thanks to Steve for taking the time to answer these questions. To check out more from Can't Hang visit: