Good Clean Fun, straightedge hardcore from D.C., are very busy, in fact, they went on a 9 month world tour in 2000 and are now embarked upon another world tour for who knows how long. Their two full length albums, Shopping for a Crew and On the Streets Saving the Scene From the Forces of Evil, are nothing short of a party. On the Streets... came out on vinyl with four different covers, each cover having its own limited edition color. Among the many Good Clean Fun singles, a picture disk 7" with a cover of a song by the artist formerly known as Prince. More info available on the Good Clean Fun webpage.
Interview by Jonathan Strong
Looking at Good Clean Fun lyrics, you seem to make fun of animal rights hypocrites; ‘vegan power is just a t-shirt away’. Is your aim to ridicule animal rights, or hope to inspire reform?
Issa: I think I’d have to go with the reform side, animal rights goes along with the other values we have, like non-violence and respecting each other. I think that people tend to focus in on just animal rights, and not really think about why they support animal rights, they end up doing things like either violent action or just giving people a hard time in a non-productive way. That doesn’t really sit well with the values that made us believe in animal rights in the first place.
You do believe in animal rights?
Issa: Oh yeah, actually we’re all vegans, been vegan for a long time, and always will be. I think everyone should be vegan but I don’t think anybody should have veganism enforced upon them, I think that’s just silly.
Where does Good Clean Fun stand on the issue of abortion?
Issa: Ok, where do I stand on abortion…I think everyone in the band agrees with me, we’re all pro choice. I don’t think that any one of us would ever think there should be a law against abortion, or anything like that, that’s ridiculous. Here’s my take on abortion, the official positive answer to abortion- I think if all the people that wasted so much time fighting against abortion would put half as much effort into preventing unwanted pregnancies and or adoption things, or doing things for the children who have actually already been born, I think the world would be a much better place. I can’t think of anything that’s a bigger waste of effort than people that protest against abortion. I don’t think anyone thinks abortion is good. You hear stories about people that have had hundreds of abortions and use it as a method of birth control, but I think that example is so unwarranted its even disgusting. No one out there is like ‘hey I want an abortion. I can’t imagine any women wanting an abortion. Most people who accidentally get pregnant either don’t know or its just an accident of some sort. No one is trying to have abortions. Helping people not get pregnant if they don’t want to is a good goal.
How do you defend assigning rights to animals but not to unborn children?
Issa: Well I think it’s a totally different thing. Personally, I think you can’t lump unborn children into this one big pile. A pregnancy that’s a month along is totally a different thing than a pregnancy that’s six or seven months along. The argument basically comes down to where does life begin, and I don’t believe that life begins instantly at the point of conception. I believe, my personal beliefs are that it begins somewhere along the term of the pregnancy, I don’t know if I have an idea of exactly when, but I don’t think… I certainly don’t have any kind of moral problem with 1st trimester abortions. I don’t think it has any comparison to animal rights.
How in your life, besides Good Clean Fun, do you go about effectively challenging the use of drugs an alcohol?
Issa: [laughs] Geez… We burned down a bar last night [laughs]. That’s interesting… I’ve never done drugs before at all in my whole life, and I guess just leading by example, not even leading, just demonstrating by example. I’m 28 years old, a perfect example that you can go your whole life without having a drink of alcohol. I really don’t think that anything’s lacking in my life. I have plenty of friends who drink, and plenty of friends who don’t drink. Straightedge is such a different thing when you’re younger. I officially became straightedge when I was about 15, and back then I felt completely different about it than I did when I was 21, and now again when I’m 28.
How do you feel differently?
Issa: When you’re 15, there’s tons of pressure to drink, it’s a big deal, its all around you. If you’re in high school, everyone’s drinking, there’s a whole drink to be cool kind of thing going on. Its peer pressure, that’s exactly what it is. When you go into college at 18 or 20, its still peer pressure, but slightly different, a slightly more subtle thing, but college is still very pressured to drink, I think its expected behavior; ‘if you don’t drink you’re weird’. By the time you’re out of college, say 25 or so there’s really not a lot of pressure to drink. I still meet people that say, ‘you’ve never had a drink, I’m going to get you drunk’, but it’s not the same peer pressure than when you’re young; I’m not being bombarded constantly with messages to drink. Now I don’t even think about it. I don’t think everyone should be straightedge. I think its great for me, and its great for a lot of people, but I think drinking for some people is fine. My biggest concern is that a lot of people don’t connect the consequences of drinking. For instance, someone will be telling me about their problems, all these problems, and then, totally separate, making no connection they tell me about how they get drunk every Friday night or they did something stupid when they were drunk, or had an accident of some sort. Some people don’t put it together that if they didn’t drink, their life would be better. Another thing is when people think they have to drink to have fun, and I think people should learn to have fun without drinking… sometimes they’ll drink and sometimes they won’t but its important to be able to have fun while not drinking.
What reasons, besides consequences, do you give to people not to use drugs or alcohol?
Issa: For me… there’s so many reasons… I don’t have a main reason. Its sort of like vegetarianism to me, there’s so many reasons to be vegetarian it’s hard to kind of pick one. One of my reasons for not drinking is that I hate the alcohol industry, its such a horrible industry, topped only by the cigarette industry in its disgustingness. They straight up market alcohol to kids or to lower income people. I could never support those companies. I think they basically support rape. A friend of mine’s roommate had a poster that had a picture of a girl and it said ‘If at first you don’t succeed, buy her another beer’. For me that typifies the alcohol industry and I would never want anything to do with that.
How do you weigh the value of ideas vs. the value of pure music for Good Clean Fun?
Issa: [laughs] That’s an easy one. 100% ideas and almost 0%, well that would be too much…basically it’s all about the ideas. I love hardcore, its fun, its got a lot of energy, but the ideas are really what the band is all about.
Regarding people that don’t want to have clean fun, lets say people that want to be malicious, what is your comment on those people?
Issa: It’s hard to say. Every once in a while you’re going to meet people that aren’t very posi. There’s truly not much you can do, besides live your life your way and if they see that you’re doing well than maybe they’ll think about it. You can’t force people to be posi. There are… physiologically…if you smile you feel better. There’s nothing you can really do to make people smile. There are unfortunately a lot of people that don’t know how to be happy and I think learning to be happy is one of the most important things to do.
Are you happy?
Issa: Oh yeah. [laughs]
You went on a nine month world tour, is that correct?
Issa: Yes.
Now how did you set that up?
Issa: [laughs] Very difficultly. Well, we either met people, in person, or via the internet, which is the best invention ever for touring bands, and we would just try to find someone who would set us up some shows in that country and then go there. It was good, it worked out really well.
What advice do you give to bands that would like to go on a tour?
Issa: I guess my main advice is…two things, but I might expand to three. Just do it, don’t wait for other people to do it for you, like don’t wait for some label to set up a tour for you, or a booking agent. The other thing is it helps if you have your material released. Even if you have a demo tape out, or a 7”, it’s important. Especially hardcore, it’s hard to get into a band that you don’t know, when you don’t know their songs. Try to get your stuff out there, and just tour. The more people see you, and you come back, you’re going to do well, and you’re going to have a good time. Also, be prepared to have fun, just for fun’s sake. A tour is so much fun, and I think a lot of people put too much emphasis on how good the shows are, how many people show up, those things. People forget that its just fun to drive around the country with your friends.
Regarding your song “Victory Records Sucks”, do bands on Victory receive restrictions on what they can write about?
Issa: No, I can’t imagine that any band would agree to that.
No Innocent Victim is a Christian band on Victory.
Issa: Oh, I did not know that.
What about Fat Wreck Chords or Epitaph? Do you have anything to say about those record labels?
Issa: I think they’re fine. I don’t even think there’s anything bad about Victory; I just think they’re not very punk. That’s our whole thing. We actually tried to get Victory to release the single of “Victory Records Sucks”. We actually had a meeting with Tony Victory, sat down with him and tried to get him to release it but he just didn’t think the people would think it was funny. I thought the whole point was if it were on Victory it would have been 20 times funnier. It’s not an attack on the label. We’re just saying that they’re not punk rock, maybe it is an attack on the label.
What are they then, if they aren’t punk rock?
Issa: I don’t know. They are a record label that is in the business to make money. That is their primary goal. To me that’s not punk, whether its Victory or Sony. It doesn’t mean that every band on Victory is bad, it certainly doesn’t mean that every band on Sony Records is bad, but it means that if you have a message to get out, then being on a label like that compromises your message.
