Chicago’s Meat Wave formed in late 2011 and last fall released their debut, self-titled album. The band’s lineup is comprised of singer/guitarist Chris Sutter, bassist Joe Gac and drummer Ryan Wizniak. In addition to Meat Wave, its members also play in bands like Wide Angles, Elephant Gun and Truman & His Trophy. By combining contemporary influences with traditional punk tendencies, Meat Wave has created a sound that’s urgent, unique and deserving of attention. We spoke with the band before their recent show at Subterranean and discussed how they formed, what recording their album was like, future plans and more. Also, check out a stream of Meat Wave’s song “Brother” below.

Bill – Given that all you guys play in other bands, how did you end up getting together and forming Meat Wave?

Ryan – I was hanging out with some friends of mine in the suburbs and our friend Frank, who’s in Truman & His Trophy, asked me to join that band with Chris. I didn’t know Chris, but I was just like “Yeah, I’ll totally do it,” because I was only in Elephant Gun at the time. Truman & His Trophy was a band for a while and we still are a band, but we kind of went on a little break. Chris and I, how did we decide to start this again?

Chris – I think we kind of both had a love for different-sounding music than what we were playing. We both really liked Hot Snakes and bands like that, so we wanted to start something a little different. We were talking about it for a while and I think Joe was the first person we thought of to play bass. We asked him, he agreed, we practiced and that was it.

Bill – How would you describe your sound?

Ryan – We kind of wanted to go for the punk energy sort of thing, but instead of just straightforward punk, make it a little more dynamic.

Chris – Yeah, and not limit ourselves to the tropes of punk rock.

Joe – It’s punk without the fashion.

Bill – Are there any active or current bands that inspire Meat Wave, or do most of your influences come from older stuff?

Chris – We’ve never really talked about influences, ever, within our band. I mean, we’re all obviously influenced by stuff. This band Women, who I don’t think is together still, but they released this album Public Strain and I got really into that. That probably inspired some Meat Wave songs.

Ryan – I think we’ve been kind of influenced by bands that do heavy, dynamic punk or rock-type stuff. Joe and I are into a lot of older punk bands, like Jesus Lizard. I like Brainiac a lot; they’re one of my favorite bands. Detachment Kit and Les Savy Fav too. Stuff that’s in the punk realm, but I guess more post-punk.

Bill – Where did you record your album and what was that experience like?

Joe – We recorded it at Todd Pot’s house, where I have recorded many other bands in the past. We pretty much recorded it live. We just set up and played through the songs, and then we overdubbed another guitar and vocals. Really simple, not a big deal. We spent like a day on it and then came back and did the overdubs.

Ryan – Our friend Frank drove us there in his minivan and that was the last day that his van worked. It started overheating on the way. It was leaking stuff everywhere and it died in Todd’s driveway. We were able to pour water on the engine and get it home, but that was it.

Chris – We killed Frank’s van.

Joe – I think the recording turned out great though and I know we’re all pleased with how it sounds. I think the songs themselves stand out a little bit from what a lot of the other bands are doing around here. That’s what we’ve been going for the whole time, so I think we’ve succeeded on that front.

Bill – Is there one song in particular that you feel best represents your band?

Chris – Maybe “15 Years.” I don’t know, but I’d like to see what Ryan thinks about it.

Ryan – “15 Years” or maybe “Brother,” just because “Brother” is pretty straightforward but has an interesting ending.

Joe – I like “Lurie Garden Chopping” a lot. Here’s a fun fact, the first time we ever played that song all the way through is what you hear on the recording. We tried like three times before and couldn’t get through it, then we tried a couple times after and it didn’t work.

Ryan – Didn’t we try to get really baked before we recorded it?

Joe – That’s off the record, (laughs).

Bill – Do the record’s lyrics share a common theme?

Chris – I guess the only theme would be that they’re pretty cynical, kind of critical of the world around me. A lot of them have bigger themes that are much bigger than me, so it’s kind of just commenting on all these things going on around me. As far as like something narrative or anything, no.

Bill – Have you written any new songs since releasing the album?

Ryan – Yeah, we’ve got five or six so far.

Chris – We’re going to try and record an album in April.

Joe – We’ve been really busy with playing shows and we’re all on very tight schedules, so sometimes there’s weeks where we don’t practice and we substitute practice for a show. That’s kind of been a problem a little bit. We’re all really busy. We should be practicing, but instead we’re playing tonight.

Bill – Speaking of playing shows, what was it like playing at Ian’s Party this year?

Joe – Pretty good. We played early, at like 8:30 PM. A lot of people were there though.

Chris – More people came than last year. It was a definite step up.

Ryan – We were sad that Bird Sounds didn’t play. I don’t know anything about why they didn’t play, but I love them.

Bill – Where are some of your favorite places to play shows around Chicago?

Joe – Ronny’s. Just kidding.

Ryan – We played a couple shows at Empty Bottle and that place has been really fun. Same with Township. They’re both places where the staff is really friendly and they seem like they’re into what they’re doing. It’s really refreshing to play places where the people working there aren’t super jaded and bummed out. They both sound really good too. We kind of want to do more house shows, but there aren’t a lot of houses around. I guess I just don’t know where we’d do a house show.

Chris – There aren’t any houses that would want us to play, (laughs).

Joe – You got to mention Cole’s, because the shows are free and the people watch the bands whether they’re there to watch the bands or not. It’s one of my favorite bars and the staff there is pretty generous too.

Bill – What does Meat Wave have planned for 2013?

Chris – Like I said, we’re going to try to record and release an album, and then go on tour.

Ryan – We’re going to try and go to Awesome Fest. We haven’t been invited to play this year, but we’re going to see if we can make it happen. We’re thinking about doing a two-week tour there and back, with either Rad Payoff or Wide Angles. We’re also going to make t-shirts this year.

Joe – That’s priority number one, t-shirts, (laughs). We tried an idea once where we sold a button with a download code attached to it. I don’t know, it was original I guess, but we didn’t sell too many. Then two months later we gave the album away for free. Sorry guys.

[audio:http://www.jadedinchicago.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/03-Brother.mp3|titles=”Brother”]