By Josh LaVoie
Remember those jokes back in junior high–the jokes there was no way in hell you could ever say in front of your mom? Now sing those jokes out loud to a barrage of tinny power chords in one of punk’s biggest bands, and you’re on your way to being Guttermouth.
Guttermouth takes now their uniquely offensive brand of punk on the road as part of the Punk-O-Rama tour hitting Calgary Sat., Oct 12 in MacEwan Hall.
“We haven’t had one bad show, we’re very fortunate in that sense,” says Tyler Smith, the band’s drummer. “Sometimes you get really weird bands that you don’t really like, but all the people on this tour are really cool.”
Virtually every show has been upbeat and hillarious, and with Guttemouth having about a decade of experience under their belts, it’s an easy fact to believe.
“You wanna talk to the audience and see what they wanna do,” says Smith. “We just go out there and say, ‘OK, we’ve been drinking and we’re here to have a good time.’”
Beyond that there is no specific method or plan with which the band goes into shows; every show is completely different than the one before it. This is one of the key elements to their performances, and one that the band feels quite strongly about.
“If you’re gonna play a scripted set you might as well buy the fucking CD and listen to it at home,” says Smith. “It would be like being in one of the emo bands where you just totally ignore the crowd.”
In the spirit of keeping things fresh and interesting, Guttermouth released Gusto, an album that shows the other faces of the band. The disc exhibits varied influences, touching on a bit on everything in the band’s own style.
“I don’t think its a new direction, I just think its something different,” says Smith. “It’s something to keep us from being bored and maybe to help us stick out a bit.”
However, this change did not pass by without controversy. The album is the most melodic disc the band has delivered so far, and while not straying so far as power-pop, the disc certainly has a much poppier feel than those before it.
“People have been saying that we sold out a long time ago, but really, it’s all bullshit,” says Smith. “There is no band out there that hasn’t sold out. You sign onto a label and you’ve bought in–you’ve already sold out.”