INTERVIEW: Dead Poet Society’s Jack Underkofler speaks ahead of band’s 11.07 gig in Worcester

JU: I certainly feel excited about it. I think this album in general has been a really good, defining step in what we are a band and who we are as a band. I felt like, you know, with -!- and Fission there’s a sense of like a big teeter totter between where we’re trying to land, and I feel like Monarch has been this kind of marrying of the worlds that we built between those two albums.

CP: How was the writing and production process different for this one compared to those two?

JU: It’s different, well I don’t think it’s really different necessarily as much as it is just a refinement of how we like to write, like a different mentality. You know, physically, we’re still doing the same things we’ve always done, get in a room together, start working things out either on instruments or on the laptop. But the mentality of wanting to create something that you can look at afterwards and not be like, “That’s a steaming pile of shit” is really important. And that’s kind of how, at least I went into this whole thing, just being like I want to be proud of this at the end. It doesn’t matter if anybody likes this shit or not, I want to make sure that I can look back on it and be like, “That shit’s dope.”

CP: What do you think your favorite song on Monarch is and what song do you think will be received the best live? Whether they’re the same or different.

JU: My favorite song, it’s kind of hard for me to pick. I think “Lost” is probably one that means a lot to me, and that’s one of my favorites. And “Hollywood On Fire” is another one. “Die If You Don’t” is up there. As far as songs that I think are going to be awesome to play live, “Die If You Don’t,” that one’s going to be so much fun. We were just practicing it yesterday, trying to get it to sound right. What else? “Hollywood On Fire” is going to be fun too, once we get that going. Getting them to not feel like you’re doing a cover of your own song, like getting them to a point where they can just feel natural, is such a hard process, so some songs might surprise me, what ends up feeling more natural.

CP: Kind of on that line, you haven’t played them in a room live until just now or you just started the rehearsals as tour is starting or?

JU: As far as the recordings go, we haven’t played those recordings live. We’ve played songs live in the room together when we were writing them, but they’ve changed so much since we’ve got together. And you know, you write parts when you’re recording and you realize you have to learn to play and sing those things later. And it’s tough. So that’s where the disconnect happens, is that so much happens before you’re playing these things live. It’s kind of like you’re relearning how to do the song that you just wrote.

CP: You are about to head out on that co-headline tour, spliced in with dates with Muse, what do you think the best piece of tour advice you’ve ever received is? 

JU: Just take it easy when you drive between the venues. Like obviously you need to be there at a certain time, but give yourself time, you know, you can stop at gas stations and chill. Not like *chill* but not like freak out like, “Go, go, go, go!” We learned that from our friends in Sputnik.

CP: What do you think you’ve learned in the 13 years you’ve been a band? What’s the biggest take away?

JU: Learn to communicate so shit stops ending in blowouts. Find your releases. Learn how to get what you need to say across without ending in a, “Fuck yourself.”

*laughs*

CP: Was that a common thing?

JU: *laughs* not anymore.

CP: Kind of going back to the writing of the album, it was said that the central theme was “resentment.” Can you elaborate a little bit on that?

JU: Yeah, for sure. Resentment is a.. I think any emotion that you feel.. what’s the best way to start? It’s something that I think a lot of us in the band felt when we were writing this. It wasn’t like an identified thing that we were writing about, but as these songs sort of kinda came together, we noticed that there was this common trait and this common through put. And I think identifying that, for me, kind of brought all of the songs together and made me feel like, lean into that emotion more. And I think it made me realize that it’s important to sit with something like resentment, which can be such a sort of deep, unnerving, uncomfortable emotion to feel, because you don’t want to resent.. it feels kind of almost pathetic to resent. But, you know, unless you really sit with something and allow yourself to feel it, you’re never going to move on from it. And so I think that’s what a lot of this album was, really sitting with that pain and understanding it in a very intimate sense.

CP: How do you personally feel like you’ve changed as a writer? Or grown, or learned to express?

JU: I think I’ve gotten better at identifying whether or not I truly like something, or I’m just fighting for something that I want to believe that I like. But I can tell that the voice in the back of my head is saying it’s not right. I think that is the hardest thing to learn how to do, is listening to your gut, and taking thinking as much as you can out of the whole process. This album has been a real lesson in knowing whether or not something you write is actually something that you are proud of and that you won’t look back on it and be like, “Eh, could’ve done better.”

CP: Were there instances where you had a gut instinct that something was good that maybe one of your bandmates or producer or someone didn’t think so that you had to fight for? Or that you agreed with them in the end?

JU: Yeah, “Lost” was one that I had to fight for quite a bit. That song was a particular way in the demo, and it was that way on purpose, and it was that way because I knew that the arc of the emotion of the song wasn’t going to be there unless it felt this particular way. And when we first got into the studio with everybody, all of a sudden it started getting ripped apart and changed. And I’m usually one to sit back and restrain myself and say, “Well, it could end up in a better place. See where it goes.” So I was trying that for a while, and I was like, “It is not ending up in a better place and I need to put my fucking foot down.” And I started getting so frustrated and I talked to my A&R and was like, “This song sucks now. It’s gone from one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written, to now something I don’t even want to put on the album.” He was like, “You talk to Paul about it yet?” And I was like, “No.” And he was like, “Well go talk to him about it.” So I did. I told him, “I am not one to be resistant to change, but  this shit needs to stay the same. And I need you to trust me that you will hear it this way if you just let me lead it.” And he was like, “Ok.” So it ended up being what it is.

CP: Good. I mean, at least that worked out in the end and it didn’t cause any great friction or anything. You guys have, and I’m assuming this came about because you toured in Mexico early on, The Warning jumping on “Hurt.” Are there any dream collaborations that you have? 

JU: Yeah.. we’re kinda working on them.. I think everybody kind of has their own dream collaborations and I think they’re possible now. We’ll leave those secret.

CP: I’m still so jealous that the UK gets you opening for Muse.

JU: It still blows my fucking mind. I’m in disbelief still.

CP: Who else, I mean obviously Muse is a huge one, but who else would you love to tour with? Whether as an opener, co-headliner, or as your opener.

JU: Well, Muse is number one, so mission accomplished, and then I’d love to tour with Royal Blood at some point. Who else? Highly Suspect was at the top of our list when we starting as a band, and now we’ve toured with them three or four times and now they’re friends of ours, so that’s pretty sick.

CP: Good old Cape Codders.

JU: Yeah. It would be cool to tour with Geese, but I don’t know if our music really fits with them. But if they think it does.. we’ll fucking do it. I love IDLES. I don’t think our vibes, I don’t know if our bands would tour well together, genre wise. I don’t know if their fans would like us. They’re more punk, you know, but I love them.

CP: Sometimes it happens.

JU: Yeah maybe it would be good. I love that band, I absolutely fucking love IDLES, they’re one of my favorites.

CP: Kind of similar, what bands are you listening to right now?

JU: There’s this young band out of Scotland called Cowboy Hunters, I think they’re pretty fucking sick. They have a song called “Punched In The Head” that’s fucking dope. So I try to shout them out where I can ‘cus I think they’re shit is sick.

CP: Any last words that you want to share?

JU: First off thank you for having me, I appreciate that. Go stream Monarch, come see us on the road, we’re going on the road with Honey Revenge in the US, and then we’re doing a headliner in Europe in the spring, and you already know we’re opening for Muse, so yeah!

Featured image by: David Craig