Tony Sly with No Use For A Name at the Rheinkultur festival at Bonn, Germany
ALYSSA RUDYCK
Arts Writer
If you have been listing to punk rock music at all during the last 20 years, there is a good chance you have some No Use for a Name tunes in your repertoire.
Vocalist and song-writer for the band Tony Sly has, after over two decades with a band, released his first solo album. If you’re worried this means No Use for a Name has broken up, don’t be. Sly has simply decided to branch out and exercise his acoustic side.
Sly will be opening for NOFX on April 25 in Saskatoon, performing songs from his album 12 Song Program.
“No Use was sort of starting to take more and more long breaks between records,” said Sly, “and I was like ”˜Ah, I don’t really want to start another band, but I have these song ideas, and maybe I should just put out a solo record.’ And immediately, when you do that, because you’ve been in a punk band for 20 years, you know that it’s a risk.”
Sly explained that he had no intention of having his new album sound the same as previous NUFAN records.
“You can’t get away from sounding like No Use, because it’s the same singer, it’s the same songwriter. So, I wanted to make it as different as possible, without being contrived.”
Sly definitely succeeded in finding a new sound: the 12-track record is a compilation of acoustic songs that he said were influenced by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. In Sly’s words, “If you listen to it, it’s got sort of this melodic”¦ old, folky feel.”
Although he assured me that he was not comparing 12 Song Program to The Beatles or Bob Dylan, (“That would be ridiculous,” said Sly), he explained that he didn’t want the album to sound over-produced, that he was “trying to make it sound like how it first sounded when (he) heard a record like Rubber Soul.”
In a world where the radio waves are congested with the regurgitated thrust-anthems of teen divas that seem to have all been written by the same overpaid corporate sell-out, it is refreshing and notable that Tony Sly is attempting not only to branch out from his predisposed musical identity, but also to create something honest while doing so.
“I was thinking that, with today’s technology, you can make a singer sound so much better than they actually are. You know? And there’s something about that that just really takes the soul right out of the song. When you listen to a lot of manufactured music you tend to get that feeling that it’s not real, that they didn’t put much into it. So my idea was to get back to the song writing, which is all that matters in my opinion.”
Reflecting on the lyrics to 12 Song Program, which took Sly a month to write before recording in just two weeks, Sly says, “I just kind of, spilled my guts a little bit, you know?”
The title of the album is clearly a play-on-words in regards to Alcoholics Anonymous. Not an alcoholic himself, Sly explains that the album was about “combating a bad time” and “learning from your mistakes you may have made in your life.
“I love writing songs, and they say in the 12 step program they have people explain what they have done in their lives,” said Sly. “The title seemed so fitting to me at the time because it’s like, that’s my way of self-therapy.”
Sly said the lyrics came easy to him, because there was so much he had to write about.
“I have two kids which makes things so much different with being responsible,” he said. “There was time in my life where I kind of used to party, kind of too much”¦ I think that’s a lot of what comes out on this record, a lot of reflection.”
Talk of partying too much led us to discussing NOFX front man Fat Mike, who, aside from being notorious for having a good time, signed Sly’s solo project with his label Fat Wreck Chords. Sly was already associated with Fat Wreck Chords through NUFAN.
“Working with him is always great, he’s a good friend and he’s done a lot for me, and Fat Wreck Chords has done amazing things for me throughout my life.”
Fat Mike also plays bass on track called “AM” on 12 Song Program. Sly said that although Fat Mike had drank “half a bottle” of whiskey before he recorded, he still did a great job on the track. Aside from his talent of making music with drinks in his belly, he also has about 30 years of musical experience. Sly said Fat Mike has been a mentor to him.
“I used to kind of go up to his house and play my songs with him on acoustic guitar. He wouldn’t write the songs for me, but he’d be like, ”˜How about this instead of that?’”
Sly has by now come into his own over the past two decades playing with NUFAN. And now, switching up his style on the solo album, he has had to find his footing once again.
“Doing this acoustic thing is like doing something new. It’s almost like starting over,” he said. “So, it was pretty nerve-racking. But I found out pretty quick that when I make mistakes, because they’re my songs, people just laugh.”
Sly has been touring with musician Joey Cape since the release of 12 Song Program in February, and is now having a lot of fun playing without a band.
“When people think of an acoustic tour the first thing that pops into their head is, like, guys sitting on stools in a coffee shop,” said Sly. “But it’s really quite the opposite. It’s been really cool. Like in Europe, it was ridiculous, people stage diving while we’re playing acoustically.”
Speaking of rowdy crowds, Sly seemed genuinely excited to be coming back to Saskatoon.
“I’m really looking forward to the show, because I’m sure the crowd is going to be awesome.”
Unfortunately, if you do not already have tickets to the show, you are out of luck, because it has been sold out for months. You can, however wait until June when Tony Sly will be back here touring again with Joey Cape.
After the tour in June, Sly will be back to playing with NUFAN.
“To be honest with you, writing this mellow stuff makes me wanna write punk rock stuff. So that said, I think that the next No Use album will be pretty raw, as far as punk goes.”
Sly also plans to work on a second solo album at the same time, hoping to have both written by the fall.
If you want to sample some of his new songs for yourself, check out his MySpace page.
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photo: Matthias Zepper / Flickr
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