Courtesy photos Hey, Against Me! OK (left), now we know where your name came from. The Briggs guarantee their show will be hot.

San Antonio can prepare to get punk’d by The Vans Warped Tour on July 5. When 210SA took a dive into the tour’s bands, we came up with two Q&A’s that show punk-rock’s split personality. Tom Gabel of Against Me! won the “naughty” label with attitude to spare while Jason LaRocca of The Briggs rocked our “nice” side.

Tom Gabel, 27-year-old vocalist and guitarist for the Florida-based punk band Against Me!

You started off playing Laundromats. Now Against Me!’s “Stop!” has made Billboard’s list of Hot Modern Rock Tracks, and you guys just performed on “The Tonight Show.” What’s that change like?

I played one Laundromat ..... I’ve not really changed. We’ve been a band for 10 years. It’s not like one second we’re playing in a Laundromat and the next second we’re playing ‘The Tonight Show.’ We’ve toured year after year after year. It’s a gradual progression.

So you’ve stuck with the band name since you were 17. Tell us what it means to you.

No. (Yes, he really said this.)

You had three full-length records on indie labels — Reinventing Axl Rose in 2002, As the Eternal Cowboy in 2003 and Searching for a Former Clarity in 2005. The last reached No. 9 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart. Was the switch to a major label, Warner Bros. Records, a dramatic change?

It was the next step that we were ready to make ..... We tour worldwide, and we needed a label that could really support our band. That made sense for us.

Has the music changed since you switched labels?

The music has changed over the years. It has progressed. Hopefully, after playing 200-odd shows per year ..... spending X amount of days in the studio, that you’d get better at playing your instruments ..... and get better at writing your songs.

Find any new musical inspiration lately?

A lot of times, music influencing what you’re writing is subconscious. The past couple records I’ve bought are the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series, a three-disc set, which is pretty rad, the new Ghostland Observatory record, Goldfrapp record. That’s just to name a few.

Where did you get the name for your major-label debut album, New Wave?

It’s named after a song on the record.

You’ve done some songs that deal with the war. What’s your take on it?

It’s no different really than writing about any other subject. So I’m expressing my opinion about it ..... (I’m) very much against the war.

Do peace and punk rock go hand in hand?

If you took a look at punk rock, then you would see pretty much consistently across the board that every punk band is against the war.

Jason LaRocca, 29-year-old vocalist and guitarist for L.A.-based punk band The Briggs

So you just had a birthday. How does a punk rocker celebrate?

I just turned 29 a couple days ago. I didn’t tell anybody, so I celebrated it alone with some Pinkberry ice cream. It’s not real ice cream. It’s like frozen yogurt, and they put fresh fruit on it. ..... I like strawberry, bananas and granola on top of it. It’s almost like breakfast.

On to the band. What’s it like working with your brother, Joey LaRocca? Both of you do guitar and vocals. Is there any sibling rivalry?

Yeah, definitely, we argue and fight a lot. But I think we ultimately make up easily. I think that’s why we’ve been able to be in the band for as long as we have ..... We’ve definitely had some interesting blow-ups but nothing that ever stuck to the point that we couldn’t play together.

You’ve said you manage to take some aggression out by putting on a great show. Some of that action must’ve been caught on camera when you filmed the video for the new song, “Charge Into the Sun,” during a live performance. Can you tell us about the rowdiness?

We broke a couple things. The cameras didn’t get broken but they definitely got knocked around a couple times. We broke a couple of guitar cables, and I lost my hat. But no broken bones.

You guys just came out with a new album, Come All You Madmen, which has more of a “live” feel. How do you accomplish that musically?

We set up in the studio to actually record everybody all live. And we would go through quite a few takes per song ..... We would just start to build around a live take and make it sound huge and studio-like. I think just the spontaneity of certain things, the way you approach the vocals or guitar or drums at that time and don’t really question whether it was right or wrong.

Who writes the songs?

I write songs and Joey writes songs. It’s almost 50-50 ..... We usually just sort of sit up in our own worlds for a while and write songs respectively on our acoustic guitars, and then we show them to each other when we have something we’re proud of. Then we help each other to grow them into a real song idea ..... Whoever writes the song sings it. Joey writes the ones he sings, and I sing the ones I write. There aren’t that many (bands) that actually do that.

Did you guys ever hear back from President Bush after Joey sent in his war-protest video message, “37 cents”?

I think it might still be in the mail. I think he sent him the video but I doubt (President Bush) is going to get to see it ..... Even with its little time on YouTube, we’ve had some people stirred up about it and wanting to see it live.

How is Warped Tour different from other tours? Is it really more warped?

It’s so different. There are so many variables to work through each day. You get up in the morning and your chores are: Find out where your merch is going to be set up, find out where your stage is going to be and, more importantly, find out where food is going to be ..... It’s got its torturous side. You’re out in the heat and sun and 100-plus temperatures. Running around and trying to find where all that stuff is is pretty warped, warps your mind and usually anything made of plastic.

How do you survive the heat?

The first day (of the tour) I think was 113 out in Pomona (Calif.) ..... There were several times when I almost blacked out. I had to muster all I could to just stand in one place and sing. It was crazy. I was like, God, I don’t remember Warped Tour being this hard last year.”

Anything else you want to add before you show San Antonio what you’re all about?

I can almost guarantee it’s going to be hot as hell in Texas. There’s a very high potential that I might actually black out for real. But I don’t care. It’s going to be worth it.

Jennifer Lloyd | 210SA