JOHN HOFFMAN - WEEKEND NACHOS

Name: John Hoffman

Bands (dead or alive): Weekend Nachos

Duty in the band: Vocalist/pyrotechnics

I had the pleasure of watching Chicago hardcore band, Weekend Nachos, on June 3, 2011 at The Naylair. At the time they were also touring with The Afternoon Gentleman, a grindcore band, from Leeds, UK. To be honest, it was damn refreshing to see a band with a good mix of sludgy breakdowns, an onslaught of blast beats, and smooth time signature changes. Overall, it was a good consistent balance of many sonic elements that could get any type of hardcore kid to feel the vibes Weekend Nachos was tossing at the audience. Their new album, Worthless, which was released on May 15, 2011 helps capture how Weekend Nachos can punish their listeners through pure pandemonium or through segments with an offsetting silence that keeps the listener wondering what will come next. In my honest opinion, Worthless, is a more mature release.  Like with any band, as numerous albums are released, their sound on a record is more honed/fine-tuned to how they sound live. What you hear on the record is what you will hear live…. excellence. Releases like the Torture EP and Bleed EP, have the same groove, but I feel that there are segments that are usually predictable and continuous if that makes any sense. To make a long story short….if you like fast, brutal, pissed off music than Weekend Nachos may interest you.  Besides being a sweet band, the dudes in the band are down to earth as well.  John, the vocalist of the band, was nice enough to answer my goofy question so go ahead and check out the interview I did with him.

Goofy

Favorite Chicago sports team?

Definitely the Chicago Bulls. Repeat the Threepeat.

How many languages do you speak?

Just English. I can understand a tiny amount of Spanish but not enough to get by.

What other languages would you like to learn?

Japanese so if I ever go there I can talk to people.

What’s your favorite snack?

I guess a bagel with cream cheese, but I’m a fan of many snacks.

Do you ever eat nachos?

Sometimes I do. Not as often as one might think!

Instead of Weekend Nachos…..it is now Weekend ______.

Dads

Growing up is ___________.

Painful but rewarding.

You have the ability to bring back one person from the dead. Who would it be?

I guess Selena. I would try to marry her.

If you could study one style of dance, what would it be?

I would enjoy knowing how to box.

Personal

When you were a little kid what did you want to be?

I always wanted to be an artist as a little kid. In my early high school days before I discovered hardcore I think I was determined to be a rock star.

What does your normal daily routine normally consist of?

I wake up, throw on some clothes and catch a bus to go to work. Then I come home, shower, eat, and watch tv for the rest of the night.

What/who inspired you to start playing music?

I guess Michael Jackson and Aerosmith. Those were the first two musical artists I ever got into. Nirvana too.

Who are some vocalists that have influenced you the most?

I guess I’m mainly influenced by anybody who sang for an energetic hardcore band in the early 2000’s. Originally I only played drums and bass in the bands I was in, but right around the time i turned 17 and started seeing bands like No Justice, What Happens Next, Life’s Halt, Carry On, No Warning, Terror, etc. I really started getting the desire to front a band because it looked like a lot of fun.

How has being the vocalist for Weekend Nachos affected your life? (for the good and for the bad)

It’s taught me to really do something personal and create something that other people can relate to whenever they see us. I think the intensity of Weekend Nachos has a lot to do with my antics on stage, at least in the beginning that was the main force behind it. I got a sense of accomplishment from being the frontman of a band people actually liked. As for the negative, I guess I sorta get hurt a lot. Nothing serious but I walk away with cuts and bruises and a sore throat pretty much every time we play. It’s a little rough.

Name a few bands that should cease to exist.

Hmm I used to pretty much hate every single band. Now that I’m becoming an adult I’ve mellowed out a little over the years and I don’t have as much negative shit to say. I guess U2 is a band I could always do without. Fuck them. Kanye West too. Total dog shit.

What are some of your hobbies?

I like to watch movies and occasionally write or paint. I like hardcore too, it’s still a pretty big part of my life. Other than that I’m pretty boring.

One thing you love about Chicago?

Food. We have a lot of great restaurants here. Deep dish pizza, hot dogs and burgers.

One thing you hate about Chicago?

Recently the hardcore scene has become watered down and cliquish. I don’t like that because it didn’t used to be that way. For a while it was totally kosher. Things will bounce back though.

What was the last album you listened to before doing this interview?

Hmm I guess it was the new Posies album. Most of the people reading this probably won’t know who that is. I guess you could call them an “alternative rock” band. They’ve been around since the very early 90’s i think. Maybe even the late 80’s. My dad likes them a lot and he was jamming it in the car when I was with him earlier today.

As an audience member, what are some of the raddest shows you’ve seen?

I went to the Slapstick reunion a few weeks ago. It was honestly the best concert I’ve ever been to in my life. Other than that, well I’ve seen a lot of great shows. The first Chicago Fest in 2000 was memorable because What Happens Next, Life’s Halt and No Justice played and I had never seen any bands play that fast before that day. I also saw almost every single Repos show and those were always the most intense 8 ½ minutes of anybody’s life. Kungfu Rick is another band who were always really awesome to see live, and I probably saw them 100 times. Scary shit when you’re 14 years old and you’ve never seen a grindcore band or actual violence at a show before. Also when Bastard flew here to reunite for Chaos In Tejas two years ago…I went out to Austin for that and it was absolutely mind-blowing. I’ll never forget that performance.

What’s one band that you never saw live that you would kill to see reunite for a one-time performance?

Charles Bronson and Spazz. I never saw either of those bands and I had the chance to a few times when I was younger but just didn’t know any better. Also Gauze. I have a feeling they’ll play here once more at some point before I (or they) die.

Weekend Nachos

From what I’ve read/heard, the meaning behind the band name, Weekend Nachos, is just pure nonsense. True or False?

Very true.

How many different lineups has there been during Weekend Nacho’s life-span. Who is currently in the band?

Too many to count, man! Currently it’s me and Andy Nelson, 2 original members, on vocals and guitar. Then Brian Laude plays drums, he’s been in the band for probably 4-5 years now. Drew Brown plays bass, he’s been in the band for at least 3 years. Basically even though the lineup has changed, we’ve had THIS lineup for a really long time now. It’s been the longest surviving lineup so far.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to cover many social/political issues in your lyrics. Some of those issues cover homophobia, elitism, the educational system, religion, and humans just being shitty in general. Did where you grew up have anything to do with this or what exactly spurred on the hatred?

I think a lot of it stems from issues I dealt with growing up but a lot of the issues I address are more recent things you learn just from growing up and becoming more of an adult. I guess the problems I have with society stem from just growing up in a rich suburb and dealing with all of the social norms and bullshit like that. The others issues are things I’ve learned to focus on from just living life and witnessing things that are fucked up in the world. I don’t think most people are made aware of a lot of things until they start to see the world how it really is, not what they were shown as children. And some people grow up fast and witness this stuff even during their childhood. I didn’t, I was much more sheltered in my early years.

Would you say that there is a particular theme for the lyrics in Worthless?

Na, not really, that record kinda covers a wide span of issues. Some of them are strictly personal but a lot of them are things other people can directly recognize as issues in the world. Whether they agree with my points or not, they are still more recognizable song topics as opposed to just a vague song about hating people, haha.

I’m assuming that the songs, “4 Years” from the Torture E.P and “The Fine Art of Bullshit” on Worthless are songs about school. What was your personal experience in the educational system? How do you think education in America can be improved?

I don’t know how education in America can be improved…those songs are mainly about how much art school in particular is a waste of time and a hypocritical display of nonsense. No one can tell you how to express yourself. During my years at college, that’s exactly what they tried to do. It’s not the free world of artistic expression that everybody thinks it is. It’s just another system you have to either run with or fight against. I chose to fight against it and be the outcast once again. It was a constant battle for artistic freedom while I was there. No one liked me very much as a result. Which still baffles me, to think that ART SCHOOL isn’t even a place where you can be yourself without taking heat from some close-minded fucking asshole.

Was there any approach that Weekend Nachos took differently in recording Worthless versus all the other releases you have recorded in the past?

Na, we pretty much just go with the flow and start tracking and however it goes, that’s how it goes. Andy has his methods of getting all the tones and everything like that but we never really follow any plan. It’s a pretty wild ride every time. Thankfully we have lived up to our own expectations and recorded great sounding albums every time. We work well as a band and Andy’s always had his shit together in the studio.

Weekend Nacho’s has toured in Europe. What would you say are some of the main differences in touring and playing shows overseas as compared to those here in the states?

The shows in Europe are much more organized. You rarely run into a situation where some retarded 17 year old kid didn’t get a PA, the bands aren’t setting up fast enough, things are behind schedule, etc. Things are just taken more seriously there. Which is fucking awesome because I hate that about shows in America. There are plenty of people who know what they’re doing but I think other people feel like “punk rock” is just another way to say “half-assed”. And it’s not. There’s no shame in playing on time, setting up quickly, running an organized show, paying the bands fairly, etc. Also a difference about shows in Europe is 97% of the gigs all have meals and shelter for the bands. The hospitality there is unfathomable. They really treat you well. And it’s not in some creepy rock star kind of way either…they just respect what you’re doing and they want to make you comfortable.

What bands haven’t you toured with yet that you would like to go on a whole string of shows with?

Hmmm, hard to say. We meet a lot of great people but most of the time we are just used to touring by ourselves. If it ever makes sense to tour with another band, we will figure it out! for example a few months ago we invited The Afternoon Gentlemen from England and we went on that tour with them for 2 weeks. I guess we just don’t think about those things until the opportunity presents itself.

Any cities you haven’t played a show in that you would like to make out to on your next tour?

Hmm, not in the United States. We have toured this country so many times now that all we really want to do is branch out and start traveling to foreign countries. Actually…we’ve only played Miami once in our entire 7 years of being a band and that was a long time ago. The show was very well attended and fun so I would love to one day play Miami again.

You guys just came out with Worthless . What is next for Weekend Nachos?

We’re taking it easy for a while. We want to focus on touring every few months. We have plans to do 4-5 days on the East Coast in August and then we’re going back to Europe in October. After that…we’ll see. Maybe England in early 2012. Australia, Japan, South America, we have a LOT of places we want to eventually get to. No plans to write any new material for a long time though.

I’m out of questions. Any last words you would like to say?

Yeah…respect others, respect yourself, and respect Weekend Nachos. Respect.

end.

There you have it. If you want to buy some of their records hit up http://weekendnachos.bigcartel.com/ or if you want some merch (shirts) go to http://www.allinmerch.com/category/WN.html. Again, thanks to John for doing this interview. Sometimes I ask some ridiculous questions so it’s rad when people embrace my goofiness (or stupid) questions.  Go out and see this band live if you have the chance. It might be too brutal for the average joe, but I can assure you it’ll be something you’re not used to watching, especially since the drummer will probably be wearing only a jockstrap and a headband. Rock on.

Chris