In our recent conversation with The Last Gang, we delved into the heart of their creative process, exploring the songwriting and composition behind their latest album “Obscene Daydreams.” The band opened up about the journey of crafting their latest album, discussing the themes and influences that shaped their newest single “Berlin To Rome.” We also touched on their recent gigs, the energy they bring to the stage, and what fans can expect from their live performances. It’s a candid look into the mind of a band that continues to push the boundaries of punk rock.
The Last Gang has always been a band that thrives on raw energy and emotion. What’s the driving force behind your latest album, Obscene Daydreams?
Brenna: Collectively we can easily say that this album is the most passion driver record we have put together. Our day to day lives have brought us to where we are, and those things impact us, for good and bad. It makes us have more emotion in our writing this time around, along with giving ourselves a serious deadline was something we have never toyed with before. It made us work harder to produce our best music to date, and I think we did just that.
You mentioned that each album is like a journal of your lives at the moment. What specific experiences or emotions are captured in your album?
Brenna: Each song has its own personally, representing that moment in time or emotion triggered. For instance, the opening track Electric Avenue is about my obsession with my best friend and how we became immediately bonded for life. My first memory of her, she had blue bi-hawks, a plaid mini skirt covered in patches, shredded fishnets, and 8 inch red platform stripper shoes. We met at Disneyland where all the punks and skins used to hang out, by the pay phones. Any given weekend you could catch up to 30 of us hanging out there. I thought she was so cool and she acted like the gnarliest “I don’t give a fuck” punk I’ve ever seen. I gave her a Ramones sticker one weekend cause she was upset. She stuck it on her worn in, ankle high Doc Martins. She was and is my first tru love.
Working with producer Cameron Webb again must have been interesting, especially with a tighter deadline. How did this more intentional writing process influence the final sound of the album?
Brenna: Recording with Cameron is always interesting. We have good time and have great relationship with him. There’s a trust and bond that’s hard to find. To be honest the tighter deadline didn’t have an influence on the final sound of the album.
Can you elaborate on the Star Trek reference in “The Others” and how it ties into the theme of the song?
Brenna: We were at a festive in Florida and some “fan” made a comment about Sean’s Against Me! shirt. Something to the effect of “well I liked it when he was still Tom”. And I was shocked to think that he could be a fan of our band. Like, do you not read our lyrics and know what we stand for? So I said fuck that. I want to right a song that CLEARLY states that we are an ally and supporters of the LGTBQ+ community. And to anybody else who feels less that or ostracized. There’s a Vulcan philosophy called the IDIC. Its stands for infinite diversity in infinite combinations. It celebrates the limitless possibilities of combinations in the universe and in the ways we live.
You’ve got some major tours coming up, including with The Drowns, Teenage Bottlerocket, and even joining NOFX for their final LA shows. How are you preparing for such a packed tour schedule?
Brenna: We prep by doing what we can to keep our minds and bodies healthy. We are facing a really long run of gigs and we have to be in high spirits through and through to make it work collectively. We all get along just fine, but at the end of the day, if you aren’t consistently checking in with yourself, it makes touring difficult.
“Berlin to Rome” is a powerful track that reflects your love for touring. Can you share any memorable moments from the cities that inspired this song?
Brenna: The first day we were sightseeing all the history in Berlin, but I spent all day on YouTube, glued to my phone trying to learn how to drive stick. The first full night in Berlin night in Berlin I sat downstairs in Rock N Roll Herberge, eating vegan schnitzel, drinking beer, petting two massive frenchies till 2am. The first show we ever played in Berlin was at Wild at Heart and it was packed and people were singing our songs, which was so wild.
You describe “Madness” as a love song, or as close to one as you can get. What inspired this track, and how does it stand out from your other work?
Brenna: My partner and I are still in disbelief that we’ve been together for over a decade and still in love. By all means, on paper we shouldn’t work. We’re the same type of person. Stubborn, defiant, opinionated, passionate. Our relationship should have burned in flames many times by now. But for some bizarre reason we just work. It makes no sense. I don’t really believe in marriage. It’s evolved into an expectation of our society. Like without it we’re invalid or incomplete. But here we two are, happy as some delusional day dream.
With “Berlin to Rome” being a preview of the upcoming album, how do you feel it represents the overall vibe of Obscene Daydreams?
Brenna: What Berlin to Rome represents is just a small fraction of what is in store for the entire album! But what I can say is that it does represent, a well versed group of people who have passion to keep moving forward, despite the amount of obstacles we face.
The song “NRA Back 2 School” has a lot of fury behind it. What message do you hope listeners take away from it?
Brenna: It is what we would consider a fairly straightforward representation of what is going on with guns and gun violence in the US. We have grown so numb to gun violence being a daily occurrence and that is clearly a big problem.
How did the writing process for “Madness” differ from your other tracks, especially considering its more personal and emotional tone?
Brenna: Madness was written last minute, less than a month before we went into the studio. It started as two simple chords, A minor to C. Then I heard this melody in my head similar to the verse in “Zombie” by the Cranberries. And the word “strange” just seemed to fit. Then it slowly morphed into this love song about how strange my partner’s and I marriage works so easily. Even tho we’re the same insanely opinionated and passionate lunatics.
You’ve mentioned that you don’t pump out songs quickly and that everything is carefully thought out. How do you know when a song is truly finished?
Brenna: I know a song is gonna make it to the tracking studio when we put harmonies to it. When we’re emotionally invested into it enough to add on the extras. It’s as if we’ve seen this idea grow past its infancy and we can now see what it could feel like as a finished song.
This time, you didn’t have Fat Mike’s direct input during the recording process. How did that impact the development of Obscene Daydreams?
Ken: The process for this record was still the same as what we did in the past. Naturally every previous experience is brought to the next so any writing tips or tricks we learned from Mike are still present in this record in some ways. But the development of this record was a cool experience for all of us because we really were made to push eachother in every aspect of writing, working out our parts, and transitions. Also it made us be more purposeful in peppering in any ideas.
Your music often blends melodic hooks with raw, unfiltered emotion. How do you balance these elements in your songwriting?
Sam: The most fortunate thing I have found as really important in this band is we all have tons of different musical backgrounds as far as what our main stays are and what we are even currently listening to. It brings a wide variety of sound to come to the table, which is motivating knowing we won’t ever really get tired of making the same sounds over and over. Every song written on this record is so different and so cohesive at the same time.
“Obscene Daydreams” seems to cover a wide range of topics, from class struggle to love and friendship. How did you decide which themes to explore on this album?
Brenna: These topics are something that live in our heads daily. I remember after the Covid lockdown happened and store fronts were open again, businesses still kept a skeleton crew of staff on hand. Because they realized they could understaff a store yet still make the same relative profits. So while the work load rose for us exponentially, we got paid the same if not less cause hours were cut. All the while the rich got disgustingly richer.
Looking back on your journey with The Last Gang, how do you feel you’ve evolved as a band from your first album to Obscene Daydreams?
Sean: We’ve gotten better. This band has always been about creating the very best we possibly can at that particular point in time. We know we’re not great musicians, but we take the time, push ourselves to our personal limits, and put in the often difficult work to be sure we’re not simply regurgitating the same material. We were proud of Keep Them Counting as well as Noise Noise Noise, but the new record really saw us step it up a notch. When we weren’t touring in 2023, we were locked away together in our rehearsal space tirelessly writing and recording demos. We’re very happy with how this one turned out. So yeah, over the years between touring and recording, our work ethic has grown stronger and stronger.
Thoughts Words Action 