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Lifetime
Diatribe: I guess the first question on my mind is after ten years, what made you reunite and make your much anticipated return?
Dan Yemin: We were given and incentive to play together by the organizers of an ill-fated project called “Hellfest” which was a big annual underground music festival in New Jersey. For 3 years they had been offering is increasingly absurd amounts of money to reunite for their festival, and we kept saying “no”, because I never thought that filling my pockets with cash was a valid reason, in and of itself, to do anything artistic, and we all had (and still have) current musical projects that I didn’t want to get sidetracked from. Then in 1995 they offered to donate a ridiculous amount of money to charity in our name, in addition to paying us as a band. Coming from a punk rock background that pays a lot of lip service to political activism and social change, it was hard to say “no” to that opportunity. Hellfest was poorly managed and organized and ended up getting shut down, so our friends (Do It Booking and R5 Productions) organized 3 shows that were at much more intimate venues than the fest would have been. We had fun and rediscovered our love for playing together, and were still able to donate a ton of money to the charities we’d chosen, which included a environmental protection organization, an organization that funds gay rights initiatives, a local punk-run immigrant labor rights organization, and an animal rescue center. I was also able to pay my health insurance premiums for the year!
Diatribe: What was your experience like recording this album after not recording for so long?
Dan Yemin: None of us have stopped recording. Between the five of us we’ve recorded eight records and tons of demos with various bands since Lifetime broke up in 1997. Recording as Lifetime for the first time in 10 years was really fun and pretty easy. Some things stayed exactly the same: we recorded in the same studio (Trax East in South River, NJ) with the same producer/engineer (Steve Evetts). Other things were really different: We wrote this album in four months, as opposed to the two years it took to write “Jersey’s Best Dancers”, and we recorded the new album over the course of an entire month, as opposed to the 10 days we used for “Jersey’s Best Dancers”
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Diatribe: I was a bit surprised to find out that the new record would not be coming out on Jade Tree, instead coming out on Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz’s imprint Decaydance. I love the record and personally think that the album speaks for itself, but have you had any idiots trying to scream “sellout” or whatnot?
Dan Yemin: The world is full of idiots yelling a lot of ignorant and hurtful things. Filtering through all that is a big part of what being in a band is about. The term “sellout” is hilarious, as none of us has taken a cent for ourselves from the label, and we’ve actually had to throw in a bunch of our own money in order to get certain things done right. The choice of labels was simple: we needed someone who was excited enough about a new Lifetime album to take a very foolish risk, namely funding a pretty expensive recording project for a bunch of older punks with families and other bands, who are not going to embark on nine months of touring to support the record.
Diatribe: Since making “Hello Bastards” and “Jerseys Best Dancers” do you think you still draw from the same creative pool? I mean, you’re all older and probably have obviously different priorities and responsibilities than you did back then, but do you think the way you approach songwriting is the same?
Dan Yemin: The songwriting process was pretty much the same, possibly more efficient because of the constraints on our time. We used more of the available technology to help streamline the process, demoing song ideas at home and emailing them to each other. I think Dave’s extensive post-Lifetime experience with electronic music (he owns a small record label called Run-Roc) impacted the writing to some degree, as it seemed to me that some of his ideas for arranging our songs were at least to some degree influenced by his experience with sampling as a compositional tool.
Diatribe: Speaking of the aging process, being older now… you guys, I’m sure, all have day jobs. What do you guys do outside of Lifetime for a living?
Dan Yemin: Ari is a carpenter, Pete does computer network maintenance, Dave is a computer programmer, Scott works in beverage sales and marketing, and I’m a psychologist.
Diatribe: Awesome, I think it’s safe to say every member of Diatribe could benefit from your services; we’ll keep you in mind. Anyway, it’s no secret that Lifetime has been a huge influence on this younger generation of bands. Are there any of these newer bands that you particularly respect or enjoy?
Dan Yemin: I like Saves the Day a lot, and I think Taking Back Sunday has really cool song arrangements. My Chemical Romance has somehow transformed their pop-punk influence into sounding like Queen, which is pretty amazing. Most of the stuff I listen to is much more abrasive though.
Diatribe: What bands initially influenced your music and has your musical taste changed or expanded up until the recording of the self titled album?
Dan Yemin: At first it was definitely Dag Nasty and Verbal Assault, and then grew to include Elvis Costello, Jawbreaker, 7 Seconds, The Buzzcocks, the Clash, Propagandhi, etc. Our tastes have also changed and expanded (or contracted, in Ari’s case: he claims that he only listens to Oldies and Reggae, no new music at all).
Diatribe: What are three older albums that kids should go rush out and get…and why?
Dan Yemin: Bad Brains “ROIR” album: simply the best hardcore album ever. Minor Threat- “Out of Step”: changed (or ruined, depending on how you look at it) my life forever. Smart, passionate, creative, sarcastic, and blazing fast. Started an important movement in USHC, creating a record label that was owned and operated by members of the band to represent, archive and support their local scene. The Clash’s first album: totally groundbreaking, poignant, anthemic, and political, everything that punk at its best can be.
Diatribe: Recently I interviewed Shook Ones and I know that they are huge Lifetime/Kid Dynamite fans. You played a few shows with those guys recently…what was that experience like?
Dan Yemin: Like looking backward in time. A lot of the closed-mindedness still exists in the hardcore scene. They have an uphill battle ahead of them, and it will be exciting to watch how they handle it.
Diatribe: Will you be touring extensively behind this record, or just whenever you can get out?
Dan Yemin: Whenever we can pull it off. We’ve got families, jobs, and other bands, so it’s difficult to juggle all of our responsibilities. My head hurts sometimes when I try to think about it…
Diatribe: Do you have any goals for the future in regards to the band, or are you just playing it by ear and having fun for now?
Dan Yemin: Just trying to have fun.
Diatribe: Right on. I ask this question to everyone, and am really interested in your response. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?
Dan Yemin: Three words: fast, aggressive, anthemic.
Diatribe: Thanks for taking the time to do this. Any final words in closing? Speak now or forever hold your peace.
Dan Yemin: Thanks for the support!!!
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