“Hey man – erm, what have we done this year?”
A conversation with Scott Russo, frontman of Unwritten Law, was always going to be a little hazy – and who could blame him? The Californians have had a hectic career, so it’s lucky Russo has bassist Jonny Grill nearby to consult on the details as he speaks over the phone with the BRAG.
“You caught me on a blank but I’ve got it now – we’ve done two US tours; our Acoustic record came out back in April,” says Russo. “We just did two months touring with Pennywise and Strung Out. We just got done in Las Vegas and we come to Australia on Monday.
“I’m a sucker for Australia – it’s like our second home. I don’t want to sell my country short or anything, but it’s nice to get away and play far-off places once in a while.”
Their devout fan base has kept these punk rock pioneers alive and kicking since they formed way back in 1990. “When we started out, [punk rock] hadn’t been invented yet,” Russo says. “It was California punk rock – Bad Religion had just started, Green Day came in from the Bay Area and it was a whole movement.
“It seemed like it was easy to microwave and take off, and Unwritten Law kinda took off and evolved – 20 years later you’ve got bands like 5 Seconds Of Summer changing up the scene and writing new punk stuff.”
At this point, Russo is told in no uncertain terms that 5 Seconds Of Summer are in no way punk rock – at least not in the style Unwritten Law are known for. “I heard they were the new Green Day,” he replies, “but as far as what’s happened on the scene, people grow up and hope they evolve as artists. I know we definitely have.”
Indeed, Unwritten Law have undergone some significant evolution over the course of their career, bringing a harder rock edge to their releases. In particular, 2002’s exalted Elva saw the band move away from its traditional genre. “I really think we grew up and wanted to [experiment],” Russo says. “It wasn’t necessarily about making music for other people, it was more for ourselves. We wanted to make something to make us feel good.”
2017 marks the 15th anniversary of the release of Elva, with the album to be played in its entirety on Unwritten Law’s Australian tour this month. But taking into account the band’s latter-day maturity and the march of time, how does Russo think the meaning and interpretations of those songs will change onstage?
“Actually, we’re going to play it pretty true to the record,” he says. “We’ve been in rehearsal all week and it’s Elva pretty much spot on. We’ve added an additional member for this tour too – Scotty Mack, our tour manager/friend/guardian angel – if we were gonna go for it, we were gonna do it with him to get it really spot on.
“We’re gonna have an additional set at the end of Elva, pretty bang-up, songs we don’t normally play – the songs everyone screams for every night. We’re gonna get it out of our systems. It should be a wild show.”
Russo politely and momentarily excuses himself from our conversation to discuss with his companions the alcohol to be served with the meal they’re preparing. Keen to get some bang for his buck and anxious to ensure the presence of lemons alongside their beverages, Russo overhears my giggling and is pleased he can offer an entertaining insight into his world, brief as it may be. Alcohol arrangements in place, our discussion turns to Unwritten Law’s new material.
“We started writing in the studio and we’re going to record in February – hopefully we’ll have the new record out by December next year,” Russo says. “I think we wanna be more methodical about this one. We want it to be a more modern version of Nirvana, The Clash and Refused. We’re gonna give it the shape of punk to come, with a lot more screaming. We want to make a classic. We’re a lot more focused – definitely that’s along the lines of what we’ll be chasing.”
It’s that attention to detail that has kept Unwritten Law in steady business for so long, and in the interim between their writing and recording sessions, Australia beckons. Russo turns to Grill to help him fill in a few more blanks.
“Hey, uh, what was that city we were in in Australia? With Cold Chisel?” he asks aloud. “I mean, we’re in Australia! We opened up for Cold Chisel once, at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney – that was really dope.
“On this tour, we’re bringing Mixtape [For The Drive] – they were on a few shows for us last time and they’re fucking great dudes. We’re bringing down our friends Runaway Kids who just opened up our shows here – we’re looking forward to bringing them down and letting them loose.”
Unwritten Law’sAcoustic isout now through Cyber Tracks, and you can catch them, withRunaway Kids and Mixtape For The Drive, atManning Bar at Saturday December 10.
