Against Me! Plays Velvet Jones

Rarely do rowdy guitar licks, thought-provoking lyrics, and a positive ethos find a common home in a band, but Against Me! is no run-of-the-mill group. Formed in 1997 by the gravelly voiced Tom Gabel, AM! began as a solo act, eventually growing to include bassist Andrew Seward, guitarist James Bowman, and drummer Warren Oakes. After eight years with the Gainesville, Florida-based band, Oakes (who managed to make bushy beards and freeganism cool) abruptly threw in the towel this past June, opting to pursue a career as a restaurateur. The shift in lineup – Hot Water Music’s George Rebelo quickly stepped in – caused a major stir within the punk community, and message boards buzzed with speculation about what happened.

This wasn’t AM!’s first brush with controversy, however. The foursome has been rumbling with fans since they first started to move away from independent labels in favor of more established record companies. Things reached a fever pitch in late 2005, when the band announced they would be signing to Sire Records and working with mega producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins). AM!’s first Sire offering, 2007’s New Wave, was decidedly more polished, but no less punk than previous efforts, and saw the band garner significant mainstream success, including being named best album of ’07 by Spin magazine. Gabel and Vig joined forces again for the singer’s recent foray into solo work, 2008’s stripped-down Heart Burns.

Gabel recently phoned in from the studio, where he was working on AM!’s forthcoming album, White Crosses, which he described as “an aggressive album” that covers “some new ground.” He also shed some light on drummer-gate, the rigors of touring, and celebrity vocal spots.