DON’T BREAK DOWN 2 0
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W R I T T E N BY LI SA R O O T, PH OTOG RA PHY B Y MATT KA DI
1994. Bill Clinton was president, gas was around a dollar something a gallon, no one (at least than I knew) had a cell phone (some people might have had a pager, but my only phone still had a cord on it.) I’m hating even typing about the nostalgia of that year, but it really was ‘the year.’ To me at least. 20 years have passed since a little punk album called 24 Hour Revenge Therapy was released. It marked the beginning of the end of arguably one of the finest
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to the 2014 releases and feeling like it’s 1994 all over again. Well, it’s 20 years later and the idea of sitting and listening to a member of the band talk about those days and recording sounded like a great plan on a Saturday night. Drummer Adam Pfahler has a garage full of mementos of his time in Jawbreaker and took a few hours to talk about the recording of the album with the legendary Steve Albini. If you’re around when he does it again, I highly recommend it. If not, you can watch his LA engagement thanks to Youtube. His ease of storytelling and humor made sitting in a room listening to someone talk who had a member
of the audience help him through the slides a little less nerdy than it sounds. He’s self deprecating and humorous, and tells some fun stories… Like hanging with Ben Weasel and getting $1.60 3- egg breakfasts during their stay in Chicago (as much as Ben tries to make you think he’s the ultimate asshole, I’m certain there’s a fun guy in there), the detailed list he kept of the things he shoplifted, and the time it took to record the album (whichspoiler alert- was incredibly fast.) This is all a precursor to the upcoming Jawbreaker documentary titled Don’t Break Down. Look for it in 2015.
bands of the era. And I get it, gushing about Jawbreaker can elicit eye rolls from the peanut gallery, but I’m a sucker for a 3- piece. They coax so much more out of their instruments without the added rhythm guitar in the mix. I’m not a drummer, but know every drum fill on their albums like an old friend. 24 Hour was just a simple punk record made during a simpler time. And 20 years later it seems like bands are looking to recreate the feel of the bands of this time. It’s kind of crazy listening
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