A tribute to Jawbreaker to celebrate their reunion for Riot Fest 2017.

"The US is this hyper-real society that can co-opt and completely level any sort of political discourse that’s valid and meaningful."

"There was a market for hard rock and heavy metal, but not particularly for what we were doing. That attention shifted and became more focused when there was money to be made, but we'd already made Badmotorfinger without those expectations."

"Life is brutal. It just is. But as you get further in life, your story can become something that lifts you or it can become something that weighs heavy on you, and I’m choosing to lean towards optimism, even though things are shitty."

"For me, looking the negative so directly in the eyeball is an indication that hope is there—because how would you even have the courage to do that? And on this record, I need it more."

"I’ve always had a pro-drugs stance, and I still do—none of my friends die from drinking and doing cocaine, they all die from pharmaceuticals."

“I don’t think a lot of Americans understand how not having healthcare impacts their level of political participation and their social awareness.”

“I’ve got a very small, tiny, tiny willy,” jokes Slaves’ Isaac Holman, almost seductively, as he half-shuffles, half-dances his way past me and out of a small dressing room at Union Transfer in Philadelphia.

"There’s a lot of playfulness. It does often get dark, but when it starts to get to that line I flip it over. "

"We need to be active rather than just talking. And I’m not asking everyone to drop their lives to fight for this cause. I’m just saying invest in it some way, somehow. I think our collective idea and consciousness in protest will be effective. I do believe that.”

“How many times have people been only happy?”

"I got scholarships and grants, but I still went back to my house, where I watched my neighbor get shot and then watched my friend get shot and have my mother be shot at. And these areas are filled with vitriol not because of happenstance, but because of policy. We are upset because of policy. That’s the reality."

"Things have knocked me down a few times in my life, but that’s not the point. The point is what you do with that experience."

"But no, you don’t have to tell the fucking truth. I’m not doing it in this interview."

"You have to stay hungry"

"I went backwards through the gateway drug."

"It’s still the backdrop for a romantic sounding song—even though there’s a world in flames in the background."

"Detroit is still a suffering city and you wonder if they’re just turning downtown into a rich man’s playground and ignoring the people who have lived here."

"It was in the charts at number 3 and it’s the only record we’ve had that went Gold. It was like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oasis and Idlewild, and that feels mental now!"