black s u m m e r - blacksummer.com

Interview with Davey Havok- 1997
By xDOUGx and Chuck Morrow for Ambush

We caught up with Davey from A.F.I. recently when they came through Atlanta during their run with the Offspring. If you're looking for their response to Guttermouth's slagging (yes, they have seen it), they refused to comment. Oh well, can't win them all.

Ambush: Why did you guys re-release "Answer That and Stay Fashionable" on Nitro?

Davey: Because Wingnut was not doing well by us. They, to make a long story short, among other things, let the album go out of print for well over a month, and kids weren't able to purchase it in stores and they weren't receiving it through the mail. We had all sorts of kids coming up to us on tour, and have until it's been re-released on Nitro, and say "Wow, you know, I ordered your record from Wingnut like three months ago. Do you have any idea where it is?" and we're like, "No, sorry." It's just lame. That among many other reasons that I'm not going to get into, is why.

A: Is it still the same format as before? Does it still have the hidden song on it?

DH: No, hidden song is gone, thank God. Hate that, hated it, always hated it, happy that it's gone, glad to be able to get rid of it. There's an extra song on the CD, the Nitro CD, it's a Circus Tents cover, and the rest of it is the same.

A: I was wondering about that song. Is it an original?

DH: No, it's a Police song.

A: Oh, because I saw Goldfinger play it at one of their shows and it was the same version, so I didn't know...

DH: Yeah it's a Police song.

A: What is the meaning of the song "Two of a Kind?"

DH: God, I wrote that a long time ago, hold on... oh. Ever had any stalkers, obsessive friendships?

A: No, can't say that I have.

DH: Yeah it's kind of like, people who know too much about you, keep showing up places where they shouldn't know where the hell you are.

A: Same question about "Secret Ninja." Who was that directed to?

DH: "Secret Ninja?" That was kind of a general song. It was inspired by this fakeness that I, myself, have encountered from people a lot. It was inspired by this one thing: hugs, as a matter of fact. Hugging inspired the whole song. A lot of people, you meet them and they're hugging you and touching you like you've known them forever. They hug you hello and they hug you goodbye, just when you meet them. I've always thought that was kind of wierd. I have no problem with giving people hugs, it's a friendly thing, if you know them. You hug your friends goodbye and you hug your friends hello, but when I moved to East Bay everyone was really huggy. Like I'd meet someone, "Hi, how are you doing?" and then they'd go "OK, bye," and they'd give me a hug. That's the one tiny little thing that sparked the song. It's not about a specific person. It's just basically about that people tend to treat you differently after they know who you are, what you do, who you hang out with, what scene you're in, or whatever, and it sucks. It's like, "Hi, my name's Dave," "Oh, OK, well it's nice to meet you - Oh, you skate, you do this, oh cool - I guess I can like you now." Whereas a lot of times they'd just be a fucking prick to you.

A: What's your favorite city been, so far, to play in?

DH: Well, East Bay is the best for us, because that's our home, but other than that... Denver is really, really good. New York is awesome. Chicago's pretty good. Florida's good, most of Florida, St. Pete, Florida. So you guys are from East Bay? There's been some rumors going around that you weren't.

DH: A.F.I. started in North Bay, 2 hours north of the Bay, when we were in high school, but before anything real happened with the band, we moved to the East Bay in like '93.

A: Do A.F.I. fans have anything new to look forward to?

DH: Hopefully. We're going to do our best to finish recording the new album by August.

A: What does straight edge mean to you?

DH: When I first got into straight edge it was before the vegan straight edge militant hardline even existed. I'm a vegetarian, I'm not vegan. I respect vegans for what they do and what they try to do. What does straight edge mean to me? Straight edge is a philosophy that I strongly believe in and I think it's a very positive lifestyle choice for anyone who is willing to take that on. I believe it's based on respect, respect for yourself and respect for others through self-respect.

A: The reason I asked is that there are a number of different interpretations, and I think the most prevalent that you touched on is the militant.

DH: I don't think that it is the most prevalent, though. I think that's the one that gets the most...

A: ...publicity.

DH: ...most publicity, which is too bad. Most of the straight edge kids I encounter are very cool, very open-minded, and very respectful, where the militant kids are the ones who get the publicity because they're the ones doing acts of violence on people and being violent, which is totally fucked up. Because someone drinks a glass of milk or smokes a cigarette doesn't mean that you have to carve X's on their back, but because of those revolutionary actions, they're the ones who go "OK, we're straight edge if you're smoking a cigarette, but it's that kind of attitude that discourages kids from even thinking about becoming straight edge. But I'd say that the majority of straight edgers are very positive people.

A: But your music is sort of non-straight edge driven.

DH: We're not a straight edge band at all.

A: It doesn't really touch on it, either.

DH: It doesn't touch on straight edge directly, I don't sing about the X or true till death or anything like that, but if you read into my lyrics you can see that there's a lot of straight edge background and values put into the lyrics.