PATRICK McVAY

PATRICK McVAY

To begin, it must be said that you've had a long and storied involvement with the pop punk scene for much longer than I've known you. Can you tell us how you initially discovered pop punk, and how it became a central interest for you?

I wish I could say I had a cool story for how I got into pop punk, but really I started listening the same way as a lot of other people, through Green Day. Prior to Dookie, the only punk I knew was The Ramones, who I discovered by pure luck being sick in bed the day MTV premiered the Pet Sematary video, Misfits through Metallica, and Decendents from Wienerschnitzel’s inclusion in the movie Pump Up The Volume. I loved Dookie from the moment I heard it and quickly tracked down their two Lookout CD’s.

But it wasn’t until the Insomniac tour that the floodgates were opened. I watched the opening band, The Riverdales, in awe, thinking, “This is probably the closest thing to watching The Ramones as I’m ever gonna get!”  After the show I bought the self titled Riverdales CD at the merch table and noticed they were also on Lookout. I thought to myself, “I wonder if any other bands on Lookout sound like this?”  I went to the Lookout Records website and the rest is history.

It's easy to lose count of just how many bands you've been in/toured with. Can you give us a complete list, and also indicate which bands are still current for you? Also include any solo stuff you're working on?

Well, I guess the first “band” I was playing guitar and singing in was a group called Tion (pronounced “shun”)/The Lincoln Logs/The James Dean (we couldn’t decide on a finalized horrible band name) back in high school. We played a total of Three times live, once at a battle of the bands where the redneck MC for the night thought we were Speed Metal, once at a service at our drummer’s church in exchange for using the church as a practice space (We played our song “I Still Like Green Day”, but changed the lyrics to “I Still Like Jesus” [coincidentally, in college I also once performed The Unlovables “I Cried For You” as “Christ Died For You” at a religious event lol]), and finally at our high school Valentine’s Day Dance.

Next was a “band” made up of myself and my friend Barry on bass in college called The Tritones. We badly recorded one album in my bedroom on a digital 8 track, and never played a show.

The first real band I was in was drumming for a band from St Louis called The Belushis. Super fast, snotty pop punk. We played a lot of shows and had a lot of fun. We basement recorded an album at our guitarist’s house that really didn’t get much of a chance to be heard since we stopped playing shows shortly after recording it.

It was during my time with The Belushis that I met The Eyeliners and started Talking to them about drumming. I played a couple shows with them, and In the process I ended up meeting The All-Stars from West Virginia and drummed for them for a little while. After that I returned to STL and the Belushis, and started a new band doing my own songs called The Shaniquas. We played a couple shows and then I ended up being asked to tour with The Eyeliners so The Shaniquas fell apart and I did that for a while.  Once my time with The Eyeliners was over I formed a new version of The Shaniquas, and also started drumming in a new band with Teflon Dave called The Fintas. Fintas recorded an album that we self released, and The Shaniquas did a little recording, but both bands ended when I returned to college to finish my degree.

Jump forward about 10 years and I started getting the itch to play music again and replied to a Craigslist ad looking for a drummer and met Corey from Parasite Diet. He was starting a new version of the band and at the time was planning on singing and playing electric ukulele, but right before our first practice he decided he’d rather go back to drums so I became the guitarist/vocalist. We’ve been doing stuff off an on since 2014 including a tour with Paul Collins, and recording several EPs and 3 albums. We’re currently writing a new album that we’re gonna record up in St Louis at Encapsulated later this year.

My first album with Parasite Diet was released by Eccentric Pop and it was through that connection that I met The Putz. PD and Putz had played a few shows together and we had got along pretty well, so when Putz needed a new guitarist they asked if I’d be interested in filling in, which then led to a permanent spot. We’ve recorded two albums and several Eps together and done several tours. We also are about to record anew record at Encapsulated.

In 2015 I ended up with a lot of time on my hands thanks to life events, so I decided to take a chance and talk to Joe Queer about playing with him. A few weeks later he called me up and asked if I’d like to do some shows with MTX and Screeching Weasel. Of course I said yes! I did three east coast shows on bass, and 3 west coast shows on guitar. After that I ended up playing bass for a few more Queers tours, and had a blast getting to play these songs I had loved for so long.

It was through The Queers that Dave Parasite approached me about filling in on bass for a tour, so I figured, “why not?”  I ended up doing two unforgettable tours with Dave.

I also did a short span of time drumming for The Independents, with Jack from Parasite Diet on bass. I’d known those guys for years and loved having the opportunity to play with them. Great guys, and a great band!

That brings me to current bands. Here, locally, in the Nashville area, I play bass for a ramonesey band called The Rip Taylors. We recorded most of an album just before the pandemic and it’s finally getting mixed now, so hopefully that’ll be out soon, and we threw together a cover song for the Ramonescore Records Mutant Pop Tribute.

Teflon Dave, Billy Putz, and I have talked for years about doing a band together and that’s finally coming together. We did a track on the Ramonescore Records Mutant Pop Tribute as Teflon Dave and The Eccentrics, but we’ll have a different permanent name for our next release.

Also with Billy Putz, I’m drumming in another new band, along with Chad from Covert Flops, called The Pembrookes. We’re well on the way to having our first album and ep written, and also had a track on the Ramonescore Radio Mutant Pop Tribute.

And then there’s my solo stuff as Classic Pat and The Coruscants. I’ve got tons of stuff in the works on both of those fronts.

This isn't a question but rather a statement: your skills are extremely underrated. You write great songs, you play every instrument, you sing really well, and you can handle all production duties on recordings with impressively high quality standards. How did you become such a seasoned renaissance man of pop punk?

Necessity. I like to do things at my own speed and sometimes that means not being able to wait on other musicians’ availability or interest. I was playing guitar before drumming, but was a percussionist in band and as a music major (eventually minor when my interests changed lol) so drumming came along with that. And the pandemic has given me a lot of time to begin learning how to record stuff at home, which lets me explore some of the sillier projects without thinking, “I’m wasting how much money on studio time to record this joke song?”

Speaking of your one-man-band superpowers, how did this whole "Classic Pat" thing start? Where would you like to take it next, and do you think you'll continue doing the covers as a side project?

Well, as a joke within The Putz for the last couple years we’ve discussed the fact that I just go by my real name on our releases while Billy is Billy Putz, and Dougie is Dougie Tangent (sorry to break it to you, but those aren’t their real names!). I have a lot of old reliable jokes I fall back on and Billy always replies, “classic Pat”.  I wanted to work on some cover songs, mainly to learn more about home recording, and I needed a name once they were done, so I just decided to embrace Classic Pat.

I’ve got a few more covers already done and coming soon, I’ve started a solo album of originals that will be out in December, and I’ll have another set of originals out before that probably (just waiting to see which ones end up on the new Parasite Diet album first). I’ve also got a couple sillier cover albums planned and/or started, and a few other surprises.

How did you come up with The Coruscants? And what kind of feedback have you received from your two albums so far?

While killing time in the studio back in 2014 with Parasite Diet one of us jokingly came up with the idea of Riverdales covers about Star Wars and the title “Storm Trooper the Streets”. In typical me fashion I took the joke way further than the other guys and went home and wrote the lyrics for the whole record. It was never a high priority for the other guys so eventually I just decided to do it myself.  It was fun, I love Star Wars, and I love The Riverdales, so I decided to keep going with it. I’ve already got most of Phase Three (haven’t decided on a title yet) written, which, following the pattern of the first two, will be based on the sequel trilogy.

Two of the bands you're currently in - The Putz and Parasite Diet, are probably two of the best pop punk bands from "our" era and also two of my favorites. What have you learned from working with Billy and Corey - two amazingly talented songwriters?

I’ve learned A LOT from Billy and Corey.  Billy and I think a lot alike when it comes to writing an album and working with someone who shares similar sensibilities in terms of sequencing, pacing, and just overall feel has really helped me fine tune a lot of my tastes. I also have a tendency to try to add too much to things sometimes and Billy is really good about knowing when to put on the brakes and just let things breathe.

And Corey is a master lyricist. He thinks of lyrics in ways most people never begin to. Rhymes, not just at the ends of lines but in other strategic places throughout the verses, word play, crazy metaphors and double meanings. Not a single word goes into one of Corey’s songs that doesn’t serve a purpose.

I’m extremely fortunate to get to work with and learn from both those guys.

You're also really knowledgeable about comics, movies, etc. and have a pretty official collection from what I gather. Has that always been a passion for you? Do you find that it crosses over well with your pop punk interests? Seems like plenty of inspiration can be found from one outlet and then transferred to your music.

I’ve always been a collector, starting with my action figures as a kid, getting into comics in the late 80’s, then movies, records, books, more toys as an adult. These days I’m addicted to Gunpla, or Gundam model kits.

All of those things and the franchises that go with them are a huge influence on the stuff I write or listen to in terms of music. I mean, The Coruscants should prove that right off the bat.  I just wish I could get my songwriting to the level of someone like Horror Section, where you know the song has to be about something horror nerdy, but it’s done so tastefully that it’s almost a game trying to figure out what movie is being referenced.

I know you're also pretty into metal - and I tend to ask this a lot: Do you see a connection between metal fandom and pop punk fandom? What is it about metal that makes people like us need it just as much as we need the sugary, snotty pop punk stuff?

I was a metal head long before I was into punk, and I think punk appealed to me because it brought that fun sugary element into a harder edged style. People need outlets for different emotions, and sometimes something darker or angrier like metal is just what the doctor ordered. 

And of course there’s also the musicianship side of things. Don’t have the chops to play the metal you wish you could? That’s okay, you can still play punk. Or, on the flip side, sick of so much seriousness and remembering a billion different parts to songs? Here’s punk to simplify things and let you just enjoy playing music.

You've released quite a few gems on Laptop Punk Records recently, including a killer original tune. Do you have a routine for working on your own songs? When could we expect an official album of your own songs, and why hasn't that happened several times already?

I tend to work on things in spurts. I’ll get an idea for something and I’ll just dive right in and knock it out, and then I’ll go days without even thinking about music. Just last week I suddenly had an itch to cover one of my favorite albums from the 80’s and by day’s end I had the guitars tracked and bass tracks started. Should have that album wrapped up soon, so you won’t have to wait long for more info on that.  I don’t like to overthink things, and just jump in and do it.

The only other thing I tend to do when in writing mode is to write with an album in mind. I write a song and then I say, “Okay what would sound good as the next track on the album?” Most of the time I don’t even have to think about sequencing by the time everything’s recorded because it was written in order already.

Like I mentioned earlier, there should be two albums of original material coming later this year. And I’ve got most of the songs ready for the more power pop/80’s rock style album that “Change My Tune” would fit on standing by. I’ve got a particular guest vocalist I’m trying to lock down for one of the songs and I don’t wanna do it until that happens.

You and I have enjoyed a resurgence in the pop punk scene in which we've both been welcomed in ways that probably wouldn't have been possible a decade prior given the place and time. Do you reflect on that much? What do you find especially encouraging about our weird little digital internet pop punk bubble?

I’ve always found the pop punk scene very welcoming and open. That’s a big part of what has kept me interested. It’s such a huge and diverse community, with its own little cliques and sub-groups, but at the heart of it all we’re all into the music. I’ve met so many amazing people throughout the years and made the greatest friends, all thanks to pop-punk.

Any final words of wisdom? Thanks Pat!

Bah Weep Granah Weep Nini Bong!