Slave to the Grind

After Two Decades of Creating Music, Brian Hanover Collects No Dust
Words Anthony Giannotti | Photo Scot Stewart

Brian Hanover is most well known for his years fronting the Sacramento-based street punk band Hanover Saints. After seven U.S. tours, two full-length records, four EPs and nearly 10 years playing together, Hanover Saints called it quits in 2005. Fast forward to 2010: the 35-year-old is about to release his second solo album, publish a book of his writings, continue running his own screen-printing business and still finds time for his family. Brian’s mindset fully embodies the D.I.Y. lifestyle, going as far as to release his solo albums on his own record label Revolution Ink Records, casually saying, “I work hard, it’s just what I do; I don’t know anything else.”

He also does something a lot of older musician don’t do. He doesn’t rely on his past successes. “I want to stay relevant,” Hanover says. “I don’t want to be the crusty old guy that doesn’t know what the kids are listening to.” I had a chance to catch up with Hanover over a few pints of Guinness at one of my favorite Sacramento dive bars, The Press Club.

Thanks for meeting up with me here; I know you’re a busy guy.
No problem, thank you. I’ve only been here a couple times. One of the first times I came to The Press Club was in the early ’90s to see U.S. Bombs. It was a crazy night; I was over there behind Townhouse smoking and some kid got stabbed at the show!

So you’ve been around the Sacramento punk scene a long time.
In 1984 I was skating a launch ramp with some friends, and someone down the street was blaring 7 Seconds Walk Together Rock Together. Later that day I made my mom drive me to the record store—back then there was Dimple, Record Factory and of course Tower. I got my first punk records that day, 7 Seconds’ The Crew, and Black Flag’s Damaged. I started going to local shows in the mid-’80s. I even met my wife at a Suicidal Tendencies show back when Big Shots was still open.

Yeah congratulations on the 10-year wedding anniversary. You just got back from a little trip?
Thanks, it’s been a good 10 years. We went up to wine country for the weekend.

What’s it like trying to balance your own business, wife, kid and being a recording/touring musician?
[Laughs] There really is no balance; I think it’s priorities for sure. My wife knew what she was getting into. This is just what I do, and I was already in a band when we got together. One thing that really strengthens us as a couple is being able to do our own thing, it allows us to grow together, really surrounds us with love and grace, [laughs] a lot of grace.

Speaking of doing your own thing, I took a listen to the new release. It’s very good, quite the departure from the Hanover Saints”¦
Yeah some of it is. For this album I wanted to strip most of the songs down so I really only used an acoustic guitar, tambourine, harmonica and on a few songs electric guitar. All accept the fourth track; it actually was a Hanover Saints song that never made it on an album. It was right toward the end of it. I had already been writing solo stuff, and I brought it to practice when we were playing as a three-piece with Chris from Killing the Dream on bass.

Some of the songs on here have a real Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan singer/songwriter vibe jumping off them.
Each song is a little bit different from the other; they may have a common thread but I tried to get a large variety. Everything I sing about is all true stories, all personal experiences, kind of a Pete Seeger thing. I wanted to do this release differently because of all the different formats everything is coming out in. So the way I’m doing this release is in three volumes, every four months four more songs come out. The next volume is going to come out with a book I wrote and a coffee mug, because it all started with coffee and late-night rants for me.

How did the book come about?
Like I said, I was always at coffee shops writing. Some of the Hanover Saints lyrics I always really liked as standalone pieces. I had been cleaning out some old papers, and I found old poetry, short stories and some other stuff. I thought I’d like to publish it; I don’t know if it’s any good. Sometimes writers can think a little too much of themselves, think they’re a little bigger than life, but I went to a bookstore and picked up a book of poetry and one of the stanzas I turned to was literally four sentences. I thought, I can totally do this. It’s ridiculous.

Do you think it was the writing that attracted you to more of the acoustic style as opposed to staying in the punk rock genre?
Most of the Hanover Saints was written on acoustic or electric. It just depended on how I heard it in my head. One day I was playing the song “Bad Man” at home, Mike Erickson happened to be doing some work for me and heard it. He talked me into putting that song on Hanover Saints record Murdertown, which Pressure Point was producing. By the end of Hanover Saints I felt I had said everything that avenue would allow me to say. I really wanted to get that one on one connection with the audience. I definitely think there is a place for the loud thing. I’m always going to be into punk, and I’ll probably play it again, it’s just if you’ve said what you need to say for that part of your life I don’t feel the need to keep dragging that dead horse around.

Have you found that one-on-one connection?
I wanted to try getting up and doing a solo show but I was too afraid. Then in 2005 Kevin Seconds talked me into being on a bill with him. I just fell in love with it. Being able to play coffee shops, small bars, garages, living rooms and really some sketchy places is an entirely different, incredible, personal experience for me. You can get to know the people and the city you are playing in instead of rushing through to the next gig like when you’re in a full band. I’ve made some great friends all over the country playing solo.

You can get personal with Brian Hanover at the Blue Lamp March 17, 2010 for his 21 and older CD release or March 19, 2010 at 16th Street Café (The old Javalounge).