The year 2009 marks a new chapter for both OUTBREAK and Think Fast! Records; and inevitably, for Ryan O’Connor – the driving force behind both. In just a few months, the 24-year old Maine native has rebuilt the band he created, recorded a new album, and inked a distribution deal with Trustkill Records for his label.

Come November, Outbreak will unveil their first full-length since 2006’s Failure: a 15 track, self-titled release on the singer’s own label. If the debut single “HL” is any indication, the album could be one of the most scathing and intense releases this year. I recently caught up with Ryan to discuss the two busy segments of his life.

Feature by Guest Contributor Jay Aust

THE BAND

Pastepunk: I think releasing the new album on your own label Think Fast! Records is a great move. Were there a lot of offers on the table when you made this decision?

Ryan O’Connor: Not a lot, but a few. Some showed more interest than others. Some of the bigger labels that we talked to wanted to have a hand in the production end of things, which we didn’t want anything to do with. We wanted to write and record an album by ourselves, not have someone we don’t know try to call the shots. We’ve had a bunch of lineup changes since our last album, so I think that scared away a couple of labels too. You can try to explain to them that things are more solid now than they were before, but it seems like it’s more the type of thing that you need to go out and prove, ya know? And I think we’ve done that. In the last year we’ve hit Europe, Japan, Canada, and the U.S. We played some giant festivals, and clearly have a better live show now than we’ve ever had in the past. I can see where getting new members can kill some bands, but it’s actually helped breathe new life into OUTBREAK. So I don’t blame anyone who questioned our future, but I’m definitely out to prove you wrong. At the end of the day, none of the labels who were interested could offer us a better deal (in my opinion) than just doing it myself. From the get-go I was pretty set on doing the record myself, so I probably wasn’t as open minded as I otherwise would have been. But I don’t know, just the thought of being locked into a record deal for multiple albums was a big deterrent – if things don’t go smoothly, it often marks the end of the band. If I’m going to sell my livelihood to a label, they’ll need to be bending over backwards for us – and in 2009, with the state of the music industry – it’s just not going to work like that.

Pastepunk: I noticed that on the band’s MySpace page, all previous songs have been removed, and you now have just one single (“HL”) from the upcoming album. How committed are you to a new life for the band? Do you see yourself rotating old material out of your live set?

Ryan: I guess my answer to the last question sort of sums this one up haha. There have been a few bumps down the road, but continuing the band has always been my priority. There’s definitely been those times where I’m like “what the hell am I going to do now? Is this really going to work?” but I’ve always managed to pull through. Honestly, some of it comes down to my stubbornness. I know a few people who would like nothing more than to see OUTBREAK fail and break up – I thrive on that. It makes me want to pull through that much more. I want to make those people cringe every time they see us in a magazine, or see the next big tour that we’re on. I hope this doesn’t come across like Outbreak’s main reason for existence is because of some sort of self-pride – because that’s not the case. The reason the band hasn’t broken up is because I’ve still got things to say. I’m still pissed off, which is the reason the band was started in the first place. I think the new record will speak for itself. I’d just be lying if I said I didn’t get a sense of satisfaction that I’m able to pull through after all the bullshit that’s been thrown my way. It’s definitely an accomplishment.

As far as rotating old material out of our live set, we try to play a little bit of everything, as far back as our first EP from 2002. I don’t see that changing in the near future, even though our new album is the only one that represents OUTBREAK in 2009. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few older songs that are so terrible that I refuse to even pretend to go through the motions and play them live, but for the most part, you need to make the kids happy! I try to look at some of the older songs (that we still play live) as meaning something more in a certain time period – so even if they’re not as relevant to me as they use to be, that’s not to say they need to be completely written off. I can totally understand when bands record new material and are really excited about it – but completely excluding your older songs from your set list is going to disappoint a lot of people who come to see you. The same people who are buying your records and buying tickets to your shows. At the same time, I hate the mentality of kids who “only like the first record” or think that “the demo is the best”! It’s like dude, have you heard our first record? It’s pretty bad. We were 17. We didn’t know what we were doing. Do you really even like it or are you just being “that guy”? Anyway, I think you need to find a happy medium to mix it up and keep everyone (yourself included) entertained, or else someone’s going to be bored. And that’s when it’s time to hang it up.

Pastepunk: Your artwork has always played a strong part in the band’s image, and the new album is no exception. It looks like the layout and vinyl could be the most colorful and interesting you’ve ever had. Is there a concept behind it?

Ryan: Yeah we wanted to do something that matched the lyrical themes. We’ve tried this before (like the split with ONLY CRIME) but one problem with coming up with the art theme for the new record was that the lyrics were all over the place. They don’t follow a certain formula, which made it difficult to come up with a particular concept. So I gave the artist a bunch of the lyrical themes and told him to put a little bit of everything into it – and he did. What he came up with is a very unique look into my brain while writing the new album haha.

Pastepunk: What can we expect lyrically from the new album?

Ryan: Like I said, the lyrics are all over the place. There’s a political song, a song about death, growing up, frustration, depression, and of course the chartered OUTBREAK territory of anger and hatred. I didn’t hold anything back. There were times in the past when I wouldn’t want to use certain lines because I didn’t feel they were “safe” for Outbreak’s style – but today, I’m completely over that way of thinking, and I think it shines through on the lyrics. Most of the songs are easy to relate to and open to interpretation – I mean all lyrics are a form of poetry, but at the same time I don’t want to read lyrics that I need a fucking dictionary to comprehend. So I think they’re still relatively straight forward. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to have lyrics that make you think, or question, but when it gets to the point where everything is so vague that it’s considered “artsy” – I’ll pass.

Pastepunk: I was surprised and excited to find out you guys will be on the soundtrack for the upcoming movie Saw VI. How did this come about? Will there be a song clip in the movie itself?

Ryan: No, but I wish! That would be pretty awesome. We’ve actually received a lot of backlash since people found out we were going to be taking part in this. All you can really do is laugh at it. People (hopefully very young and naïve people) get scared when they see independent bands that they hold close to them get a lot of attention – especially if it’s coming from the mainstream. I can sort of see where their mentality is – being young and all. The reality is, being on a popular movie’s soundtrack is not going to transform us into some mainstream, accessible band. We didn’t have to change anything about our sound or style to be a part of the Saw soundtrack. We finished writing and recording the song before we had any idea we were even going to be on it. We submitted the song and they thought it fit the vibe of the Saw series, so we got the part. If a few people end up checking out our band who otherwise would have never heard of us, where’s the harm? It’s as if people have certain expectations from us, like our band should be an elitist secret club, and that certain kids shouldn’t be listening to Outbreak. God forbid that people discover our band!

Pastepunk: The blog you wrote in May on Outbreak’s myspace was one of the most honest (and potentially controversial) things I’ve read in a while. However, I felt you handled the situation well and gave a very human element to the band and its members. Was it a tough decision to speak so frankly about what Outbreak was going through with the lineup and label troubles?

Ryan: I was pretty much at my breaking point when I wrote that. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret it, I just might not handle things that same way now. Or maybe I would, who knows haha. At that point in time though, I felt like it was the right thing for me to do. Honestly, I was just sick of every one asking me what the story was, why Chris and Nate left the band, whether Outbreak still had a future, whether the tours coming up were going to be cancelled, etc, etc. I felt like I was made out to look like the bad guy in a lot of it – after someone showed me an interview with those guys from some zine in Belgium, I was just like “fuck this.” I had nothing to hide, so I wanted everyone who cared to actually know what happened. I left out some names and some personal details (I definitely could have been more brutal about everything) but overall, I feel I got my point across. I think I convinced people that our lineup was now solid and that our new record was still coming out, which was the main intention. I didn’t intend for the update to end up on Lambgoat and PunkNews, and all those places, but I guess that’s just the “nature of the biz.” To clear something up, our relationship with Bridge 9 was never really bad, there was really just one employee (who to my knowledge doesn’t even work there anymore) who I didn’t see eye to eye with on certain things – whether it’s true or not, I always felt like this guy hated me haha. I remember we were supposed to be on that that H2O/Bane tour, and he was like the first dude on a message board to speak up and be like “Outbreak’s not on the tour!” when we didn’t end up getting the tour (which is a whole other story, by the way). We later got offered a few shows at the tail end of that tour, but decided to cancel at the last minute instead. They were pity shows and we had too much pride to take them. We made our tour manager call the promoters with some lame excuse, which I sort of feel bad about now. Anyway, that’s how I found out we weren’t doing that tour – someone showed me a message board post from a guy at our label who was telling us we weren’t on it. Sweet! When he wouldn’t return my emails about getting a box of CDs, I was just over the whole situation. I posted that blog when I was really fed up with everything, and at the same time when things had just come together with a new lineup and plan for our new album. There were obviously a lot of emotions going through my head and I wanted to put it out in the open.

Pastepunk: One of the biggest accomplishments of OB is the fact that you’ve toured five continents. What are some of the best scenes you’ve encountered? Was there ever any element of danger in playing this type of music in certain areas?

Ryan: From my experiences, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America are very similar to the U.S. in the respect that you never really know what to expect – we’ve had amazing and horrible shows in various parts of all of these countries/continents haha. Some of my favorite places to play are Maine, Southern California, Boston, Philly, Long Island, St Louis, Seattle, Ottawa, Ontario, London, England, Seoul, South Korea, Bogotá, Colombia, Sydney, Australia…there’s a lot of places I’m forgetting too. As far as the element of danger, we were told a lot of horror stories prior to touring South America, specifically about Colombia and Brazil, both of which went off without a hitch. There has definitely been Japanese mafia at some of our shows in Japan, which was kind of weird. A few years back, some guy sucker punched me after our set in Miami haha. I guess he was really drunk and from what a lot of people told us, liked to start fights with people without a good reason. I also heard he was training to be an “ultimate fighter” which is hopefully a lie considering his sucker punch didn’t even knock me down (I weigh 140 pounds soaking wet). I feel I won that fight too, for the record. Although this particular experience didn’t inspire it, there’s a song on our new record that it might as well have been written about. It’s called “Human Target” and the title is pretty self explanatory. I feel like I try to go through life without looking for conflict, but people always go out of their way to start problems, drama, and general bullshit. The song talks about locking myself in a room and ignoring the outside world, which I sort of do when I’m not on tour haha. I tend to isolate myself. The world moves fast on tour, you meet a lot of people, and are given very little privacy, so I like to take advantage of things being quiet when I’m not on the road. I live in a small lake town in central Maine, with practically no neighbors. It’s basically the complete opposite of touring life haha. It’s not for everyone, but it’s definitely for me. Bruce Willis even has a Summer home here! The locals see him in the Summer months. I’ve yet to see him, but I hope to be regularly BBQing with Diehard by the end of the Summer. I feel like I’m getting a bit off track here.

Pastepunk: OB has managed to expand your horizons and play with a variety of bands over the years. Are there any bands that you would never play with again?

Ryan: There are some current bands that I prefer not to play with because some of their members are complete pieces of shit. They’ll all come and go. I’ve seen it a million times – it’s rare to see a hardcore band stick around for more than a couple records. I’m not going to mention names, only because it’s not fair to ridicule an entire band when it’s usually just an individual or two.

Pastepunk: I read an interview recently with a hardcore/metal band that surprised me. The guitarist stated that to survive in today’s underground scene, bands needed to turn into “t-shirt factories” since the internet had cheapened the actual music so much. What do you make of this? Have you found that kids are less familiar with music over the past few years?

Ryan: I’m not sure if I’m taking your question out of context, but if it’s in relation to bands selling more t-shirts than they do CDs, than it’s absolutely true. Outbreak is no exception. Like it or not, kids are going to steal your music off the internet – hopefully they don’t come up with such a creative way to steal t-shirts or we’re really going to be in trouble haha. If you mean it in the context of there being so many bands out there (with the internet saturating everything), I think that’s also true. With MySpace and similar social networking sites, it’s easy for bands to showcase a popular image and the façade of being a popular band with thousands of MySpace “friends”. I think these bands are selling an image moreso than any musical talent.

Pastepunk: Outbreak has always been very good at a niche style of hardcore/punk. Have you ever had the urge to try your hand at a different style of music?

Ryan: Not really. Not for Outbreak anyway. It just wouldn’t work. Not only would our fanbase feel cheated, but I don’t think anyone in the band could do it whole heartedly with the same name. Outbreak was created to play fast and angry, and despite our releases tending to vary from one another, we’ve always managed to maintain the same urgency. I wouldn’t feel right about us doing like a nu-metal record or a pop record haha.

THE LABEL

Pastepunk: Probably some of the most exciting recent news is TF!’s inking a distribution deal with Trustkill Records. What new opportunities will this bring for the bands on the label? Do you think this will give TF! the push it needs to get to the next level?

Ryan: It depends on what defines “the next level”, ya know? If you told me five years ago that the label would be paying my rent, I would definitely consider that “the next level” so it sort of depends on how you look at it. I guess a big next step would be having a release that’s selling more than a few thousand albums, but generally the mainstream is scared of genuine hardcore/punk bands so it’s tough. As far as new opportunities from our distribution deal, it basically gets our releases out on a wider scale. There was only so much we could do before, but having a label like Trustkill involved automatically gets a lot of retailers to start to pay attention to us. Trustkill has worked with bands who have sold hundreds of thousands of records so they have the resources to push our releases in more places than we’re able to do on our own. Josh (Trustkill) has a lot of connections and it’s cool to see things like Outbreak appearing in the new Saw soundtrack – opportunities that wouldn’t have been presented to us otherwise.

Pastepunk: I know some of the history behind TF!, but not all of it. Was the label originally started by Larry Esteem? When and how did you come into play?

Ryan: Yeah, Larry started the label in Florida with his friend Charles. At the time, the label was more of a hobby than anything. Most of the earlier releases were demos and 7”s for local bands that Larry and Charles were friends with, or in some cases, bands they played in. I was really young at the time, 16 or 17, but I met Larry at a music fest and bought a couple of 7”’s he had just released. I reviewed them in my webzine and we kept in touch. He had mentioned needing help with some website stuff, and I sort of knew what I was doing with that kind of thing, so I started out doing some minor website stuff. This must have been around 2002. All the work I did was pro bono; the label wasn’t profiting or anything. I was happy to help out an up and coming label and the idea of it turning into a job didn’t really occur to me. Over the next couple of years, I started getting more involved with the labels every day tasks, eventually signing a 50/50 ownership agreement with Larry. The first release I handled on my own was the Turning Point double LP. The label eventually became less of a hobby and more of a business, and I now do it full time, along with heading the Think Fast! Booking department and touring with Outbreak.

Pastepunk: Have you two ever disagreed on signing a band? If so, what was the outcome?

Ryan: It happens from time to time, but generally if both of us can’t get behind a release, we’ll just let it go. We’re both pretty stubborn though, so if we think it’s a good move, we’ll plead our case. We both agree that if we’re working with bands we can’t get behind, running the label would become a lot more tedious. And while we are running a business first and foremost, we might as well be working in cubicles at Initech if we hate what we’re releasing/what we’re promoting, ya know?

Pastepunk: What is your favorite TF! release? How about the most successful? Are there any albums that you regret putting out?

Ryan: It’s hard to play favorites, but the TURNING POINT double LP holds a place near and dear to me. They happen to be one of my favorite bands of all time (especially from the 80’s hardcore scene) so this one was a bit more sentimental, ya know? It was also the first release for the label that I pretty much handled all on my own. I handled most of the leg work, the deal with Jade Tree, designing the packaging, etc. The only releases I regret putting out are the ones for bands who break up immediately after the record comes out! A band breaking up usually brings sales to a halt. If you’re investing into a band, you absolutely need the band to be out on the road supporting the record. And business aside, it’s pretty heart breaking to pour blood, sweat, and tears into a band/release, only to see them break up!

Pastepunk: What has been the biggest release for the label?

Ryan: It wasn’t the biggest in terms of record sales, but as far as the biggest in terms of a recognizable name, I’d say the last SICK OF IT ALL LP. This is a band that is known and respected worldwide, not to mention a band that Larry and I agree is one of the best hardcore bands going today. It was an honor to be involved with this release and we’re hoping to work with them again in the future.

Pastepunk: It seems like Think Fast! has been growing and expanding; both with your roster and the styles of bands you are putting out. Was this a conscious decision?

Ryan: Not at all, we’ve just always put out bands that we liked. Whether it’s straight edge hardcore bands like HAVE HEART, or punk rock bands like HOUR OF THE WOLF – we like to mix it up, and keep things interesting. As long as we can both get behind the release, then its fair game. I think our discography shows that we’re not limiting ourselves to one particular style or genre of “hardcore” or “punk”.

Pastepunk: What do you feel TF! is doing differently than some of your peer labels?

Ryan: I feel like we branch out a bit more than your average hardcore/punk label. I mean that in all aspects too – whether it’s the various styles of bands we’re working with, or the various outlets of promotion. I’m able to take our releases out on the road with my band, so we’re constantly promoting ourselves in more places than not. It’s like, we’ll do viral promotions with someone like iTunes, but than we’ll also run 5,000 flyers for me to bring out on the road. We like to do the DIY stuff and at the same time keep up with the times and put a lot of focus on viral marketing and promotion.

Pastepunk: It seems like a lot of the bigger hardcore bands have or will be breaking up this year. Who do you see picking up the torch in the coming year?

Ryan: Hopefully not some hype garbage! We’re working with a lot of bands who will constantly be on the road next year – bands like HOUR OF THE WOLF, and THE GEEKS. BLACKENED… if they ever become more than a side project! It’s tough for those guys to do much because HATEBREED is constantly on the road. In the Think Fast Booking department, I’m working with a lot of bands who are also going to be pretty busy including SHOOK ONES, THE MENZIGERS, SOUL CONTROL, and RUINER. I could see any of these bands really breaking out on a bigger level than where they’re already at.

Pastepunk: Although I hope it never happens, there may come a time when Outbreak becomes less active. What do you envision yourself doing career-wise in the future?

Ryan: Hopefully the same thing I’m doing now. When I’m not on tour with Outbreak (and when I am on tour with Outbreak actually) I run the label and booking agency, so even without Outbreak I would be busy. If you take all three of these things out of the equation, I have no idea what I would do with myself. Since I was really young, I knew I wasn’t going to work a normal job. My Dad still mentions it to me to this day haha. I just can’t see myself working a “regular” 9-5 job. I wasn’t cut out for it. There’s a reason Office Space is my favorite movie haha. If I ever end up working a regular job, I’ll be plotting my moves to do something else – that I am sure of.

- Photo of Ryan by Todd Pollock, courtesy of Think Fast Records