The Proletariat's Soma Holiday was one of my favorite records last year, second only to the Replacements' Hootenanny. It took some time for the LP to impress me as a great one, but I kept on playing it and finally ended up listening to it two or three times a day for a stretch of about a month and a half at the beginning of this year.
The interplay between Peter Bevilacqua's powerful, throbbing bass lines and guitarist Frank Michaels' jagged metal distortion box sheets proves even more compelling live. I make it a point to see the Fall River band whenever they play Boston, considering the group one of America's best outfits. How good are they? If it came down to a choice of seeing either Husker Du or the Proletariat, I'd go see the Proles.
The band, which includes drummer Tom McKnight and vocalist Richard Brown in addition to Bevilacqua and Michaels, has been busy lately finishing their second album. In his spare time, Michaels produced local combo Sorry's debut LP(release date: August 17) and spent a few unfortunate hours at the beach. Don't ask. Busy guy that he is, Frank took some time to chat briefly with Riding the Blinds to discuss the new record, to mention some of his favorite bands(local outfits he likes include Sorry, Volcano Suns, and the F.U.'s), and to ask me where he could find a good sunscreen product.
Before we get into the good stuff, let me just note that Soma Holiday has sold about 3,500 copies so far - - but there are still a few left. Interested parties should send a check or money order for $6($7 overseas) made out to THE PROLETARIAT/NON-U RECORDS/P.O. Box 534/Kenmore Station/Boston, MA 02215. Incidentally, the cheapskates out there will be happy to find out that the Proletariat is looking into the possibility of putting on a free show in the next six months("just to give something back," says Michaels). Here goes…

Riding the Blinds(RTB): How's the new record that you've been working on different from the first one?
Frank Michaels(FM): There's no planned difference. It's different as far as there are just different songs. I think we've gotten better. And we want to keep ourselves interested, so we're not just writing the same things.
RTB: What are some of the songs about?
FM: I'll just tell you that basically we've gotten a little more personal, not so much a commentary on the world-just that we've brought ourselves into it a bit more. That's the basic difference in the lyrics between the first and second record I think.
RTB: Did you get tired of writing songs that were more general?
FM: No, I just thought we should lay ourselves on the line a bit more. I found that, I don't know, we are probably just a little too distant from everything, you know? We just had to bring ourselves into it a bit more. I think that's what we've done. I mean, it still has the same concerns, but it's like I said, the first record had very little of that personal-type approach.
RTB: OK, your songs are mostly political. Well, I don't want to say "political," but they're more socially-conscious than the average…
FM: Basically, I just think they're common sense. I mean, the word "political"-- we're a political band. I mean, I don't think anybody hates politics more than political bands. If that makes any sense. I mean, there's probably a million other things I'd rather be thinking about or doing, you know? Politics is a bore, basically. But unfortunately, it's a necessary bore. Today anyway.
RTB: Some people will say there's no room for politics in music…
FM: Oh, yeah.
RTB: But then you guys obviously believe differently.
FM: But then they don't have to listen to us. Ultimately we're doing this for ourselves. It's an outlet for ourselves. I mean, it's their choice. Maybe in this world 20,000 people like us. That's nothing compared to a Duran Duran. You know, how many people like you-that doesn't say what's right and wrong. Every band has to do what's right for them. So all we can do is just be honest and present ourselves honestly, and then whoever likes us likes us and whoever doesn't doesn't. Whether politics has any place in music, that's not really a concern of ours. It's what we're doing. Take it or leave it. We have no choice. That's what we want to do; that's what we think's important.
RTB: That's the way I feel, too. I mean, if people want to talk about it-that's fine. That's what they want to do.
FM: Exactly. It's not like we're these orators on Marxist thought or whatever. I mean, I talk to a lot of people and politics never come up. It depends on whatever, like any other normal person: just whatever comes out. It's no big deal. We're not out trying to convert people or anything like that.
RTB: A lot of the bands you were first influenced by were English punk bands and then American hardcore and punk bands…
FM: Well, probably never American hardcore.
RTB: Well, I mean the early stuff-maybe like proto-hardcore(what I was thinking of was Dils, Avengers, etc., 'though I didn't mention it at the time-ed.).
FM: I just, it seems to me that our ideas were pretty much grounded, we pretty much had an idea of what we wanted to do, before hardcore really…before it entered our lives. Because we were out in the sticks for one thing. It wasn't like being in Boston. We weren't exposed to it probably as soon as other people were. I don't think it had that much of an influence as far as how we sound. I'm not sure; it's a tough decision. I mean, I think you're influenced by everything you hear. It could be a bird; it could be a plane…I'm sure we were influenced by it eventually, but in the beginning it was mainly English bands that influenced us. Definitely.
RTB: What I was getting at was, reading about you in the fanzines and Boston Rock-type publications, people either try and label you as a "serious political band" or a punk band or a postpunk band or whatever. Obviously you're gonna regret it in that you don't want to be labeled and pigeonholed, but do these things bother you as far as being labeled "political" or "punk band" or whatever?
FM: No. I consider ourselves a punk band. I don't feel like that's a derogatory statement to say you're a punk band. I think it's a compliment because I was influenced by the music-the punk explosion in England. But no, people have to label things. That's just life. People always label things, and that doesn't bother us. They can label us whatever they want. It doesn't matter. I mean, we are what we are, and that's it.
RTB: I know you guys all are working right now, but do you plan to do any more shows outside of town? Like you did that one at Maxwell's.
FM: Oh yeah, definitely. I want to go to Philly; I think we'll definitely be doing that one weekend this summer. I'd love to go to Atlanta. I don't know, there's something about Atlanta I think would be interesting. I'm not really interested in New York. It's not that big a deal. I'd like to play a lot of out-of-the-way places; It doesn't have to be these media centers.
RTB: One more question. You guys are unique in that you don't actively seek club bookings. Do you want to talk about why you don't do that?
FM: Well, you're not gonna find a lot of clubs banging down our door, but…I don't know; we've gotten to the point where I don't think we want to play that much. We don't want to be like the Neighborhoods were in their prime playing seven nights a week. With a big bank account but people re gonna get tried of you, you're not gonna write any new songs; I think you have to get away from that. I like it more when it's more of an event, when people are excited to see you instead of just, "Oh, them again."

-Richard Lopez, Riding The Blinds, Issue #4, 1984

THE NEATS/THE PROLETARIAT/SSD/BLACKJACKS - The Channel, 4/29/84(Boston, MA)

If the Proles had brought a cat-o-nine-tails onstage, they wouldn't have been able to whip and thrash the competition any more thoroughly. The new material the band displayed was pretty excitin', "Marketplace" especially, and the other bands were pretty dull. The Neats were OK, though they are too much of a pop band for my tastes, but the Blackjacks and SSD were their usual mundane selves

-Richard Lopez, Riding The Blinds

THE PROLETARIAT/SORRY/VOLCANO SUNS - Chet's Last Call, 6/30/84(Boston, MA)

What jocularity. What wry ripostes. Funny guys Volcano Suns mixed humor, muscular bass lines and freak-out guitar & drums in the most consistently-satisfying set I've seen them do. Sorry returned the Suns' insults and played a rip roaring set of their own. The slow songs like "No Concern", and "Rumble" let the tension mount, what with the gradual buildups and massive stop-and-start hooks, and the fast songs that followed ("Dirty Old Man", "My Word") destroyed it. BOssa nova. however, the commies kicked serious booty. Loud, mangled guitar distorted buzzing shrieking......bass and drums that rattled the walls...these guys need to play more shows around town. Please...........................

-Richard Lopez, Riding The Blinds