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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

The Methadones take on the Economy

Punk ain’t easy, and no one knows this better than Chicago-punk quartet The Methadones. After tasting success as a member of such a legendary punk bands as screeching Weasel and The Queers, frontman Dan Shafer (a.k.a. Dan Vapid) found himself laid-off and unemployed last year. Lucky for fans, he found a creative outlet for this rejuvenated angst called The Methadones. Schafer initially formed The Methadones in 1993 as a side-project – a power-punk combo whose bread and butter are Ramones-esque anthems of personal rebellion. Now, the band is Schafer’s full-time vehicle for his ill will toward the economy and (not surprisingly) the Bush Administration.

In November, The Methadones will release its third album, Not Economically Viable (Thick Records), a 12-track, straightforward punk rock testimonial to the grown-up pains of joblessness and poverty. The band jokingly claims that its latest effort is loosely based on Michael Douglas’ maniacal character in the movie “Falling Down.” In fact, the album could almost be considered Schafer’s own personal rampage after his employment woes.

When I recently spoke to Schafer, I asked where he believed “Falling Down” and the new album’s embittered tragic hero would first stop on a tour de rage throughout Washington. Schafer quickly answered: “definitely the White House,” hinting at the not-so-subtle impetus for The Methadones’ timely new tracks. If the new album ends up as the latest punk rock smear of the current administration, The Methadones could not be in better company.

In the past four years, punk rock has nearly created a sub-genre of anti-Bush anthems. This summer, even America’s most commercial punk bands contributed to Rock Against Bush Vol. I and II, albums that featured tracks by punk legends such as The Descendents and NOFX along with commercial successes like Sum 41 and New Found Glory. But Schafer is reluctant to classify Not Economically Viable as political rock, maintaining that “the record is about the economy. It’s not a social or political record; it’s just about my experience.”

– Jake Wexler

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