Reconciler
Like many of the bands in this feature, Reconciler are punk veterans who play the festival often, but not quite every year. It's an annual tradition but also -- at least in this writer's opinion -- something of a showcase of what the southeastern US punk scene has to offer.
We caught with guitarist/vocalist Joseph Lazzari to talk about regional punk, their latest EP and, of course, FEST 23.
Scene Point Blank: What's the first thing you think of when I say the word “Fest"?
Joseph Lazzari: Best weekend of the year
Scene Point Blank: What was your favorite or most memorable experience at FEST 22?
Joseph Lazzari: Its always hangin’ with our friends/family from all over, especially the ones we’ve made from abroad that we rarely see.
Scene Point Blank: How many Fests have you played now? Have you attended more than that?
Joseph Lazzari: I think this will be Reconciler’s 8th time playing Fest?? And the 13th Fest I’ve attended. Unless I’m bad at math. (I am.)
Scene Point Blank: Obviously The Fest lineup comes from everywhere, but in my experience, I've discovered a ton of bands from Florida and Georgia who don't play my region of the US as much. How do you think The Fest has shaped the narrative around the southeastern US for people from other parts of the world?
Joseph Lazzari: The typical southern narrative created by and for non-Southerners is kind of a joke where the punchline points at our ignorance and stupidity -- usually in contrast to the brilliance of everyone everywhere else.The reality is the Southeast is a uniquely beautiful, complicated, and painful place. It's the most biodiverse region in North America, but the pressure to conform and the efforts to homogenize are immense. Class War thrives. Road-tripping here feels like time travel and there’s a poetry in all of it, if you care to see it. The avenues to be an artist in the Southeast are few and far between, but so are the ways to kill the spirit of an artist here. Punks in the south put their money where their mouth is. There are no fairweather nonconformists here. Mark Twain said “Southerners speak music.” And Andre 3000 said “The South got somethin’ to say.” The Fest has always been a beacon that proves both of these sentiments to the rest of the world.
Scene Point Blank: You released a new EP this year, simply titled Three Songs. How did you land on that direct title?
Joseph Lazzari: Calling it 2 Songs seemed to sell it short and calling it 4 Songs felt like overdoing it.
Scene Point Blank: What's the story behind this EP? Are they songs from another recording session, or something new you had in your pocket?
Joseph Lazzari: We had amassed a lot of material from the time after the release of our first LP, through Covid, and into the slow crawl toward normalcy. We could’ve made a double LP or released 2 separate LPs from that material. Instead, even after culling a couple we ended up with a 13-song LP and 3 songs without a home that stood together as a group. Ultimately, it felt better to release them as they were rather than store them up for the next record. What comes next starts with a clean slate and I like that.
Scene Point Blank: I feel the EP has a call-to-arms kind of vibe that fits your previous work, but it's maybe a little more urgent. Do you think that's accurate or is it simply a great job by the producer in capturing that energy?
Joseph Lazzari: Very much appreciate you being open to the idea that we might be able to afford a producer. We can’t.
There is definitely an urgency to these songs. They were all written out of desperation really -- from that place where anxiety is screaming the high harmony over a real deep depression. Its like the emotional equivalent of drinking a ton of coffee when you’re beyond exhausted. Only part of your brain responds to the caffeine. The rest of it is snoozing. I’d like to think we’re a pretty dynamic band regardless, but I think that’s why these songs live alone, together.
Scene Point Blank: Your album art utilizes a lot of bold bright colors, Three Songs being one example in a larger pattern. How do you approach album art?
Joseph Lazzari: I’m an oil painter and I’m usually working with the same themes in songs and paintings, so pairing my paintings with our songs feels like a natural thing to do. In my day to day life, the color palette I experience is pretty muted. The majority of my clothes are black. I spend most of my days working with wood, surrounded by vast swatches of browns and beiges. When I’m painting, I suppose that where I let my love for colors shine? I’ve never really thought about it much, but I’m definitely going to now.
Scene Point Blank: Speaking pretty broadly, your songs often have a really big singalong at some point, while you mix up the song structures and vibes around that. Do you start with the hook/refrain in songwriting, or is it the other way around?
Joseph Lazzari: There’s no set starting point. There’s just pulling a piece of the puzzle from out of the ether and working outward from there. Sometimes what I imagine to be a chorus ends up being a bridge or an intro, or it gets scrapped all together after it helped to usher in the rest of the information. Songwriting is a science that I know little about, so I still get to see it as magic.
Scene Point Blank: Who coined the "soft-edged hardcore with a southeastern sensibility" description on your bandcamp page? (I dig it.)
Joseph Lazzari: It's taken probably 8 years, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time anyone has asked directly about it. All these A.I. articles regurgitate it like its some readily accessible and widely understood sub-genre and that always cracks me up. This phrase was adapted from a negative review given about Jawbreaker in Spin Magazine in the early/mid-'90s. We actually felt like this sentiment was something to aspire to.
Scene Point Blank: Can you share any special plans you have for FEST 23 as a band this year?
Joseph Lazzari: We’ll be trying really hard to beat the morning rush for those bagel sandwiches and the cold brew over at 4th Ave Food Park.
Scene Point Blank: What bands/artists are you excited about the most this year?
Joseph Lazzari: Dillinger Four, Fucked Up, Drug Church, Meat Wave, Rodeo Boys, Zeta, Feversleep, Five Hundred Bucks, Errth, New Junk City, Debt Neglector, Sunliner.
Scene Point Blank: Who is one "under-the-radar" artist people should check out?
Joseph Lazzari: Five Hundred Bucks
Scene Point Blank: What's your favorite non Fest-sponsored thing to do in Gainesville (food/destination/etc)?
Joseph Lazzari: Flaco’s
Karma Kream
Satchel’s
4th Ave Food Park
Hear Again and Sunshine Records
Prioritizing friends and doing what’s fun in the moment over keeping a rigid schedule.
IMMEDIATELY ripping off all those gross paper-ass bracelets from each venue as soon as I clear the exit door. I don’t like how they feel. I don’t like how seeing them all stacked up on other peoples’ arms makes me feel.
