Richmond, VA’s Ann Beretta made their name in the heyday of the mid-to-late 90s punk scene. After going on hiatus, the band has gotten back together to play in stops and starts, but the pandemic brought us their newest album, RISE, which was released last month. TGEFM got in touch with guitarist/vocalist Rob Huddleston for a Roll of the Dice. We rolled a SEVEN.
1) Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. We rolled a seven for this interview. Soooo… let’s start with the most obvious, and most important, why have you left us waiting for new music for so damn long? (laughter)
I wish I had a better answer but the truth is that life just got in the way. When we went on an extended hiatus in 2004 we had no idea what was next for the band if anything. When we started playing shows again in 2008/2009 it was more about having fun playing music again and writing a record wasn’t really even in our minds – at least not until about 2014. By that time we all had careers established, families, kids, etc. and everyone’s schedules became a bit challenging to work around. As we began trying to write new songs we found it quite difficult to do simply from not doing so for several years; we just hadn’t exercised those muscles in a while. And when we tried we were so overly critical that nothing really seemed good enough. I also found myself uninspired and struggled finding what I wanted to write about. We revisited Bitter Tongues trying to reconnect with where we started but then realized we simply aren’t 20 anymore.
When the pandemic started i ended up doing, like many musicians and songwriters, daily quarentunes. This started off as a way to reconnect with people in a different setting and honestly just to process and cope with the whole thing. What I thought might be a few weeks turned into 60 days of playing and posting single take songs on social media. This forced me to play daily and to reconnect with a lot of songs I hadn’t thought about in years. And then 2020 happened and as I wrapped up on day 60 I was filled with the inspiration needed to write new songs and to feel like I had something to say. Writing this record was maybe the most cathartic thing I’ve ever been a part of. So while it took a LONG time to get here I think this record is coming at the right time for us. We could have made a record years ago but it wouldn’t have been nearly as good and I can’t imagine that we’d be nearly as proud of it as we are of RISE.
2) It’s been over 25 years since Ann Beretta formed. What has changed the most in the scene from your perspective?
Well I think the most obvious is technology and social media. The ease of recording and writing is vastly different than it was 25 years ago and that’s both good and/or bad depending on who you ask. Recording to tape meant you had to play and sing everything correctly, or as best as you could. The result for us often meant leaving in mistakes which I kind of like simply from a human/analog perspective. Now we are all able to record on our laptops, trade files back and forth and write in a way that we had never done before. We always wrote in a live setting – in the practice space. For this record we didn’t play the songs together until we recently started practicing for upcoming shows.
DIY is vastly different now also thanks to social media and digital distribution and streaming services. I mean I can’t imagine bands playing online shows 5 years ago, much less 25 years ago. It’s why we did this record ourselves and why we didn’t bother trying to find a label to work with. That introduced financial challenges, of course, but introduced the full freedom we needed to take the time we needed, to write what we wanted, and to not have the pressures associated with deadlines and tour schedules.
3) Your latest record, RISE is absolutely fantastic. As an outsider, I’d say the title can go in many directions, from your return to the studio to any of what we’ve seen on a local, national or global scale over the last few years. What led to the choice of title?
Well you got it completely – it’s both. RISE became the title very early on even before the songs were finished. It wasn’t the only title considered but it was the one that felt right in the moment. And from where I sit it does absolutely have a double meaning. RISE could easily be a phoenix rising from the ashes metaphor as much as it is a rally cry to stand up and fight against the unspeakable injustices present throughout the world and specifically what we’ve all experienced the last several years.
4) RISE really covers a wide spectrum of the social ills associated with the current state of affairs, but there is a sincere optimism to each of the tracks. Myself, a cynical misanthrope who can find the dark cloud to any sunny day, I find that really impressive. How does Ann Beretta witness and process (gestures broadly and violently at everything) and keep the positivity?
I’m really glad to hear all of that and take it as a huge compliment. As I began writing lyrics for the record I found myself gravitating towards the negative and viewing topics from an ‘everything sucks’ perspective. As i began collecting lyrics I realized that A) being negative is too easy, and B) having not written a record in almost 2 decades, it wasn’t the record I wanted to make. I deliberately chose to write about the obvious topics of the last few years but through a lens of hope and optimism – that we can do better and that things can be better. We’ve been surrounded by so much negativity as a result of the Trump Presidency I just simply didn’t want to contribute to that but rather shine a little light of hope where I could. In the past I don’t think I, or we, would have had the maturity to do so and again think this all happened at the right time. I didnt want to shy away from hard topics but didn’t want them to be without hope and positivity…and that certainly wasn’t easy.
5) Since the return, do you mostly see older faces or is there a new generation of fans in your camp?
Both I think. We definitely see familiar old faces but there are new ones mixed in. It started getting really interesting, as I think most bands of our age can confirm, when fans are coming to shows with their kids. It’s really cool to see and as a dad who takes his son to see shows I think it’s a great experience for everyone.
6) Do you have any recommendations for the TGEFM readers looking for new bands to discover? I think I likely have more questions and need advice from them on how to find new bands.
The old guy in me says the best way is to go see and hear it live and find it accidentally but I don’t think that’s how its done these days. I remember finding new bands just by going to matinee shows as a teenager but there wasn’t quick and easy access to all things then so you only had two choices: finding them on your own or hearing about bands through your friends or older siblings (which I didn’t have). SO yeah, I think if anyone out there has some good advice please send it my way.
7) You released RISE in February, you have a pair of release shows in Richmond and Philly coming in May … what else should we be looking forward to from you guys over the coming months?
More show announcements are coming soon but how many or where is TBD. We truly don’t know what’s in store. We’re wanting to play shows anywhere and everywhere we can. We’re hoping to convince some of our old friends to have us tag along with them rather than trying to headline shows but both options are likely to happen and are in the works. We’re also working on a couple new vinyl releases including for RISE and have some more new music already recorded and will announce an additional release this year. Aside from that, who knows? We hope there’s still some life left in this band and we hope people still want to hear from us. As long as that’s the case we’ll keep doing our best to stay active.
Ann Beretta will be playing a pair of shows in their neck of the woods this coming May. You can check out the details of those gigs below, and visit their Bandcamp or Spotify pages to hear their new album RISE and more of their music.
Upcoming gig dates
13 May 2022 – Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House – Fairfax, VA w/ Talk Me Off, Shotclock, and Orphan Riot
14 May 2022 – Silk City – Philadelphia, PA w/ Crossed Keys, and Code of the Jaguar
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
