Photo by: Matt Gill. Graphics by: Bas Spierings

Iowa’s MLIW got their start in 2002 before breaking up in 2008 only to jump back in the saddle in 2012. The “Fever Hunting” LP was their first album back and that came out in September of 2013 on Deathwish Inc.  What I really admired about these guys getting back together was that they had a plan in place before coming back as well as them bringing back all of their previous members. The plan included less shows/touring and up until this point they have stuck to that. We initially got in touch with lead singer Jeff Eaton way back in April and here we are in October finally finishing this thing up. Thanks to Jeff and the rest of the MLIW crew for getting back to us and delivering one helluva an album in “Fever Hunting”. Hopefully more is on the way in the upcoming months. Click on the photo above to watch their August 29th set from the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, PA courtesy of Sunny and Hate5Six.com 

Click image to listen to the title track off of "Fever Hunting"

IE: So it has been over a year now since MLIW has sprung back into action.  Can you give us some of your personal highlights with the band since you got back together?

 

Jeff: Releasing the “Fever Hunting” LP is probably the biggest highlight for me as I'm very proud of it and I know it is an essential part of our discography, rather than an afterthought. I get the impression that most of our fans feel that way too, which is quite an accomplishment after a long break. Other than that really just being able to headline select shows and pick the lineup...we've got to share the stage with a lot of friends and great new bands...Night Birds, Wet Witch, Land of Blood and Sunshine, Concrete, Omens, William Elliot Whitmore, Coliseum, Ivy League, Touche Amore, Ceremony, Deep Cuts and many more.

 

IE: How many shows would you say the band played since your return at the This Is Hardcore Fest in 2013?

 

Jeff: Marshalltown, Des Moines, 2 x Chicago, DC, 3 x NYC, 2 x Boston, Berkeley, San Diego, LA, Iowa City, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Jacksonville FL, Seattle, Philly, Amityville NY, Groezrock in Belgium. 22 shows so far I believe.  3 more in the works... St. Louis, Des Moines and Minneapolis.  We've managed to remain consistently busy without doing full tours.  

Photo by: Angela Owens

IE: You guys put out a thank you letter to your fans on Facebook basically thanking them for making your first year back together a success. You mention in that letter that members of MLIW have had to deal with personal struggles and major life changes during this time. What kind of things were you talking about in that letter?

 

Jeff: There were two big ones. Our guitar player Matt breaking his foot just prior to This Is Hardcore. It did not heal properly and has caused him a lot of pain and even required surgery. He was in a cast, boot and limping around for almost a year. You can imagine his pain and difficulty with getting around. The other one was the incident that happened with our drummer Tyler. I'd rather not go into great detail on it, but he had a scrape with police which was slightly overblown and falsely represented by the media (Shocking, I know). He is a one of my best friends and he is a little crazy in the best possible way. Certainly not a violent or dangerous guy. It is just unfortunate that this had to be so public. The thing that angered me the most about it was "scene" news like Punknews and Alternative Press reposting the false local media story without even getting in touch with us for comment or clarification. That’s not journalism, it's just gossip. Those people can easily contact us as we've done interviews with them before. I felt like it was extremely disrespectful and unprofessional. It's in the past now, but I raised a little hell about it at the time and I'm glad I did. I rushed to defend a good friend and some people felt I should have handled it more "professionally" but if I'm ever in a situation I hope my friends step up to back me publicly. The real bottom line is that my bandmates and more importantly friends remained dedicated to this band when times were tough and I love them even more for that. Likewise, the vast majority of our fans reserved judgement and continued to support us and we appreciate that more than we could ever express. The scene has changed, there are new bands and people's lives are different than they were 5 or 10 years ago...we understand how crucial it is to have those long standing supporters in our corner in this new rebirth of MLIW.    

 

MODERN LIFE IS WAR'S APRIL 2013 OPEN LETTER

 

IE: I commend you guys for saying up front before things really got rolling again that you would not be doing full blown tours and the amount of shows you would be playing would be limited. I would guess this comes from other obligations like jobs or families? With a year of sticking to your plan would you say that the band has been more enjoyable this time around as compared to in the past where you may have been devoting much more free time to it?

 

Jeff: Absolutely. The shows do feel more meaningful to us and I hope it does for the people at the shows as well. Amazingly we are all 30+ and nobody has had a kid but we live in 4 different states and all work for a living, have relationships, pets, etc. The difficult thing is that the band seems to dominate our lives even with limited shows. We are always planning things and writing songs...it's hard to put a labor of love on the shelf.  Plan a weekend for a few months, work all week, go play 3 shows and then get right back to the grind.  

 

MLIW @ This Is Hardcore 2013. Photo by: Anne Spina

IE: How much more do you think you could do in regards to touring/playing shows taking into consideration your schedules?  Is what you are doing now the absolute most you can where you are stretching the boundaries already or do you think you could possibly squeeze in more touring? 

 

Jeff: At this point we are doing as much as we can. A few members have used every available vacation day from work for the band with recording, practicing and playing shows. Basically the only way that could change is if we suddenly became a much bigger band and the money became realistic for 5 people to depend on for a living. Even then, being away for really extended periods of time doesn't sound that appealing to me. I like my bed I share with my girlfriend and sitting on my couch listening to blues records with my cats running around just like I'm doing right now. We're never going to write intentionally commercial music, but we always want to grow and play to new people. If the stars ever aligned, nothing is impossible but right now it looks like we be operating in this way for as long as we feel it. 

 

IE: The band started out in 2002 and then initially ended in 2008. What do you think the 2002 and 2008 versions of yourselves would think of the state of MLIW in 2014?

 

Jeff: I think the 2002 version would be amazed that we were still around and recognize that a very similar spirit and ethic still exists within the band 12 years on. That young band would be very proud. The 2008 version would be downright confused as that was a grim time for the band in many ways and it seemed that coming back would not be possible. 

 

IE: During this time when you guys weren’t playing what type of stuff was everyone involved with personally? Did you all keep in touch for the mostpart?

 

Jeff: We all kept in touch to varying degrees. We are truly like a family. I lived in California for a while, then back to Iowa and currently in Kansas City. I started DJ-ing, continued skateboarding and worked a plethora of odd jobs. John is married and drives a big rig, has countless cats and dogs and a big house to take care of in Marshalltown. Matt has been playing and writing music with Only Crime. Tyler is still working in our hometown, coming up with crazy business ideas and inventions and living with friends. Chris is married and living in Arizona working as a computer programmer. I seriously get so excited when we have shows coming up because I get to hang out with all the guys. We have our moments like any family, but overall we have a fucking blast together and it's not unusual for my face and guts to be sore from laughing.  

 

MODERN LIFE IS WAR @ GROEZROCK (BELGIUM) 2014. PHOTO BY: AGA HAIRESIS

 

IE: When you announced your comeback I was impressed that you were bringing back all your old members and didn't have a mercenary line up of people from other bands.  How important was it for you to bring back all the old members?

 

Jeff: We wouldn't have done it otherwise. During the time we played with other members, even though they were fucking awesome people and awesome at what they did, it didn't really feel like Modern Life Is War. It's hard to keep 5 individuals all working together for years on something that you can't make a living from, but I think we are more focused and balanced now than ever before.   

 

IE: What was it like growing up in Marshalltown, Iowa and how did you find punk and hardcore music?

 

Jeff: Growing up there was great. People get certain impressions from my lyrics but that has more to do with my own shit I was going through at the time than anything else. I would say we all had relatively normal, humble and happy childhoods. It's a raw little town. It's not a suburb, it's just a little stand alone working class town. Some people there struggle and you can definitely get yourself into drugs or trouble but for the most part it's safe and people are nice. I found punk music on my own but it was really when I met Chris and he invited me to a practice of his band, which John also played in. There wasn't a punk scene there so we made our own scene with our own bands. That was our greatest gift..  no older guys to look up to, no venue, no bands ... DIY wasn't a cool thing. We weren't even aware of that term for years, we just did what we had to out of excitement and love for music.  

 

 

IE: I always thought Modern Life Is War is one of the coolest names for a band and a well fitting one in this day and age. Forgive me if you have been asked this a million times but how did the name come about?

 

Jeff: I wish I had a better story for this. It was something I had written in one of my notebooks full of insane ramblings.  We obviously had long band name discussions... it seemed like an overly intense name, but I felt like we were going to have to be overly intense in a lot of different ways if we were to get people's attention outside of our little town. 

 

IE: With over a year of listening to and also playing the songs from “Fever Hunting” how would you rate it from 1-100 with 100 being the best. If you could go back and change certain things to it what would they be?

 

Jeff: Hmm, I think i would give it a 90. It's the happiest I've ever been with one of our records, and the first time I've ever been completely happy with the sound of my voice on a record. The song "Blind Are Breeding" wasn't quite fully developed and I wish we would have spent more time on it...the potential is there but it just didn't quite get there and I think that is all of our least favorite on the record. I love “Dark Water” for being the weirdest song on the record and I think it's a great example of what sets our band apart from the bands that we get lumped in with. I love “Cracked Sidewalk Surfer” for it's speed and raw skatepunk vibe. “Chasing My Tail” is maybe my favorite song to play live from our entire discography. Really extremely happy with the record. In the midst of the grunge revival, shoegaze revival, 90's revival, youth crew revival, etc etc etc we just wrote a unique raw Modern Life Is War hardcore punk record on our own terms without gimmicks. I never really get the chance to brag about it in this way, and I'm not competitive when it comes to music, but damn I am proud of what me and my friends did on that record and that we are still relevant on our own terms.

 

MODERN LIFE IS WAR @ THIS IS HARDCORE 2013 (PHILADELPHIA, PA). PHOTO BY: KEN PENN

 

IE: What's next for MLIW? Have you guys been writing and if so how many new songs are there that have come after “Fever Hunting?

 

Jeff: We have just begun writing new songs. I think we're going to push things. “Fever Hunting” seemed to close a chapter. We have 4 full length albums out now, doing something extremely similar almost seems like a waste of time. Our spirit will always be hardcore punk but we've never been purists or tried to fit in. Now there is no pressure to succeed and no fear of failure. Focus on good songs in whatever form they may come.  The 5 of us will be the only judge and jury of that. 

 

IE: That’s about all I got, anything else you wanted to add before we end?

 

Jeff: Take life and kick it's ass up and down the block every day. Don't follow trends. Don't trust cops.

 

 

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