From DiSCORDER, September 1995: I knew nothing about DFL (Dead Fucking Last) when I agreed to interview them. Out back in the alley behind the Commodore (mmm - smell that air) with the sound of Pennywise full into their set in the background, I talked with Monty Methicks (guitar/vocals) and Tom Davis (vocals), who, together with Anthony Converse (drums) and Barta MacIntosh (bass), are DFL. DFL play hardcore the way it was meant to be played. Their songs are short, fast, and instantly likeable. Never having had heard them before, I got into them right away and knew I had stumbled onto something great. I seriously recommend catching their next show and picking up their latest release on Epitaph, titled Proud To Be. Yet again, Epitaph, and more specifically Brett Gurewitz, has picked a winner. DiSCORDER: Where did DFL begin? Monty: The band started a couple of years ago at Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles. Me and this kid we know, Adam, decided we were going to start a hardcore band. We drafted Tom Davis, and then Adam decided he wasn’t going to play bass for us. But he produced our record (Proud To Be). Do you prefer yourselves as DFL or Dead Fucking Last? Monty: Either or. It’s a yachting term actually. If you were yachting and you saw a boat coming in last, you’d turn to whoever you were watching the race with and say, "Oh, look at that poor boy. He’s DFL." It’s the last person that finishes the race. Do you yacht? Monty: I don’t. I watched a yacht race in Maine once a couple of years ago and one of the old fuckers there said it. It says in your bio that you are "Delightful Companions". Do you really get along that well? Tom: Most certainly. Monty: We get along very well. We love each other. This last ten hour drive from Eugene we shared the driving and... Tom: ...picked berries, played frisbee and frolicked. What happened at that border? (Major delays at the border resulted in DFL arriving at the Commodore just in time to go on stage.) Tom: We just got fucking harassed. Monty: They fleeced us of all our merchandise. I was going to ask you to describe your music, but I’ve heard it now. Monty: What would you say? It’s great! A lot of people thought so. Not many people knew who you were and they were impressed! Tom: Thank you. I was stoked because it’s not often you catch a band that’s great at a small venue just before they get huge. Tom: We’ve had really big shows and really small shows. The show doesn’t matter. What matters is having fun and... Monty: The kids! Last night we played a really small show in Eugene with a bunch of hippies and we had a really fun time. Tom: Moshing hippies! Now you describe your music. Where did it come from? Monty: I was just sitting in my kitchen playing songs after school. What kind of songs? Monty: Just DFL songs. I’m terrible. I can’t tune my guitar and no one does it for me. I just like playing simple songs that are short. When I hear an old punk tape, like old Bad Religion or old Minor Threat or old Wasted Youth, that’s it. I just love to play fast. I love all music except for country. That is said a lot. Tom: I love country. (joking) Oops, sorry. Where did you come from musically, Tom? Tom: Musically, I was... Monty: Tom had never been in a band before. I had to tell him what a verse was, what a chorus was... Tom: I basically just picked it up from what I’d seen over the years. We were going to shows in the early 80’s and seeing the best and hanging out with everybody. We’re just out there like any other band. How old are you guys? Tom: We’re in our thirties. Monty: I’m thirty-one. You wear it well. Monty: It’s all the coffee I drink and the frolicking and the frisbee. Where are you from? Monty: L.A. So, what bands would we be talking about that you were hanging out with? Monty: In the early days? The Germs, Black Flag, TSOL, Circle Jerks, The Adolescents, Social Distortion. Not only would we go to the shows, but we’d go to parties with these people and hang out. Me and Tom would always be hanging out on the sidelines. When we formed DFL, even before the punk thing came back, people said, "You guys are crazy. You’re never going to get anywhere playing one minute songs." Did you listen to anything else besides punk growing up? Monty: When I was in grade seven I was really into my Led Zeppelin 8- track. So you weren’t part of the glam scene? Tom: No. I’d say right before that we were listening to Ted Nugent. Monty: And Kiss. Me and Tom met when we were thirteen in a skate park. Was it instant friendship? Monty: Yeah. We played frisbee and frolicked. This frolicking thing is a theme with you guys. Monty: But we don’t sleep together. You gotta draw the line somewhere. So before DFL were you working at McDonalds? Monty: I was going to school. Tom was a pizza delivery guy. I had to convince him to give up the pizza delivery job to go on this tour, because there was some security there. You’re on Epitaph now but you were on Grand Royal. How long were you on the Beastie Boys’ label? Tom: Two years. Monty: In March we went out with Mike D and said, "We want to put out another fucking album and we want to tour and get our music out there to the kids because we know the kids would really be down with some really crazy hardcore." He was like, "Well, can I order you another cappuccino?" and we were like, "Fuck that!" So I went and called Brett Geruwitz at Epitaph and said, "We’re ready to record another album." And a month later we were in the studio. Tom: Mike D called Brett and okayed the whole deal. So it all worked out. We’re all friends. How did Brett hear about you? Monty: Two years ago he heard our album and said he wanted to sign us, but we wanted to stick with Grand Royal. Grand Royal’s just not a punk label and they didn’t know what to do with us. Adam totally helped us out and he took time off to produce our album. Tom: He won’t play bass for us but he’ll produce. He wrote your bio. Tom: Yes. Monty: He loves us. We love him. Have you toured much? Monty: We played a couple of shows in Japan. The kids in Japan went crazy. Tom ate at McDonalds everyday. This is our first tour. Thanks to Pennywise. They’ve been cool but Fletcher’s been torturing us. He bought a BB gun and shot at us while we were on stage. So what’s up next? Monty: We really want to come back to Canada. We’ll sit on the album for a couple of months and then tour. Well, that’s all my questions. Anything you want to add? Tom: Thanks for taking notice. Monty: Thank you.