Hailing from Washington, D.C., Ted Leo + the Pharmacists is bringing its punk-rock force to Baton Rouge.
The band will perform at Spanish Moon on Highland Road this Friday at 9 p.m. Lead singer and guitarist Ted Leo spoke with The Daily Reveille via e-mail about his upcoming show.
TDR: Have you performed in Baton Rouge before? What do you like about it?
Leo: Yup. A number of times over the years. I’ve met some great people in [Baton Rouge] over the years, including someone who jumped up on stage and helped us sing one night when I lost my voice, who I’m still in touch with, six years later.
TDR: What can we expect to see at your show?
Leo: Well, coincidentally, and unfortunately, my voice is in pretty bad shape right now, but hopefully we won’t need to expect a repeat of that sort of thing. Just a more gravelly version of me.
TDR: Where did the name ‘The Pharmacists’ come from?
Leo: Myself and the other two members of an old band of mine called Chisel eventually woke up one day and realized that we could’ve come up with a much better name, and in jokingly kicking around some of them, The Pharmacists came up and I vowed that I would use it someday… and so I did.
TDR: You have a very unique sound that’s different from most indie bands. How would you describe your musical genre/style?
Leo: I don’t know. I’d say it’s something along the lines of classic punk.
TDR: You’ve been compared to classic bands like The Clash. What’s your response to that juxtaposition?
Leo: Ah, well there you go — classic punk.
TDR: What have you been working on lately?
Leo: Writing new songs for what will eventually be a new album, doing some music for other projects (friends’ podcasts and comedy shows, etc.).
TDR: How has your music evolved since you started in 1999?
Leo: Well, I “started” before 1999. I’ve been in bands since the mid-’80s and started playing under my own name and even using “The Pharmacists” as early as 1996. But as far as evolution goes, I think I prefer to map each album or “era” or whatever in terms of how it’s evolved in relation to what came immediately before it and what I’m hoping to do next, and in that sense, it’s hard to lay out a straight arc of evolution. It’s more about expanding and contracting, exploring and experimenting, or bringing things back to tight basics, and I think that even over the course of a single album, you can see some of that see-saw.
TDR: What’s your favorite song that you’ve made? Why?
Leo: It’d be impossible to say — I go through phases with some being more important than others from time to time, but I could never say definitively what a “favorite” would be. Right now we’ve just recently brought “The Sons of Cain” back into the set after not playing it for a while, along with most of the songs from “The Tyranny of Distance” album that had fallen through the cracks, and I’m enjoying playing them again.
TDR: Are you influenced by any particular bands? Who?
Leo: Sure, but the list would literally never end, since I’m discovering new stuff all the time. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of early punk and pub-rock songwriters like Nick Lowe, etc., soul giants like Curtis Mayfield, storytellers like Springsteen, American punk and hardcore like Minutemen, The Misfits, etc., old reggae vocal groups like the Mighty Diamonds, Celtic folk, and on and on and on. I always get excited by new bands as well, and we try to take as many on tour as we can, like Pujol, who we’re out with now. I find their outlook, song writing, musicianship and energy really inspiring.
TDR: Do you have any pre- or post-show rituals or traditions?
Leo: A few – I change my strings every night, which is really a necessity, but also takes on a Zen-like ritual thing for me. I also stretch a lot.
 
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Contact Emily Herrington at [email protected]