Death on Wednesday's Nate Lawler, 10 Years Later

Huntington Beach punks Death on Wednesday are back after almost a decade-long absence. The band had enjoyed sharing the stage with Social Distortion and the Reverend Horton Heat on tours as well as success the OC punk scene. Their first release was produced by Trevor Kieth of Face to Face. They disbanded shortly after the release of their second recording, Songs To ___ To EP in 2003. Earlier this year, singer Nate Lawler took back to the stage with a revamped lineup; Kevin Clark on bass (Guttermouth), Ryan Allen on guitar and Matt Rainwater reclaiming his place on drums.

A slightly-medicated Lawler graciously spoke with us after getting a wisdom tooth pulled and discussed the ups and downs of their reunion, plans for a new album, and where he's been in the last eight years. 
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OC Weekly: So what sparked your guys' reunion?

Nate
Lawler: I just decided to put it back together to see where it's at and a
lot of people started turning out to the shows. It's just been really
fun so we just decided to keep moving forward with it. I've been getting
a lot of cool Facebook messages from people saying, “I love Death on
Wednesday and you have know idea what you guys meant to me.” We've been
really stoked about all of the response we've been getting. The reason
why we keep doing this is because of all of the people showing up and
singing along.
      Before it became such a business and not as much fun. I lost sight of what I was doing music for.

I
bet over the last eight years you guys have had a chance to develop a
new fan base–maybe people who didn't have the chance to see you the
first time around and now they can.
 
Yeah! I've met some kids that say, “Man, I've wanted to see you guys since I was 10 years old,” and I'm like really?

What's been the hardest part about getting the band back together?

[Laughs]
Getting everyone together for practice. That's been a challenge.
Everybody's job schedules and marriages. The drummer's married and has a
kid. You know, ten years ago, we were a lot younger.

What have you been up to for the last ten years?

Me personally, I did a band called Redgun Radar for a while with Alex Pappas from Finch and Kevin Clark from Guttermouth.
We toured and did a bunch of cool things for a while and after a while I
decided to take a break from that. Personally I got in some run-in with
the law down in San Diego for a while so I was in some trouble [laughs]. I'm all good now. Now I'm just staying focused and staying out of trouble and trying to get back into music.

I'm also starting a clothing company called Vaya Con Dios.
It's a company my buddy and I started four or five months ago and we're
just trying to get it off the ground. A really good buddy of mine named
Jeremi [McMaster] thought of the idea. It means “Go With God.” We just
said hey we're kind of bored with what we've been doing and why don't we
just start a clothing company. It would be something cool and a
challenge. Just trying something different and get it in all the skate
and surf shops. We'll have some shirts at the show on Thursday. 

Do you have any plans for recording?

Yeah, that's
something we're going to work on next month. I've been writing new
material. Just put that all together and get together with the boys and
put out a new record. Maybe DIY it. I don't know. Maybe we'll put it out
on something. I'm not sure. Everything's in [the beginning] stages
right now. We're going to demo some new tracks and see what we like. Get
them out there in the hands of people and see what they think. I'm
looking forward to putting out something new. I'd like to get some of
our songs on the radio. Is that going to happen? Probably not, but
that's why you gotta play music for the enjoyment of it.

Have you noticed a change in sound with your new material?

I've
always written in the same style. This time I might take it a little
different, I don't know. It might be a little more rock. We've had some
offers [to play more shows] but I've turned them down just to focus on
going into the studio and work on some new material.

Death on Wednesday  perform with Audigraffiti and The Essentials at the Juke Joint,