Interview: Ryan Allen

The Story Behind His New Concept Album, 'The Last Rock Band'

“Rock is dead” might be a cliché, but it makes for a compelling concept album in the experienced hands of guitar pop tunesmith Ryan Allen.

Having come of age during the ‘90s grunge/alternative/indie/pop punk era, Allen witnessed firsthand how rock’s relevance slowly receded throughout the decade until it was swallowed by the now-dominant cultural juggernauts of pop music and hip hop.

“In reality, rock music is a dinosaur to the majority of people now,” Allen said in the interview below. “There are a handful of big bands that can still capture attention briefly, but it's nothing like it was back in 1992. That's probably the last time we'll ever see rock music hold the attention of society. And that's honestly ok—rock had its day in the sun.”

Those observations—filtered through years of experience with Thunderbirds Are Now! and Extra Arms, among others, in addition to a prolific solo career—were the impetus for his ambitious and stylistically-diverse collection The Last Rock Band.

“The album is sequenced and kind of set up like a mixtape. Some of the subject matter of the songs dictate the sound, but in general I just wanted to write music that paid tribute to my musical DNA: The Beatles, The Who, Bowie, Tom Petty, The Kinks, The Stones, as well as punk stuff, ‘80s synth pop, and the indie rock that I loved as a teenager and still love today (like Guided by Voices, Superchunk, etc.).”

The result is a rock hero’s journey, the familiar tale of a music-obsessed kid who forms a band and takes the world by storm…until he eventually burns out, briefly turning his back on his muse—only to return with renewed vigor and more pure intentions, despite the fact that they’re the last of their breed.

It’s an impressive album that sits comfortably between Allen’s more introspective solo releases and the hookiest, most-driving Extra Arms songs. A few standout tracks include first single “Start A Band,” high-energy stomper “Like The Ramones,” the Petty-meets-Fountains of Wayne vibe of “Stop The Train,” blazing guitar rawker “Second Act,” and the triumphant “We Have Returned.”

I caught up with Allen via email as he prepared for the album’s March 3 release.

Congrats on the great new solo album. How did you land on the concept?

I appreciate the compliment, friend.

As far as inspiration, I'm not exactly sure where it came from but I want to say the first song I wrote was indeed "The Last Rock Band.” I had just released Up From Here with my band Extra Arms—a record that is incredibly raw and emotionally charged—so when I started working on new music I wanted to do something that didn't feel as personal or heavy as that album. But, because I'm me, what started as a more a made up "story"-esque narrative ended up being just about as personal as Up From Here, but in a completely different way.

Anyway, the sort of "adventure song" motif that plays out in the song "The Last Rock Band" kind of set the tone for what was to come afterwards. After a few songs started coming together I eventually landed on a narrative that tried to address the question: "What if there was only one rock band left on Earth? What would happen? What would their adventure be like?"

I then started to weave in my own story and narrative into that—from my initial discovery of the music that spoke to me, learning how to play guitar, making mix tapes for car rides and things like that, to my own history touring and playing all types of gigs in front of nobody to hundreds and back to nobody again.

It's essentially a fictional story, but one that has very real emotions and experiences woven into it. It was fun to challenge myself in a new way and write a story that was a bit more theatrical and playful, especially after releasing something that was chronicling a very real, raw and difficult time in my life. 

When was the first time you remember hearing "rock is dead?"

Throughout the ‘90s, rock, as you probably know, was alive and well. I'm 43 now, and I was 11 years old when Nirvana's Nevermind came out. That record totally blew my mind, even though I really didn't understand it fully at the time (and quite frankly, it kind of scared me). But I got very into the whole Seattle grunge boom—Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice in Chains, etc.

From there I discovered indie rock and that essentially captured my attention for the rest of the decade. But there was an obvious shift somewhere around ‘98/’99 when pop music made a raging comeback—Britney, N*Sync, etc. Then you had the opposite side of the spectrum with the rap metal shit, which was "rock" I guess but also infused with hip-hop and other elements that put that sound in its own category.

All of a sudden it seemed like fewer and fewer tried-and-true rock bands were making an impact at that time, so I would guess it was around then that the "rock is dead" headlines started to make their way into magazines or whatever. It wasn't until the Strokes/Hives/Vines/White Stripes thing happened that you started to see the "Rock is back!" stuff.

In reality, rock music is a dinosaur to the majority of people now. There are a handful of big bands that can still capture attention briefly, but it's nothing like it was back in 1992. That's probably the last time we'll ever see rock music hold the attention of society. And that's honestly ok—rock had its day in the sun. There's a lot of interesting non-rock music coming out, from innovative jazz stuff to Beyonce and everything in between. It's good that rock is the underdog—that means bands have to work harder, write better songs, and not just rely on sounding like Eddie Vedder to make a buck.

Somewhere at the very bottom of that barrel is where I sit. And I'm ok with that!

The title track feels like Roger McGuinn-via-Tom Petty fronting arena rock-era The Who. What bands were your guiding lights for this project?

The album is sequenced and kind of set up like a mixtape. Some of the subject matter of the songs dictate the sound, but in general I just wanted to write music that paid tribute to my musical DNA: The Beatles, The Who, Bowie, Tom Petty, The Kinks, The Stones, as well as punk stuff, ‘80s synth pop, and the indie rock that I loved as a teenager and still love today (like Guided by Voices, Superchunk, etc.).

So it's really not totally different what I always do—write catchy rock songs that have specific reference points—but it was maybe a little more honed in terms of the sound and lyrics attempting to tie together.

For instance, I wanted the song "Start A Band" to really sound like I imagine a garage band of teenagers in the ‘60s sounded. It's kinda trashy and fucked up sounding a little bit, but the obvious nod to "Can't Explain" is there...which, if you go back and listen to other records from that time—like the Creation's "Making Time" or the Nazz's "Open My Eyes"—everybody was influencing one another.

It seemed like a really exciting time to be creating rock and roll music, so I wanted to try and capture that feeling. Since the song is about literally starting a band it all seemed to fit nicely together.

And, of course, there's a song called "Like The Ramones." Does the album's narrative follow a historical timeline?

I'd say it's less of a time-specific timeline and more of an event-related timeline—it's basically this:

• Kid (me?) hears rock music and loves it.

• Kid starts a band with his friends.

• The band takes off and gets popular.

• Then the kid realizes that the popularity of the band is predicated on others no matter how hard he tries, so he starts contemplating "the end" (open to interpretation) as the popularity of his band dwindles.

• Kid starts drinking/drugging to numb the pain of being a failure, ditches his band and instruments, buys a computer to try and be a DJ.

• Kid realizes that's not authentic to him, reforms the band despite there being no rock bands left, and comes back this time not to regain the popularity his band once had, but instead—because rock music lives so deeply inside him—he's compelled to keep pushing forward no matter what others think.

Along the way there's musical nods that echo the story, but it's not necessarily following a decade-specific storyline. Maybe I'll try that on the next one. Ha. 

The track "Bought A Computer" sounds like Depeche Mode-via-Radiohead filtered through Trans-era Neil Young. Was your approach to that one different from the rest of the album?

Yeah, for sure. I had the "Bought a Computer" concept in my head before the song actually existed. I knew that if I was going to write a song about selling all of your instruments to make it as an electronic producer-guy (loosely inspired by Bob Mould's dalliances with electronic music) that I had to write the tune using synthetic instruments.

I have a really old Midi keyboard and just started messing around with a pretty basic melody. I wanted it to have sort of a Kraftwerk/Depeche Mode kind of thing and it honestly came together pretty fast. I don't think I've ever written an entire song "in the box" so to speak, so it was fun to try that.

For most talented people this type of songwriting is probably pretty normal, but for me it was a whole new thing. I have to admit there are some "real" instruments on this one at the end, which was my way of bridging the gap between an electronic song and getting back to the loud rock that I'm accustomed to. So I thought that was kind of a fun way to say "Actually I'm not very good at this...let's crank the guitars back up."

The song "Second Act" is decidedly more RAWK. Is playing/recording that style of music natural for you, or did the concept demand it?

I'd say I float between chord-y/jangle-y type of songs and then more riff based ones. Extra Arms songs seem to have a good balance between both, and my solo material edges a bit closer to being "softer" at times. But yeah, I just really wanted to write something that kind of had a Van Halen or AC/DC type of vibe. That kind of kick-the-door-down-and-scream "I'm back baby!" type of sound that the lyrics allude to.

If I can be super honest, I just write songs, man. I don't really think about like, "Oh I can't do this type of sound for this project" or whatever. Sometimes I do take note of what I'm working on and start parsing it out to different projects, but I'm not that precious about it.

I will say I'm really proud of how this one came together and the riff is super fun to play.

This is your second concept album (including Up From Here by Extra Arms). What draws you to that format?

I'm kind of guessing here, but maybe it's because I've always considered myself some kind of "writer" (I went to school for journalism). It's fun to try and sew ideas and concepts together to try and make something cohesive.

I also was very into theater in high school—in fact I almost majored in it in college. So I was into some musicals and stuff like that, so that way of presenting an idea or concept has always been on my radar.

And let's face it, there are a handful of really inspirational rock and roll concept albums out there, from Tommy to The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow. Shit, even Green Day's American Idiot rules. Also, I feel like it's something every songwriter should try. I didn't know if I would succeed of course, but I was willing to push myself to give it a shot. 

What do you hope listeners will take away from The Last Rock Band?

At this point it's out of my hands, but I do hope whoever listens to it can really understand the time and care I put into making this whole thing work together. From the lyrics to the references in the songs, to the story that's being told, I hope people can pick up on the fact that I was really trying to make something cohesive and just a super enjoyable listen.

I feel like the last handful of years have been really fucking tough, so I just wanted to make something you could throw on during a road trip and kind of get lost in. That's what my favorite records do for me, so my goal is to always take that feeling and reflect it back into the world.