When I interviewed AJ Boucek, he was preparing to embark on a whirlwind three-day tour of Illinois with his band, Sloth Hands, playing shows in Chicago, Dekalb, and Rock Island before returning to his home in Rockford.
“We have to do weekend tours because I work weekdays,” Boucek laughs.
He seems relaxed and comfortable in his fluorescent green hoodie and electric guitar in hand. He considers himself a punk, but his attitude seems to be one of backyard existentialism rather than aggressive anarchism. Sloth Hands’ most recent album, Have A Great Summer, opens with an audio clip from the television show Rick and Morty where Morty says, “Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everyone’s going to die. Come watch TV.” Boucek’s songs exude the same sort of attitude, that life can be tough and you have to make ends meet, but you can still choose to invest yourself in art and media and make that choice meaningful.
“I got a political science degree and I really want to change the world,” Boucek says, “But I gotta be a realist too. I gotta keep myself afloat.”
Boucek’s weapon of choice for changing the world is Sloth Hands, his three-piece punk-folk band. Along with drummer John Stenger and bassist Briana Certa, Boucek plays songs about idyllic suburban summers tinged with existential dread, the constant reaching one’s own goals, the little coincidences of life, and, of course, politics. In a combination of folk-rock and punk-rock pioneered by such great bands as The Front Bottoms, Boucek is able to mine two incredibly rich traditions of protest music.
“All the songs are stories,” Boucek says, “You have stories and other times you have out-there lyrics. Some things actually happened. Some things I elaborate on.”
“So is the story of you getting arrested a real story, or was that all elaboration?” I ask him in reference to the song “Cop Cars” from Have A Great Summer.
He replies that it’s a little of both.
“Even though my family wasn’t well off, I went to a private school. The rich kids I went to school with could always get out of trouble, but I never had a crazy streak,” Boucek says, “If I got caught by the cops…I would end up in jail. I don’t have the connections and the luck to get out of shitty situations.”
“What about that luck?” I asked, prodding him to say more about the theme of coincidence in his work.
“It’s a joke to be like ‘I’m really unlucky’,” Boucek says, “This kind of sucks, but whatever it’s where it’s at I guess. When my dad died, it was obviously really sad…but things will happen whether you want them to or not. Weird things happen. House fires happen. Crazy shit happens and you just kinda gotta get used to it. When I was hospitalized for mono for months, it sucked…it was definitely something that would happen to me though.”
“Do you ever feel like the world is out to get you?” I asked, trying to hide my shock at his nonchalant attitude.
“Do I actually believe there’s a cosmic joke?” Boucek says, “No. It’s just the way of the world.”
Despite this seemingly pessimistic attitude, Boucek retains a surprising amount of idealism and hope. Just because the world has been unfair to him does not mean it isn’t worth fighting. The theme of summer in Sloth Hands’ most recent album seems to reflect this – amidst songs about war and loss, income inequality and social justice, the tone is constantly upbeat, and there is always time for movies, swimming, and garage sales. For AJ Boucek, the world may be a difficult place, but you can find the sunny side if you keep trying and keep fighting for what’s right.
“You have to work hard and do what you can to get by, but it also helps to be white, straight, rich, to know people,” he says, “But you gotta do the best you can do. My goal is for my music to make at least a small political impact. If somebody listens to the melody and words and even for a second thinks, ‘Yeah, okay, cool,’ then I’ve done my part. Any small, positive effect you can have on someone is change. It’s not nothing.”
“Rockford gets shit on, but it’s a nice place to be if you just look around,” he says, “Punk is a very strong community, but I never went full-on punk. I can’t pull off a 80s hardcore punk look with the jacket and studs and Mohawk. I’m not anti-authoritarian enough. I’m all for anarchy, but if a cop came up to me I’d just be like ‘oh sorry officer’. I’m just not crazy outgoing enough.”
“So, would you say that punk is more about the ideas than the style?” I say.
“Yeah, but a lot of ‘punks’ lose sight of that. A lot of people in the folk-punk genre glorify poverty, which is kinda stupid,” he says, “Poverty is a serious political issue. You get these white boys doing it and I’m like ‘you can do better.’ You’re playing music, say something positive. It won’t kill you to try to do something to help people.”
“We have too many people doing things for profit,” he adds, “We need more socially conscious people.”
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Photo by John Stenger
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If AJ Boucek’s words and music resonate with you, then you can take it upon yourself to be one of those socially conscious people. Fight the system with art. I ask Boucek to share some writing tips, and he says, “Write down everything. You can rewrite anything later. Just write it first, then decide if it sucks.” Sometimes, Boucek can find the energy to write a song in under a day, or over the course of a single practice session. Boucek and Sloth Hands plan to focus their creative energy on a concept album, with side A consisting of classic folk songs and side B consisting of 80s-style 30-second emotionally and politically blunt punk songs. Until then, check out Sloth Hands’ first album Sorry Tom and their most recent release, Have A Great Summer, for all of your idealistic punk-rock needs.
Sloth Hands performing their song “J. Edgar Hoover” in Chicago:
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