Russ Rankin (Only Crime, Good Riddance)

1- Firstly, how stoked are you that Obama got in? What do you think this means for your country?

I didn't vote for him (I'm a registered Green Party member) but I am happy that he won. My big problem is with our entire election process and the fact that we don't have a free press in the U.S.

2- Good Riddance was a band for good on 14 years, you guys did alot, what are some of the ups and downs that come to mind when you think of the band. And what do you think of a couple bands around right now (not mentioning any names) that sound pretty much exactly like GR, but are playing stadiums and getting played on commercial radio?

There were tons of highs and lows - we were so unprepared for what we became and the work it took and the toll on our personal lives. It was, however, a tremendous opportunity and a rewarding experience that I'm sure enriched all of our lives in various ways. As for bands who "sound" exactly like us who are playing stadiums I really haven't heard any.

3- Only Crime, 2 records down and a whole heap of tours, hows it all going? Do you ever look back at the drums when your playing live and think, "fuck, iam in a band with Bill Stevenson"!?

Only Crime is slowly gathering new material for or 3rd album and will be touring Europe in Jan/Feb 2009 with No Use For A Name. And yes, I have caught myself doing that many, many times.

4-What not many people may know about you is that you are proudly straightedge and vegan, which i always think is fucking cool when an "older" (sorry, haha) dude sticks to his beliefs, in a scene that is filled with people that change trends with the wind. Have you ever x'd up? and what band, if any, prompted or helped in your decision to go straightedge?

Haha... I used to X up all the time when I was going to the hardcore matinees at Gilman Street in the late 1980's. I'd go see bands like Rabid Lassie, Unit Pride, Hard Stance, No For An Answer, Insted, Youth of Today, Bold and countless others and I'd X up and then wake p the next morning with big X's on my face from sleeping on my hands.

5- Coffee or ice hockey, if you had to pick one, as in you were never allowed the other as long as you lived, which one would it be, and why?

Hockey because it is the greatest thing ever GO DEVILS!!!!!