Maybe the dilapidated garages and all-ages clubs of the East Coast post-hardcore scene of the late 80s is a fitting place to begin our story. That’s where the chronicle of our era’s ever-humble valedictorian, Ted Leo, really gets interesting, anyway. It was here in bands Citizen’s Arrest and Animal Crackers (and later as the main song writer in Chisel) that Ted developed a sharpened political prowess, an assiduous commitment to his Gibson ES-335, an ear for melody, and charisma contagious enough to be considered chemical weaponry. A mod-punk savant in an age where punk (like practically everything intangible we’ve ever expressed interest in) has been replaced by product. With his latest, "Living with the Living," Ted Leo delivers that existentialist ethos to a new crop of rude boys.
For their fifth full-length release (and first with Touch and Go Records), Ted Leo and the Pharmacists met up with Brendan Canty (Fugazi) at Long View Farms to iron out a new set of anthems that arrive with a confident and outspoken immediacy. With "Living with the Living," Ted & Co. wipe clean the slate that once held names like Weller, Strummer and Bragg and indulge some of their farthest-reaching musical ambitions.