Hey Evan, thank you for taking time out from finals to chat with me. I’ve seen you perform several times now and I have to ask you how does it feel juggling the "attention", now that you are a guitar god!

Though it’s something I joke about with my friends, I really don't think that playing the guitar makes me any more desirable than anyone else. Everyone has their talents and abilities, I don't think that many people just see "Ooh guitar!" and suddenly fall for someone.

Well, I have witnessed otherwise *Laughs* but anyway when does your tour start?

Well, the first gig lined up right now is May 22nd in New Jersey

Which CD are you supporting, the new one?

Well, right now I'm about to release my demo, Songs of Solidarity, which has six tracks, three of which are from my first album Against the Blinking Green.

In early-mid summer Sally and I are going to record a new full length CD, which I’m really excited about. We have a lot of new material that I can’t wait to get out there.

That’s exciting, so you are working on new material then for the mid-summer CD? The performances with Sally have been great.

Yes. Meeting Sally has had a big influence on me. She helped me to remember that it's okay to write songs about simple things, and that not every song has to be an anthem.

The result is that I've started writing at least a song or two a week and they tend to be a lot more personal and genuine than some of my previous work. I’ve also started transcending genre more than I used to. I’m integrating a lot of old-timey blues into my newer stuff, but at the same time most of my new songs are more rock-oriented than they used to be.

You and Sally are students at Swarthmore College, I can't figure out how you both fit playing into the rigors of academia. Then I see you both and it seems to energize you both.

*Laughs* The thing is this: Sally and I don't do any of our work.

*Laughing* I’m sure that’s not true! Sally would dispute that at least on her own behalf.

I guess that's not totally true, but we certainly make sacrifices to play music and continue being part of the activist community

People remark that your stage performance has grown, what are your thoughts on that? Your live performances are tight, I assume you rehearse a lot.

We never rehearse as much as we should. A lot of times we’ll sit down to rehearse and end up writing a new song or talking about life for three hours instead.

I think that live performing is definitely something that you have to learn by experience.

No matter how good you sound playing to your friends as soon as you get up in front of a live audience you don't know it’s not going to sound the same. I think the more I perform the more comfortable I become with both the material and simple things like how far away the microphone goes.

You are involved in local activist work; will that be a lot of what the new material is about?

Most people know of me as a political songwriter, and certainly a lot of my songs are direct reactions to the injustice and oppression that I see in the world. Songs of Solidarity is pretty much a direct response to the horror that I witnessed at the FTAA Protest in Miami, where heavily armed police attacked, wounded, and arrested nonviolent demonstrators who had come to voice their dissent to the expansion of global capitalism.

Through music, do you envision something else for us as a nation and the world in general?

I think that the simple act of writing songs that tell stories of truth is a revolutionary act. In a society where the state attempts to control not only our actions but also our perception, simply re-describing the world we live in is an act of rebellion. I think Salmon Rushdie said something like that once.

So does your writing encompasses everything you are experiencing at the moment?

Songwriting for me is kind of like taking entire chunks of my reality and trying to squish them into a tiny box that's 3 minutes long and fits over guitar chords. Every person who I interact with adds a little something that inevitably ends up in my songs. I try to. I mean, that's sort of the impossibility of writing. Words were meant for people with nothing to say. I've got a lot to say, and there really aren't words for them. Writing songs is my feeble attempt to put all those thoughts and emotions into a form where they can be conveyed to other people. Sometimes that means feeling angry about capitalism with other people, Sometimes that means showing a loved one how I feel about them, just conveying a simple scene or emotion, like hitchhiking in the rain.

How do you feel about music changing the political scope of the country, there are so many people speaking out, especially now with this regime in office?

I think that music is always a reflection of the times. The music of the 60's didn't lead that revolution; there was a revolution and that led to the music.

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But don’t you want to influence the times too?

Just because all clear channel stations broadcast mindless pop doesn't mean there's no revolutionary music being made. Everywhere that there is oppression there is resistance, and resistance and music are inextricably linked. I want my music to do two things.

I hope that I can provide some music for the movement that people can sing together when they're on the buses being taken off to jail.

I also hope that my music can reach people who haven't yet thought about the world from a different perspective. I remember one of the things that had a profound impact on my political development was hearing the Phil Ochs' song Love Me, I'm a Liberal.

Whether it’s a direct, funny, political song like that, or simply a ballad describing the life of a homeless man, songs can have powerful impact on changing people's views of the world.

I got into activism after researching the things Rage Against the Machine were talking about and witnessing the trials and tribulations of the Sherman Austin’s in this country. You have had personal experience with jail haven't you?

I was arrested in Miami at the FTAA protest and spent three days in jail.

How was that experience for you? Not that prison is a ever positive experience.

It was really saddening to see the situation inside those monstrosities of metal and stone.

We were treated fairly well as (perceived) heterosexual white males but we heard the horror stories as soon as we got out.

We were arrested on felony charges so we were in Miami-Dade County Jail, which I hear is one of the worst in the country. The most beautiful thing happened, though. See, we were on hunger-strike *laughs* to get vegan food… and on about the second day we were all in fairly low spirits because we hadn’t eaten in a couple days and the guards had taken away our phone so we had no way to call for bail or get out or anything. Suddenly, we hear this sound from outside… like, a roar or something. There was a tiny window with mesh over it that we could sort of see out of, and we were pretty sure we could see people down past the prison wall. Then we could hear it, thousands of people, all screaming “LET THEM GO! LET THEM GO!”

I'm sure you had certain advantages in that system at least with the guards.

Yes, others were beaten, humiliated, essentially tortured at the hands of agents of the United States Government. It really makes you begin to understand your privilege.

We have seen that mentality in the news yet again, regarding the treatment if Iraqi prisoners by their guards.

Absolutely. I think people are beginning to see through the myths that the U.S. is somehow above this sort of thing. The dynamic between guard and prisoner is never good. Prisons are inherently violent, and there is no way to make a nonviolent prison.

Yes totally. People are seeing the bullshit we have been fed by this administration. We were spoon fed all kinds of lies just to get our war on.

I think people see it all the time. The number one thing that the media doesn't want us to know is that there is resistance. We tend to think of America as lethargic and passive, but in reality people are resisting everywhere and very few actually buy into the B.S. that they are trying to shove down our throats. Robert Putnam wrote that in 1995, 3 in 4 Americans didn't trust the government to do what was right most of the time.

Do you think people expect to relate when they come out to hear you perform? I remember not knowing what to expect but being struck by the depths of your lyrics. That was a pleasant surprise for me.

I really don't know what people expect. It depends on who they are.

And the venues you play too I suppose? Each venue brings its own crowd.

I have my fans who know my music well and come hoping to hear me talk about war and stuff, and then other people haven't heard me before and are just interested in what I've got to sing about. Venues? I'll play anywhere. I love playing outside, on the street or at protests, that's been where most of my shows in the past have been. I also like playing basement shows or bookstores, anywhere that people can come and hear the music for free. That’s my passion. I mean, its nice if I can get some transportation money or a meal and a place to sleep, but its most important that people just hear the music. That’s why I give all my mp3s away online.

When you are back in school in September, can we expect to see you around Philly performing more frequently?

Definitely. It's taken me a while to break into the Philly music scene, since I'm not local.

But I think once I have the demo out I should be able to start playing out regularly. My music has been very well received by both the Philly anarcho-punk scene and the indie-folk scene.

Well you are an amazing performer as well as a remarkable person; it hasn't taken you long take hold here in Philly. Does the punk allow you to rage and the folk give a voice for that rage?

I think I rage because I love and I sing because I don't sound good screaming.

I play acoustic because I like it and its portable, and it's hard to hitchhike with an amp. Folk is angry music. Make no mistake about it. But it’s playful angry. Creative angry. That’s the most dangerous kind of angry.

*Laughs* That makes sense. As someone who has never been on the road, I wouldn’t have considered that.

Honestly, I think that the genre-fication of music is overrated. I play at a lot of punk/hardcore sorts of shows, and people seem totally in to even the most folksy of my numbers. People underestimate the punks. I have a fair bit of punk in me. At its root its just a DIY spirit.

One thing I want people to know about you is what a great sense of humor you have and an ability to laugh at yourself and I think you are such a punk kid! *Laughs*

Being able to laugh--especially at yourself--is integral to survival in this absurd world.

You enjoy pissing the authorities off don’t you? *Laughs*

I'm with Noam Chomsky on this one. The burden of proof needs to be upon those who advocate coercion and authority. If they can't meet that burden, then their structures should be dismantled. You can dismantle them many ways, but the best way to start is by laughing at them.

Director, Mel Books said Humor is just another defense against the universe. I always loved that line especially coming from a Jewish man who makes fun of Hitler in his films.

That's what I loved about Phil Ochs, he could make you laugh about the most horrendous things and then once you were done laughing you started thinking and all that thinking gets you around eventually to doing something. That's what I want my music to do. I don't like to think of it as “spreading the word,” or anything. I tell stories that make people think. It's up to them what conclusions they come to.

Resistance needs to be decentralized. I don't want to be a symbol or "spokesperson" for “the movement.” The movement can speak for itself. I don't want to be the only one making music. I want everyone to make music. My new slogan is No Gods, No Masters, No Rockstars.

You’re against the whole "rock star" mentality, yet I see people try to put you into that role, when they meet you; how do you deal with people who act in awe of you?

Everyone wants attention. I love attention. Still, it's more important to me that my interactions with people be on an interpersonal level not that they see me as some sort of star or celebrity. Some people would like to see me sign a record deal or otherwise move away from the sort of DIY music making that I do now, but that’s just not what I’m interested in. If someone’s in awe of me, I’m probably in awe of them too.

I’m doing the whole DIY thing myself now and trying to supplement that with an income. By the way, the "black tie" birthday party you threw the other night was great. You have an ability to draw people together and get them to participate; its one of your talents.

It's a blessing and a curse, I suppose.

Really, how so?

When I first began organizing in Boston I learned that people listen to me when I talk.

The problem is that I was ignoring both my own privilege (of course people listen, I'm a well educated, nicely groomed white male) and I was also ignoring the effect that it has on the movement as a whole. It's a bad idea to have a movement built on a personality. I was an ineffective organizer because I was too busy organizing to get other people to organize on their own without me.

A sort of cult of personality thing? *Smiles*

Movements for social justice need to be decentralized and nonhierarchical not just because anything else would be hypocritical, but also because it’s the most effective and logical way to organize against the centralized oppression of the state.

You mentioned before that you give all of your music away for free on the web! Wow that’s different, where have I heard of that before? *Laughs*

I'm not the only one who does this. David Rovics, Ethan Miller, there are lots of artists who believe that music should be free to whoever wants to listen. For me, the thought of not having free mp3’s online ever really crossed my mind. The internet is possibly the most anarchistic invention since the monkey wrench and it’s an incredibly powerful way to distribute art and ideas.

I love the global ability of the net. All of my work revolves around it. It’s becoming the only place to access the truth. I hope people will come out and hear your songs and think about what the lyrics mean to them.

Yeah, Philly is a great town. I'm really excited about the opportunity to become part of the community here. Being from Massachusetts, I'm somewhat of a Cambridge-supremacist, but West Philly is really growing on me.

Come out to hear and experience Evan Greer’s skillz. I will be following the tours progress this summer. Evan has no booking agent or marketing team. He relies on fans and those who appreciate his message to set up shows for him in their hometowns. If you want to have Evan come to your community it can easily arranged. If you’re not sure how to go about it click the link. http://members.aol.com/drovics/booking.htm to learn how, or contact Evan Greer.