Entertainment
The Sweet and Savory Sound of Weekend Nachos
Weekend Nachos is an interesting musical beast. Named for a goofy snack, the Chicago-based hardcore metal band embrace its sense of humor but also covers some serious concepts in its lyrics. Comprised of some straight-edge naturalists and some cannabis enthusiasts, Weekend Nachos can agree on the fact that cannabis should be legal and prohibition should end, despite how the members personally feel about smoking it. The band also hopes that cannabis enthusiasts can appreciate its doom-influenced riffs when it does choose to get slow and heavy. Its name alone entices cannasseurs to create their own paradise of nacho-based deliciousness. CULTURE recently caught up with vocalist John Hoffman to talk about prohibition, edibles as medicine, rock n’ roll and beans and rice.
How did you get started making music?
All of us have been playing in bands since we were like 12 or 13 years old, so just the fact that we know each other meant that we were destined to eventually start a band at one point. That’s just what people in the music scene do; they eventually start bands with each other. Andy and I were living together in college when Weekend Nachos began.
Do you have any upcoming shows, releases or projects in the works?
We had our final European tour coming up in October, and then our last shows will be in Denver and Chicago towards the end of the year or beginning of 2017. After that, we all have other bands we’re working on, [such as] Spine, Like Rats, Belonger, Hateforce and Ledge. We hope to continue doing shit for a long time; we just don’t need to do much with Weekend Nachos anymore.
How do you feel about metal and hardcore and their relation to the cannabis community?
I think rock n’ roll in general goes hand in hand with mind-altering substances. So, a lot of people in the metal and hardcore scene use cannabis. Then there are some subgenres of metal like stoner metal, doom, sludge, shit like Electric Wizard and Sleep, where weed smoking is encouraged and embraced in the actual lyrical content. You can’t really go to a metal show without smelling weed in the air.
How do you feel about legalization so far? Could anything be done better or differently?
I think legalization of marijuana is important, because it is not dangerous, and outlawing it is just unnecessary. In America it is perfectly legal for a 21-year-old to drink alcohol, and that is a lot more dangerous than someone smoking a joint. It is perfectly legal for some redneck to own a rifle, and that is a lot more dangerous than someone smoking a joint. In the same way that I think listening to Sheryl Crow or Mary J. Blige’s music should be legal, I also think smoking marijuana should be legal. You shouldn’t outlaw something that isn’t a threat to society.
Have you ever worked cannabis into your music as a theme? If so, how?
In an early Weekend Nachos song, I almost added the lyric “Beans and rice are mighty nice, smoking weed with Jesus Christ,” but it never materialized. That being said, I always wanted our really slow and heavy parts to appeal to people who were really high on weed. One time a dude told me he smoked weed to one of our sludge parts, and I thought that was cool because it means we wrote a really slow, really heavy part totally the right way.
How has cannabis affected your lives and creative processes?
Byron’s (Lueders, drummer) been smoking weed since he was young. He says he eats edibles to medicate his self-loathing. Andy (Nelson, guitarist) smokes weed sometimes too, which I think mellows him out. Drew (Brown, bass) and I prefer to live un-altered but definitely think everyone should be able to smoke a plant if they want, without going to jail for it.
How did you come up with the food reference for a name?
Okay, so we always knew we were going to be a very heavy, brutal, hateful band. But we never wanted anyone in the hardcore or metal scene to predict what we sounded like, so we decided to come up with an intentionally silly, light-hearted name to throw people off.
