CREDIT: STEPH MILL
Punk band Gob will be playing a show at Call The Office on October 27.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. In the first few sentences of this column, you’re as likely to read about soda, zombies and MTV’s Dan Cortese as you are about music, but then you take similar chances when listening to music of any kind – a fact as true in modern pop as it was in punk music in Canada 20 years ago.

Formed in Langley, BC in 1993, Gob made a lasting impact on rock radio and music television in Canada through the 1990’s with hit songs and fan favourites like “Soda,” “I Hear You Calling” and “Give Up The Grudge” – tunes that have an indelible place in the history of punk music within our borders.

Gob is performing at Call The Office next week on October 27, headlining a punk music bill that also features Oakville’s Seaway and local rock outfit Wasted Potential.

The band – founding members Tom Thacker and Theo Goutzinakis share guitar and lead vocal duties, with bassist Steven Fairweather and longtime drummer Gabe Mantle rounding out the lineup – is currently touring to support Apt. 13, its first studio album since 2007’s Muertos Vivos.

Released late in August on New Damage Records, the album is part concept record, part time capsule and completely true to the band’s vision.

According to Thacker, the band had intended to release the follow- up to Muertos Vivos far sooner than it did, but schedules became increasingly hard to synchronize – particularly after he assumed guitar duties in notable punk outfit Sum 41. Despite distractions from all sides, the band self-produced the record piece by piece, beginning in 2010 and wrapping the mixing process early in 2013.

“We’re pretty hands-on,” he said. “We’ve learned to produce records ourselves and decided to give it a shot.”

He and Goutzinakis have produced albums for other artists as well as helming their previous fulllength from 2007.

“We know what sounds we want, and thought it would be good to try not to compromise,” Thacker said. “Over the years we’ve had so many people working with us, management and different labels ... I think we just really wanted to get back to just being the four of us working on our record, doing our music – it’s like a regrouping of sorts.”

While the move meant that Apt. 13 progressed slowly, it paid off in the final product – the band have shown consistent growth in their work, and this album is no exception. Apt. 13 shows that the band isn’t afraid to layer substance into its music while flexing the compositional muscles that have served them so well over the years, though Thacker – the principal songwriter on the album – indicates little has changed in how they build a song.

“We write personal songs, so every record is a concept in itself,” he said, considering the underlying narrative that lends a conceptual feel to the album. “The anxious themes on it are relating to our feelings about the record taking a long time; the lyrics weren’t finished until a couple of years ago so the album captures a more personal, accurate account of how we were feeling at that time. Every record that we make is a snapshot of that time in our lives.”

By sticking to their vision, the band have proven that they have the strength and drive to back up the punk philosophy they have subscribed to for so long. Indeed, if there is a concept to Apt. 13, it is that sometimes by internalizing and trusting your instincts as a band, you discover all the strength and drive that you need.

“Over our career we’ve gone from the smallest indie labels to major labels and played every type of venue,” said Thacker. “Every type of show, from the biggest festival to the smallest clubs, to houses and basements and stuff. I think we wanted to get back to the roots of how we started – completely DIY, doing everything ourselves.”

“The face of punk changes, it always has,” he said. “Punk has so many different sounds, and so many different sub–genres, it’s more of a state of mind. I’m sure every punk rock band would tell you, they don’t want to be fucking represented by anyone other than themselves, that’s definitely a punk rock thing – we do things our way.”

For more on Gob and its new album Apt. 13, visit gobband.com or follow the band on Twitter @gobband. Doors open at their gig with Seaway and Wasted Potential at Call The Office at 8 p.m., tickets are $15 and available from ticketfly.com.

And for more of the latest in music news, album streams and concert previews, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. On a personal note, a quick farewell to Toronto’s Hands & Teeth, who played its final show over the weekend. The band visited the Forest City often over the years and will be missed. I’m out of words.