Against Me's Tom Gabel solo project details revealed
Tom Gabel will hit the road without his Against Me! bandmates on October 31st. Tom will be joined by Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ben Nichols (Lucero), and Tim Barry (Avail) on the Revival Tour. The frontmen will trade off playing solo sets of their own songs as well as collaborating on each others material.
Gabel is launching the tour in support of his upcoming seven-song solo EP, entitled "Heart Burns," which will be released on CD, digitally and on vinyl by Sire Records on October 28th. Inspired by the country's current political and cultural landscape, Gabel began to write new songs in January. Due to the topical and timely subject matter, he wanted to release them around the upcoming Presidential election.
The centerpiece of the EP is "Anna Is A Stool Pigeon," which Gabel wrote after reading about environmental activist Eric McDavid (www.supporteric.org) who was convicted in 2007 of conspiring to use explosives to damage corporate and government property after being implicated by an undercover FBI informant who posed as an activist. McDavid's defense has argued that he was the victim of entrapment. He currently faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
"What struck me most about the story was a sense of familiarity," Gabel says. "I know the scene he was a part of, I used to be a part of it myself. I've thought the same thoughts, talked the same talk. I've hung out with the same people, gone to similar protests. If Eric could have become the target of an FBI sting operation, then so could I. This could have been me."
