Photo of the Mean Jeans by Charlie Vortuba

The Mean Jeans’ shows are sweaty, manic affairs. Just ask the people who saw them at Comet Ping Pong Tuesday night. As the band ripped through cheerful, bratty songs, the packed crowd jumped around without abandon—or rose to higher ground to watch the spectacle. They definitely embody their own definition of a punk band which is, “people who are playing music to have a good time and are still very good at it.” We talked to Christian Blunda (aka Billy Jeans) of the Mean Jeans about the crazy things they do on the road, their love for the Ramones and leaving Arlington.

I noticed that this is a Northern Virginia phone number. You’re actually from this area?

I am. In fact, all three of us in the Mean Jeans who live in Portland, Ore.—which is very far—are from Arlington.

No way! Did you guys all grow up here? When did you head out to Portland?

We all grew up there. So, our drummer lived all over the world traveling, but I’m pretty sure he was born in Arlington and that’s where I met him. But we’re all from the D.C. area. Played in some punk bands and did some stuff. Went to school in different places. Then, five years ago, Jeans Wilder, the drummer of the band and myself —I go by Billy Jeans in the band—we were living in our mom’s basements in Arlington and we were like, “Man, I’ve got to get the fuck out of here,” so we just moved to somewhere really far away and we chose Portland.

I would have thought that prior to 2007, which admittedly is when I moved here, would’ve meant that you’d have been around for a more vibrant house show scene.

I don’t pay that much attention but it seems like things have improved in the D.C. area scene since I’ve moved away but when I was in high school, I loved it. I played in hardcore bands. For punk and hardcore there were tons of shows to go to—all-ages house shows all over the place and that’s how I started playing music. I remember thinking at the time that going on the first tours that I went on with the bands that we played with, I thought it’d be punk history or something like that. That may be just being impressionable. I don’t think it really was. But, it was pretty cool. I was like, “Cool, I’ve got to go on tour, be a punk for the rest of my life, do dumb shit.” Then, when I moved to New York for four years and moved back to my mom’s basement, it seemed like a really sad scene, actually. When I came back, I joined a band that we’re actually on tour with right now. They’re called Hollywood. They’re from Baltimore and it was a Baltimore band. I thought Baltimore was fun so I’d drive 45 minutes to hang out in Baltimore all the time. D.C. just seemed like a fraction of what it was to me because all the people who were involved in that scene when I was in high school had dispersed and all those bands were sort of over with. I’m not saying D.C. is a piece of shit. I’m saying that it wasn’t really happening for me. I wanted to go somewhere where it’d be easier—where I wouldn’t have to be attempting to start a scene or something like that. I just went to the Black Cat because I was friends with the bartender and got drunk for a year. It was cool but in Portland there’s a hundred places to play and they’re all cheap and there’s tons of great bands. I didn’t feel that way about D.C. five years ago. You and I are familiar with different eras, I guess. But everyone says that everywhere. “This place used to be cool.” The world is getting progressively less cool.

Well, one place where it’s not getting progressively less cool, apparently, are at your live shows. I understand that after your set in Austin during SXSW, the venue had to bring in mroe security. Is that right?

Yeah, that show was fun. I think basically, if I have to boil that down, we’re in this band so we can have a good time. But at this point, it’s also about making other people have a good time also. That wasn’t a priority at the beginning but when I play a show, I want to have a good time and I think if I see a band and everyone in it is drunk, being very fun and goofy when they play then that’s more fun for me. I guess I just strive to be wild. I’m not a very serious person and we get wasted every time we play and we want everyone else to, also.

Is it fun to write songs that appeal to a younger audience? I’m thinking of “School Lunch Victim,” specifically, but that’s not the only one.

I guess that’s sort of dangerous territory. I personally am not a fan of Blink-182 and I remember thinking years ago that that band was stupid for the way they sound but also because they were like, 30, and singing songs about going on first dates. But, we’re just all goofballs so we like to interject some real feelings into the lyrics, but they’re also always about partying. A lot of the songs are about disappointment but then about partying in the face of disappointment. That’s cool if younger people are into it. I think that part of the definition of being popular when you play music is if 15-year-olds like it. I wouldn’t make any band decision based on that but if you look at the Billboard charts, the people who buy the shitty records are 15-year-olds whose parents pay for them on iTunes or something.

I had been thinking less Blink-182 and more Rock and Roll High School.

That movie is the greatest. I love the Ramones and the band takes cues from the Ramones but aside from them just having beautiful, ingenious songs, I think the best part about that band is that Joey Ramone is a fucking freak and he’s a total outsider and he’s weird-as-hell looking and if he didn’t do the Ramones, I’m sure his life would’ve been a pile of shit. I think it rules that he probably got a lot of girls and sings beautifully and sings these amazing songs that everybody in the world knows now.

And now you are also in a band with made up names and self-referential songs.

Yeah, there are several songs on our new album, there’s one called “Hangin’ Tuff” and there’s one called “Forever in Mean Jeans” and those songs are probably about the exact same thing. It’s that life sucks most of the time and there’s stuff that other people make you feel like you’re supposed to do but we’ll just be hangin’ tuff with the Mean Jeans, with our bros, and encouraging other people to do the same. I guess that’s talking about The Mean Jeans in a Mean Jeans song. The Mean Jeans as a band or a group has to stand for something or mean something, so I guess that’s what The Mean Jeans is.