Why Unwritten Law Got Selfish With Their Music

When The Music grabs time with Scott Russo, the musician is holed up in a Huntington Beach studio mixing the new Unwritten Law acoustic record. “I'm a huge fan of it, I love it,” he gushes. “It's really different – I think a lot of people are expecting a rock record done acoustically, but it's not; it's a lot of offbeat guitars, new wave beats and rewritten songs – it's pretty dope.” Before that gets a release though, the SoCal punk band will be visiting us as one of the headliners at this year's Hits & Pits.

Ever since they first caught our attention on the inaugural Aussie Warped Tour in 1997, Unwritten Law have seen Australia as their second home. Russo's “brother” from another mother, Grinspoon's Phil Jamieson, has long presented a party for the American frontman: “Allegedly we're quite similar. We never thought that...” he chuckles regarding their 15-year friendship. But it's the faithful who continue to turn out for headline tours and festival slots that drive the band to make these regular excursions Down Under.

A treat for longstanding fans on this tour will be familiar face Wade Youman, who's returning to the Unwritten Law drum stool after a decade in the wilderness battling substance abuse problems. “It's really great to have Wade back; it feels like home again,” Russo says. “He's made some life changes and he's really lovely to be around, and he's actually revitalised me to want to continue doing shows and making music as Unwritten Law.”

For many, the idea of Youman ever returning to the fold seemed fairly farfetched – this was a split that ended up in the hands of lawyers after all. However, Russo never ruled it out, and once everyone got healthier and began hanging out again, the frontman presented a deal: if the drummer completed his tasks, he'd get another shot.

“And he completed his half of the bargain so I gave him a setlist and he learned it, then we did two shows, he killed it, the fans loved it and that was it. There was a lot of gnarly shit that this band went through, especially him and I. We used to go at it, we've been in multiple fist fights, several of [which] were on stage while we were fucking playing, and I'm talking full gnarly, like we had to be hospitalised. And Wade's considerably gnarlier than I am – he's built like a tank and he fucking hits things for a living, so to have to fight that guy was always an uphill battle,” he laughs. “But time heals all wounds.”

It makes sense as well that Youman returns to help present an album that he had a major hand in creating, with Unwritten Law set to play their seminal 1998 self-titled record cover to cover at Hits & Pits. Led by crossover singles Cailin and Lonesome, the 'Black Record' – predominantly cut in Seattle at the same time fellow Californians Deftones were making their groundbreaking second album, Around The Fur – put the band on the map this side of the Pacific, with Russo citing the release as a turning point for the group.

“At that time we maybe took it more seriously,” he admits. “The first two records it was like we were making it for other people, and the Black Record was the first record we were making for ourselves, and we've continued to do that since then. Before that we were playing straight, more four-ahead rock, and then when we got to that record we were putting in half-time beats and shit like that to make people bounce. We were getting better at crafting songs really. To me the self-titled record is Unwritten Law's first record – the first two are more like demos.”

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