by Benji Heywood (@benjiheywood)
It’s a gray Louisville day, yet hints of spring are in the cold air and Young Widows frontperson Evan Patterson is feeling good. Band rehearsal is done and the in-laws are watching the kid while his partner heads off to work, freeing up the punk rock lifer to talk about an unlikely turn in his story.
One would guess that Young Widows returning after an eleven-year hiatus would be a plot twist worthy of making the affable Kentuckian smile. But that’s not it. Or, more accurately, that’s not just it. After decades of mental health challenges, Patterson finally feels—dare he say it—happy.
Over a pack of cigs and a mug of coffee, Patterson explains how a year of microdosing psilocybin unlocked a fresh perspective of his life as an artist, leading to the renaissance of one of heavy music’s most consistently rewarding bands. The result, Power Sucker—out now via Temporary Residence—is everything you expect from a Young Widows album, and a little of what you don’t.
Here's our interview about Patterson’s journey and the resulting Young Widows album, lightly edited for length and clarity.
photo credit: Amber Thieneman
Post-Trash: Congratulations on the birth of your first child!
Evan Patterson: It really is an incredible thing. People always told me everything changes once you have a kid and it truly does.
PT: As someone who has made it to their mid 40s without having that experience, but who also is interested in things like turning amps up really loud and listening to rock and roll, what do you feel has changed about your perception because of the birth of your son?... daughter?
EP: Son! His name is Leanord Pitch Black Patterson.
PT: Heavy (both laugh).
EP: We had some help with the name. Our friends’ five-year-old was asked what do you think Aunt Christy and Uncle Evan should name their kid? And she said, “Pitch Black.” We just thought that was so funny, because, you know, she always sees me dressed in all black. And we went with it.
PT: Did it feel different right away, having a child?
EP: As soon as we found out my partner was pregnant, there was a whole mindset of “okay, we have to be responsible for someone else now and more so for each other.” But it didn't really hit until he arrived, and immediately I felt this sense of worth and value not only for him, but for myself and my partner. That’s the different perspective. Prior to having Lenny, I didn't really care what happened to me that much. I was always traveling, experimenting with drugs, touching the deep end then climbing back out. The birth of my son has given a value to my life I never really had on my own and I find it affecting everything I do. Not just being a father, or a good partner, but playing music, and starting a record label. I've been doing more shows for friends again. It opened the door to being a little more selfless, wanting to share and take care of everyone a little bit more.
PT: Sounds like the opposite of a midlife crisis!
EP: (laughs) I think I kind of had a midlife crisis in my late 30s. I was touring all the fucking time, and kind of lost my mind a little bit. Then the pandemic hit, and I began to wrap my head around not being overly concerned with myself, and giving people a little bit more of me, you know, in a way that is different than I think I was doing before.
PT: When you were in your crisis, what did that feel like?
EP: I called it a vortex. Spiraling down a vortex into total fucking chaos. I would go through my Rolodex of all the awful things about life and all the fucked-up things I’ve done and I would beat myself up and grow darker and more insecure and antisocial. Then, in 2021, I did a big thing. I microdosed mushrooms for nine months.
PT: Like, every day?
EP: Pretty much, yeah. I’d been experimenting with mushrooms recreationally since my mid 20s. I was a straight edge kid before then, not in the militant way, just through hardcore and punk rock. That’s what got me into (mushrooms). I was like, I don’t want to drink or do drugs. I want to play music. And I really found myself enjoying mushrooms, the psychedelic experience, where everything is fucking beautiful and I feel fortunate and lucky to be on this earth. So, when I was having multiple vortex moments and going through my second divorce, I would take a nibble of mushrooms every day and it was such a positive experience. My anxiety pretty much went away, I was paying bills on time, calling people, taking care of my responsibilities. And it led to the conversation of having children. I was feeling really good about everything at this point in my life, and I think I could handle that. And now things are great.
PT: Have people close to you noticed a change in you?
EP: Definitely. People tell me I seem really happy and ask what’s different. Besides becoming a father, I’d tell them about mushrooms and microdosing. I’ll be honest. Sometimes it was more like macrodosing (laughs). There were a handful of times when the mushrooms kicked in a little heavy and you feel like you're a part of the world in this incredible electricity. It’s an incredible feeling.
PT: No bad trips?
EP: Sometimes it can twist on you, and sometimes you get sick. But that has only happened to me a handful of times, and just for five or ten minutes, then I'd be okay.
PT: How do people react when you tell them about this? It’s almost like a spiritual experience.
EP: I think people are pretty intimidated by the idea. But considering the psychoactive drugs people take, from Adderall to Xanax and everything else in between, to me mushrooms was finding a balance. It was a really uplifting time.
PT: Did this perspective shift have anything to do with the return of Young Widows?
EP: You know, I think it might. In the past I’ve been kind of a bitter dickhead about the band, thinking Nick (Thieneman – bass and vocals) and Jeremy (McMonigle – drums) can't do anything because they're fathers and can't agree to any tours, right? But I never wanted to break up the band. I never wanted Young Widows to be one of those bands that changes members. The band, it's our core friendship. And the way we work together is incredible. And I was touring less and feeling better and a lot of my anxieties went away. We had a meeting together and decided to start setting aside a particular time to work on a new Young Widows record.
PT: So, with all y’all having kids, how did you make that work? I imagine writing Young Widows songs takes a certain level of commitment.
EP: We eventually found that the only time we could be sure that we could get together was 10am on Fridays. So, every Friday at 10am we got together and rehearsed at my house. That made it even more inspiring, because I would just wake up and have coffee and smoke a cig, and everybody would come over. We'd hang out on my porch, which I built and is a really inspiring place. It's a really comfortable place. And that's where we wrote the entire new record.
PT: Did the neighbors complain?
EP: You know what? They didn’t! They were like, as long as you keep doing it when nobody’s home (laughs).
PT: So, take me through the process of making Power Sucker.
EP: It was such an easy process compared to how we worked in the past. In the past, we found ourselves continually working on songs we’d already written and our productivity would be little to none. This time, we had the idea that every time we got to the point where we felt the song was musically complete, we would record a little cell phone demo, and then not play the song anymore and start work on a new one. Then after three or four of those, we’d allow ourselves to go back and play them all. After six months (of working this way) we had ten songs. We set some time to go record away from our families and home life and actually ended up writing three more songs in the studio.
PT: The ease of the writing process comes across in the album. It’s so heavy sounding but also has a lightness about it.
EP: It’s the least emotional album we’ve ever done. Every other Young Widows album was about the vortex and my depressions. For this record, it was about breaking the habits of the past and getting back to the joy of creating music together. It was like, let's do the thing we do best. No more spending three practices obsessing over a tiny lead with the other guys just looking at me like, Jesus fucking Christ, when are you gonna finish this part (laughs). This record was smooth sailing all the way through.
PT: Where’d you do the album?
EP: Earth Analog, the singer from Hum’s studio. Jay Jayle [Patterson’s solo project] did an album there in 2017 and it was so incredible. It’s on this desolate street and there’s a little bar he runs out back of the studio. There aren’t really other houses around, so you’re either hanging out at the double wide trailer he turned into a bar or the studio.
PT: The album sounds incredible.
EP: Thank you. Honestly, I feel the same way. Our friend, Jim Marlowe, engineered it and mixed it. He was in a band called Tropical Trash, which we've taken on tour a couple times. And now he's doing a band called Equipment Pointed ANKH that's kind of an improvised collaboration group. Jim has become such an incredible engineer. His concept for recording was: I just want it to sound like you all sound when I see you play live, which was ideal.
PT: There’s such an immediacy to it. Like, there’s nothing between you and the sound. It’s like you’re sitting in the room with y’all, right in front of the drumset.
EP: That's the thing that I was really happy about. It's hard to get the really wide sound and still sound like you're in a room.
PT: There’s a song on the record called “Turned Out Alright” where the refrain is “turned out alright for a punk rock kid.” Are you surprised how your life turned out?
EP: Of course, man, I mean, I feel wildly fortunate. I wouldn't say it's lucky, because I've really worked hard and dedicated myself to sticking to what I want to do and doing it in the ways I want to do it. There have been times where, you know, I'm literally just like, Okay, I've got $300 and that's it. And I don't know how I'm gonna make any money next. And looking back at that, I'm like, I can't believe I have survived without sacrificing my ideas, my values, and my dedication to making music.
PT: This album feels like the culmination of that experience.
EP: I’m very fortunate to be able to do it, that people are interested enough to support me. With Young Widows being back, it's been huge for us. Being in the independent music world and wanting to make art not for mainstream culture—it’s not easy. But, you know, I love being in small shows with two or three hundred other people. It's what I find inspiring.