“Off With Their Heads might be the best punk band going right now — Epitaph needs them; music needs them!” That was Brett Gurewitz’s explanation for signing Off With Their Heads last December. And you’d better believe it, because you’re going to be the unpopular kid in the schoolyard if you don’t check out this band now.

I was eager to meet Off With Their Heads, though I think I annoyed them with my slurred speech, obnoxious voice, and easily-distracted personality. “Alright now,” said Ryan Young, guitarist and vocalist of the band, as he lifted his hands as if to declare the ground rules, “if there are any dumb questions, Robbie [Swartwood], my friend over here, will give you a leg-punch.” I took a swig of my beer, hoping it would dull the pain if it ever came, and asked my first question: “What do you think of Montreal?”

Young smiled. “French. Great Mexican food…it’s not good, I’m being very sarcastic. But I love Montreal; everyone here is super, super cool.” Young continued to tell me his side of the story of what happened on the way to Foufounes Electriques: “Our trailer hitch fell apart and we brought it over to the guy from a band called Inepsy, and he welded it back together for us [for $40]. He was the best the guy ever [because] he said Off With Their Heads sounded like Blitz, and I like that a lot. It was awesome. So, we’re all set, I’m happy again. I was pissed at first, but now I’m happy.”

When interviewing a band, one question always has to be asked: how did this band start? Young, being the only original member, filled me in: “It started with me and my friend Eric and my friend Justin [Francis], who still plays drums on the records, living in a recording studio/basement and just dicking around for few months. We did a seven-inch, toured around on it, and it just turned into something else. The first [music we wrote] was really complicated, technical stuff. And we decided that we weren’t good and that’s where Hospitals came from…it was like ‘Fuck it, I don’t care anymore!’ It started as a couple friends and then it turned into what it is now: just three dudes, travelling around, living their lives.”

Young finished his beer and thought he should explain Francis’s absence. “Justin decided that it would be way better to…he bought a house. Not with Off With Their Heads money, [but] with the money he makes working hard. We wish he could be here, but he’s not. This dude named Mike [is playing drums]. That’s all we know about Mike, that his name is Mike. We don’t know him that well, but he’s a great drummer.”

I felt I wasn’t being fair asking Young all the questions so I turned my attention to the other guitarist, Zack Gontard. “[I’ve been in Off With Their Heads] since ’03, ’04, something like that, I guess I don’t remember,” said Gontard. “A long time, it’s been a while. It’s good, I don’t have to work a terrible job right now, which is pretty awesome,” he chuckled. “I always say that in interviews, but that’s how I feel all the time. Super-stoked not having to go to work anymore, for now, for at least until tomorrow.”

Ever since their birth as a band, Off With Their Heads has gone through 15 different members. “It’s because we tour so much,” Young said. “No one wants to do that all the time, so that was the case, but it’s been the three of us [Young, Gontard, Swartwood] for two or three years now. Different drummers, with Justin, doing whatever he can. Hopefully this one we have now is the one that’s going to work. Who knows.”

Originally signed to No Idea Records, Off With Their Heads recently got picked up by Epitaph, “because Brett Gurewitz thinks I’m the shit!” Young exclaimed. “That’s it. He likes our band, so he decided to do that. Honestly, I’m not even sure [how No Idea feels about it]. We didn’t have the best lines of communication ever with No Idea. When it happened, we were just like, ‘How can we pass it up?’ I have [talked to No Idea], but it’s never really even come up. They just kind of knew what was happening and they never really said much about it.”

The characteristic that most distinguishes Off With Their Heads is their depressing lyrics paired with an upbeat riff. The million dollar question is why. “It started as a joke, and it turned out to work really well. It turned into this whole thing which I invented.” Young raised his arms in victory and declared, “I invented this shit and everyone else can suck it!”

Off With Their Heads has churned out approximately 17 seven-inch releases, which Young said could only be found on eBay. Their latest album, 2008’s From the Bottom, has become one of my favorites and is in constant rotation. Their Epitaph debut is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2010.

“You should expect [the next album] to sell four billion copies,” Gontard concluded. “The people who have CD and record players will all buy two copies.”