Milwaukee-based pop-punkers Direct Hit are the latest group to sign to Fat Wreck Chords, and the band, which formed in 2007, expects its newest full-length album to drop in summer of 2016. In the meantime, DH wrapped up a national spring tour with NOFX, and front man Nick Woods took the time to play 20 Questions With Verbicide, going above and beyond to answer more than the required amount.

Describe your perfect smoothie.

One mango, one cup yogurt, with a lil’ bit of ground cardamom. A delight.

What is your favorite live album?

The Ramones It’s Alive.

What has been the biggest disappointment in your career?

Realizing that it would be impossible for me to make an entire middle-class living playing in a band that exists post-Napster, and doesn’t cover other people’s music.

Did you prefer life prior to the internet and cell phones and social media, or do you think we’re better for it?

I don’t think we’re any better or any worse. Like any new toy or piece of technology, some people use those things to do cool stuff, and others use them to shit all over everything. Nothing really changes as far as aggregate global, moral fortitude goes. We’re all still just as fucked as we were before, just in different ways.

In your opinion, what’s one way people can work towards making the world a better place?

Realize that this is the only life any of us have, and that if you fuck it up for yourself or someone else, there’s no going and getting that time back. Be nicer to people.

How many states have you been to?

I haven’t hung out in South Dakota, Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire. Pretty sure I’ve been to all the others. So 46.

How many US territories have you been to?

None of ’em.

Which city or town is the farthest north you’ve ever been? Which is the farthest south? (In the world, not just the United States.)

Pretty sure it’s Dundee, Scotland. But it might be Edmonton, in Canada. I just tried looking at Google Maps to see but that shit doesn’t have lines of latitude, and I’m not gonna spend more time trying to figure it out for sure. Dundee’s weird; it’s this super quaint-feeling city on the water, and I remember getting wasted with my pal Neil there and getting pissed when the sun came up at 4 a.m. Partying in polar climate must be exhausting if you’re never allowed to go to bed.

Choose but only one: a sweet, slightly salty Gruyère; creamy Camembert; or slow-smoked sharp cheddar, aged three years.

Cheddar aged three years is barely cheddar, so get that shit outta here. I’m partial to softer cheese, because I think you can pair it with a wider range, so I’d prolly go with the Camembert. Gruyère on its own I think I like more than Camembert though. So really it comes down to how dank the accouterments are on the plate.

How has your family influenced your career?

My dad was an Olympic speedskater who went to medical school while training. And my mom plays classical piano and made me and my brothers and sister learn to play violin. My brothers and I have also tried to make ourselves a part of DIY culture in the Midwest since we were teenagers — my brother Peter helped run The Borg Ward in Milwaukee for almost a decade. Max taught violin to poor students in St. Louis for a while and lived at the Lemp Arts Center there.

So I’ve learned to work hard, all the time from my dad, and I learned almost everything I know about music from my mom. Peter and Max have really kept me on top of art and politics and punk rock though. My “career,” if you want to call it that, wouldn’t exist without any one of them. I’d be a totally different person.

What is your absolute oldest memory?

Climbing out of my crib by myself when I wasn’t quite two years old.

When you die, do you want to be buried, cremated, or stuffed and mounted?

Cremated, but by way of being shot into the sun.

What is the greatest live band you’ve ever seen?

I don’t know if I can pick a favorite live band, but the best show I’ve ever been to was Japanther playing in the kitchen at the Barely Legal House in Milwaukee. Anyone who knows me has heard that story a hundred thousand times. Fireworks, too many people, not enough clothes, all packed into the most joyful 10 x 10 space. That’s an important memory for me.

Which band or performer would you love to see, but haven’t yet?

Tom Petty.

What defunct band or deceased performer would you have loved to have seen, but won’t be able to?

GG Allin.

Which artist or album did you listen to most when working on your current/upcoming release?

Shock Troops by Cock Sparrer.

E-reader or paper books, which do you prefer?

Paper, no doubt.

Ever heard of Verbicide before this interview? We’ve been around almost 20 years for Christ’s sake.

Nope.

What is your favorite mainstream magazine or publication? What is your favorite fanzine, either active or defunct?

I read The AV Club online more than anything probably. My wife and I have subscriptions to The Atlantic and Bon Appetit. Razorcake’s always been my fanzine of choice.

What is your favorite website?

Clickhole.

A curse is placed on you and every day, for the rest of your life, you must either piss blood, shit hot asphalt, or vomit latex-based house paint. Which do you choose?

Piss blood, long as I’m just, you know, pissing it and not bleeding internally. Shitting hot asphalt sounds fucking painful. Vomiting latext house paint I’m sure tastes awful. Pissing blood, I wouldn’t notice unless I’d gotten my kidneys lanced.

Butter or margarine?

Butter. Margarine is salty plastic.

Who is your all-time favorite author?

Stephen King.

What is your favorite film of all time?

The Big Lebowski. Very cliché. Doesn’t matter, I can recite the entire thing.

What is your favorite film based on a novel by Stephen King?

It’s a toss-up between Pet Semetary and The Mist. Probably The Mist, just because the production value was better. That’s maybe a top five most-underrated movie of all time for me.

What’s your favorite scary movie of all time NOT based on a novel by Stephen King (if your answer to the previous question was a horror movie based on a King book and not a non-horror movie, like The Shawshank Redemption or Stand By Me or something like that)?

I mean, it depends on what you consider “scary movie.” I like horror movies a lot. And the most horrific film I think I’ve seen is Irreversible, but that’s not really a “scary movie.” More just a terrifyingly brutal drama. If I had to pick a movie I’d consider a straight up horror/scary thing, I think I’d probably pick Martyrs, which is also an extreme French movie from like 2008 I think. The Shining’s my favorite, but that doesn’t count here. Martyrs is the only horror flick I can think of approaching that same kind of Kubrickian signature.

Have you ever had a part in a film?

Only goof-off ones I’ve made myself.

If you were to write an autobiography, what would the title be?

“Who Cares?”

What is the best part of your life?

My wife and kid.

Where would you rather hang out: a dive bar, a trendy coffee shop, or an old-fashioned drugstore with a counter where you can get an egg cream and a hamburger for a nickel?

Dive.

Which social media site do you use/like the most? How can people find/follow you?

Facebook. I’m basically 100 years old. Just look up Nick Woods.

Surfing or snowboarding?

Snowboarding. Can’t hack surfing.

What is your favorite breakfast cereal?

Lately it’s been Blueberry Muesli from Trader Joe’s.

What is your prized possession?

I have a black label copy of The Walking Dead #1, graded at 9.8. The case is cracked because I tried to sell it once and the post office fucked it up. Probably wouldn’t come in at 9.8 anymore as a result, but I don’t give a shit — The case says 9.8, and that’s the way it stays. Fuck you.

At what age did you decide you wanted to be a musician?

When I was 13 or 14.

What is your best tip for soothing a crying infant? Seriously, I need to know.

Swaddle that baby tight, then hold them across your chest on their back, tilt slightly to face you, then bounce gently and pace.

In your eyes, what is your biggest accomplishment in life?

Figuring out how to afford a house, a baby, and a band all at the same time.

If you were given a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Quit my fucking job.

What kind of car was your first car?

’99 Dodge Durango.

What type of car do you drive now?

2012 Rav4.

What type of car do you wish you drove?

A bus or a subway so I wouldn’t have to make a fucking car payment or pay for gas or pay for insurance.

If you could live in any era/time period of human civilization, what time period would you choose and why?

The one in the future where I can plug my brain directly into the internet and trick myself into thinking I’m immortal and a god.

What’s your favorite comic book?

Probably Spawn. ’90s Image is a guilty pleasure of mine. It’s so needlessly violent and misogynist, but it’s just so entertaining.

What is one new skill you’d like to acquire in the next year?

I wanna learn how to edit video.

How many pairs of blue jeans do you own?

Three.

Where did you grow up?

A town of about 11,000 people called Oconomowoc, in Wisconsin. I went to grade school in a slightly larger suburb though, went to high school in Milwaukee, and went to college in Madison, which is a college town.

How many tattoos do you have?

Four. A skull hatching ideas out of its dome on my left bicep, the DH logo on my right bicep, a cartoon of my daughter’s heart-shaped birthmark on my right tricep (where hers is too), and a dopamine molecule with the date of my wife’s and my engagement instead of chemical notation on the left side of my chest.

What is your best piece of advice for aspiring artists?

Make art. Make it all the time, whether you think it sucks or not. You have to work whether you’re being paid or not if you wanna be successful.

How do you take your coffee?

Black.

What song really hits you in the feels and makes you cry?

Oh there’s a lot of those. “Runaways” by The Killers. “The First Day Of My Life” by Bright Eyes. The chorus of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.

Favorite thing about being on tour? Least favorite thing?

Learning first-hand how different people get by and live their lives. Being separated from family and friends and your home.

What is your biggest phobia?

Fucking snakes.

Scuba diving or hang-gliding?

Scuba diving.

What is the highest academic degree that you hold?

I have an MBA from the University of Wisconsin.

Do you follow any professional sports? If so, which is your favorite team?

Green Bay Packers football. I feel like it’s impossible to live in Wisconsin post-Brett Favre and not follow the team at least by proxy. They’re a big part of the state’s culture.

In your experience, just how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop?

Some smartass in grade school won some church contest and got to ask that as a trivia question of the whole school and then award someone a cake or a mini TV or something dumb. He said the answer was “99,” so that’s the one that’s always stuck with me because I didn’t win, and that was what he said was correct.

In your opinion, who is the most overrated famous musician?

Eric fucking Clapton.

Other than your primary artistic medium, what is your next go-to?

I write for a living, so that’s probably second to music.