Rock ‘n Roll Banned: Border Patrol Says Bye! - 6/4/2007

Talk about crappy timing. Just as British Columbia’s You Say Party! We Say Die! were building momentum in the states on tour with the fellow exclamationally-enhanced Thunderbirds Are Now!, their quest for U.S. domination hit a bit of a snag a the border resulting in a 5-year ban from the country for bassist Stephen O’Shea. Baeble talked about a bunch of stuff with the charismatic musician, but nothing could possibly top this story. As the band drives from Hamilton to Windsor (That’s Canada if you slept through geography) in an ’86 Dodge van, O’Shea recounts with candid detail what will, we hope, eventually turn out to be a minor setback and a great story.


“So last October at the Pacific border crossing in Washington, we were on tour with Thunderbirds are Now! and we had a Western leg down the coast to do with them in the States. We were supposed to get work permits like all Canadian bands that come into the states are supposed to, but the AFM [American Federation of Music, which gives out visas] denied us because we weren’t making enough money. We didn’t make enough money on the shows, so they said you don’t qualify for the visas. There’s this trick, and I don’t know if American bands use it coming up [to Canada], but [we say that] Canadian bands are going down to record a demo. That’s what we tell people. We tried this trick—it’s worked many times in the past—but it didn’t work this time. Homeland Security has charged me with a 5-year ban for fraud. It’s not even like a work permit thing, it’s “I lied to a border guard about what our intentions on being in the states were.

“They found a book in our van. It’s our tour itinerary that had all our shows in it and promoter contacts. [The border guards] called them and they’re like, “So these shows are cancelled, that’s what you’re telling us?” I was like, “Absolutely, all the shows are cancelled.” They’re like, “Really? ‘Cause we just called all these promoters and they tell us that you’re playing.” They’re good. You guys pay the right amount of money and get the right amount of security. They do their research.

“I was really sad and frustrated that we were in the process of getting caught. He explained that, “You’re lucky that this is the states cause if this was Russia or China, you’d already be out back shot.” I was like, “Alright, I don’t know if that’s a threat or not, but….” It was a long time. They detained us for about five hours and it could’ve been a lifetime ban. Five years was the minimum they were able to check off on the sheet of paper. If I go to a border [now] and attempt to cross into the states, I’ll be charged with 2-20 years in prison and up to $250,000 dollars in fines.

“So now, we’re gonna try to play all the border towns in Canada so places like Detroit can come and see us. We talked it over as a band and it happened on band time. It could have happened to any one of the members so as a gang, we’re standing in solidarity around me and this problem. If someone had a drug conviction, we’d be like, ‘Sorry dude, you messed up.’

“Why me? I was the spokesperson. I did all the lying. We pulled up in our van and I told them the story and they’re like, ‘OK, pull in.’ I talked to another guy and then they started doing this tricky thing where they started bringing guys in and out. Some guy would be like, ‘OK, so what’s going on here?’ I’d maintain the story and tell him we’re going to L.A. to record a demo. And then he’d leave and another guy would come in and be like, ‘Can you explain it to me?’ I lied my way right to the top of the chain of command, but they just kept bringing in different guys.

“A lot of times you’ll get searched. This time, there was evidence that we were playing shows. It was a stupid mistake. We’d been on the road for two months and at that point, we didn’t have a tour manager or any sort of second sober thought to be like, ‘You should really throw that out.’ We’ve learned our lesson for sure.

“It’s only a 5-year ban so it’s really only a maximum two or three album cycles, but it just puts more focus on Canada and Europe and opens up the door for maybe Australia or Japan a bit sooner. We’re gonna scrape all our pennies together and do bottle drives and hire an immigration lawyer and see about getting it overturned and getting in earlier.

“Not playing the states is like another 50 or 100 cities where we can’t play shows. You can only go to a town so many times a year. We’ve got tons of really good friends from being down there before and we don’t get to see them anymore and that’s a bummer. For us, success will be getting back into the states just to see our friends and eating at In n Out burger and enjoying your wonderful cheap beer and cigarettes.

“[The album’s release dates in Canada and U.S.] were originally supposed to be a month apart. When the ban happened, we were talking to a bunch of different labels about putting it out, and they all one by one walked away. It’s like, ‘Oh, you can’t tour now? Well, it’s gonna be pretty much impossible for us to do this album properly without you touring.’ [Canadian record label] Paper Bag stepped up and said, ‘We’ll take on the states.’ They felt confident with the success of Tokyo Police Club so they knew that they could do a good job of it.

“Having an American label would’ve made our case better for getting back in because having us come down and play the states will benefit American companies. It’s an economic thing with not having the permits. We had to be like, ‘Well, if you let us come and play, this company in your country will make money selling these records’ cause that’s all they understand.”


Lose All Time is out now in Canada. Check for the stateside release this summer on Paper Bag Records. In the meantime, check out their site HERE or myspace HERE.


-As told to Jason Newman