RO: I hear a lot of Rancid on the album. Was that an important band for you?

RR: Oh, for sure... Our two biggest influences would have to be the Clash and Rancid. I would go as far as to say they are the two most important bands of the last three and a half decades. Both were able to basically write songs about anything. From horse-track races to the music industry to the illuminati to crime to just having fun.

And they did so while being musically diverse and without being contrite or pretentious. Both truly chronicled the human condition of the 20th century unlike any other. Period. Getting to open for them a few years back was a show that has yet to be topped.

RO: What are some of the other punk rock bands out there in the trenches with BMS right now?

RR: Everybody playing on our record release show gets a big thumbs up from us. Jason Bancroft and the Wealthy Beggars are a fantastic folk group from Houston as well. Another Houston band that really impressed me were The $ellouts. We're really proud to be from the same city as all of those guys.

Some other bands we've met on the road that are really good would have to be Big Attack (Philadelphia), Dead Town Revival (Chicago), Mission VS. Madness (Lafayette, Louisiana.), and the Hand Me Downs (Detroit). I could fill a page, though. There's a ton of great people making great music out there.

RO: Who are a few of the band's working-class heroes?

RR: Mine would have to be James J. Braddock. He was a real people's champion. An incredible fighter with a hell of a comeback story. It's also awesome irony that he ended up owning machinery used on the same docks he had to work on during the Depression.

RO: What is Houston's punk scene like right now?

RR: It's pretty big. I mean, Houston is gigantic and all of its outlying areas both have lots of bands and fans. Sadly, you rarely see all of 'em out at one time. Unless it's for a really huge show.

And even then, there's so many different subcategories of punk. Some people don't like the poppy stuff. Some people don't like the fast, thrashy stuff, some people only like Oi!. But I think there is also a good amount of people that just appreciate a diverse range of music styles as well.

The other sad thing is that there hasn't been a punk revival in mainstream music since the early 2000s, so I'm not seeing too many young kids at shows anymore. Unless their parents or older siblings get 'em into it or something.

RO: Do people pogo anymore?

RR: Haha. I think. People do all sorts of nonsense.

With Skeleton Dick, Dead to the World and the American Heist, 8 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak.