Rebels Without a Pause

"He wanted to go on tour with Against Me!, and I was in a spot where I needed somebody bad, so it made sense for him to come back then," Nichols explains. "And three days into the tour, we're drunk and he's telling me he's back for life and that he loves it and all that. And, you know, three weeks later, he's sick of it again. That's just kind of the way it goes."

Venable has since been able to rationalize being involved in a creative project that at times feels like a small business. He has a girlfriend at home, and she has kids. They recently moved into a house together, and he's become somewhat of a family man. Now playing guitar is a way to make a living, to pay the bills and support his loved ones.

Life is just a lonely highway when you're in Lucero.

Details

With Rocky Votolato and William Elliott Whitemore, 8 p.m. Saturday, October 21, Gothic Theatre, 3263 Broadway, Englewood, $10-$12, 16+, 1- 866-468-7621

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More About

• Ben Nichols
• Brian Venable
• Paul Kane
• Todd Gill
• Punk Rock

"I think -- especially Roy and I -- that we both approach it differently than Brian," Nichols contends. "For us, we'd be doing it no matter what. There is no taking it or leaving it. And for him, it's the easiest way to make money. But with gas being as expensive as it is and the cost of living being so high, it's really difficult to go home and have anything at all. We're lucky enough to have gotten to a point where we can just barely do it."

"We're fairly unskilled to do anything else but play music," he admits with a laugh. "Really, I guess it doesn't matter too much, because we all have the same goal in the end, which is to try and be a better band -- and to try to make everything grow and to keep everything going. We've just got different reasons for wanting the same goal."

"I don't think of it as a business," Berry interjects. "I know we do business and we try to make smart business decisions, but I think of it as a band."

"I think John made a really good point the other day," Nichols concludes, "in that it would be the ultimate sellout for us to quit and get real jobs."