"To be surprised by AFI at this point would be surprising," Davey Havok says during his conversation with FLOOD. "I think at this point 30 years in if people are still with us and they have a familiarity with, you know, anything we've done in the past, at all, really." It’s a musical journey that’s unprecedented for a scrappy punk band from Northern California who formed in 1991—and, maybe most impressively, their mainstream success was a side effect of making authentic music that never fit neatly into one category.
This ethos also rings true on the band’s brand new album, Bodies. From stripped-down, guitar-driven songs like “Looking Tragic” to the disco-funk sensibility of “Dulceria,” the album shows the members elevating their musicianship without a second of superfluousness. The result is an album that will appeal to old school fans while inevitably attracting new listeners to the band’s gothic-rock sound. We caught up with Havok to discuss the band’s first album since 2017, working with Billy Corgan, his artistic process, and how cutting their teeth in the punk and hardcore scenes still informs AFI’s worldview. Watch the interview below.
