Since 1997, Singer/Guitarist Tom Gabel of the Florida based Punk Rock band Against Me! has been writing songs that earned them enormous respect within the punk community as well as a growing popularity amongst a more "mainstream" crowd.

Tom took time out of his incredibly busy touring schedule to answer questions for REAX about the new Against Me! album White Crosses, how touring affects the bands personal life, and questions about the bands somewhat controversial decision to move to the major label, Sire records.

The band recently played the The Ritz Ybor opening for Silversun Pickups. You can read the full review of the show HERE

REAX: Since this is an email interview, can you please let readers know what member of the band is answering and what you play in the band?
TOM GABEL: My name is Tom. I play guitar and sing.

REAX: You guys have been touring basically non-stop since the start of 2010. It looks like you continue through August before you get a real break. How is the tour going so far?
TOM GABEL: We've been having a lot of fun. We took a pretty good amount of time off from being on the road while we were working on the new album, we were definitely all itching to get back out on the road and play some shows.

REAX: Being on the road so much seems like it would be more difficult now that some of you are married and even have children. Has the touring dynamic changed or is it pretty much business as usual?
TOM GABEL: It's always been a challenge to maintain relationships at home when you're out on the road for the majority of the year. But it's something that you get better at over time. It's just something that becomes your lifestyle, traveling that is.

REAX: I have been in Florida since your inception and have watched you go from a Gainesville band playing house shows, to an international success playing stadiums. If I’d asked you in 2001 when Reinventing Axl Rosewas released where you thought the band would be right now, would you have pictured yourself in your current position?
TOM GABEL: I'm not sure what my answer would have been. I've never had the luxury really of spending too much time daydreaming about the future. The focus has always been on the immediate, the present, what happens next? The next song, the next album, the next tour. For what it's worth though I've never had a lack of ambition with the band.

REAX: Have your expectations/goals for Against Me! changed in the past few years?
TOM GABEL: The goal has always been to make some music and I expect all of us to be good, to give it our all. I get disappointed when we play bad.

REAX: I watched the Against Me! Documentary “We’re never coming home” when it came out. It follows both your tour, as well as various attempts by major labels to “steal you” from Fat Wreck Chords. The conclusion of the DVD had you staying with Fat. What changed that made you choose later to move to Sire? Was it a bad relationship with Fat Wreck Chords or were they not able to offer the exposure that Sire could?
TOM GABEL: That's the problem with the documentary, it's an hour long, it ends; life did not. We stayed with Fat for the next record, then we decided we wanted to do something different. So I called Fat Mike and made sure he was cool with that, which he was, he told me he wanted us to do what was best for the band. Around that same time Mike had decided to downsize the label, stop being as active. When we were on Fat I think there were around 25-30 employees, something like that. They had offices in the U.S., Canada and Europe. I believe there's maybe 3 full time employees there now. We had ambitions to continue to grow as a band and as a label Fat had ambitions to become smaller. There's nothing wrong with it, I have nothing but love and respect for all the people we worked at Fat, its a great label. We still release records with them too. Last year they released a collection of demos from our second album and we're planning on doing a collection from our third album as well.

REAX: There has been a lot of animosity amongst fans (or in some cases ex-fans) about the label change. Do you think it has more to do with simply moving to a “major” or do you think the song writing has changed in a way that alienated early fans?
TOM GABEL: Who really cares?

REAX: In 2008 Rolling Stone Magazine proclaimed you “Best Punk Band”. How did you feel about being labeled as such? If you had to pick the “Best Punk Band”, whom do you think you might choose?
TOM GABEL: It's always flattering to get a compliment. If I had to pick a "Best Punk Band" going right now it would would be Dead To Me.

REAX: Warren stopped playing drums for the band last year. How did you end up with George Rebelo taking his place? Were there auditions, or was he a natural choice given your past relationship with his former band Hot Water Music?
TOM GABEL: He was the first person that came to mind when I knew I needed a drummer. We toured with both Hot Water Music and The Draft so we all knew each other already and then if anyone reading this is familiar with either of those bands they know that George is one of the best drummers out there, period. He's one of those drummers that just makes it look effortless. It was an obvious choice.

REAX: Was the song writing for White Crosses drastically different than usual? The sound of the album is unique in comparison to previous albums. Is this due to new members, a just a change in perspective, or other factors?
TOM GABEL: The circumstances where different, they always are. For instance New Wave was an album written almost entirely while traveling, while on tour. For White Crosses we took a break from touring, I moved away from Gainesville to St. Augustine, which is where I wrote the bulk of the album. George is a different drummer than Warren, which I think is reflected in the album for sure. The approach to recording was also different. We were a lot less reserved when it came to experimentation. There's also always going to be sonic differences when recording at different studios, using different microphones, etc.

REAX: Your followers on Twitter were surprised to see you lash out at punknews.org ’s review of White Crosses. After all is said and done, do regret your comments in a public forum or feel they were warranted?
TOM GABEL: Sure, twitter is a public forum, but it's also my forum, my twitter account is a platform for me to express my opinions, which is exactly what I was doing. I'm assuming anyone who's "following me" wants to hear what I have to say. I'm not standing on a soap box in the city square yelling at the top of my lungs for everyone to hear whether they like it or not. And I'm not gonna kiss any brass rings or take some kind of fake ass politician stance to make sure I don't offend someone cause they think they're some kind of gate keeper or that their opinion is above reproach. The person who wrote the review didn't like something that I wrote (our new album), he stated his reasons, he gave his criticism and he's perfectly entitled to do so. And I in turn thought that something he wrote was done poorly and I stated my criticisms. And plus it was fun. Biting your tongue when you have something to say is never fun. I hate talking about twitter. It just sounds so stupid.

REAX: What bands did you grow up listening to? Do you find that your musical style now is similar to your listening preferences or do you listen to a wide variety of genres?
TOM GABEL: There was a period of time in my teens when I listened to nothing but punk music exclusively, but I've always had a big appetite for new music. When I was a kid, like elementary school, I was into everything from Guns N Roses, to U2, to New Kids On The Block and M.C. Hammer. I would buy the new Wilson Phillips album and the new Skid Row in the same trip (both on cassette). Then before really getting into punk I went through a phase where I was really into bands like The Doors, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles but at the same time I was into bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Nowadays I'll give anything a shot, I'm definitely a fan of intelligent or clever lyrics and melody though.

REAX: Any bands you are listening to more than others right now?
TOM GABEL: The new Dead To Me album African Elephants, the new Gorrillaz album, Crazy Arm, Tegan And Sara, the Redskins. That's some stuff that's been in pretty heavy rotation.