Kepi Ghoulie gets ready to release his fifth solo album in just four years

Most sharks are renown not only for their prowess as predators, but because they never stop moving, even when they’re asleep. They do so in order to keep breathing. Such is the case for local pop-punk impresario Kepi Ghoulie, who lives in a state of perpetual motion as far as his music career is concerned. In fact, his rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle even inspired the song “Rock ‘n’ Roll Shark” on his upcoming album, to be released Nov. 29, 2011 on Asian Man Records, aptly titled I Bleed Rock ‘n’ Roll. Funny enough, Kepi says he wrote that song while hiking Mount Shasta, singing into his iPhone.

When Submerge spoke with Kepi, he was at home, but true-to-form, certainly not at rest.

“I came home last Monday, and I played Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then I’m painting for this art show, and as soon as that’s done, I’m recording for my kids record,” Kepi says. “So even though I’m at home, the pace is still as if I’m on tour.”

Recently, Kepi hit the road with Canadian pop-punk icons Chixdiggit. He played bass for the group and also opened for them, its members serving as his backing band during his set. As for the children’s record he mentioned, he says he will start tracking that in December for release in March or April 2012. Mike Park, head of Asian Man Records, convinced Kepi to write children’s songs.

“Mike at Asian Man said, ‘You’ve got to make a kids record. Your songs are already kids’ songs,’” Kepi explains. “I have stuff about taking a bath; and I was in Canada for a month, and I ended up writing this song about the provincial flower of each province. It would be cool to have something like School House Rock, where you learn something with each song.”

The children’s songs will be short and catchy–as you should probably expect from the ex-Groovie Ghoulies frontman. He says School House Rock had some of an influence on the songs he’s writing for the forthcoming children’s record; however, he says that some of those songs were too long. His inspiration mainly came from the acts that have inspired him all along.

“I wanted to make [my songs] two minutes,” he says. “A Ramones song, or a Little Richard song, two minutes is perfect–sort of get in and get out. I wanted to do a song about the U.S. presidents or something, but I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll do two songs, so there are only 20 presidents at a time,’ so there are no four- or five-minute songs. I remember when I was a kid, slow songs were weird, and long songs were weird.”

Until then, though, Kepi is focused on his latest release, his fifth since The Groovie Ghoulies went their separate ways in 2007. He has a record release show planned for Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Dec. 2, 2011, which is where the paintings he’s been working on will come into play.

“I’m hand-painting 30 album covers for the release show, and I’m going to be selling a test pressing with a hand-painted piece of art for $150. I’m going to do 15 on the show and 15 online,” Kepi says. “I’m going crazy doing that.”

Much like Kepi’s songs, his paintings are fun and perhaps simplistic, but instantly indelible. It’s a straightforward, honest approach that has served his music well over the years.

“A lot of my songs are so minimal, I don’t want to make them do anything else,” he says. “Like, ‘This song doesn’t need a bridge.’ Like, T. Rex, Marc Bolan would just play this riff, and that would be enough for him. I don’t want to mess it up by adding too much.”

Kepi carries his love for minimalism over into I Bleed Rock ‘n’ Roll; however, as he told Submerge, he was eager to inject a healthy dose of huge rock energy into his songs. The veteran songwriter answered questions about the process of making his new album in the following interview.

How’s it going? You’ve got the album coming out in a couple weeks?
Yep! New record coming out. Everything’s great. I’m super excited. I think it’s the best-sounding thing I’ve ever done…

I spent about a month making it in Oakland, because usually I make a record in three days or a week or something. We don’t usually have a lot of time, but my buddy down there had a studio, and we spent a lot of time tracking everything. It was really fun, six layers of guitars sometimes, just stuff I’ve never been able to do because of budget concerns and that sort of thing.

How come you had a little more time this time around?
It was the flexibility with the studio and no rush… I think the songs on this record were a lot more fleshed out. I don’t know what it is, but it was just really fun, and a difference–bigger than what I had been working on.

It definitely sounded like more of a rock record. Was that something you were going for when you wrote these songs?
Yeah, totally. I was in Austria a couple times early this year, and there’s a club called the PNK, and in Europe, after the rock show, there’s DJs playing The Bouncing Souls and The Ramones, and all that stuff, and people are dancing and hanging out. I wanted to make a record that people can dance to at the after party–just big, loud, fun. Songs like “Nikki Lee,” “Part Time Romeo,” “Break My Heart,” those were made for rock ‘n’ roll after parties… It was a goal to make a big rock record that you could dance to. That was part of my mission here.

Usually, you said you make a record in three days, but this one took you a month, on and off. Did that affect your creative process at all? Did you have to tell yourself to slow down in the studio because you’re used to doing things so fast?
No, actually, music and lyric-wise, it came really fast. It’s this big, loud, three-chord rock ‘n’ roll. When I got in, it was like, boom, boom, boom. Like, you know, don’t think about it too much. This isn’t some super profound record lyrically, this is just a big rock ‘n’ roll record. When I went in, I tried to be super up. The other thing was, if I wanted to go somewhere and just sing to the backing tracks, I can. I’m getting these weirder and weirder gigs. I was just flown to Oslo, Norway, for a show, and I was also flown to Nebraska to play a zombie walk… You can’t fly a band to Norway to do one show, usually, so you have to have alternate options. This record was also made for that. Last year, I was in Rome, and I was supposed to play acoustic at this really loud club, and there was no possible way I was going to be able to play acoustic. The DJ happened to be playing a Groovie Ghoulies record, and I just started singing along with it as a joke. He just kept playing more records, and my show ended up being this live karaoke set. I was singing The Monkees and Kiss and Johnny Thunders, and he was trying to stump me, but I knew the words to every song. And people were blown away, like, “Whoa, what was that?” I like the kind of anything-goes factor that’s in my life right now.

You mentioned that the lyrics weren’t meant to be very deep, but toward the end of the album with songs like “I Just Wanted You to Know,” “Love to Give,” “Break My Heart” and “Cupid Is Real,” there seemed to be a heavy love theme. Was that something you noticed when you were writing lyrics for this record?
It’s funny. In the Ghoulies, I never really wrote love songs, but this time a bunch of them came out. “I Just Wanted You to Know,” that one I heard a little T. Rex riff in my head. I demoed it. I tried to send it to Kevin Seconds, but I failed. It was on my GarageBand or something and I ended up recording that. Rusty Miller [of the band Jackpot] played on some of those songs. He did that one and played exactly what I heard in my head. “Break My Heart,” I woke up one day and thought that was a cool little title, like, I know you’re going to break my heart one day, so let’s just get this over with… I don’t know. They all just came. Songs come to me, and if they’re catchy, I keep them. As far as them all being at the end of the record, I always try to pace my records like a movie or a roller coaster ride. I put a lot of thought into how it was going to end, like, “Hard to Forget” is a good song that will hopefully keep ringing in your head after it’s done.

This is your fifth solo album since the Ghoulies split up. That’s not even that long ago. It’s only like four years ago.
I’m averaging about one a year. The first thing I did was put out an acoustic and electric record at the same time, so people couldn’t be, “Oh, he’s doing this or he’s doing that.” I’m doing a bit of everything. It’s really cool. I’m in a place like Neil Young or Johnny Thunders, where I can do whatever I want, and I really like that.

Kepi Ghoulie will play his CD release show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Dec. 2, 2011; however, Sacramento fans will only have to wait a week after to see him live in town. On Dec. 9, 2011 he will play an acoustic set at Naked Coffee with Pets. Later in the month on Dec. 30, 2011, Kepi will plug in and play with Dog Party as his backing band at Luigi’s Fungarden. Look for I Bleed Rock ‘n’ Roll on Asian Man Records on Nov. 29, 2011.

Reggie Ginn’s third album puts her passion in perspective

Back in high school, Reggie Ginn decided she wanted to learn how to play the piano. But unlike most students she tossed the Basics of Piano book behind her and ditched the formal instructor that would watch her every move. All she needed was a little help from Tori Amos.

When I caught up with the grateful musician on an early but sunny Saturday, her outgoing personality made it seem like we had already knew one another and were just catching up on each other’s lives. As we sat on a table outside of the Sacramento Comedy Spot, we chatted about her new music, learning piano and the importance of human connections.

What’s the title of your new album, Passion in Perspective, mean?
It’s one of those names that can be read in its own way. When I decided to call it that I asked different people, “What does that mean to you?” and a lot of people had different answers. I thought, that’s perfect because that’s exactly what I want to get out of this album, to get different responses and for people to take songs in different ways. When somebody listens to this album I want them to take themselves out of the shoes they are in and see the songs and the world in a different way, that’s the perspective point. For instance, one of the songs, called “Bathsheba,” is written from the point of view from King David. Two of the songs are written through animals’ eyes. So it’s just the art of having a song evolve either through the way you are listening to it, when you’re listening to it, or who you are. So I hope that everybody takes something different from each song.

On your website it says that you want the audience to “not feel alone” through your music. How do you try to do that?
My last album was Sing for the Voiceless, that’s what I like to say, because it’s kind of the vagueness of the song and how everyone can relate to it in their own way. Even though I wrote it from my own point of view and own experience. When you relate with anyone it causes some comfort because you know you are not alone in whatever you are going through. Multiple times I have had people come up to me and say, “Your music means so much to me. That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say but have never been able to say it before.” I find it a very big gift to be able to put into words what other people are feeling and it helps them release.

Was it difficult not to have a formal teacher when you were learning piano?
No, it was easier, I think. I tried several times with several different teachers when I was younger. I just didn’t have the attention span. It’s something your parents say, “Oh, go do this.” You don’t really want to, so I didn’t. When I was a junior in high school, I knew I wanted to be a singer. I was writing poetry, and I wanted to express myself in some way. I couldn’t depend on someone playing guitar or accompanying me. So I said, “I’ve got to do this by myself.” Piano just really spoke to me, and like the title of the CD, it was the “passion” that drove it. That’s why I got it. It really just came to me naturally. It’s really amazing because I know a lot of people struggle [to learn piano]. It’s not an easy instrument. But for some reason I think it comes naturally to me.

Who are your musical inspirations?
Tori Amos is really one of the artists that spoke to me most… She really taught me how to express my feelings and how to learn play. I love [an] artist that can be different in a way that’s raw. For instance, PJ Harvey is one of my favorites, because she doesn’t censor herself or worry about how she’s sounding. She doesn’t have to be perfectly on key or just beautiful all the time. She just wants it to be raw, empowering and in your face.

What do you think of the Sacramento music scene?
I really love it here, actually. I went to Los Angeles for a year, to try out things. I wasn’t ready for it, but I did it anyway. It was so cutthroat. I came running back to Sacramento and realized I really needed to establish myself and needed my own town first before going off to somewhere big. Everybody is just so tight-knit here. Once you are in, you’re in. It’s great and there are some super talented musicians that I’m honored to be in the same town as.

What do you do before a show to get yourself pumped?
What I usually do is I talk to the people. I like for people to feel comfortable when they are going to see me perform. People who don’t even necessarily know who I am or they’re there for someone else, I like to bring them in, so they have a reason to stay. Like, “Oh, this girl was nice to me, she’s also a performer? Alright I’ll stay for her set, even though I was going to leave.” Because it’s really important to draw in your audience, whether it’s when you’re on stage or off stage. It’s important to have a connection and let them know they are appreciated because that’s why I’m doing my music, is to have people hear it.

The release of Passion in Perspective will be celebrated at Luigi’s Fungarden in Sacramento on Nov. 12, 2011. The show will start at 8 p.m. and will also feature The Kelps and Fierce Creatures in support. The all-ages show will cost just $5 to attend. For more info to Reggieginn.com.

The Kelps show a flair for the theatrical on stage and on their latest album, Head Like a Mouse

If you have ever watched or listened to The Kelps and thought they were unlike any other band you have seen or heard before, then the band has succeeded in being exactly the kind of act lead vocalist/guitarist Cory Barringer wants it to be.

While they are unmistakably dark in both their songwriting and performance, in person these guys are anything but anguished or depressing, which Submerge quickly realized during an interview outside the Naked Coffee Lounge with Barringer and Reyes. The following is an excerpt of the conversation.

My observation is that your lyrics tend to be pretty dark. Is this reflective of your guys’ personalities at all?
Tony Reyes: Nope! I wouldn’t say so.
Cory Barringer: I’d say that it’s reflective of a part of us all if that doesn’t sound too hokey. What it is is just everyone has a bit of that dark side and we’re fools to deny it. I consider myself an overall fairly happy person. But there is that dark side and for me it’s the music that can kind of exorcise the demons, especially in the performance, the live performance. That’s how I can get it all out of my head for a while at least, and then it crawls back. Yeah, I’d say that one of the reasons that the lyrics tend to sway to the dark side–wow, that sounds like Star Wars, doesn’t it–is just I find that the most emotive ways of writing are often the sad, twisted things. Those come easier to me. It’s not like I force either side of it, I have written happy songs before. They weren’t very good but I’ve written them. To me it’s the idea of no matter what I do, I try to be sincere so whatever comes out comes out.

And I imagine that this kind of allows you guys to put your theatric experience into use.
CB: It definitely does, yeah.
TR: As far as performance goes, I’ve always felt like I’ve never had a choice. Because like Cory was saying earlier I did spend a lot of time in theater. And I don’t want to say I really know anything about drums, but there was a point where I was uncomfortable playing on a drum kit and [then] there was a moment in time I became comfortable. And after that point I felt like I didn’t have a choice about how I acted back there. And I didn’t realize I was putting on a show until someone said, “Dude, your face is crazy when you’re back there screaming.”

How or why did you recruit Reggie Ginn [for “Blood Poem” on Head Like a Mouse]?
CB: It was partly just because we knew we needed a woman’s voice. We also liked her a great deal. We had done a bunch of stuff with her. It all just kind of worked out perfect, because she’s also recording her album at Shattered Records with Jack so she was already kind of in and out of there. And I kind of liked the idea of having the poem set behind a piano piece and none of us can really play the piano quite so well. I really wrote it on the guitar but with the piano in mind. And I also just really liked her voice.

We had no idea if she could do it because if you’ve heard it there are different portions. There is the beginning where she is doing the poem but then it gets darker and darker and she’s just screaming and we had no idea if she could scream, because she has a great voice, a great, powerful voice, but it’s a different beast altogether when you’re giving an emotive performance of screaming and being dragged away. She nailed it.

And it was just so cool to watch someone so out of their element.

During your June show earlier this year at the Naked Lounge you had introduced “Grimoire” as a bit of an anthem “for everyone different like us.” I don’t know if you remember saying that…
CB: Yeah, I did say that.

So, I wanted to ask you…
TR: Cory, did you just get quoted?
CB: Yeah, I did. I didn’t think anyone was listening. It’s not technically about that but that’s the neat thing about our songs because we all kind of have different interpretations of our own stuff. And even though there’s a different story that goes along with that song that nobody will ever get because the lyrics are just that cryptic, we wrote them that way, it was intentional, so no one knows what they’re about. But I kind of took it as what could be an anthem for being different. Again, I’ll go back to when we started as a band, I wanted to be a band for other people like me. And by that I mean the band nerds, the theater geeks, the kind of social outcasts that kind of feel they don’t really belong with a lot of people.

You can stream the album at Soundcloud. For more info on The Kelps check out their Tumblr page (Thekelps.tumblr.com).

Grady Avenell Returns for first new Will Haven album in years

A calming flow of synthesizer builds gradually, luring in all curious listeners. And for the moment, everything’s serene–but secretly there are other intentions. The role of the antagonist for this song’s tale has become apparent and all are vulnerable; no one is safe. Unexpectedly, the once soothing hum is quickly ambushed by the constant, albeit macabre, pulse of keys chiming steadily like an old grandfather clock at a slightly higher pitch. The sound instantly signals the mood has now changed and there’s no turning back. Melodic guitar suddenly strolls by, equally not to be trusted as the composition is then met by shrieks grave enough to raise the hairs on one’s arms and neck. The screams forever burn images of neck veins into your psyche, and then the music fades. For now, you’ve survived this six-minute dark opus written by one of Sacramento’s most respected longtime metal veterans, Will Haven.

What should have been the perfect theme song to Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street had it been written 20 years ago, the track (“Lost” off of Will Haven’s newest full-length album, Voir Dire, translated as “Speak the truth”) is only a snippet of what’s to come from this band in the future. With original vocalist Grady Avenell back at the mic, the addition of keyboard and synthesizer courtesy of Adrien Contreras and a new bass player who happens to be the percussionist for a little band called Slipknot, Will Haven is back on the scene and in full force.

“This record is the starting point to what we can do,” explained Jeff Irwin, guitarist and founding member of Will Haven, at their practice space off of Marconi Avenue. “To me, this album is definitely deeper. When I listen to our old records, I see the skeleton of what we’re becoming. We’re getting older and we’re taking our time now. Before, we put out a record just because we knew we were going to go on tour, but now, recording days have slowed down, we don’t play as many shows and that energy is put into the music and we feel we have a deeper passion for it.”

According to Irwin, throughout what most might see as a four-year stint of silence since the band’s release of new material, the guys of Will Haven have never stopped playing music completely. Whether they were playing in alternate side project bands to fill their musical voids, or deciding to come together to play music in support of a close friend in a coma, Irwin credits the return of original vocalist Grady Avenell for ultimately fueling Will Haven’s passion to once again begin writing and rekindling the family vibe the band was built on.

“We played some of the Chi benefits and I just got the itch to do it again,” Avenell said of the shows developed to support Deftones bassist Chi Cheng, currently in a minimally conscious state after a 2008 car accident. “We talked about it and went forward from there. I’m excited. It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve put an album out and here we have an album coming out. I’m just looking forward to playing some shows and having a good time.”

Formed in ‘95 right after high school, Will Haven have since paved a hard road releasing countless albums and EPs, touring the world with the likes of Deftones, Earth Crisis and Slipknot, where they would find a new member to welcome into their family unit of pure metal: Chris Fehn, percussionist for Slipknot turned bassist for Will Haven.

“He’s been in the band since this record. We toured with Slipknot in 2000 and we just became good friends with him and we’ve been close ever since,” explained Irwin. “He’s really passionate about music, he’s not in it for anything else and that’s hard to find nowadays. With him, he’s like, ‘I don’t give a fuck who you guys are. I love the music. I love you guys. I just want to play.’ And that’s exactly what we want, someone who has passion, loves the band and is here for the right reasons.”

However, touring with world renowned bands such as Slipknot or Deftones kept the band grounded. And instead of rolling up to venues with tour buses and crews of roadies, Will Haven took the more punk rock approach, pulling up in an old van with one goal in mind–to share their music with a crowd of thousands.

“When we did tours like that, I think that made the band what it is. We’d go on tours with Deftones or Slipknot and there’d be thousands of people there, but for us, it would be almost like a punk rock show because they’re in buses and have crews, and we pull up in this crappy, little van and our goal is to try and kill everybody. We aren’t there to sell tickets. We’re there to show people that this opening band just kicked your ass even more than the headliner did. I think that’s what drove us and what kept us grounded; we’ve put in our work,” Irwin said.

With the band’s average age being in the mid-30s, Will Haven recall the days when self-promotion was solely up to the musicians. A time prior to social networks like MySpace or Facebook, where one didn’t just Google a band and decide whether or not they’re worthy, but actually visit a music store, purchase an album and research them at their own discretion. A time when tacking flyers to poles and actually speaking to people in person was prevalent–which later turned into inviting fans personally out to shows. Those days, go figure, are now gone. To the members of Will Haven, this has become a lost art form and they blame the ever-evolving monster that is social networking.

“Before, it was all about the music,” says Irwin. “We started before Myspace, and we’re kind of new to the whole Internet thing, but when we started, you made a demo tape and gave it to a record label and see what happens from there. At our age right now we’ve seen the decline of the ‘rockstar days.’ The labels and getting signed for a crap load of money doesn’t happen anymore. In the late ‘90s it just seemed like that took a shit. It’s a whole different world. So, we got to see the height of [the music industry] and we saw the crash of it, too.”

With more than 10 years of music behind them and an unwritten future ahead, the guys of Will Haven have become a well-respected entity within Sacramento’s tight-knit music scene. Whenever their name is mentioned, conversations of praise and an air of respect are present. Irwin said the band’s local popularity stems from the guys choosing to be true to themselves and to their music, but other local musicians say Will Haven have earned respect because they’ve always kept it real.

“These guys have been grinding it out since ’95, always doing their own thing,” explained Jesse Mitchell of Red Tape/Kill the Precedent and longtime friend of Will Haven. “Since the beginning, they have been following their own path, but still staying true and recognizing Sacto as being home base. We as fellow Sacto musicians respect what they have achieved, not just locally, but worldwide. They have always been good friends with my bands and are cute as buttons to boot. Will Haven will be sonically slapping your face for years to come.”

Will Haven’s Voir Dire will be released Oct. 11 on Bieler Bros. Records.

Kill the Precedent load up with a new EP

Industrial metal might conjure images of military-like precision with perhaps a totalitarian-style frontman at its controls. Kill the Precedent certainly evokes those images with their music. Thundering beats–both live and electronic–blast behind thrashing riffs and the two-pronged vocal attack of Twig the Exfoliator and The Ugly American. However, speaking with the two vocalists in a recent interview, the guys seemed jovial, bordering on jolly. For instance, if you were to call The Ugly American’s cell phone, you might hear The Dead Kennedys’ classic “California Uber Alles” playing while you waited for him to answer your phone. He said that since Jerry Brown was re-elected as governor, it seemed appropriate. “It’s such a fucking mess out here,” he quipped. “I thought it was pretty damn funny. At least it’s not an actor.” If KTP was indeed an army, in demeanor, they’d be more akin to the cool jokesters from Stripes than the cold-blooded killers of Full Metal Jacket.

Make no mistake, though; the band’s music is a no-holds-barred aural assault. KTP is ready to release a new EP, Stories of Science and Fantasy, which will consist of six original songs and two covers (The Smiths’ “Death of a Disco Dancer” and Jessica Lea Mayfield’s “We’ve Never Lied,” which Twig says was recorded in a hotel room in Oakland). Evoking the days when bands like Ministry and KMFDM crashed mainstream rock’s party, songs such as “Questions for Weapons” wield an imposing arsenal or metal riffs and huge beats, courtesy of electronic beatsmith/guitarist Hamburger, guitarist Killsbury and drummer Sgt. Pepper, while “Free Reign” is a throbbing, almost dance-y track highlighted by Jon the Jew’s pummeling bass line and an underlying, monolithic electronic groove.

Members of the band are no strangers to the Sacramento rock scene. They have played in bands such as Red Tape, Diseptikons and Rivithead in the past, but Kill the Precedent started as a side project of The Ugly American and Hamburger.

“Hamburger and I got together in 2006 and started screwing around with the drum machine,” The Ugly American explained. “We were kind of doing a little Big Black kind of deal, just having some fun. We recorded some music and got a hold of Twig, and I said, ‘I got to record some vocals, can you come down and help me out?’ We recorded vocals. Twig and I had been friends for many years, and he was giving me this blank stare, so I was like, ‘OK, you didn’t like it, but thanks for coming down and recording.’ And he said, ‘No, I want in. I’m fucking in.’ He took over from there.”

Twig’s introduction to the band was through the song “Cop Out,” which will appear on Stories of Science and Fantasy. More songs were started, but Twig said they were left unfinished. As each new member of the band became a permanent fixture, the songs began to flesh out.

“I wanted Killsbury to put a guitar riff over that–just that one song [“Cop Out”],” Twig said. “I’ve been in bands with all these other people in Red Tape and Diseptikons, and I was like just do this one song, but then it became do this song and that song…and eventually that’s how each member has come to be in the band.”

For The Ugly American, Kill the Precedent became a way of rediscovering the music he loved to make in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s with bands such as Rivithead and Battalion 53 after years of playing in punk bands.

“It dawned on me that I really missed that shit,” he said. “It was powerful, it was fun, it was endless. You could do whatever you want and get away with a hell of a lot more.”

In the following interview, KTP’s two vocalists fill us in on the making of the forthcoming EP and what draws them to making this kind of music. We find out that the reason why the harsh-sounding vocalists are so jovial is because they’re playing music they actually love.

It seems like industrial is a genre of music that’s gone back underground. Is that part of the excitement of revisiting it?
The Ugly American: Kind of, but not really. There’s no denying that those bands have had an influence. It’s obvious–and it should. It’s fucking awesome music… I can just say I missed the power of it.
Twig the Exfoliator: I liked the freedom of it. When we first started jamming around, with Jeremy from the Snobs, the bass player, was doing a bunch of electronic beats and me and [Ugly] would sing over it. It wasn’t hip-hop singing, but it was like a Fugazi overlay over dance music. I definitely wanted to not do just Ministry type stuff, but I wanted some melody in there to make it a bit different.

Listening to the music, you can definitely hear that sort of punk-type melodies.
Twig: Whatever [Hamburger] makes up beatwise and gives to us, half of them could be more on the dance side, some of them are more hard and fast, or slow and driving. If we hear something that we like, we’ll get working on that. Part of the reason why I wanted to do this was because I didn’t want to work with drummers anymore [laughs]. I was mad at all the drummers I’ve ever played with, and they take too long to set up. I was sick of loading all their shit into my van. That was the original idea, “Oh, we do whatever. We don’t need a drummer. Be like a hip-hop band, just plug in an iPod and do it like that.” That’s the way I wanted to do it. I wanted to put on a big production of a show, but within our budget.
Ugly: When Twig was on tour with Hoods–I think they were in Europe. He was adamant about it. He was like, “No drummers. I don’t want any fucking drummers.” Before we even put a drummer in there, I wanted one, because I wanted to add to the power and the beats and make it sound as large as we could. But he was all, “Hell no, we’re not doing it.” So, he goes to Europe and we grabbed our old buddy [Sgt.] Pepper. We brought him in to practice while Twig was gone. When he got back, he showed up for practice, and we were like, “Oh look, it’s…Pepper.” He was like, “You dick.” [Laughs.]
Twig: [Laughs] But it worked out.

Twig, you said you came in and did the middle section of “Cop Out,” but after doing that you wanted in. What drew you to this project?
Twig: I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do drum machines and just sample stuff by myself, but I’m completely computer illiterate. I don’t know how to do any of that stuff, and I couldn’t get anyone to do it. I talked to [Ugly], and they were already doing it for a couple of months, so I went in to record with them. The beats were big and huge, and it was something different. Since he let me even try something, and I could overlay a couple different vocal layers, and me and Sean could go back and forth instead of having to write a song’s lyrics all by ourselves–and you know, run out of breath–it made it better that we could share the vocal part. I liked that. I liked who he was working with, because I had known [Hamburger] from Rivithead and Battalion 53. We were also working with Evan at that point, Tha Fruitbat.

It seems like everyone who has come into the project has left their own stamp on it. Is that how the songwriting goes or do you start with the beats and go on from there?
Twig: Hamburger does all the beats and stuff. He’ll do two different parts with maybe some guitar, because he plays guitar too. He’ll just send us two-minute loops so we can get an idea about it. Then usually we will come up with singing structures, and then we’ll leave it alone. We won’t finish anything, and then we’ll bring it to practice and everyone else will listen to it and have their input. We start arranging the songs from there, cutting out parts, changing the drum beats, adding different parts, then we actually start writing the songs, the lyrics and stuff.
Ugly: It goes in reverse. It’s not the typical way you write a song, but it’s totally working for us.
Twig: Everyone’s really busy, so it’s all sent over the computer. Hamburger will send the beats to us, and we’ll pick the ones we like–the whole band will. And we’ll just work on it from there.

A lot of the bands we were talking about as influences before are largely associated with one guy, like Al Jourgensen for example, but it sounds like you guys actually play the songs to write them, which I think is kind of interesting for industrial music.
Twig: It’s like any other band. We’ll start arguing…but it all works out in the end as long as no one’s picky and tries to be the highlight of the song. Everyone knows their place.
Ugly: There are no egos, arrogance or bullshit. I know this sounds hokey, but it’s a completely collective effort. Everyone has their say. Like Twig says, we’ll argue to friggin’ death over it, but everybody’s got their two cents, and it just keeps piling things on without making it too much. It’s one cool idea after the other. It’s fun. I think the biggest thing is just that it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

I’ve seen that you guys have had girls in costume dancing at the shows, people covered in blood, synching up videos to your songs. Is that something you get together and collaborate on?
Twig: [Killsbury] handles most of the video stuff. He takes a while to get it with the beats and intros to every song. Except for [Hamburger], none of us are that great with computers. To do all that is a bit of a learning experience. And we don’t do it the way we should. We’re rolling into shows with DVD players and stuff, and a projector from like 1992.
Ugly: We try to change it up every time if we can. We did a good run, if you don’t mind me saying, at Blue Lamp. We called it “Cocaine Drug Dealers” or “Colombian Drug Dealers.” Everyone in the band was dressed up in cammo and we were dressed up in white suits. I filled up a bunch of baggies with flour. It was a great show, but it was the stupidest thing I ever did. Twig and I started throwing these bags of flour out into the audience and hit a fan. It went everywhere. Everyone was covered. I got off stage, and the guy was like, “It’s going to be $450 to clean up the place.”
Twig: It’s kind of like having sheet rock down or something. You can’t get rid of it… All the bottles were covered. We were like, “$450? No, we’ll come in tomorrow.” So we were hung-over as shit, and we had to be there at noon the next day. He was waiting for us with the mops, and he’s like, “Here you go.” Of course he opened the bar, and we got drunk and cleaned that place for four or five hours, and I can say it’s the cleanest it’s ever been [laughs]. It’s the cleanest club in Sacramento.

Kill the Precedent will play an EP release show at Harlow’s on Aug. 6, 2011 with Will Haven, The Snobs and City of Vain. Tickets are just $10 and can be purchased through Harlows.com. For more information on KTP, like them why don’t you at Facebook.com/killtheprecedent.

Face to Face put their differences behind them and release new album

Words by Anthony Giannotti

Yes Face to Face did break up, but who cares? They’re back together and on a worldwide tour for their new album, Laugh Now, Laugh Later, released May 17, 2011. Lead singer and guitarist Trever Keith has one simple thing to say about the split: “We had some creative differences and now we don’t.” After 20 years, seven albums and countless live shows, there are bound to be some raw nerves and differences of opinions–anyone in a band can attest to that.

We got to talk some more with the sole founder of Face to Face about the new album and tour, then we got deep into a few of the problems in our society.

So this is your first album support tour since 2002. How’s it going?
It’s going very well. We are having a great time out here. This is the first full headlining the United States and Canada tour we’ve done in the last nine years. We started playing shows again about three years ago.

The new album has some classic Face to Face-sounding songs and some that take a little different direction. Was that on purpose or did it just come out that way?
If you listen to our catalog, it’s not the first time we’ve had songs that were various tempos–mid-tempo to fast. This is just a record that is a collection of new ideas from Scott and I, we just wrote the songs we had ideas for in our heads. We didn’t overthink it, and we didn’t really spend too much time trying to do something for any specific purpose. There wasn’t anything planned or calculated about the record or the songs. It’s really just an honest, accurate snapshot of the way that we feel at this point in time.

On “It’s Not All About You” you say, “Everybody wants to have it made/Don’t want to do nothing but still get paid.” Do you see this as a major problem in our society?
That’s an interesting question. Basically the song is about being selfish. It’s about the mentality of wanting something for nothing. That’s ultimately what the line is about, and yeah, I would say that is definitely a huge problem, especially in the United States of America.

Do you see that selfish attitude as a recent thing? Is it more common in the younger generation?
I’ve seen it become more of an issue in my lifetime. I’m 42 years old; maybe I just notice it more now, but it doesn’t seem that it was to the degree that it is now.

Do you think there is any way to right this path we are on? Do you think it’s just going to continue to get worse?
You know I’m better at pointing out problems. I don’t claim to have the solution. A lot of my lyrics really just deal with personal trouble. They really just deal with the individual and that kind of thing. The only way something like that will be solved is through the individual. It’s about personal responsibility. It’s about trying to fix yourself first. If everyone worked on fixing themselves, I think we’d have a better society across the board.

Would you say that it is the punk rock mantra to point out the problems in society so as a group we can work on them, to try and bring underlying problems to the surface?
I have no idea man. I don’t really know what punk rock is anymore, and I hardly care. We do what we do, and I try not to worry about what punk rock means.

I read that you had Corey Miller of L.A. Ink do the album art. How’d that come about?
We’ve been buddies with Corey for the last couple years, and obviously we’ve been talking with him about working on the new record and just through hanging out and talking about it he was like, “Hey man I’d like to try and do some artwork for that.” I was kind of telling him about how some of the songs went and that gave him some really cool ideas for the art. It was really a cool spontaneous thing where he was kind of getting a little inspiration from our creativity, and we just started feeding off each other. He started making these drawings, and I was giving him song titles. It just turned into this cool cooperative thing creatively.

You guys are also stopping at some tattoo shops to help promote the album and tour?
Yeah we did a couple of those. We stopped in New York and Philadelphia as well as a few others. We actually had Corey on tour with us for a week or so and got to stop in some cool tattoo shops. We sold some of Corey’s art and some records. It was a lot of fun.

Do you have any plans now that you have a new record out?
Just touring. We are about midway through this tour–I think four or five weeks left. We still have the rest of the South, all the way up to the Pacific Northwest, Sacramento, all the way down SoCal and the rest of the Southwest. Then we are hitting the rest of the world: Europe, Australia and hopefully back down to South America all before the end of the year.

Wow, that’s quite the busy year. Still touring that much after 20 years?
Yeah we are workhorses [laughs]. It’s what we like to do.

Do you have any advice for anyone starting a band nowadays?
Yeah: Quit. Get a real job. That would be my best advice. Stay in school, go to college, get a skill. Seriously. I guess if anyone is in a band and really wants to make a go at it, you need to forget about what your band looks like or any of that bullshit. Just get out there and play shows; play a lot because it’s all about how good you are live. Now that the record industry has taken a shit you really just got to look at how well you play live and really cultivate that.

Face to Face will stop in Sacramento on June 19, 2011 to play Ace of Spades with Strung Out, Blitzkid and The Darlings. Tickets are $20 and the show starts at 6 p.m. For more info, go to Aceofspadessac.com.

The Speed of Sound in Seawater Are Out For A Good Time

There’s been a lot of crazy shit happening around the world lately–maybe you’ve noticed? Earthquakes, tornadoes, Osama bin Laden’s death, all this nonsense about the Rapture! It can be overwhelming and downright depressing at times to turn on the news or read the newspaper, or, let’s face it, stare at your Facebook feed. For these reasons and so many others, it’s important to have creative outlets in life where you can simply have fun and get your mind off things. The members of local indie-pop-meets-math-rock band The Speed of Sound in Seawater know just this. “If we ever stopped having fun, we would stop making new music,” admitted lead vocalist and guitarist Damien Verrett during a recent conversation in a midtown coffee shop. “That definitely is key.” Fellow six-stringer Jordan Seavers (who also sings) agreed with that notion. “Obviously the music is important,” Seavers said. “But we’re not so much like, ‘We’ve got to make it as a band!’ We just have fun playing music.”

The theory of “having fun” makes its way into every aspect of the band: song titles, album titles, even their promo photos–one of which sees the four young gentlemen dangling their feet in a swimming pool while sporting pink bath robes. “There are so many stupid little inside jokes on the new EP,” said Verrett, referring to the group’s latest offering, a five-track EP released on April 27, 2011 titled Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets. “Lyrically, in titles, so much of it,” he said. “Even the name of the album, it’s just this stupid inside joke. It’s something Fernando [Oliva, drums, vocals] said like maybe three years ago. We were all swimming in the pool and he comes up and whispers to me, ‘Do you want to play underwater tell each other secrets?’” He laughed and continued, “I just thought it was the funniest thing ever, and we remembered it. When it came time to name the new EP we were like, ‘Let’s call it Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets.’”

“We’re all pretty goofy,” Seavers butted in. “We like to entertain other people but we like to entertain ourselves at the same time and just be goofs.”

All jokes and goofiness aside, The Speed of Sound in Seawater are a really talented band, and Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets showcases their ability to blend technically advanced playing (i.e.: a flurry of finger tapping, complicated hammer-on riffs, shifting time signatures and rhythms, etc.) with an undeniable knack for writing pop-y, memorable melodies. When listening to their songs, it’s difficult not to think of one the genre’s pioneers, Minus the Bear. Verrett recalls when he first heard the Seattle-based group. “I remember just finding them randomly on some forum and someone was calling it ‘math-rock,’ and I was, ‘What the hell is that? I’ve never heard of that.’ Then I listened to it and I was like, ‘Well, that’s exactly what it is.’” Verrett went on to explain how he thinks Sacramento natives Tera Melos and Hella are good examples of bands at one end of the math-rock spectrum as far as being “way out there and not as accessible,” and that groups like This Town Needs Guns and Maps and Atlases are at the other end of the spectrum and are becoming “indie sensations who have songs in commercials and stuff.” He went on to say, “I didn’t really know if those two sects of math-rock were aware of each other, but I feel like we’re more leaning toward the pop-y side. I like that about us.”

For Underwater… TSOSIS enlisted Robert Cheek as producer/mixer/engineer and from March 11 to 13 they worked out of The Hangar, arguably one of Sacramento’s most credible recording studios, where they did all the takes live. Seavers and Verrett both agreed that it was a sonic match made in heaven. “I was actually thinking about this last night,” Verrett said. “Just how many records he’s produced and engineered that I’m a huge fan of. There’s got to be like six or seven that are just some of my favorites.” He goes down the line: Tera Melos, RX Bandits, Mister Metaphor; all bands that TSOSIS share qualities with. “It just fit so well,” Verrett said of the pairing with Cheek. “He’s from here, he records all the music we love, he’s really experienced in the genre. He just got us instantly.”

For months leading up to The Hangar recording sessions, the band practiced full-on dress rehearsal style, setting up microphones around them and demo-ing their songs in the living room of the house in Elk Grove in which Verrett grew up. “We actually share the same practice space as Damien’s dad does,” Seavers joked, referring to Verrett’s father’s R&B cover band formerly known as The Detours.

“Once my mom gets home we have to play a little quieter,” Verrett joked. “I really don’t like having to quiet down, these guys are always like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry Mrs. Verrett, we’ll turn it down,’ and I’m always like, ‘No guys, we don’t have to do that!’ It’s really funny, that has to have influenced our music in some way.”

This is a fair assessment, considering TSOSIS rarely use distortion on their guitars, giving their music somewhat of a shimmer and an overall easier-to-listen-to vibe than bands with heavily distorted guitars constantly blasting. “Damien and I both really like jazzy tones and stuff like that,” Seavers said. Verrett jumped in, “And all the distorted parts hit so much harder when they’re so infrequent, you know? If there’s hardly any distortion, you really notice.” Their songs are consciously “loose,” too. Frequently, the skilled musicians will slip in and out of one part into another, sometimes perfectly in sync, sometimes not, giving their recordings an organic feel. “Sometimes I’m like, ‘Man we sound really sloppy, we need to clean it up,’” Seavers admitted. “But then sometimes I’m listening to another band and I’m like, ‘It’s so cool they’re sloppy, I want to play like that.’ It sounds a little more fun when people are sloppy.”

With a new EP freshly tucked under their belts, along with two others (2009’s Blue Version and 2010’s Red Version), TSOSIS has a plethora of songs to pull from when they tour throughout California this summer. “It’s odd that we’re at the point where people are like, ‘Oh your first EP is the best one!’” Verrett joked as our conversation was coming to an end. “It’s like, ‘Are you kidding? That was like $200 and we made it in like eight hours, and you think that’s the best? We just dropped a lot more on this one; you better think it’s the best.’”

The Speed of Sound in Seawater will play at Luigi’s Fungarden on Friday, June 17 alongside Town Hall, The Relatives and The Dreaded Diamond. Show starts at 8 p.m., is $5 and all ages are welcome. TSOSIS will welcome back their former bassist Lucas Ulrici for this show and a number of other performances this summer, as their current bassist Michael Littlefield will be busy recording with his other band, A Lot Like Birds. To learn more about TSOSIS and to stream or download tracks off all three of their EPs, visit Thespeedofsoundinseawater.bandcamp.com.

Dev and The Cataracs Tour with Usher, Ready to Take the Pop World by Storm

Small town boy (or girl) makes good. It’s a familiar story–pretty much the basis for the American dream. Rising pop star Dev fits the mold. Raised in Manteca, Calif., she was working a 9-to-5 and attending junior college before her life changed forever. An Amy Winehouse cover recorded on her MacBook that she posted on her Myspace page–a diss track aimed at her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend–caught the attention of producing duo The Cataracs (comprised of Cyrano and Campa). Now just a few years later, she finds herself touring the country with Usher on his OMG Tour. It’s true that in the Information Age, things happen very quickly.

“My life has taken a complete 180,” Dev says. “It’s the gnarliest thing.”

Fear not, though; this isn’t the typical sad little rich girl tale. Dev isn’t crying about her normal life being turned on its ear. The luster of her burgeoning fame has yet to be tarnished, and during our interview, she expressed nothing but gratitude.

“I’m blessed and I couldn’t be happier,” Dev reports from the Rhode Island stop on the OMG Tour. “I’m getting opportunities to work hard and to travel, and it’s really fucking cool. I’d never even been on a plane like that before, and now I’m on one every day.”

Under The Cataracs’ guidance, Dev quickly became something of an Internet sensation. She sang the hook on the deliriously catchy electro-pop-infused hip-hop track “Like a G6” by Far East Movement. The single was released in April 2010 and its video has amassed well over 65 million views on YouTube. The hook from that song is also featured on Dev’s own single with The Cataracs, “Booty Bounce,” which came to light just four months later.

At the end of 2010, Dev and The Cataracs released a new single, “Bass Down Low,” a slickly produced and sexy party anthem. But the young singer/songwriter doesn’t want to be known simply for dropping it like it’s hot, as she’s hoping her upcoming album will attest. The Night the Sun Came Up, Dev’s anticipated debut, will be released on Sept. 20, 2011. On the album, you’ll get the club hits you’d expect; but according to Dev, you’ll also see her and The Cataracs moving their sound deeper, lyrically and musically.

“It’s really fun for me to write a lot of sassy lyrics and stuff like that,” she explains. “We’re young, but [the album] is my chance to show who I am and what I’ve been going through. It’s definitely a youthful album for sure. I grew up in Manteca for 20 years of my life and moved to Los Angeles and got to travel around as I turned 21. You get to feel all these little adventures, all these little journeys I’ve been going on.”

The music also takes Dev to her roots. Her latest single, “In the Dark,” noticeably diverges from the almost sci-fi sounds featured on “Bass Down Low,” showcasing horn samples and a Latin flavor.

“I’m Mexican and Portuguese, and I’m really close to my family,” she says. “The Cataracs knew that would be important. I wanted to somehow add that flavor in there and be really personal… It was important to me to do that on the album.”

Dev gave us more insights into The Night the Sun Came Up, her relationship with The Cataracs and how she and the duo are holding up on their arena tour with Usher.

The venues are a lot larger on the OMG Tour than what you’re accustomed to. Did you and The Cataracs do a lot of work on the stage show to translate your energy into a bigger room?
Yeah definitely. We spent a couple days just working on the set. Me and the Cataracs, it’s perfect when we perform together, because we’re featured on each other’s songs, and we work together almost every day, but it definitely is a little different doing it together this often. So yeah, we definitely spent time putting something special together, I guess you could say.

In an arena show, there’s not a lot of intimacy. It’s harder to make that connection with the audience. Is that something you’ve had to adapt to as a performer?
A little bit, yeah. The first day that we did this, I thought I was a lot more prepared than I really was mentally, I guess. Then I went out there, and I was like, “Holy shit, there’s all these people out here!” I love performing, though. It’s my favorite part, and usually I don’t get too nervous or shook up because it’s what I enjoy most about what I do. But these shows definitely woke my game up, that’s for sure.

I read that you used to compete as a swimmer. Does that kind of competitive mentality stick with you on stage?
It does. It’s so strange how much my tour life reflects my work ethic from being a swimmer for like 14 years. It’s real, and I guess I’m kind of grateful for dedicating so much of my life to something, even though it’s a totally different thing, because they relate in a lot of weird ways. So yeah, thank God for all those years of swimming.

I even read that you write songs at the same time you used to get up for swimming.
Yeah, it’s so weird that it worked out that way. It’s like my favorite time, it’s so strange.

So you’re an early bird then? I heard you like to write around 6 a.m.
Yeah, it’s so weird! You’d think I would be more of a late person, but 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. is my favorite time.

Is it difficult to keep that kind of schedule when you’re on the road?
For sure. It doesn’t always happen. But when I do get the time to enjoy the morning, it’s always really nice.

I wanted to talk about the album that’s coming out. You recorded the album in Costa Rica, and I was wondering if the experience of being there played into the sound of the album at all.
We were there the whole month of January, you know, setting up the skeleton of the album. We recorded roughly around 13 to 15 songs, I think. The whole Costa Rican vibe definitely influenced our flavor on the album. There are a lot of interesting sounds and references. You can definitely tell we were in another place. It was cool to go someplace where we could relax and be open-minded and channel into a different style than what we were all comfortable with being in the city all the time. I’m really excited for everyone to hear all the different sounds and textures on the album. I hope everyone likes it.

I saw an interview where you or one of the guys said that the album goes a lot deeper than what people might be accustomed to from the singles you’ve released so far. Is that a lyrical statement, or the music?
I think it’s a little bit of both. Me and the Cataracs grew up being influenced by a lot of different genres and musicians. We were really free when we started recording this album. I work with them every day. We lived together for two years. They know what I want to come across on this album, and we were finally in a place where nobody was bothering us and in our heads and we could finally just do that. We have a lot of really good dance tracks and hip-hop-influenced electronic pop music or whatever that we’ve recorded over the years, but I never thought that millions of people would listen to. I was like 19 years old and recording in my bedroom. And now, based on the millions of views on YouTube… And it’s great. I like that I can put out these fun and sassy songs, but it was important to me to show that I am a human being, you know? I’m not just a degenerate. I got to be a little bit more in touch with my feelings for once, which is great.

Did you work with any other producers on the upcoming album?
No, not right now. Right now it’s produced and featuring just The Cataracs. I might do something–I haven’t really told anyone this I don’t think–with Timbo [Timbaland]. Me and him got along really great in the studio. I spent a few days with him in Miami a couple months ago and we worked on a lot of tracks together. There was some really cool chemistry. I’m a really, really strange individual, but we got along really well. That might happen. We’ll see. Right now it’s just The Cataracs. That was important to me, to keep it just me and The Cataracs since they’ve helped me and taught me and guided me in figuring out who I am as a human being and an artist. Whether they know it or not, those two crazy boys have done a lot for me. It was important for me to keep it in our little indie pop squad.

In that regard, since you and The Cataracs work so closely together and have a tight bond, when you work with someone else do you feel a sort of separation anxiety?
Right? Like I start throwing up [laughs]. I guess it is, but I try not to look at it like that. I’m just glad I get to write with people who know me so well, so everything comes off really real, I guess. But I don’t usually freak out too bad. I try to take little bits and pieces from every artist that I’ve met… But I only like working with The Cataracs [laughs].

Dev and The Cataracs currently are on the road supporting Usher on his OMG Tour, which hits Sacramento’s Power Balance Pavilion on May 28, 2011. Akon is also performing. Tickets can be purchased through Usher’s official website, Ushernow.com. Dev and The Cataracs will also host the official after party at District 30. Go to District30sacramento.com or call
(916) 737-5770 for details.

Morrissey has completed his new album, according to a statement the singer wrote to the Morrissey fansite True-to-you.net. “The follow-up to Years of Refusal is ready and fluttering wildly against the bars,” The ex-Smiths frontman wrote. “There is still no record label and the years shuffle like cards. My talents do not lie in DIY.” He also went on to bash his former label EMI for their release of Very Best of Morrissey. “Very Best of Morrissey has yet to tunnel its way into what we older types refer to as Record Shops–six days after intended release,” he said. “With Very Best Of… I face my first ever non-chart placing–which I shall bear with dignity.” No more information on the new album has surfaced, but a 2011 release seems likely.
-Brad F.

From small-town Nevada to far-off France, Sacramento’s The Alkali Flats spread the gospel of authentic country music

Words by Anthony Giannotti

The Alkali Flats is a country band. Now, I know some people don’t like country music, and to be honest, I can’t blame them. Modern-day radio country has become a lame honky-pop hybrid that leaves some listeners with the distinct impression that most country fans, let alone musicians, are narrow-minded overzealous hicks. Don’t worry, The Alkali Flats is not that kind of country band. They don’t want to put a boot in anyone’s ass, and they don’t think tractors are sexy. Occasionally they are known for having an achy breaky heart, but majority of the time they have a true-blue, old school honky-tonk country band that would make Hank Williams Sr. proud.

I had a chance to sit on a front porch, crack open a couple of beers with all five honky-tonkers (including Sasha Prawalsky and Mark Miller) and get the lowdown on the new album, some country music history and more on why they continue to play country music.

With this style of country music being so far off most people’s play list, what attracted you guys to this style?
Tim White: I think we all got it from our parents. We all grew up with country music in one form or another. Mark got a lot of it from his parents, so did I and Chris grew up with some awesome old-timey stuff.
Chris Harvey: Tim here has been playing this style of music for well over half his life; he introduced me to a lot of the cool stuff about 20 years ago.
Sasha Prawalsky: I think playing this style of music brings us to the place we enjoy playing; our music seems to appeal to the crowd at Al the Wop’s, the down dirty crowd. That’s just where we like to be.
Mark Miller: I know one thing that draws all of us to this style of music is we all enjoy bands that have a shtick, kind of a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor to it, and our style of country music definitely has that.

How long did you work on the new album?
Tim: Well we tracked the entire thing in four hours. [Laughs] But we did set about recording it differently than we have recorded in the past. Our friend JR had the idea to record it at The Hangar using some of their vintage equipment and record it live. We huddled around a single mic in the center of the room just like they did in the ‘40s and ‘50s. We wanted to get that real raw, gritty sound.
Scott Prawalsky: It was the funnest recording session I have ever had. We invited 30 or 40 of our friends, made it a potluck dinner and recorded 18 songs in four hours in front of a live audience.
Chris: To be fair we practiced our asses off so we could record so quickly; we nailed most of the record on the first take and the rest of it in two or three [takes]. There are some little imperfection but that’s what we wanted.
Sasha: I like the imperfection. It’s who we are. I think the new album is a very good representation of what you would get if you came to see us live.

A couple years ago you were playing a song called “The Spade Cooley Stomp”; were you able to include any more dark humor on the new album? [Spade Cooley was known as a Western swing musician and an actor from the ‘50s but is more infamously known for being convicted of beating his wife to death.]
Scott: Not dark humor but there’s some ridiculous humor, some barnyard humor. We cover “Ugly and Slouchy (That’s How I Like ‘Em).”
Chris: [Laughs] No nothing as dark as “Spade Cooley Stomp.” We kind of stopped playing that song. Most people would stare at us like we were from outer space when we played it.
Tim: Yeah most people have no idea who Spade Cooley is. If you know who he is, you think it’s funny but only about one in 40 people at the shows would get it.
Mark: And I think those people were drunk. We should start playing that song again. It’s a good song.

So you guys are headed back to Europe…
Chris: Yeah we are basing out of Belgium and hitting several other countries; we are just waiting to hear back from our friends over there. We have been really lucky in Europe. Last time we went we had never played France before. We had over 200 people show up dressed in cowboy hats and boots, and they line danced all night. They really have an appreciation for old authentic American country music over there.
Mark: There are a lot of bands going over there and doing rockabilly or other American roots music but not a lot doing honky-tonk. I thought it was interesting that they had seen the upright bass before and the hollow body guitars, but everywhere we went they were really impressed by the steel guitar. It was a real novelty for them.

Any plans for more U.S. tours?
Mark: Yes. There’s more that we want to do but we have to be realistic about it and decide what’s best for the group.
Chris: We get asked to do more than we can. We get invited to some really cool stuff that we’d like to do but we just can’t. After all, we all have day jobs

Anything you guys want to add?
Chris: I’d like to mention the Kickstarter thing. Kickstarter is a new thing online, we appealed to our friends to make a donation on Kickstarter to help us make the new album. We had 81 friends donate between $10 and $500.
Mark: We had a $2500 goal and our friends really came through and helped us well exceed that. We were able to put out a much better record than we expected.
Scott: What was really cool was in the past all our records were do-it-yourself, burned discs with stickers and lost money. Because of our friends’ help we could actually afford to have it professionally packaged, mastered and mixed.