A Lot Like Birds, Not to Reason Why, Early States, The Dreaded Diamond, Cryptics

Friday, Jan. 21, 2011 – The Refuge – Sacramento

Words by Bobby S. Gulshan – Photo by Cait Loper

The Refuge played host to an eclectic bill of hard-hitting bands from around Northern California. The Cryptics, a three-piece from Santa Cruz, Calif., opened the evening with a set of tunes that combined bite and sweetness. Part power pop, part jagged punk rock, The Cryptics relied on pulsing, driving rhythms and machine gun staccato guitar riffs. As the audience trickled into the space that serves double-duty as a Lutheran Church, the Cryptics took the chance to warm the crowd and prepare them for the night.

The Dreaded Diamond brought an unexpected hint of soul to the evening. The two-piece brother and sister act–featuring Juli Lydell on keys and vocals and Tyler Lydell on drums–combine a heavy percussive attack with melodies that at times soar and at other times lilt with emotional fragility. Despite only featuring two people on stage, there was no lack of presence. Juli’s stage persona is magnified not only by precocious lyrical content, but also her witty engagement with the audience. Songs like “Alphonse Muca” contain enough complexity to run the gamut from indie folk to soulful pop, making you wonder what Natasha Bedingfield might sound like if she had street cred.

Early States brought an air of big stage pomp, featuring a lighting rig and stage smoke that would be appropriate on an arena tour. However, the big-time stage setup was justified by the bright energy the Sacramento three-piece brought to the audience. A faithful cadre of fans crowded the front of the stage and danced to the techno-infused pop and sang along to infectious choruses. Early States sound relates to that of Muse without the paranoia, and in fact presents an epic send-up of an emerging generation flush with optimistic possibility. Fans sang along to “Stop Calling Me Out,” the chorus of which describes defiance in the face of frustration and judgment. The band ended with “Smoke in My Eyes,” a song driven by a jangly guitar riff reminiscent of classic U2 and a perfect coda to an energetic set.

“We’ve been called ‘moody,’” said Not to Reason Why guitarist Ian Simpson. In stark contrast to Early States, Not to Reason Why, a four-piece instrumental group from Petaluma, Calif., enveloped the venue in a sinuous darkness, like objects roughhewn out of obsidian. Combining hauntingly gentle piano melodies and arpeggiated guitar lines, Not to Reason Why lulled the audience into a reflective moment, and then would lambaste them with sonic dirges that would be well suited for the soundtrack to the end of days. The final tune, “Good Afternoon,” began with the bass player picking up a guitar, and the drummer switching to bass, as the band wove a tense lullaby that eventually arrived at epic, post-metal bombast as the drummer returned to his post and stark white light enveloped the stage during a powerfully sludging finale.

A Lot Like Birds closed out the evening with their pummeling brand of hardcore. The screams were accompanied by the melodic wails of Kurt Travis, formerly of Dance Gavin Dance, and the twin vocal attack added depth to the presentation. A Lot Like Birds convulsed with tense energy, attacking with a sonic barrage. Most of the songs they played remain untitled, but what’s vital is the energy. A Lot Like Birds are technically savvy, and some of the tunes proceed with a barely controlled chaos, as if it will fall apart at any moment, only to turn on a dime and crush you with a driving breakdown. These guys can play, and they definitely left a pint of blood up on that stage. The audience was whipped into frenetic frenzy, head banging and writhing to every single break. The final tune, “My Body at War,” drove the crowd into a swirling mosh pit. The pure catharsis of A Lot Like Birds was the perfect exclamation point on an evening of wide ranging sounds.

Pets Return to “Kill The Boredom” For Second Album

Most people watch TV and play video games in their living room, but Allison Jones and Derek Fieth of the rock band Pets use their house space a little differently. For the past few years, the rock couple has used their living room as an area to practice their music for upcoming gigs and recordings.

“Our living room is set up so one side is a couch and the other side is all of the amps and guitars set up against the wall,” said Fieth with a laugh. “So when it’s time to practice we have to drag it out, like we are setting up for a show. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s great to practice at home but it does make it a bit of an event.”

Although they would like to have a separate music room in their home to rehearse in, the only thing they seem to need is each other to begin the creative flow.

“He just doesn’t write a song and then I am like, ‘OK show me how to play it,’” explained Jones. “We write at the same time.”

But after much practicing, Pets are ready to unveil their second album, Ready the Rifles with 10 new tracks that will turn your mundane day into a rock out session. At first, they chose their album name because it simply sounded cool, but Jones and Fieth soon realized that the title had more meaning than they thought.

“The ‘rifles’ are whatever you use or we use to kill the boredom,” Fieth said. “So it’s like a call to action…your rifles kill the boredom. The last song is called ‘Bored to Kill’ and that’s what the whole thing is kind of about. If you’re bored, then make it better.”

The amount of footwork Pets put into their new CD could make them one of the hardest working bands in the area. The guitar players made sure that every part of their new album, from the artwork to the packaging, was under their control.

“It was cool to be so hands-on with the company making the CD though,” said Fieth after sipping his $1 Olympia beer. “It just shows that anybody can do it, if they get into it and go for it.”

Both band members agreed that if you mixed the music from The Raveonettes and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club it would equal their new rock sound for Pets’ upcoming album.

Ready the Rifles is fully equipped with live drums and has a “straight rock ‘n’ roll” feel to it, compared to their debut album Pick Up Your Feet, which prominently featured a synthesizer and a drum machine. These days, the duo decided to drop the old drum machine and only play with a live drummer for all of their shows.

“So that’s a big difference. It’s always going to be a live band from now on, which is fun,” said Fieth. “We love the drum machine, but we had pretty much had that machine run its course… But the energy playing with live drummers is awesome, especially with the new songs.”

“There’s obviously extra energy on stage,” added Jones.

Pets recorded Ready the Rifles with Ira Skinner at Alley Avenue Studios and hope to book him for future shows as their drummer.

“We would have had to buy a new [drum machine] and learn how to use it,” Fieth stated. “Or hire a regular full time drummer, but we love being just a two-person band. We don’t want to officially have a third member.”

One of their personal favorite tracks on the new album is “Sweetspot,” because it only took them about two afternoons to put together, unlike some of their other songs which took them months to produce.

Both members are Sacramento residents. Jones, from Citrus Heights, and Fieth, from Yuba City, feel like they have played at almost every local venue such as Old Ironsides, Marilyn’s, Press Club, The Distillery, Luigi’s, The Blue Lamp and even Sacramento State. But with the rapidly changing music scene in Sacramento, booking shows for their new music might be a different experience for Pets.

“When we had the drum machine it seemed like sometimes people didn’t know where to put us on a show,” said Fieth. “Now we’ve got this full, loud, rock ‘n’ roll set up. So we’re excited to see what happens.”

In 2010, Pets were pleasantly surprised to win the Sacramento Area Music Award (The Sammie) for “Outstanding Pop,” because they have been nominated multiple times but in different music categories.

It took Pets five years between their two albums, because they never feel the need to force the music out of their heads. They only play rock ‘n’ roll to have fun.

“If it gets hard, then we kind of put it off,” Fieth said.

“We go out instead,” continued Jones.

Even when choosing a band name in the summer of 2003, they decided to keep things short and sweet.

“We made a few simple rules,” said Fieth. “We wanted something that didn’t tell you what kind of music it was going to be. A lot of bands you can tell what you are going to hear just by reading the name. Pets was pretty unassuming.”

But when the fun-loving rockers aren’t on stage, they enjoy a good night out on the town in Sacramento’s downtown grid, mini vacations to San Francisco, and taking care of their pet cat named Townes. They even like refer to themselves as local “happy hour hounds.”

“We can tell you all the good happy hours,” said Jones. “We would have moved if Sacramento wasn’t so good… If there were no downtown, we wouldn’t be living in Sacramento. It’s comfortable, it’s nice.”

When the duo is on stage playing their loud rock set, it is easy to expect both members to be full of delicious pizza every time they perform. When it is show day, Pets have their pre-show ritual food at their weekly downtown eatery, Pete’s Pizza.

Whether its happy hour hunting or guitar practicing in their living room, Pets’ are ready to rock Sacramento and Ready the Rifles definitely won’t kill anyone from boredom, with their raw guitar sounds, synchronized vocals and live drumbeats.

If you are 21+ and missed their all ages CD release show at Luigi’s Fungarden in Jan. you can see them this coming Friday Feb. 4 at the Townhouse. Show starts at 9 p.m. with DJ SAMiJAM, Shaun Slaughter, Adam J, Taylor Cho and Roger Carpio.

Brooklynati Natives Stay On Their Mark

Since their debut full-length Moonlighting was released in 2006, Tanya Morgan has been like the long-distance relay team of underground rap. Individually, Von Pea and Donwill have shown to be more than qualified to run things, releasing a handful of solo projects and providing guest vocals for their peers. From Don’s Don Cusack in High Fidelity to Von’s Pea’s Gotta Have It, they have showcased the diversity in their respective styles, and explored their own concepts. While each project holds its own weight, their true strength is as a unit. All of a sudden, their individual flavors become complementary and certain attributes are strengthened.

Though Tanya Morgan was originally a trio for the first two albums, Donwill and Von Pea didn’t drop the baton as they continue to push forward, record and tour just as hard as they did before. While currently working on their third as-of-yet unrevealable-titled album, Von and Don are hitting the turf with a 10-city West Coast tour. As the two explain, the new album is inspired by the energy of the stage and dedicated to having a good time, which will undoubtedly be on display when they stop by The Blue Lamp on Jan. 27, 2011. Joined by Big Pooh of Little Brother and the Hall of Justus, the bill reads like a podium for underground champs. In support of the show, Submerge reached out to the two via conference call from their home bases in Brooklynati to discuss resolutions and more.

Do you have any rap resolutions for 2011, either personally or for rap in general?
Von Pea: I would like to do more production this year. It’s a talent that I have that I don’t exercise enough. Music in general, in 2011, I would like to see a larger platform for independent artists. That’s not just for us, but music in general. I mean the platforms are there, but it’s very crowded so I guess it would be for some kind of filter. It’s like out of 30 people, 20 of them are just making music because their computer came with Garage Band, and 10 of those are serious about it, so a filter to get those 10 people what they need. I don’t know how or what that would be, but hey.

Donwill: My resolution would be to learn piano. It was my goal for 2010 too, but to find someone who knew enough to sit down and teach me. I didn’t see it through for whatever reason, but that’s still my goal for this year. Just learning a new musical language excites me. I’m sure it will improve a lot of other areas for what I do as an artist. Outside of that, just having a game plan. A lot of people use the word “grind” and “hustle” pretty loosely. The most important part of all of that is having a vision. You can grind all day and have no vision and get nowhere.

You talk about having a game plan, but when I look at you guys as a group, I feel like you guys have always been strategic and thorough in the way you present and release your music.
Donwill: We plan out everything. We have never done something haphazardly as a unit. I might have done an EP out of the blue, but as a group we always put a lot of thought and effort into what we do. You have to remind yourself to do that though. It’s not a force of habit, and once you’re accustomed to making plans you want to become more involved in the planning. It’s a talent, and just like the music, you have to practice it. I like to remind myself that I have to have a plan.

Von Pea: You can’t control a lot of things, but the one thing you can control is your plan. It’s like if something isn’t going as planned, you have to pull back, and if it takes another month to get it right, then that’s what you need to do. That’s how it has to be done. If you don’t go for everything, then it becomes what somebody else wanted. You can’t control how much your fans like it, how it sells or the money you make, but you can control how it comes out.

You both have Band Camp sites where folks can listen to your music for free, and you both have mixtapes that are open for download. What is your philosophy of giving certain projects away?
Donwill: In my opinion, it’s a necessary evil. It’s something that becomes a reward to the die-hard fans, and for those who aren’t, it’s a like a litmus test.

Von Pea: You have to use the free project right though, like have it up for a limited amount of time, or package it with something else. A lot of artists sell themselves short and put out all these free projects hoping it will pay off. In their minds they feel like they have to do it, but for us, we use it as something between projects. There won’t be a free Tanya Morgan album [laughs].

Donwill: It’s a trippy time right now for an independent artist. It’s great in a lot of ways, but very tricky. There has to be a strategy for the free releases.

Of the three aspects as a musician–writing, recording and performing–what is your favorite and what do you get out of each of those?
Donwill: Writing was my first love and I hated performing, but it got to the point where I learned to love performing more. Performing is where you get the validation. It’s the return you get for the hard work of making a song. I can’t describe the feeling of being in another country and have people recite back your rhymes; it’s incredible. Right now, we’re working on our third album, and I’m having to fall back in love with the writing process. Some artists write the same songs over and over and are OK with that. I’m not, so I have to figure out new ways to talk about my life. I mean my light bill wasn’t paid last year, and it won’t be paid this moth, so you know, you have to figure a way to say it differently.

Von Pea: It’s funny you said that, because I’m going through that right now. We haven’t had this conversation, but yeah, I’m feeling the same way.

Donwill: That’s what I’m falling in love with again, though–figuring out how to talk my shit again. I want to be more forthcoming, and not so cryptic. I want to say, “I want some money,” instead of, “Yo, the greenbacks, dolla signs, Illuminati…” I want to say what I want to say, but not make it sound redundant. It’s a delicate balance.

Von Pea: I love recording, especially by myself. Just piecing everything together is fun for me. Writing is hard, making the beats is hard, but yeah just vibing and being weird, that is my favorite thing.

To wrap things up, you mentioned working on the third album; can you reveal where you are in the process?
Von Pea: We’re about 12 songs deep right now. It’s not like a big concept record like Brooklynati.

Donwill: Yeah, I think we themed ourselves out. I mean there will be something that keeps the album cohesive, but nothing complex. I think for this album the focus is the performance aspect. We’ve learned so much just being out there, and seeing what the fans like. This album is dedicated to the stage.

So more toward the fun side of things…
Von Pea: Yeah, I would say that. There will be substance, but it won’t be like “Brenda’s Got a Baby.”

See Tanya Morgan play live at the Blue Lamp with Big Pooh, Addict Merchants and others on Jan. 27, 2011. Show starts at 9 p.m. Go to Bluelamp.com for more information.

Seminal San Franciscan Crew Fights Evil on New Album

It takes a band with the proper levels of collective ambiguousness to ascend the rickety ladders of the DIY underground. With the release of their 10th full-length studio album–and first for Chicago-based Polyvinyl Records after serving their formative years on seminal indie label Kill Rock Stars–Deerhoof has seen firsthand the ripening fruits of their labor.

Deerhoof Vs. Evil finds the 16-year-old quartet (multi-instrumentalists/aural alchemists Satomi Matsuzaki, Ed Rodriguez, John Dieterich and Greg Saunier, though there have been many lineup changes) reveling in a boundless creative explosion, full of pop/noise/electro/art rock hybrid jams with Matsuzaki’s characteristically minimalist lyrical plodding and Dieterich and Saunier’s dizzying compositional wizardry in top form. The fact that the band saw to it that every last shred of writing and production was carried out by themselves, in addition to their startling escape from the bosom of San Francisco–where they’ve been based since 1995–might have something to do with the variance in vibe. But you’d have to ask them.

So we did. Submerge caught up with Jack-of-all-trades John Dieterich in anticipation of the release of the new album–Jan. 25, 2011–as well as the band’s stop at Harlow’s on Jan. 27, 2011.

I understand the band left San Francisco recently. Where are you based now and how has the change in environment influenced the band, if at all?
Yeah, none of us lives in the same city anymore. I’m living in Albuquerque, N.M., now, which has been very interesting and completely new for me, as I’d never lived anywhere in the Southwest before. As for how this distance has affected the band, I think we’re in the process of finding that out. Our writing process has always been one in which each of us works alone, for the most part, so there’s not so much that’s different there. The situation has definitely forced us to be very productive when we’re together, so there’s maybe a little extra pressure in that sense.

The band has said in the past that the listener and audience play a large role in the interpretation of Deerhoof’s music. Explain the process of having no process in terms of creating your music.
I suppose that having no process in and of itself is a process, in that the same kinds of emotions and issues come up time and time again when we get together to work on an album. None of us really has any specific agenda, so we have to work out together what we want the album to be. That being said, we all have a lot of ideas, musical and otherwise, and especially now that we’re living in different places, I think we tend to veer off in different directions even more than before. That can make things very interesting when we then try to figure out how to synthesize our ideas.

In the respect of that ambiguity in your style, what collectively and what individually was the band vibing on with the writing and recording of Deerhoof Vs. Evil?
I really have no idea what everyone else was thinking about. As a band, I think we tend to talk a lot, but not much of that conversation revolves around what we’re listening to or what we like, though there is some element of that, I suppose. I guess we tend to treat each other’s material at face value, meaning that we don’t make any assumptions as to what that material is supposed to mean or is in reference to. We listen to it, and we try to make it something that we can all speak through. It sounds vague, but it really is quite simple in a way.

How did working without engineers, self-mixing, self-recording and without any outside input, affect the finished product?
It obviously affected it in a major way, but I don’t know exactly what would have been different had we worked with outside people. We just decided that we had a practice space where we could play, and while there were some issues with it–bands occasionally playing loud next door, etc.–it was also ideal in many respects. We have a few microphones and the ability to record ourselves. The cost of renting the room for an entire month was what we would have paid for a studio and engineers for a day, so it wasn’t too hard to make the decision. It gave us a lot more freedom to experiment in areas that we may not have been able to in a studio situation. Some of us had been working on recording/mixing/mastering projects for other people, and the move to deciding that we would just do everything ourselves was easy.

The new album bounces between a lot of different soundscapes–from disco-tinged jams like “Secret Mobilization,” to the dreamy electro of “Super Duper Electro Heads” to the pop-rock freakout of “Behold a Marvel in the Darkness.” What is different about Deerhoof’s approach to writing that makes you comfortable in such disparate realms?
It’s funny that the three songs you mention as being so different from each other were all written by one person–Greg! To be honest, I don’t think of them so much as disparate realms. Each of these songs as recorded is just one possible way of dealing with the abstract material of the composition. Sometimes we might just want to explore a certain kind of sound in a very abstract way, and we’ll decide that that sound might go well with this particular song, and so we will fuse the two ideas and see what happens. There are plenty of times when we discover that it doesn’t work–for one or more of us–and then we’ll have to find a way of making it something that we all feel is the best for that song in the context of everything else on the album.

It’s not that I don’t hear differences between the songs; it’s that I don’t see any conflict in the process of moving between them.

Satomi’s voice has now moved much more into the foreground than in previous records. Was this a conscious move?
It’s funny, that hadn’t occurred to me! You may well be right, though it could be a question of mix decisions or the type of material or anything that creates that feeling. I definitely love her singing on this record and feel like it shines in a new way.

What would you like to say to your Sacramento fans, most of whom are no doubt bleary-eyed in the face of a new decade, in advance of your Jan. 27 show at Harlow’s?
Why would they be sleepy because it’s a new decade? I would suggest more green vegetables. No, but we’re excited to come to Sacramento! It’s been quite a long time.

Deerhoof descends upon Harlow’s Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011. Tickets are $12, and the band hits the stage at 10 p.m. For more information, visit Harlows.com.

Madhouse Disciples proof positive that hard work, and doing what you love, always pay off

Despite what you may have learned from watching the troglodytes on The Jersey Shore, working for a living hasn’t completely gone out of style. Most of you probably do it every day, schlepping from job to job, making ends meet–you know, basically working-class life in America. The members of the Sacramento-based punk band Madhouse Disciples do it too, but unlike many of us, in their off hours, they fucking rock.

Starting as a three-piece, the street rock/Oi! band formed in 2003. In that time, members have come and gone, but as of now Madhouse Disciples stands strong as a tight-knit four-piece ready, at long last, to release their debut full-length album. Mike Montero, Madhouse Disciples’ drummer, is the sole founding member of the group. But he says no matter how many personnel shakeups there may have been, he never felt the need to stray from the band he formed or playing the music he loves.

“We play street rock ‘n’ roll, Oi!,” Montero says. “That’s what I love, that’s what I’ve grown up on. The people who have came and gone in this band were also into that same thing. That’s one thing that all of our members have shared. And the name, I wouldn’t change it because I’ve been doing it since I was 16. It’s my baby.”

When the band parted ways with its vocalist in 2007, Montero turned to his cousin Brian Rawlins to fill in, even though he wasn’t the most obvious choice. Though Montero had fostered Rawlins’ acceptance into the Traditional Skinhead (read: working class, pro-union, anti-racism) subculture, and Rawlins was an avid punk show-goer, he had never sung before, at least not in front of a crowd.

“The only times I’d sang before that was in the shower or in front of family,” Rawlins admits. “So it was something I wasn’t very comfortable with.”

Rawlins came to join Madhouse Disciples under peculiar circumstances. Around the time the band’s singer had left the band, Rawlins was out on tour with venerable Sacramento punks Pressure Point, working as a roadie. One night in Elko, Nev., Mike Erickson, Pressure Point’s frontman, blindsided Rawlins with a severe ultimatum.

“Mike and some of the other guys were telling me that I had to do karaoke,” Rawlins recalls. “I was like, no, I’m not really comfortable doing that… Mike told me, ‘If you’re not going to do it, we’re leaving you here and you’ll have to find your own way back.’”

The threat of being abandoned in the middle of Nevada was all the motivation Rawlins needed. He nervously belted out a rendition of “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. However, his performance left enough of an impression on Erickson that he phoned Montero and told him he should consider Rawlins for Madhouse Disciples’ vacated vocalist position. Strangely enough, the thought had already crossed Montero’s mind.

“I already wanted to try Brian out because I’d known him forever and just thought it’d be fun, but then I heard he actually could sing,” Montero says. “Mike told me about that, and it just kind of clicked.”

With a solid group, the band went into the studio to record its first full-length album. Fittingly, Erickson served as producer. Montero says that financial concerns kept the LP from seeing the light of day, but in January, the band plans to finally release the record. Not only was he a first-time singer, but Rawlins also wrote lyrics for just about every song on the record–also a new experience for him. He did what any good writer would and just pulled from his own experiences.

“I write about things like working-class ethics, unity and anti-racism. I also write about things on a personal level that can also touch other people,” he says. “Coming from divorced parents, who also had a heavy drug abuse background, there’s stuff that I learned from that. It’s not a path I have to follow.”

At 12 tracks, the self-titled album is long on message, but also extremely entertaining–just good, honest rock ‘n’ roll with searing lead guitar work courtesy of guitarist Tony Courtney. Who said having a conscience and having a good time had to be mutually exclusive? In separate interviews, Montero and Rawlins broke down for us their experiences working on their debut record as well as living in the punk rock subculture.

Mike Montero

Did you have an inkling that Brian would be a good vocalist, or was it just because you had a good relationship and thought it would be fun to have him in the band?
One, because we were related and I knew he was a solid dude. Two, if you’ve ever met Brian or know anyone who’s met Brian, he’s got more energy than any human being alive. I thought if nothing else, he would have great stage presence. That was the basis for me wanting to try him out.

You recorded your first full-length album coming out soon. You worked with Mike Erickson from Pressure Point to record this album. I know you did a split with Pressure Point before, but what was it like going into the studio with him to record your own album?
Mike is a great producer. He has an amazing ear for music. We spent a lot of time in pre-production. We played those songs over and over, to the point we didn’t have to think about it any more. Mike was a big part of that. He kept us motivated and going in the right direction as far as being militant about practicing and getting so good with those songs that we could play them in our sleep. As far as recording goes, Mike was producer and Eric Broyhill was the engineer. We recorded it at the Pus Cavern. Eric and Mike have been working together for years, and those two together are a deadly combination when it comes to making music. They know what it should sound like as far as tones and everything. Once we got in there, we let those two figure out the tones we were going for. We gave them a small amount of what we wanted. We wanted to sound more like an old rock ‘n’ roll record, and they knew what amps would sound good, what guitar combinations and stuff like that. It went like clockwork, really. It came together like it was meant to be.

As a drummer, have you had to adapt to each new player coming in?
Not so much. With the kind of straight-forward rock ‘n’ roll stuff we play, the drums aren’t really supposed to be super flashy. There’s not a whole lot to change. The drums are just the backbone. It’s nothing real fancy.

You’re doing the CD release at a house show. Do you prefer those over shows at venues?
The venue to me isn’t really the point so much. I prefer to play all-ages shows, where the younger kids can get into it and have a good time. It’s a good positive outlook. You play bar shows, and often times there are a lot of people sitting at the bar who don’t care about the music. They just want to get drunk, and that’s fine. Whatever, that’s cool. You want to get drunk, get drunk. Typically punk and Oi! subculture has been a youth subculture. It has a lot to do with the younger kids. All-ages venues are more preferable. Our bass player [Dirty D] owns a house that has a great big shop in the back, and it’s totally DIY. We put a stage and a PA in there, and it’s a cool thing where this is our thing.

How did you get involved in the Oi! subculture?
It was a natural transition for me. I was a punk rocker. I had crazy hair and all that stuff. It got to the point where, “I can’t find a job if I look crazy.” I didn’t change any of my values in that sense. This is what I am. This is what I believe. I’m extremely anti-racist. I can’t stand that shit, and I’m extremely working class. It comes from my lower middle-class upbringing. I was taught that you work hard for what you get. That’s one of those values that I kept with me.

Your music is a lot of fun to listen to, but there’s also the message behind it that comes through very strong. Is the enjoyment or the message more important to you?
It’s a double-edged sword. In my opinion, in punk rock and Oi! music, the message is always more important than the music. It’s not like this new fucking pop bullshit that comes out that has no message or anything to it. There are definitely things that need to be said, and I think Oi! and punk music is where that stuff is said more than in the mainstream.

Brian Rawlins

Mike said he was already thinking of asking you before he heard from Mike from Pressure Point about it. Were you aware of that at all?
A little bit, but not so much. We kind of joked about it. When their split CD with Pressure Point came out, I was like, “Dude, you should let me sing in your band,” and my cousin said, “No dude. We already have a singer. Sorry. You suck at singing.” I’ve known him my whole life, so he’s brutally honest with me, but it’s all in good fun.

How did you feel when you got off that karaoke stage? Did it make you realize that you wouldn’t mind singing for a band?
No, I was terrified, to be completely honest. I was nervous and extremely embarrassed. With my friends, we have a saying that ball-busting is a sign of endearment, and I was preparing myself to get handed a bag full of endearment, I guess you could say.

How is it for you now? You’ve been with the band for a while. Are you comfortable singing in front of people?
It’s weird. I still get nervous, but that’s one of those things, I guess. It depends on the person. I still get the jitters. I prefer not to eat before a show, but that’s the same way I was with sports growing up–playing football. I didn’t eat before games, because I knew I was going to throw up.

Sports and punk rock seem like two different worlds.
Polar opposites.

How did you move from one to the other?
Well, as far as sports went, I started playing when I was 7. I played football all the way up until I graduated. I found myself not going to parties in high school, because I just didn’t find myself getting along with the “jocks.” It wasn’t because I had a beef with them or I hated them, but I just didn’t fit in with them. They could tell I was not one of their upper middle class brethren. I was from a poor family, so it was definitely one of those class differences.

You worked with Mike from Pressure Point on this record. Was he a big influence for you heading into the band?
Going to Pressure Point shows sucked me in pretty hard. Watching those guys play was amazing. Everything he said in between songs, and reading the lyrics, spoke to me on a different level. That’s when I realized it was something that mimicked my life already. It was an easy thing to take part in.

And now you’re working with him on this record, so that must be a big thrill for you.
For Mike to produce us was really awesome. It was fun. And he’s actually someone I respect, so when he suggested something, I wasn’t like, “Uh, I know what I’m doing.” It was really nice, because I could listen to his point of view and perspective and take a different look at things. He’s been doing Pressure Point for over 15 years, and it’s like, of course I’m going to listen to him with respect and admiration. Any advice that he had, I listened to with open ears.

Mike, your cousin, was saying that you spent a lot of time practicing the songs in pre-production, and that Erickson was a big reason for that.
Huge. Before we went into production, he said that he wanted us to be able to play them forwards and backwards–know them so well that we could go and hit it the first time and then work on any little things we wanted to do. You’ve got musicians like Tony in the band, who’s an amazing guitar player. It was fun. Practicing with these guys has always been fun. It’s never been like work.

Spin Burger Bar
1020 16th Street – Sacramento
Words & Photos by Adam Saake

They say you are what you eat. Over the past year or so it has not gone unnoticed that Submerge’s “Refined Tastes” has dedicated much space to the almighty burger. It’s not that we favor burgers or establishments that serve them, it’s that Sacramento continues to turn out press-worthy product. And hell, we don’t mind eating them.

The newest addition comes from the closing of Bistro 33 that was located on the corner of 16th and K streets. The once-popular SRO-operated business wasn’t enjoying the success that the Haynes brothers originally envisioned, so they decided to close the doors and start from scratch. For months, white sheets of paper with black images of bicycles lined the windows and the logo read, “Spin Burger Bar.” The popularity of bicycle-themed restaurants is evident here in Sacramento and curiosity loomed as to what they would do differently.

For starters, Spin is a burger bar. Menus are glued to old 12-inch vinyl sleeves and the drinks menu slides out–very clever. Chalk paint covers most of the walls, and patrons are welcome to add their own artistic flair. Above the bar, bicycle wheels are mounted and strung together, and a crank at the opposite end keeps them spinning in perpetual motion. Venture to the back corner and you’ll find track bikes mounted on rollers for the purpose of Gold Sprints that they hold every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. for prizes, or daily if you just want to school your friends. Kudos for creativity–but how’s the burger?

The Spin Burger is an 8-ounce, “specially blended” patty that you can build your own way. There are a staggering number of choices, from the cheeses to the toppings to the sauces, and a few are real conversation starters. Want some mac ‘n’ cheese on your burger? How about brie cheese or pomegranate ketchup? All the basics are there too: bacon, avocado, grilled onions, etc. The possibilities for putting together a really amazing burger are all there, but there’s also the potential of creating something like a Captain Crunch sandwich, so choose carefully. I went with cheddar and pastrami and played it safe with Spin’s special sauce, a thousand island of course. Techniques vary for putting away a burger of this size, but I prefer the cut-in-half, which never seems to fail. Except this time. I got about halfway through and the bottom piece of my bun completely fell apart, leaving half of my burger almost inedible. I tried to blame my cutting skills, but the first bite told the whole story. Forgive me for using a cliché food writing term, but the bun was spongy. If you get only two things right with your burger, it’s got to be the patty and bun. One out of two ain’t bad, because the patty was delicious as was the pastrami that was generously piled on. Hopefully it’s just a kink that needs to be worked out.

Fries are extra but it was totally worth it when I saw the heap that accompanied my burger. They also have sweet potato fries, which are my personal favorites. I came back for a second visit almost for that fact alone, but also decided to attack another burger on the menu that I learned is served on a more “standard” bun. The fresh-tasting, perfectly toasted bun is what contributes to making burgers like that of Formoli’s Bistro or The Golden Bear some of the tastiest in town. Spin has the ingredients to compete, and I tasted it when I tried the “Double D,” which featured two patties, two slices of American cheese, lettuce, tomato and Spin sauce. In fact, I made quick work of it and almost ordered another.

The service was great. The bartender Kate was pleasant and informative, and my food came out quickly. The beer selection includes local brew Monkey Knife Fight from Rubicon and each day of the week has a clever name like Fat Tuesday and Widmer Wednesday. During their happy hour, 3:30 to 7:00 p.m., enjoy $2 pints of that theme beer. Look out for an additional happy hour being added during Gold Sprints on Wednesdays. A word of advice: heavy cycling and copious drinking might lead to…well, watch from a distance.

Veteran Sacramento Rock Band Breva Comes Full Circle

The music business, even on a local level, is tough to break into. It’s cliquish and nepotistic, and like any other field, it’s all who you know. For the patient and persistent, however, the rewards are there. Local hard rock/alternative band Breva, from Folsom, is just now ready to reap those rewards, with the help of some local rock heavy-hitters.

According to drummer John Dutra, Breva has “been a band for six years, but we’ve been playing together for eight or so.” They put out two self released albums–their eponymous, self-recorded full-length album in 2005 and The Great Communicator, a five-song EP in 2007–and in early 2011, they will put forth The American Landscape, a more proper debut full-length. This time around, Breva worked with Simon Says/Rock Inc.’s Zac Diebels, who served as producer, and Far’s Shaun Lopez, who mixed the LP. Dutra says working with these two stalwarts of Sacramento’s rock scene felt like Breva had finally come “full circle.”

“To come and meet that circle, that we’re working with these dudes now, that makes us feel like we’re really doing something good and trying to kick down some doors in the Sacramento scene, which we really haven’t tried to do before,” he says.

Originally, Breva was set to work with only Diebels on The American Landscape, but at their producer’s suggestion, they brought Lopez on to mix the album.

“Zac and Shaun go way back, and they’re good buddies,” Dutra says. “That was kind of [Zac’s] call. It was his suggestion. He said it might be best to get another name on it, give a little more power to it and get fresh set of ears on it to mix. We were totally stoked about that.”

The result is an album on which Dutra says Breva “is coming into our own.” Not only did they get to work with more established Sacramento musicians, but the band also took more of a collaborative and varied approach to its songwriting.

“The 20 songs [we wrote] that have been hacked away to 10 on the album have been single songs that have been brought in by one person, things that have been jammed out in the room and things that have been taken a piece from this song here with a piece of this song here,” Dutra explains.

On their last release, Dutra says the songs were generally written by just one person and brought to the rest of the band.

“This one is much more diverse,” he continues. “There are songs that Phong [Ho, guitarist] wrote entirely on his own, and we didn’t even touch them. We just practiced them and recorded them. There are songs that we have that are four years old that we’ve tacked new parts on to and took out old parts and extended parts and twisted parts around. The main point is we’re all super involved in every aspect of it.”

Dutra contributed by stepping out from behind his drum kit and writing a few songs on guitar. He says that he knows enough guitar “to get ideas across,” then leaves it up to Ho to embellish upon those ideas and make them better. Dutra says his proficiency on the guitar also informs his work on the drums.

“I think of myself more playing the drums like a guitar player or a bass player,” he says. “I’m not really a drummer kind of guy where I’m up there shredding and trying to do drum solos and four bar drum fills. I just try to play the song.”

One song that Dutra had a big hand in on The American Landscape was tentatively titled “The Mars Volta.” The title of the song has since been changed to “Paper Is Poverty.” Dutra says he’s got a hit-or-miss relationship with the music of The Mars Volta, but the song is certainly inspired by the work of the group.

“That was one of the last songs we had written out of the batch of 18 or 20, and I had come into the studio one day, and I just did this drumbeat,” he says. “I said to the guys to play something to it, because it was kind of a cool little beat that feels like it’s in a weird time signature, but it’s in 4/4.

“We started jamming to it, and it was tentatively called ‘The Mars Volta,’ because I just stole the drumbeat from that dude,” he admits with a laugh. “I mean, like, lick for lick.”

Imitation is the biggest form of flattery, after all, but Breva’s latest effort probably won’t remind you of the aforementioned prog rockers. The American Landscape certainly contains elements of progressive rock music and perhaps splashes of psychedelia, but the band’s sound is imbued with the sort of energy found in the alternative rock of the early to mid-‘90s. Lyrically, the album is just as hard to define, but Dutra doesn’t mind it that way. From the album’s title and its cover (a political cartoon drawn by Rex Babin of the Sacramento Bee) it could be speculated that the lyrics would have a hard-line slant, but Dutra says that’s not necessarily the case.

“I don’t think all of [the songs] are political,” he says. “I would say that maybe two or three of them are politically driven, but maybe there’s more than that. I’m not too into the politics part, so I can hear a song–unless it’s like Rage Against the Machine or something, where they’re driving it down your throat–it’s not like that to me. I guess I perceive things differently, and I think that’s how Andy [Mills, vocalist] prefers it to be.”

Dutra says The American Landscape will be available in February, but could be pushed back to March. He says the band may release the album digitally at first and then try to shop it around to labels. In any case, Breva seems to have found its place in Sacramento’s rock ranks.

Breva’s The American Landscape will be available early 2011. In the meantime, see the band play Jan. 27 at The Press Club. Show starts at 8 p.m.

Cake’s Showroom of Compassion feels for you
Words by Adam Saake | Photo by Robert Knight

Longevity in the music industry has long been an admirable quality when we discuss a band and their merits. Not every musician can be Bob Dylan and few bands can be The Rolling Stones, who just won’t seem to go away. Flashes in the pan are the vast majority and that’s if you’re lucky. At least you have some good stories of what it was like, and maybe, if you had a catchy single, an immortal slot on the alternative radio rotation. The rock star talent that Sacramento has produced (yes, I’m listing them again)–Deftones, Tesla, Jackie Greene and even Far who managed a comeback–have all had pretty steady careers throughout the years. They all continue to put out records, tour on a regular basis and find support in a market that perpetually seems on the verge of collapse. Nobody buys music anymore, right? Cake’s John McCrea has his fingers crossed that that’s not the case.

“Hopefully there’s a few people left that think it’s OK to buy an album at this point,” quips McCrea.

With the upcoming release of their sixth studio album, Showroom of Compassion, slated to hit stores in mid-January, Cake has found a place that the band can find comfort in. Not because after 20 years of being a band they’re set for life, but because they’ve continued to push forward and do what’s right for them; major label support or not.

“Because of the instability of the music business, we had to reinvent what we wanted to do,” says McCrea. “We were able to extricate ourselves from the record label and start our own label.”

Part of this new venture was taking their time recording and engineering the new record, which they did entirely themselves in their Midtown studio.

“We took an old house and hollowed it out and put in microphones and solar panels on the roof,” says McCrea.

Showroom of Compassion, which was a “100-percent solar-powered recording process,” is Cake sounding as good as they ever have. They’ve always been a no-bullshit kind of band that hardly entertains with bells and whistles. Well, unless it’s actual bells and whistles or rattles or keyboards or whatever else the band deems lo-fi enough to make the cut. Songs on the new record are typical of their sound: minimal yet sonically engrossing with lyrics that leave you pondering their meaning. The grit is there, as always, but knowing how much time and personal attention went in to the songs makes the album seem so much more special.

McCrea joined Submerge via telephone from his home in Oakland, where he lives while the band isn’t recording in Sacramento.

Your press release says that you and the band had much more to do with the recording and engineering of the new record. What was the best thing that came out of that experience, besides a great new record?
I think it took forever doing it that way. We’ve always produced our own albums ourselves, which takes a long time. But also, we’ve increasingly been turning the knobs ourselves. I think we might be getting better at producing, which is hopefully the case. The best thing to come out of it is a sense of ownership and a sense of responsibility for what we’ve done. We don’t feel like anyone’s handed us anything. We never have. Even when we went to studios we were very hands-on. I guess early on we didn’t find people who really understood what we wanted to do, because what we wanted to do was very antithetical to what was going on at the time in the mid-‘90s when there was a lot of grunge. The production values were
very bombastic.

It seems like not a lot of people would want to take a chance with that because if they felt it wasn’t going to be successful then they wouldn’t touch it.
Certainly that was the case with record companies but also with producers. We didn’t know of a producer that was doing anything similar to what we wanted to do. In other words, no one was crazy enough to make stuff sound dinky. You know, during a period when everything was sounding very grandiose. We really thought that in a country like the United States, how rebellious is it to sound “big?” How subversive is creating the aural equivalent of deforestation? In a lot of ways it seemed like business as usual. So we thought, in the United States, to turn the volume down would probably be more scary and more subversive than turning it up. Not to say that all music that’s loud is bad; it’s just that we were tired of it at that point. It seemed like people were getting louder and louder. We freaked people out by turning the volume down. People used to yell at us to turn it up.

I see that you, Vincent [DiFiore] and Xan [McCurdy] all played keyboard or synthesizer on Showroom of Compassion. Was it very intentional to incorporate more of that sound into the songs?
Um…well I did allow something on this album that I hadn’t allowed ever before, which was acoustic piano. I always avoided it, because I thought it sounded too classy for us. There’s something really classy about acoustic piano, and I thought that’s not what we’re really about. But with this album, I found this old junker up in Portland [Ore.] and shipped it down here. I think it sounds crappy enough to be on our album, and it doesn’t sound like the good life or anything. As far as the other keyboards, the Nord and other stuff, we used quite a bit of keyboard on Pressure Chief–actually more, maybe, than this album. But certainly we used more keyboard on this album than we did on, say, our first album or our second album.

Over the past two-and-a-half years of writing the record, really taking your time, have you discovered that you like a slower pace of writing?
It wasn’t the writing that took a long time, it was the recording process that took a long time. We reconfigured our studio and put solar panels on the roof. We also did the same thing with reinventing our business from the ground up. We had to set up channels of distribution. We had to ask ourselves, what’s going to work now? Certainly we realized that the major-label music business structure wasn’t right for us. For one thing, it’s too expensive. If a really good percentage of people have decided that recorded music should be free, it’s no longer sustainable to have a bunch of record company suits eating out every night on our dime. We wanted to get ourselves away from that. I think we had to re-evaluate and take some time off to think and decide how we wanted to do it and whether there were still enough people to support us. The sales for recorded music have declined precipitously in the last 10 years. We wanted to economize and make sure that we could still pay our bills. By having our own record label, it helped quite a bit. Five or 10 years from now, who knows? There might be a whole different system. It would be nice if there was a different system–a way for musicians to have health insurance.

You’re an outspoken guy when it comes to issues that are important to you, yet your lyrics don’t seem too over the top. Is there a method to your madness when you sit down to write lyrics?
I don’t really sit down to write lyrics. I’m sort of writing lyrics all the time. I’ve had this notebook in my back pocket since I was a kid. I just sort of take notes about things that I find interesting or disturbing or upsetting. Then eventually I sit down and put all these little pieces of paper into songs and that’s my process. I wouldn’t say there’s that much singular intentionality to it. I think it’s a lot of different agendas I have. I do try not to be overly obvious with the songwriting. I describe the way things feel or smell or look rather than telling people exactly what I think. I think also there’s something to be said for a song being somewhat multi-purpose. For instance the song “Sick of You” I think can be looked at more specifically to be about a relationship between two people and it can also, I think, in a broader way be about general societal mood nowadays.

You guys have been known to play secret shows here and there. I know there’s been a few at the Blue Lamp, Old Ironsides and I remember some at the old Capitol Garage too. Is that something that you do for the Sacramento fans? Is it to warm up a new live set before you hit bigger venues? Both?
Yeah, it serves both purposes. It’s hard to figure out what you want to do live without actually playing live. It’s also a thank you to Sacramento for supporting us all these years. And it’s also for our listeners who have signed our mailing list, because without a record company we really depend on the direct connection to our listeners. If it’s the only way for people to find out about those shows by signing the mailing list, then I think it’s a good incentive. It’s a good way for us to stay in touch with people and a good reason for people to want us to stay in touch with them.

When did the whole idea of giving away trees at your shows, the Cake Forest, begin and what prompted that?
I planted a tree in Sacramento in front of one of my apartments where I lived a long time ago. I put it in the median between the sidewalk and the street. It was about as tall as my chest, I imagine. Things happened in my life, I moved away and the band started doing well, and I started being away from home all the time. I forgot about the tree.

Years passed and I went back to it and, oh my god, it was way up there. It’s a profound physical reiteration of the passage of time. That’s really what trees are all about. And I just thought; wow this was a great experience that I had. Being able to plant a tree and come back years later to see what was going on with it. I thought, everybody should have that experience. Everybody should try to plant at least one tree in their whole life. As the tree gets bigger and stronger, you get older and die. I thought, wow we could make a deal with people that if we give them the tree they have to send photographs of themselves standing next to the trees and keep us posted on how the tree’s doing. Even if it dies, people are supposed to send us a photograph and we put it up on our site.

Have you gotten a lot flack for using Cake’s website as a place to educate and discuss the global and local issues that are important to you and the band?
Oh yeah. It’s almost not even worth it to say anything on our website anymore. People just freak out! I feel like some people must be paid operatives from the Heritage Foundation or something. Just freaking out. I think they want to shut us down. I don’t find websites of bands very interesting. I think it’s kind of unhealthy just to focus only on the people and the band. I think it’s better to talk about subjects. Our music is about subjects, and I feel like we shouldn’t be barred from discussing subjects on our website.

Cake’s Showroom of Compassion will be in stores Jan. 11, 2011. If you do still buy albums, this will be a good one for you to get. If you’d like to sign up for Cake’s e-mail newsletter, go to www.cakemusic.com/news and click the link on the top left of the page.

Words by Adam Saake
Photos by Leon Moore

Sparkling wine, or what is ubiquitously known as Champagne, is an American staple for celebration. Whether it be graduations, marriages, anniversaries, engagements or rap videos, popping some bubbly always seems appropriate. Hell, we even commemorate weekends by throwing a splash in our orange juice–bottomless for the lush. But what seems like a more appropriate moment of our whole year to toast and clink our glasses then New Year’s Eve? As we wind down 2010 and reflect upon the months gone by, Submerge offers you this guide to grocery store bubbles to help with those tough decisions. France or California? Cava or Prosecco? In the words of the late Biggie Smalls, “Sip Champagne when I’m thirsty.”

Cortisano
Cava Brut
Spain
($5.99 at Trader Joe’s)

Methode Champenois, is a very fun wine to pair with foods and festivities. Cortisano’s Brut Cava has a nice fruit expression, giving one the impression that the wine is sweet when it’s actually lower in sugar (see chart). Try to taste green apples at first and then a nice “bready” finish. Yum!

Zonin
Prosecco Brut Veneto
Italy
($5.99 at Trader Joe’s)

Prosecco is an Italian sparkling wine that is made from the Prosecco grape, or Glera as it’s more commonly known. Unlike sparkling wines made in the Methode Champenois, Prosecco is made in the Charmat method in which the secondary fermentation (where the bubbles come from) takes place in stainless steel tanks instead of in the bottle. Prosecco has grown in popularity lately because it’s a lot cheaper than Champagne, but what you’re getting is actually a really great wine for your buck. Like the Cava, the Zonin Prosecco has an upfront fruit expression but try and taste pears this time. Not as fine of a mousse but perfect for pasta or shellfish–a simple, drinkable wine.

Domaine Carneros 2006 Taittinger
Sparkling Wine Brut
Napa, Calif.
($19.99 at Safeway)

In 1987, president of the French Champagne Taittinger (pronounced tay-ton-zjay) purchased 138 acres in the Carneros district of the Napa Valley. He was out to make world-class sparkling wine in the United States. With the help of Eileen Crane, CEO and founding winemaker, Domaine Carneros was born. This gorgeous sparkling wine, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, is a much more accurate expression of French Champagne. Instead of being a fruit-forward wine, the nuances are in the background and it will benefit you to take it slow and really savor each sip. Plus, there is a lot finer of a mousse on this wine, so you won’t mind rolling it around in your mouth a bit. Now we’re having fun!

Barnaut
Grand Cru Champagne
Blanc de Noirs
France
($48 at Market at Pavilions)

This is something a little more special. When it comes to spending money on wine, it’s nice to know that you’re not just paying for a name. Barnaut is a small producer from the Bouzy region where the temperatures are very cold. Here, the caves in which the wine is aged are 15 meters below the ground, so aging happens very slowly. In order to label your wine Champagne, you have to follow some rules (AOC). One is that a portion of your harvest be held back each year and kept to age. So Barnaut blends multiple, patiently aged vintages into his wines, giving them a layered complexity. What you get is a fine mousse and a beautiful wine that is certainly meant to be slowly enjoyed with food and good company.

Non-vintage vs. Vintage

Often when you pick up a bottle of Champagne or sparkling wine, you won’t find a vintage, or the year in which the grapes were harvested. This is called non-vintage, and it basically means that it’s a blend of grapes from the past five years or so. This doesn’t mean that it’s bad wine. In fact, some producers blend multiple vintages to create wines with many layers to enjoy. When you find a bottle that does have a vintage, it shows that the producer has chosen just those grapes from that harvest to craft his or her wine. In that case, do a little research and find out what years and regions yielded good Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier grapes. Those are the three usually found in Champagne.

Brut, Extra Dry, Sec & Demi-Sec

These are important to look out for on the labels of sparkling wine, because they refer to the sweetness, or percentage of residual sugar that’s in the wine. Brut is less sweet, extra dry is sweeter and so on and so forth.

Brut: up to 15 percent, usually not that sweet
Extra Dry: 12—20 percent, sweet
Sec: 17—35 percent, sweeter
Demi-sec: 33—55 percent, sweetest

What’s the mousse, anyway?
Next time you’re at a tasting and someone says, “What a fine mousse,” you can be sure they aren’t talking wildlife. Mousse refers to the fineness of bubbles in your sparkling wine and can actually make or break your experience. Some wines that have less attention paid to detail might have an aggressive mousse that makes the wine tough to enjoy. But, get a bottle with fine, silky bubbles and it’s a symphony in your mouth.

Spumante and Frizzante
These are two terms that refer to how sparkling each wine will be, spumante meaning fully sparkling and frizzante meaning lightly sparkling. Choose wisely.

Q. What’s your go-to sparkling wine during the holidays?

Jonathan Klonecke
Former wine director, L Wine Bar/Wine Broker
For special occasions I like vintage Champagne because it presents an opportunity to reflect on the year the Champagne was vinified and to look ahead to the New Year. One producer in particular I’ve enjoyed of late is Maison Lilbert-Fils, who crafts arrestingly elegant Champagne from his tiny 4-hectare domaine in the village of Cramant. His current vintage is 2004, but try to find some 2002. For something more widely distributed I can recommend Charles Heidsieck, especially his Prestige Cuvée Blanc des Millénaires if someone else is buying.

For a crowd I’m fond of, I like the sparkling wines from the Burgundy region of France labeled as Crémant de Bourgogne. Not only are they fashioned from two of my favorite varietals, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but can be great values. Two I’ve enjoyed recently were Maison Parigot and Richard’s Blanc des Blancs and Louis Bouillot’s Perle d’Aurore Rosé Brut. Both can be found for under $30.

Chris Macias
Food and wine writer/Sacramento Bee
Gruet Blanc de Noirs. As much as I’d love to splurge on a bottle of Bollinger or Krug, after holiday shopping is done I’m thinking something more in the $20 and under range. It’s hard to beat this reliable domestic sparkler that hails–of all places–from New Mexico. But these high-altitude vineyards, about three hours south of Albuquerque, get a balance of sunny days and cool nights that produce quality fruit during its quick growing season. This fizz comes with plenty of flavor and texture, which will work either at the dinner table or popped at a holiday party. The best part: Gruet Blanc de Noirs is only about $15. Cheers to that!

Leon Moore
Server and wine director/Red Lotus
For the holidays, I always love a good Brut Rosé. Recently I stumbled upon a lovely Louis Bouillot Crémant de Bourgogne. You’ll feel like you are drinking a $100 bottle with this lovely sparkling, 100 percent Pinot Noir that’s only about $17! Strawberries in a cup, I say!

Hanover Saints release a new album, look to cement their legacy in their hometown
Words by Butch Ivory

For nearly 20 years, Brian Hanover has been devouring the sights, sounds and chaos of Sacramento punk rock. The Hanover Saints have spent the most crucial chunk of that time writing, recording and improving their place in its history.

In spite of numerous lineup changes and scurrilous misunderstanding from all sides, Hanover has managed to find his focus time and time again. The Saints’ latest offering, Bitter Pills, defines once more our need for the Hanover Saints in this city, and their need for a place of their own in it. As Hanover asserts, “As far as I see the scene in my hometown…I used to think it was fragmented, but now I just think it is fractured.”

For those of us who have toiled in the underbelly of the Sacramento music scene for so long, it’s a scene that at times has struggled to find a sense of itself, a sanctuary more rooted in folklore rather than history. Having witnessed bands as diverse and wide-ranging as ‘80s skate rock legends Tales of Terror, or the working class thrash dynamo Sins of the Flesh to the more recent Ramones-esque pop sensibility of The Groovy Ghoulies or the street punk anthems of Whiskey Rebels, this city has enjoyed a wealth of talent but suffered from an absence of cohesion.

Negotiating this landscape of division, The Hanover Saints now find themselves straddling the lines of separation. For Hanover, it’s a source of inspiration rather than of a loss of faith. “It puts me back into the ‘I don’t belong anywhere’ category, and once again I feel like I did when I was 10 and heard Black Flag or 7 Seconds for the first time,” he says. “What I felt at the time was the world is a mess; I am going to change it, even if it’s just my community.”

In the following interview, with a renewed sense of purpose and a brand new release in the can, Brian Hanover discusses and argues about what drives him and the band to once again climb back into the blood-stained ring of Sacramento’s underground.

After several lineup changes and a solid new record, Murdertown, The Hanover Saints seemed to vanish. Why the comeback? Why now?
I never really wanted to put it on hold. But at the time we went on hiatus I was going through a lot mentally, business- and family-wise, and just wanted to see things from a non-band perspective. I always hoped to one day get back, when it was right for me… I think at some point I was missing something inside myself that I needed to tap into and stepping away seemed to be the most honest thing to do. I started playing solo and fell in love with not having to rely on other people to make music, but it allowed me to challenge everything I was about.

How has your solo experience affected the Hanover Saints?
I needed to shake my core, and playing live by myself channeled a lot of those feelings, beliefs, and not compromising. So three years went by and Wy [Harrell], our drummer, played on some solo stuff and we always talked about it. He has stayed loyal through it all, and when asked to play a show last June, I called the three guys up. So much time had passed, and we missed being around each other and wanted to play. It was just time. The music business side has changed so much that we knew we had to do this all ourselves, and it was the truest place for us so we moved forward. The solo thing has really helped me be more focused when writing and allowed me to take more risks… I just write and what comes out just comes out. Hanover Saints material was coming out in my writing at home, and it came at a perfect time to start playing together again. Maybe not financially, but that never has been a deciding factor, but it has its challenges with releasing music these days. Anything goes in that area now. We are really enjoying the freedom of music and how creative it can be, which is making Hanover Saints a healthier situation for all of us.

Lyrically, you seem to focus more on the personal than the political. Is this a conscious decision? Or is it a reflection of the type of songwriters you most identify with?
On this EP, I left it more open-ended. We had a solid fellow produce us at a certain point, and we had a meeting to talk about the record. He said, “When I listen to your past songs, I don’t feel like I know you, but I do know you, and I know your personal story. I challenge you to dig deep.” I think at that moment it clicked for me. I hid a lot from my past because of the pain and just wanted to bury it and forget it happened. Those things have a way of resurfacing, and it helped me to become a more honest, well-rounded songwriter instead of a topical one. There are some political leanings on “Nailed to the Letter” that have to do with right-wing conservative politicians, which is so cliché. But coming from someone who believes in the Lord and can’t relate to one word they say, it puts me back into the “I don’t belong anywhere” category… I am not down with blind hatred and when a movement becomes more important than human beings.

For many of us who have followed The Hanover Saints for several years, we have witnessed an evolution of sorts, from a “Christian punk” band to a band that has members who are Christian but play to the masses and not just to the converted, so to speak. Please explain what led you personally and the band to this decision?
It’s never been a conscious decision per se. I think it’s easy for anyone to label what they are passionate about, whether it’s straight edge, or Rasta, or whatever it may be. I just felt like our actions and music spoke for themselves. I have never denied my faith and have had record offers pulled from the table because of what I believe, but I didn’t grow up in the church, and honestly still don’t fit in most so-called churches. I honestly believe with every ounce of my being that the American church is so tied up in the political power agenda that it misses everything Jesus said. But to get back on point, I hate labels. With my life and my struggles, and believe me I am a troubled human being, I need peace in my life otherwise I flip out. But I have never wanted to alienate a person who doesn’t “believe”… All I ever wanted to do is just write real songs and maybe I am longwinded, but I’m super passionate about songwriting, and it’s a gift that I don’t take for granted. I am hoping one day I can sing better though [laughs].

It is a gift, but at some point wasn’t there a decision to be made about playing with certain bands and on certain bills that made you aware of the labels that people on all sides of the coin want to place on you?
All I ever wanted to do is play music, as far back as I can remember, and when I discovered punk in late 1984/early 1985 and picked up a guitar, I never worried about what people thought. Not till I got into my mid-20s when Hanover Saints started did I see these labels define a scene. I have always played wherever to whomever, and if these certain people want to label me, so be it. I heard people’s rhetoric from stage and then I would be hanging out with them later and helping them or they would be helping us, so sometimes the whole idea of it just seems to blur the lines, and it comes from both sides. But, being misconstrued from both sides has never stopped me. I am a really caring person inside, and the thought of someone not liking us for playing with this band or that band could eat you up inside by trying to figure it out. Music is supposed to be creative, freeing, uplifting and life-changing, and if someone is worried about what I do and where I play and who I hang out with, they are missing the best part about music. I just finally recently found a huge amount of peace knowing I am never going to fit in and it’s OK.

How has being a father changed your music, your attitude, and your desire to continue to make punk rock?
Being a father has made me a better person. More patient, more forgiving, but also making music since my son was born has made me way more focused just on the fact that he comes first and all else comes later. He is a great kid. He loves me playing music and we play tunes together. It’s a part of our family. I have to be wiser about money, but we all love punk in this house. He loves everything from Madball to Kepi Ghoulie, from Youth of Today to The Clash. He likes what he likes. I remember one day a CD ejected from the car, and it turned to classic rock. It was Skynyrd, and he said, “Dad put on some real rock ‘n’ roll, this sucks.” So I said “Give me a second, I am trying to put another CD in,” but he has no time for what he doesn’t like. But he loves all the music I play. He is my biggest fan and punk will be around forever in this household.

Regarding the future, you have a new EP, Bitter Pills, coming out this month on Revolution Ink records.
We have our first release since our record Murdertown. I am releasing it on my label, Revolution Ink Records, digitally and on CD, and a local label Pleasant Screams Cassettes is doing a limited run on cassette. Hopefully we’ll have it on vinyl early next year. Money has been super tight, and we don’t play a lot, so basically we had $500 to record our EP and I am pressing it. The rest of our money has gone to rehearsal space rent. So we are excited to get back and playing live and writing even more songs.

The new songs seem to reflect a more soulful singing style. The songs still have the aggression of Murdertown but seem to have a more Iggy and the Stooges vibe in spots. What do you credit with your growth as a singer and as a songwriter?
I always feel uncomfortable singing, but I have always had this pent-up aggression within me. I just wanted to capture that with more soulful melody, but that’s always just hanging on the edge where at any moment it can just fall apart. During this session, which was five hours of vocals, I literally was grabbing the wall and just shaking and taking myself out. I found this spot where I trusted myself with being on the edge of it falling apart. But I think since the hiatus I have written about 40 songs in various styles, like Motown, straight folk almost Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie style, to Creedence sounding tunes. What I was realizing was how much of a music lover I am, and how much different stuff I listen to from Joy Division, 4 skins, Swervedriver, to Joan Baez, The Damned, to the Australian band The Saints, so I just felt free to be free and that I had nothing to lose.

If it sucks, it sucks, but I love these songs. It is just a new chapter for me. I always go into Hanover Saints recordings as the band’s biggest fan. I ask myself would I listen to this and what do I want from us?

Can we expect The Hanover Saints to disappear again after this record or are you guys back for a while?
I hope we are around for a while, but I like not ever knowing. I want it as raw and close to the edge as possible. I am hoping for more time. I don’t think it’s done!