#raygun t shirts are my favorite things to exist

[corneliaavenue]

I'm dying

[daggerzine]

Deardarkhead’s founding member and drummer, Rob Weiss, give up all the secrets.

Kevin, Rob and John- the current lineup 

South Jersey’s Deardarkhead started as a band shortly after I had started doing this very zine, DAGGER (my first issue was March of 1987 and they began in ‘88). I had met drummer and founding member (and the only original member left) as kids as he grew up down the street from me on the mean streets of Linwood, NJ. Fast forward several years later and Rob is into underground music and forming a band (and working at Sound Odyssey, our local record store in the Shore Mall).

The band was really a breath of fresh air in the South Jersey scene back then as most bands in the scene were either metal or by-the-numbers punk. DDH went across the pond for their influence and gathered it in bands like the Jesus & Mary Chain, Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division and many more (many years ago our friendship was further solidified when he told me he was a huge Naked Raygun fan). The band were able to take these influences and create something truly unique. 

Through a myriad of ups and downs and band members, Rob (drums) and guitarist Kevin Harrington (longtime vocalist Michael Amper left nearly a decade ago) hooked up with a bassist last summer, John Bennett and began playing out again and the band is excited about recording new music.

All of the band’s releases had been on their own Fertile Crescent Records, but nearly a decade ago the band got a serious boost when NYC indie label, Captured Track released a compilation of the band’s early days (Oceanside- 1991-1993). It’s a superb compilation and a great place to start for newcomers (of course DDH completists need it as well). In 2016 Texas shoegaze label Saint Marie Records released an EP, Strange Weather. I was a bit hesitant as the EP was their first record as all instrumental, but the songs were so good that I needn’t worry.

As you’ll read below, Rob’s anxious to record more music and hit the stage as well. That makes me excited as I really hope DDH have lots of gas left in the tank.  

When did you first start playing drums? Did you pick up any other instruments?

I started playing drums in 2nd grade, but I had always wanted to play drums since I was in kindergarten. We had a piano in my house and all of my family played, so I grudgingly agreed to take lessons. A friend of my mother's, who was a piano teacher, would come to our house for the lessons. After about three weeks in, during a lesson, I was asked to repeat a song. I asked my teacher if I could use the bathroom first. Minutes and minutes go by, and my mother comes to the bathroom door asking "Rob are you coming out?" My reply was "I want to play drums!" Lesson over, and the rest is history as they say. I started learning to play other instruments when DDH formed in 1988. I got a 4 track and experimented, until I got good enough to write songs on guitar and bass. If you give me an instrument, I'll make music with it. 

Kurt, Mike, Blakely and Rob- the early daze

 What do you remember as the first indie/alternative bands that you began listening to?

I was really getting into New Wave during the last few years of junior high school. Stuff like Blondie, Devo, The Police, The Cars, and The B-52's. I mostly rejected classic rock at the time, as I wasn't too interested in bands that were no longer around. By high school (1982-1986), I was getting into bands like U2, The Cure, Echo and The Bunnymen, Duran Duran, Public Image Limited and INXS. 

 When did you get hired at (South Jersey record store) Sound Odyssey? How long did your tenure there last and what was it like?

I started at Sound Odyssey in 1987. I was going to Stockton State College at the time and had started hanging around WLFR, the college radio station. While I wasn't a DJ myself, I met a lot of like minded people there, including our mutual friend DJ Bob Portella, who was working at Sound Odyssey then. He put in a good word for me and I got the job. Sound Odyssey was a great record store and I'd probably still work there now if it existed! It was a small chain of about seven stores, owned by the Richman Brothers, and for a mall record store it was amazing. We had a bit of everything: vinyl, tapes, cds, imports, 12"s, 45's, videos, t-shirts, posters, guitars, effect pedals, small amps etc. I bought so many records at that store and it was an important, formative period in my musical education. I made a lot of great friends there (both employees and customers). It was definitely a social hub of the time, as there weren't too many record stores in our area. I came in right at the end of the era, and sometime in 1989 it was sold to the British company, W.H. Smith, which turned it into a Wee Three Records and then The Wall. Although it had changed into an average mainstream record store, I continued working there until they shut it down in 1998, but it had moved to the other end of the mall a few years before. After that, I worked at another local record store, CD Warehouse/Exchange, for a few years. 

 Kevin, Rob, Mike and Blakely- aka: the next lineup (Kevin replaced Kurt)

Had you been in any bands before Deardarkhead?

Prior to DDH around 1987-1988, I had started a short-lived band called Aslan's Pride. We were very U2-esque and only played a handful of shows. Blakely Parent, who had recently moved from Baton Rouge to Ocean City, was our bass player and he would go on to be in the initial line up of DDH.

 Tell me about some of your influences. I know you loved a lot of UK stuff like Echo & the Bunnymen and Jesus & Mary Chain but you also loved Naked Raygun.

I'm definitely an Anglophile, as most of my favorite bands are British or from the UK. In terms of my major influences when I started DDH, I'd list: The Cure, U2, Echo and The Bunnymen, The Beatles, Bauhaus, The Police, Joy Division/New Order, The Church, The Psychedelic Furs, The House of Love, The Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain and 4AD/Factory Records/Creation Records in general. While DDH was definitely on the post-punk side of things, we also liked a lot of punk bands: The Dead Kennedys, The Sex Pistols, The Dead Milkmen, The Ramones, The Buzzcocks, Agent Orange etc. I never really got into the hardcore scene, and preferred bands that were more melodic, which is something I've always loved about Naked Raygun. They are totally kick ass, but the songs are very anthemic and super melodic. 

 Tell me about the beginnings of DDH? Was it 1987 (same year I started Dagger)?  Was it you, Mike and Kurt early on?

DDH actually started in 1988, after Aslan's Pride broke up. The original lineup that recorded our first demo "Greetings From The Infernal Village", was Blakely Parent (vocals, rhythm guitar), Kurt Douglass (guitar), Josh Minor (bass), and me (drums and ebow). So Dagger started a year earlier. Frances Avenue, the street you and I both lived on, was pretty happening for South Jersey!

The first recordings- on gold-plated cassette

 Tell me about the revolving lineups? I know Blakely Parent came aboard pretty early on. Who else?

We've had fairly stable lineups over long periods of time, although at this point I'm the only original member. After the initial lineup, Josh Minor left and Michael Amper came onboard in 1990, as our vocalist and rhythm guitarist, with Blakely Parent moving to bass. Kurt Douglass left in 1992, and was replaced by Kevin Harrington, who is our guitarist to date and is a defining element of our sound. Blakely left in 1994 and we continued on as a three piece. The next major change was Amper's departure in 2009. Unable to find a suitable vocalist, Kevin McCauley joined us in 2010 on bass and we became an all instrumental three piece. McCauley departed in early 2019 due to family obligations. We had been on a hiatus for a few years before that, as my mother was sick with Alzheimer's and I was completely overwhelmed dealing with that. She passed in June 2018. Around the end of summer 2019, John Bennett joined us as our bassist, and we've done three shows together since the beginning of 2020. 

 Were the early recordings collaborative or was one person doing a bulk of the writing?

Every DDH record and lineup has been about collaboration. I've always encouraged everyone to contribute ideas. We don't really have one standard way of writing our songs. Sometimes one person will bring in a mostly finished idea or maybe just a few sections and other times we've written tunes after jamming on a riff out of the blue. We tend to spend a lot of time arranging the song structures, so it's definitely a group effort for us.

An early EP- 1992

 Was there a specific studio where you did most of the recording?

Every recording was done in a different studio: 

Greetings from the Infernal Village - my house Linwood, New Jersey Spiral Down and Vibrate - Dekar Studio, Northfield New Jersey Melt Away Too Soon - Audio Plus, Northfield, New Jersey Ultraviolet - The Catbox, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Unlock the Valves of Feeling - The Churchbox, Lancaster, Columbia, Pennsylvania Strange Weather - Miner Street Recordings, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 The Catbox and The Churchbox were both run by Ken Heitmueller and Jay Sorrentino of Suddenly, Tammy!

 Did the band tour back them (or now)? What’s the furthest away you’ve played?

We've pretty much stuck to the East Coast, as we've never had any label support. We mainly concentrated on putting out our own records.

 Who are some of the bigger names you’ve opened up for?

The Psychedelic Furs, Supergrass, The Lilys, Everclear. 

 How do you feel about the early recordings? I still think the Melt Away Too Soon EP is really great.

We've always tried to make the best recordings we could, with what we had at the moment. Since we never really had any record label money behind us, we had to pay for all the studio time out of pocket. Most songs were done in a few takes with minimal overdubs. Constraints are a good thing, as you can get lost in infinite possibilities. I think we always sound like DDH, no matter what the lineup is, but I do feel there has been a continuous evolution of our sound over time. I'm proud of every record we have released, and feel lucky to have worked with so many talented people. 

The Captured Tracks compilation

 Tell me about the Captured Tracks collection, Oceanside: 1991-1993. What year was that and how did it come about?

That came out in 2011. I was at home one summer day, when I got a call from Mike Sniper from Captured Tracks. He wanted to know if we would be interested in having our early recordings released as a compilation, which would be part of a series called The Shoegaze Archives. The idea was to shine a light on American bands, from the late 80's to early 90's, that were working in a similar vein as their British contemporaries, (eg. Lush, Ride etc.), but never got the same attention. We were the second release in the series and all of the tracks were remastered with sleeve artwork featuring photography I took, that we used to project on stage when playing.  Overall, it was a great experience in terms of exposing an entirely new crowd of people to what DDH has been doing all along. Mike Sniper and the entire Captured Tracks staff were wonderful to work with and we are big fans of many of the bands on the label. Thanks again for contributing liner notes, we were honored!

 Your most recent EP is the vocal-less Strange Weather EP Saint Marie Records, the Texas shoegaze label. How did that come about? Will you do more stuff with that label?

After we finished the recording, I shopped it around for the better part of a year with some labels I thought might be a good fit. Wyatt Parkins, from Saint Marie Records, responded favorably and we worked together to get the release out in March 2016. We'd love to do another record with Saint Marie, but that's up to the label.  Strange Weather, certainly got some of the best reviews we've ever had, however being a instrumental, shoegazer/dreampop/post-punk/indie rock three piece is a hard sell for a lot of folks. That said, DDH always finds a way to keep doing our thing. 

Strange Weather EP- 2016/ Saint Marie Records

 Bring us up to what the band is doing currently. Is there a new vocalist yet? Any new recordings? Shows?

As I mentioned in the lineup question, we played three shows in Atlantic City during January and February 2020, with our new bassist. We played out one new tune and had started working on more material when the Coronavirus pandemic hit. Everything is up in the air until that blows over, but ideally we'd like to write new songs, play more shows, and hopefully make another record sooner than later.

 Who are some of your current favorite bands?

There is always a ton of stuff I'm checking out every day, but some of my heavy rotation lately includes: Ringo Deathstarr, Cigarettes After Sex, Khruangbin, Wild Nothing, Tycho, DIIV, Washed Out, The Horrors, Destroyer, Arctic Monkeys, Pinkshinyultrablast, The Wants, Tara, Seablite, Sulk, Feet, Hatchie, Southpacific, Beabadoobee, Slowdive, Ride.

 What are your top 10 desert island discs?

Let me just say, as a hard core music junkie, narrowing it down to only 10 choices is next to impossible! This is the hardest question ever, and on any given day you might get a slightly different list. Here are ten records I adore, and still listen to regularly, in no specific order:

 The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta

The La's, The La's

My Bloody Valentine, Loveless

The Cure, Disintegration

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue

Echo and the Bunnymen, Songs to Learn and Sing

The Dukes of Stratosphear, Chips from the Chocolate Fireball

U2, War

Slowdive, Souvlaki

The Cocteau Twins, Treasure

Still destroying stages  (and women’s hearts)

Final thoughts? Closing comments? Anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask?

Thanks for asking me to do the interview. I feel like it could easily go on as long as Jack Rabid's Big Takeover interviews with The Chameleons! For those of you who have never heard of us, please check us out at: www.deardarkhead.com

 Bonus questions; What’s the weirdest fan letter or strangest thing you have ever received in the mail regarding the band?

We never got any super weird fan letters, however since we put out the majority of our recordings on our own label, Fertile Crescent Records, we'd get a demo submission now and then. I recall getting a tape from a rap artist in our area early on. I of course politely replied saying that we were in no position to sign any artists and even if we were, rap certainly wasn't our area of expertise. For all I know it was one of my smart ass friends winding me up, as it was pretty bad. If that was the case, they never let me in on the joke!

A few recent flyers.

If you missed it, all things DDH can be found at www.deardarkhead.com  

[chaunceyandchumleysdad]

Riot Fest 2017 Wrap Up

This was my 5th consecutive year at Riot Fest. I was recently telling a friend that I get as excited about Riot Fest every year as I did about Christmas when I was a kid. How can you not like a three day party with awesome live music? I also love how this community of roughly 50,000 people a day gather at one spot to have fun and put the rest of their lives on hold for a bit. Many people also travel from all over the country to come to Riot Fest, so I consider myself most fortunate that it is based in my home town of Chicago which allows me the opportunity to attend every year.

Weather – I thought last year (2016) was the best ever Riot Fest from a weather perspective. This year may have topped last year depending on how you look at it. 2016 was the warmest and driest Riot Fest I had experience up to that point. Temps were hitting mid-to-upper 70’s during the day and the only rain was a brief light sprinkle on Friday afternoon. This year, no rain at all and hot weather! High temps were in the mid-80’s all weekend. I’m not sure how some of band members could stand to wear their stage costumes in the heat. A few different band members did comment on the heat including John Doe of X. And X is from Los Angeles! There were some nice periodic breezes, which helped. It was mostly good for me, but I cannot take a lot of intense sun. As a result, I had to pace myself a little more this year, spending some time in the shade, frequently slathering on sun block, more trips to the water station, and wee bit less alcohol than I might otherwise consume. It all worked out well. For the bands on my A-list, I hung at the stage in the sun. For some of my B-list bands, I would simply head into a shady area that still allowed me to see the stage from a distance while clearly hearing the music.

Mud (or lack there of) – Mud had been the bane of the first three Riot Fests I attended. Not a detriment to enjoying the festival, but a poor condition for walking or sitting on the ground. This year, no rain meant no mud. In fact, we had the opposite of mud with dry dirt sometimes getting kicked up into surrounding dust clouds, particularly near the stages when mosh circles developed. However, the wind typically would blow out the dust cloud so it was never a big issue.

Music and Bands I Regret Not Seeing -  My summaries of the bands I saw are in my separate day-by-day posts. Here are a few bands I did not see, but would have like to have seen if timing permitted: The Regrettes – yeah, I regret not seeing The Regrettes. They did just a 30 minutes set on the small stage at 6pm on Saturday and it was a time when I needed some food and the small stage was on the opposite end of the park from the food vendors. They are a young band so I am going to look for an opportunity to catch them sometime at a club show. Paramore and Minus The Bear – both A-List bands for me that I did not see due to “game time decisions.” I missed Paramore because I ended up staying for all off M.I.A. I enjoyed M.I.A., but I heard that Paramore was really good. Dirty Heads and Bad Brains – both B-List bands for me but I would have liked to see them if the scheduling had worked out differently. GBH and The Smith Street Band – there were a few bands that I had listed that were in the early time slots that I did not get to see because I didn’t make it to the grounds early enough on Saturday and Sunday. Of that list of bands, these were my two A-Listers.

Favorite Quotes:

Gogol Bordello: Front man Eugene Hütz referred to Chicago as “chick-UH-go” and Chicagoans as “chick-uh-cog-uh-AIN-ians.”

Jawbreaker: “Thanks Riot Fest for inviting us out of retirement. It’s tough getting good news when you don’t know what to do with it.”

Pennywise: “We have special guests today. Donald Trump and Melania are back stage. They’re drinking Russian vodka.”

GWAR: “I hope nobody has a job interview tomorrow!”

Cold Beat (during their mid-afternoon set) “We’re very happy to be playing night time music in a very non-night time environment.”

Danzig (referring to the heat): “It’s a mother fucker out here!”

That Dog (quotes by Anna Waronker,): re playing Retreat From The Sun in it’s entirety: “I’m worried about the clock and I want to get it all in. It’s like (being at) therapy.” And noticing a fan in the audience stretching: “Oh, that was a good stretch!”

Stages – The third year in Douglas Park, and just five stages this year; one less than 2016 two less than 2015 and three less than 2014. There were 90 bands this year compared to 122 in 2014, which I think may have been the peak. I don’t know why Riot Fest is shrinking but I would suppose they are cutting overhead for more profit. It may also have to do with the untimely death of Riot Fest co-founder Sean McKeough late last year. His co-founding partner Mike Petryshyn cited the canceling of the Denver edition of Riot Fest his year as a direct result of McKeough’s death as he did not feel he could manage two festivals this year without McKeough’s assistance. They are also catering a bit more to the VIP experience with more VIP areas including some cabana style “suites” set up near the main stages. Even at 90 bands, that is still way more than anyone can see in a three day period. Riot Fest is still one of the more reasonably priced rock music festivals around, so if cutting acts and stages helps keep the cost down, I’m not going to complain about it. The only thing I did miss is the having two small stages side-by-side. This year, there was just one small stage, The Heather Owen Stage. I do like that little remote corner of the grounds. Most of the early sets on the small stages are just 30 minutes. So with two stages, I would sometimes get to see four bands in two hours. With one stage, there is some down time between acts, so it was not quite the same experience as past years.

Time – For the most part, the bands respected the time and started and ended on time. While that is the norm by today’s standards, I can still remember going to concerts in the 70’s when bands either had no respect for start times, or the start times were non-existent. So I am always appreciative the professionalism of today’s Rock shows.

Services – A couple of big improvements this year. First and foremost, the Water Station was vastly improved. In the past, they ran a hose from one of the park water fountains and hooked up several satellite water fountains to the hose. That really cut the water pressure and made it very slow to fill up water bottles and it resulted in long lines and long waits. This year, they added a product called Quench Buggy. It is a portable filtered tank and once hooked up to a hose, the filled tank creates it’s own pressure so fill ups go considerably faster. And the dispensers are also bottle filler designed (along with some fountains) so that also makes it easier and faster. Given the heat we had to deal with this year, this new system could not have been more timely. The other cool thing was that they had beer vendors walking around the stage areas selling cold beer. I did not avail myself to their services as I prefer draught beer so I always made the walk to the All Rise tent, but nice to see that they had that option. Clean up was always good throughout the day. The grounds only start getting trashed later in the evening when attendance is at it’s peak and it’s too crowded and dark for the crew to do an effective job. Otherwise, they do an outstanding job.

Drinks – The All Rise Brewery which was started by the late Sean McKeough, was again the selected brewery for draught beers. I drank Wonder Beer all weekend which is a delicious APA and I believe named after the Naked Raygun song. I also enjoyed chatting with servers who were just awesome.

Food – As I have mentioned before, if you are a foodie, there is a lot to sample. I’m not so much of a foodie and at Riot Fest, I eat just once a day to get refueled.  Last year, I really liked the Guinness mac and cheese with pulled pork from Mrs. Murphy and Son’s Irish Bistro. I was disappointed that they did not have it this year. So instead, I tried their banger sandwich. It was bad, as the bread fell apart. I then discovered that Reggie’s had mac and cheese with pulled pork and with some added BBQ sauce and giardiniera, it was the perfect combination of carbs and protein to keep me going each and every day. 

Amusements & Shopping – There is the circus attractions and the vendors selling clothing and various wares. I walked around the vending area a bit. The coolest t-shirt I saw was one that mimicked the 1980’s Chicago White Sox logo but instead of a baseball bat, the character was holding a microphone and mike stand and it said “RIOT” where it would otherwise say “SOX.”

Exercise – According to my smart phone, I walked an average of 6.4 miles per day. On the other hand, I had a Riot Fest hangover and sucked in my Monday night racquetball league following the festival. But it was all worth it.

CTA – Wonderful again! The Blue and Pink Lines provided plenty of trains with little wait.

Neighborhood – I enjoyed walking through the Douglas Park area in the old West Side neighborhood of Lawndale.  Upon arrival each day, I walked up California Avenue on the edge of Little Village, and when returning each evening, I would walk down Kedzie Ave. through the South Lawndale neighborhood. Kedzie was more lively with neighbors selling food in their front yards. On Sunday night, I stopped by a small church on Kedzie for a Polish sausage and fries and ate the food under the “L” station at Kedzie and 21st while watching Riot Fest fans funnel into the station.

Crowd – The Riot Fest crowd is always awesome. I did not see anyone that was causing trouble or that looked over-the-top wasted. Just a great community of “Punks” hanging together for three days of music and fun.

Style – There were some great Punk styles this weekend including some awesome spiked Mohawk hairstyles. My favorite hair was the young lady with the watermelon hair. It was green on the sides, pinkish red on top, and it had little black “seed” spots at symmetrical points on top. I wish I had gotten a picture of it. It was very cool. Not that I’m stylish by any stretch, but for me, it was the second year in a row that I had to abandon my pseudo-Punk attire in favor of dry-fit shorts and t-shirts for comfort in the heat.

Thanks!!! – Reiterating from last year, I want to say thanks to all the bands that came to our fine city. Thanks to all the park maintenance crews, vendors, paramedics, and security, and much thanks to the Chicago Police and Fire Departments. Thanks also to Mayor Emanuel and the Lawndale City Council members for their cooperation and support. Thanks to St. Anthony Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital for their three days of tolerance and for their dedication to caring for people. And most of all, thanks to the Douglas Park neighbors for allowing us “Rockers” to take over your park for 3 days during one of the finest seasonal times of the year in Chicago.