Exorcism Number Ten: Joe Keller

Hey everyone. Thanks for checking in. Today we have the awesome Joe Keller formerly of the Ergs and currently the bassist for Night Birds. He is a stand up dude and an INCREDIBLE musician. I was really excited to read this and I hope you are too.Thanks again for reading <3

         
 What was the first band you were in and what got you into music?

The first band I was in was called The Flatliners and it was with your dear husband, Jeff Schroeck.  I replaced the first bass player, Kyle.  I don't know what exactly got me into music, I guess it was an escape and a way to learn about taboo things in an age before the internet.

You have an incredibly strong work ethic when it comes to music but you don't make it seem like work when you play! Talk about this and about whether or not this has always been the case.

Thank you!  When I started playing music, all of the other guys I was playing with were already good – Jeff Schroeck,  Mike Yannich, Jeff's cousins, a couple other guys.  They were legit good in high school – not just good for kids, actually proficient.  So when I decided to play bass, I knew I had to get decent quickly if I was going to be able to hang.  That meant I had to do all of these drills and scales to get good enough to play with them.  I think it was just a habit that stuck.

 You are also an engineer. How do you balance these two (fairly) different aspects of your life. Do they facilitate each other?

They don't go together at all!  Somehow, over the years I have through mostly just dumb luck fallen into a situation where I can work as an engineer and do a band on a slightly-greater-than-just-a-hobby level.  Once I realized that the odds of being able to live off of being in a band were even slimmer than they had been in previous decades, I had to strike some sort of balance between the two instead of just pursuing one. 

When did you meet Mike and Jeff and how have your relationships changed over the years?

Oh man, this could be a whole book right here.  I’ll do the abridged version:  I met Mike first in freshman year of high school.  Mike, myself, and a bunch of other alterna-teens and nascent punks all sat at the same lunch table.  Mike's band, Visual Purple, was playing one of those god-awful Saturday matinees at Club Bene (later Club Krome, later an abandoned building) and I attended.  My first memorable interaction with Jeff was watching him play a set with Mike.  He had a dyed blonde skunk stripe in the middle of his hair and he was wearing hospital pants – he was tall even back then and was, despite his appearance, somehow very mature so I thought he was a senior in high school, but he was actually two grades below me.  Right after he hit the last note of the last song, he threw his guitar square into Mike's drums.  Mike then toppled over his remaining cymbals.  All of this was pretty standard operating procedure for high school bands at the time, but this was mere weeks after some poor kid had taken a cymbal to the head at Club Bene and subsequently died.  So, of course I thought Visual Purple was the coolest thing in the world even though they bummed the local skinheads out so much that they just sat on the edge of the stage for pretty much all of their set.

The Ergs years were obviously the tightest we all were – we all went through a lot in that band.  It was a very strong bond.  Unfortunately, when the band broke up, I took out a lot of my frustration on Jeff – I didn’t talk to him for about a year.  I had a lot of misplaced anger.  Thankfully, we have patched things up since then – even now, Jeff is the more mature one.  I still keep in touch with both of them although we don’t hang out at nearly the same level as we used to because that would mean we’d be  in extremely close quarters in a van 50% of our waking hours.  When we’re in the same room now, it only takes about 60 seconds before we lapse into the same gibberish in-joke we used to say all the time, though.

 Talk about the evolution of pre-Ergs to full-on Ergs and about your first experiences playing together.

The Flatliners morphed into a band that was Jeff, Mike, myself, and a drummer, Helen Destroy (who went on to drum for The Lunachicks and Lez Zeppelin).  Mike was on lead vocals and guitar.  Helen lived kind of far away so she couldn’t come to practice super often.  When she wasn’t around, the rest of us would fool around with songs in the Ergs configuration only with Jeff doing most of the lead vocals.  We were supposed to do a “reunion” show one night in Jersey City on New Year’s Eve 2001 and Helen couldn’t make it so we did 75% Off instead.  The night after, it was either Jeff or Mike, can’t remember who, who decided we should just do that as our main band.  We changed the name to The Ergs and went from there.

How has Night Birds changed over the course of a few years and do you have specific goals for what you want to accomplish?

It definitely feels like Night Birds 2.0 now with PJ and Ryan in the band instead of Mike and Coastman.  I like both eras though.  PJ and Mike are both such different guitar players with their own distinct style.  I don't think Night Birds would have ever been good at all if we didn't have Mike starting off – you know just as well as I do what that crazy weirdo brings to the table.  He was the first musician that really made me think about tone – from guitar tone to overall sound of a record.  PJ gave the band a whole new slant and I think it comes off in the recordings we did with him.

I didn't really have any expectations when Night Birds started – I guess I wanted to do something very different from The Ergs to see if I could.  The one goal I had as a musician was to tour Europe (well, that's a lie I also wanted to play on the Conan O'Brien show, but that dream is dead since he doesn't have the same show anymore) and I got to do that with Night Birds.  So everything now is pretty much gravy.

What was it like embarking on a new band after being in a very successful band? Did you feel like you had to start all over? Were you worried about people's expectations for your new project?

I hated it.  I freaked out the first 9 months or so after The Ergs ended.  It's silly to think this now but I thought I was done in terms of ever being in a band – like I was not fit or able to be in a band again.  I had some serious bass player inferiority complex going on.  I had been doing the Ergs for so long and so hard that stopping it just broke my brain.  A former member of Duke Ellington's band once famously said that after he stopped playing with Ellington, it felt like he “slept for a year.”  I definitely felt like that – I was drained from working a full time job and then playing shows on weeknights where I'd get back home at 2-3AM only to get up again at 6AM to go to work the next day, kinda like Steve Martin's character in “All of Me.” So I slept for a year, but after that it was sort of a blank slate situation and then I was kind of cleared of any worry over expectations.

But despite all of that, there are a lot of fun feelings being in a brand new band that I had completely forgotten since the beginning of The Ergs (my general rule after 2003 or so is one band at a time.)  For instance, when you start out, if you don't write a song every week, you will have nothing to do at that next practice.  So there's that urgency to write something – or playing a first show.  All that stuff was new again to me.

Looking back, it was definitely a good thing for all three of us, though.  I always like to draw parallels between personal romantic relationships and being in a band.  Since we started the Ergs when Jeff was still in high school, the band was like marrying your high school sweetheart right after the prom and never dating anyone else, if that makes any sense. You need to have a couple of relationships and make mistakes before you have a good long lasting one with someone.  Since we never broke up, none of us learned things about being in a band that one really only reflects on and considers after the band is done (I am speaking for Jeff and Mike here so I don't know if they agree.)  But myself personally, I know that as soon as I was in another band I realized how TERRIBLE of a show booker I was.  We were playing all of these awful shows at the very end of the band's career when we were supposedly this (relatively) big deal.

PERSONAL....

Where did you grow up and what is your family like? Have they always been supportive of your musical goals?

I grew up mostly in Old Bridge, NJ.  My parents were both public school teachers.  They have always been ok with my musical goals – although they really have no interest in the music itself, which is fine.  There was an era of The Ergs where we would practice at my folks' place.   I think they sort of looked at music as the thing that would keep me out of real trouble – I’m sure they were worried I would do drugs but they were pretty sure I wouldn’t steal anyone’s car if I was in the garage playing Kraftwerk covers.

What was your school experience like? What role if any did those experiences play in becoming a musician?

I know it's such a stereotypical thing to say, but I was a total nerd and was treated accordingly.  I think everyone should have a shitty time in high school though – I think the people who are on top of the social ladder in high school usually wind up the most screwed up later in life (although a lot of the time, those very same people on top were not having a great time either.)  You need the misery and humiliation of high school to prepare you for the real world.  So of course that sort of environment is what led me to hang out with similar weirdos such as Mike Yannich and listen to freak music like punk rock.

Any paranormal experiences?

I once slept in a cabin that formerly served as a hospital for Nazi soldiers in WWII but thankfully I was not accosted by SS ghosts.

HA. Thanks Joe. Check out Night Birds because they are one of the best bands. 

www.facebook.com/NGHTBRDS

Exorcism Number Nine: Marissa Paternoster

Hey! Its been almost a month since I last posted and for that I am SORRY. 

Today we have Ms. Marissa Paternoster: the singer and guitarist of Screaming Females and Noun fame...and also one of my favorite people. She is incredibly intelligent and naturally talented but also a super hard worker. Like...SUPER hard. Everything she creates is uniquely her own and instantly recognizable as hers. She is one of the only guitar players whose solos seem thoughtful and not fancy for the sake of being fancy. I could go on and on like a total psycho, or I guess you could just read this interview. ENJOY <3

from the "Awesome Girls in Bands" blog

What made you want to play the guitar?
I never really wanted to play the guitar.  I wanted to play the drums.  But I didn't have any, and my dad had a guitar.  He's a good guitar player, and I was sitting in my bedroom, listening to Nirvana, (of course) and my Dad said, "I can teach you how to play this".  So he did, and that was that.

How did your playing evolve over the years?

I don't really know.  Now that I'm older and I've spent a lot of time playing with other people, I think a lot more about rhythm and space.  I used to try to consume every sonic minute with guitar noodling, but now I'm a little more sensible...I think.

What guitar players inspire you and is there anyone in particular that you think shaped your playing?

I guess Billy Corgan is my number one, but I really like a lot of players...Joey Santiago from the Pixies, Carrie Brownstein from Sleater-Kinney, Billy Zoom from X, and Viv from the Slits.  I could go on and on! 

Your lyrics are surreal but not unrealistic, if that makes sense...what goes into your lyric writing process?

Lyrics usually pop up in my head out of the blue.  Sometimes I arrange words because they sound good in whatever order, and sometimes I intentionally draw a theme.  Aside from the meaning of the words themselves, positioning them, cadence, and pacing are the most important elements of lyric writing (for me).  Now that I'm a little older and less scared to let people know what I think and feel, my lyrics have become a lot less abstract.   

How conscious of your singing style are you and how, if at all, has it changed over the years?

I used to be really, really shy about singing.  I thought I was terrible at it but I couldn't find anyone else to do it, so I reluctantly did.  When I first met Jarrett from Screaming Females, Mike and I went to a barbeque at his house in New Brunswick and Jarrett gave me a guitar and asked me to sing a Noun song he liked, which was sweet, and I really wanted him to be in a band with me so I did it, but I felt like my head was going to explode because I was so incredibly nervous and I had never sang out loud all by myself with a guitar before in front of other people.  I used to have a lot less control over my voice.  Eventually I learned how to scream proper, and I think through practice I've been able to access a lower octave range I didn't know I had.  I really enjoy singing now.   

Talk about Courtney Love and Hole.

Jesus.  God, ok.  Well, where can I even start?  Hole is one of my favorite bands.  I like "Live Through This" way more than "Nevermind."  I like "Live Through This" more than I like a lot of things.  I know that Courtney isn't the most terrific role model, but when I was fifteen I was pretty certain that I wanted to be her, maybe sans heroin, but I love how bat-shit crazy and fierce she is.  Before I knew about riot grrrl, all I knew was Hole, and in fact, Hole probably guided me towards Bikini Kill.  Hole was awesome, cathartic, really powerful stuff for a teenage girl.  Courtney is a totally effective character, even if she is a train wreck, and she has killer pipes.  Not to mention that her band ripped, and their influences taught me a lot about punk - Young Marble Giants, Beat Happening, The Germs, etc. 

Talk about Edith Piaf.

You're killing me!!!!!!  I LOVE HER!!!!  What can I say?!  I think she's the greatest singer that has ever graced the earth, I listen to her all the time.  I have no idea what she's saying or singing, but her voice makes me weep.  The story of her life is so brilliantly bittersweet.  She had tenacity, grace, and talent.  She is my new Courtney Love.  I think I want to be Edith Piaf, sans morphine.  Sometimes I think some sort of supernatural force pushed Edith off of the planet early in her life because she was too much for the cosmos to handle.  

Your art and music are really connected in my opinion. Talk about what goes into the art that you make and whether or not that connection feels conscious or on purpose. Do you feel like you give art and music equal time or have you had to put one or the other on a back burner from time to time?

I love to make art, but it's a lonesome pastime.  My visual art is deeply personal, although a lot of it is off the cuff.  Making music is a bit more satisfying for me, 'cause I get to make things with other people.  Sometimes I find that other twenty-somethings who are interested in music find visual art sort of inaccessible, or difficult to understand.  I mean, sometimes I feel that way too.  My music and my visual art are all sourced from the same place so it must be true that the two are intrinsically intertwined.  I think I give both mediums an equal amount of attention.   

PERSONAL

How has your family life and childhood affected your art and music?

Well, my family is very beautiful and very small.  For their sake and for my own, I don't really spit the details of my childhood out into the interwebs.  Everyone has a tough time growing up, and I think my childhood shaped me in ways that my family would have never expected.  They give me a lot of attention and a lot of patience.  I am very grateful to have them.

I have a theory that the most compelling artists/musicians are the ones who could not survive without making art/music. As in like, if it feels like a hobby to the artist it is less important to the artist's audience and the art itself suffers. What are your thoughts on my (very dramatic and serious) theory?

I feel the same way.  Edith Piaf is one of those characters, she was born to perform.  She said she would die if she couldn't sing.  She forced doctors to shoot her up with morphine so she could get on the stage. And she collapsed from exhaustion and sickness on several occasions.  She essentially killed herself so she could get out onto the stage.  She needed that love, the love from the audience and the love of music.  That's how she saw herself.  Without her art, she was fragmented.  It makes a lot of sense to me.     

Have you ever seen any ghosts?

YES.  Yes, I have.  Jarrett mentioned this ghost in his interview with you, but I totally saw it.  My friend Alex moved into a haunted house in New Brunswick, and for the first week of the June he refused to sleep in his room.  He crashed at my ex-girlfriend's house.  He insisted that there was paranormal activity and he absolutely could NOT sleep in that house.  Eventually he forced himself back into his room, and grew used to the ghost.  Alex said the ghost would turn the toaster on all the time and drop drinking glasses.  One day we were hanging out in a crawl space in his attic and someone thought it'd be totally funny to summon the ghost.  I forget what Alex decided to name the ghost, but he began to call out his name and all of a sudden a bunch of boxes near the back of the attic came crashing to the ground and we all saw a little blip of white light pass through the room.  I nearly wet myself.  Totally true, I believe in ghosts.       

Thanks Marissa. <3 
http://screamingfemales.com/
http://nounmusic.bandcamp.com/

Exorcism Number Eight: Joseph Michael Rankin

HI! Here is YET ANOTHER exorcism. Quick side note: last night I had YET ANOTHER terrible dream about the movie "The Exorcist." What was the dream? Simply that the movie "The Exorcist" was on television. No more and certainly no less.

Anyway! Today we have an interview with another amazing person from the Wallride Records scene: Joseph Michael Rankin. He is a multi-instrumental dude but I think of him primarily as an incredibly interesting and powerful drummer. His investment in how a song should sound is super awesome. I feel like he really thinks about shaping the song and making it fun to listen to. It's super inspiring. Joe plays in the Jons, Flying Faders, Head Home, Sounding Rockets, and has recently recorded and entire solo project where he plays everything. ENJOY!

It seems like the York/Westminster/Baltimore crew has known each other forever. When did you meet these musical soulmates and what has it been like growing up with them? Feel free to name names and embarrass people.

There are people in our circle of friends who have been around forever, and others who are more recent friends, but we love them all, so long as they’re laid back and nice. 

Jesse Davis (My Sister Kate, Head Home, Sounding Rockets, Flying Faders, Whiff, etc.) and I grew up together in the same neighborhood (Walnut Ridge in Westminster).  We were friends long before music entered the picture.  He used to sit at the front of the bus on the way to middle school and do imitations of an auctioneer.  He was completely oblivious to the social stigma this garnered him.  He also wore jeans with elastic in the waistband.  Strike two.  I liked him immediately.  It wasn’t until years later that he picked up a guitar, and we borrowed a snare drum, hi-hat, and empty suitcase (bass drum) and started murdering Oasis songs in his basement.

We played our first shows when we were 17 and met some other important cats like Jason Nicholls and Mike Boesler (Active Sac, Whiff, etc.).  Darick Sater and Mike Stearns (The Spark, Active Sac, Deep Sleep, etc.) were a bit younger so I didn’t meet them until I was about 22 or so. 

The first time I saw Darick play drums I thought “Who’s this chubby kid playing drums for Active Sac?”  My next thought was “Whoa, chubby kid can play!”  This was about the time I was obsessed with the book “Dance of Days” about the D.C. underground music scene.  I was talking to some other musicians in town one night about D.C. music when one of them told me Darick had memorized dates of Bad Brains shows from before he was born.  The next time I saw Darick was at the local movie theater with a bunch of friends.  I took the opportunity to approach him and say, “So I heard you’re a fan of the Bad Brains”.  I distinctly remember his answer because it said a lot about him.  He could have had a pompous attitude but instead he took one step back, looked down at the ground, smiled, and said “Yeah yeah yeah”.  Friends since then.

How and when did you learn to play drums? What other instruments do you play? Which is your favorite to play?

When I was 15 some buddies of mine wanted to start a band.  I had my choice between learning to play bass or drums.  Around that time I had been paired up in Biology class with a guy named Pat.  Pat had played drums for several years but was a total weirdo.  During an assembly one day the Jazz band performed for the whole school.  Pat sat down at the drum set for a rendition of “Moondance” by Van Morrison.  At the end of the song he played a fill, and was starting to stand up and walk away before he had finished the last hit.  It was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life.  The next time I saw Pat in biology I demanded that he teach me how to play drums.  So he taught me a few basics on the classroom table and we became pretty close friends. 

I took the few things Pat showed me and went to work.  I sat in my bedroom listening to my favorite songs, trying to figure them out.  It was like a new world opened up in front of me that had been there the whole time, I just couldn’t see it.  I was Harry Potter, and playing drums was “practicing magic”.  Maybe more “Neville” than “Harry”.  Anyway, I was obsessed. 

Through the years the practice space for the bands was often at my house.  Every once in a while I would pick up a bass or guitar for fun and mess around.  You do that enough, and eventually you get a handle on it, intentionally or not.  I still don’t really know what I’m doing on bass or guitar but that doesn’t stop me.  I do it all for fun anyway. 

If I had to pick a favorite I’d say drums.  There’s something extremely satisfying about moving your limbs in a specific way to yield a specific rhythm.  You can produce emotions ranging from energetic to fun to sexual to romantic to frantic to badass and everything in between. 

Tell us about the first band you were ever in?

The first real band I was ever in was called “The Retro Delicatessen”.  Essentially Jesse pulled a bunch of friends together from different areas of his life who all loved Weezer.  We wrote catchy pop rock songs and lasted a few years.  It was the evening of this band’s first show that I realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

What are some of your first musical influences and do they still inspire you? What about them is inspiring?

Some of the first musical influences would be Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Weezer, and Smashing Pumpkins.  When I learned to turn off the radio a few of the first bombshells in my life were Minor Threat and Poster Children.  Hendrix, Nirvana and Weezer are still a big influnce, as well as Minor Threat and Poster Children, but Smashing Pumpkins not so much. 

Tell us about your favorite recording experience?

Darick and I were just talking about this the other day.  We HATE recording.  It’s the worst part of playing music, especially drums because you have to get it all in one take.  The fact that it’s permanent is nightmarishly stressful.  Guitar, bass, and vocals aren’t as bad because you can punch in and out, so the end result is a combination of several takes.

We record all of our own stuff these days so we have more control over the sound (plus it’s cheaper).  We own a reel-to-reel ½ inch 8-track recorder, some outboard equipment, and pro-tools for mixing down.  If I had to pick a favorite recording experience I’d have to say the recent stuff we’ve been doing because we’re getting better and better at it. 

Speaking of recording-you recently recorded a new record with the Jons and a solo record! Tell us about those and when we might expect them out.

I’ll be checking in with some labels here and there to see if I can get some help putting out my solo record, but first things first, I still need a name for the project.  Once I have a name, then I can actually move forward with trying to put it out.  In the end if no one is interested, I’ll probably just figure out a way to release a small run myself.  In the meantime, I’ve gathered some friends to help me play the songs live, so we’ll start booking shows sometime soon.

The Jons record already has a home with South Paw records (owned and operated by our friends Rob and Amanda).  Right now we are finishing the rough mixes.  Next we’ll analyze them for changes and tweaks, and then work on the final mixes.  Once that’s done, we’ll hand it over to South Paw and they’ll make it happen.  I can’t say for sure how long it’ll take, but I assume a few months.  One thing’s certain, this is the fastest recording-to-release project I’ve ever worked on.  Pretty fun stuff.

You seem to really love to play live in a very internal way. Like, you don't "perform" necessarily, but anyone watching with any sense knows that you are clearly invested in what you are doing. Describe what it's like for you play in front of people and if that has changed over the years.

I hadn’t really thought about it like that.  I love playing shows.  When I was young I would get really anxious before a show, then use that “nervous energy” as fuel for a good performance.  I still do that today; only I don’t get quite as nervous beforehand. 

If I seem invested, it’s because I’m focused on what I’m doing.  I fear fucking up and letting everyone down.  I’ve definitely messed up before pretty bad, and then got depressed about it for a while.  No one else gets pissed at me, but I just get blue about messing up after putting so much time and energy into it.  So I tend to focus on what part of the song we are on, and landing fills correctly and evenly, etc.

Where did you go to school and what was your school experience like? Do you still think about grammar school and high school?

Here are the schools I went to in order:  St. Pius X in Towson, St. John in Westminster, East Middle School in Westminster, Delone Catholic High in McSherrystown, PA, Carroll Community College in Westminster, and Towson University. 

I was cripplingly shy throughout my entire school experience.  Plus I had a learning disability so I wasn’t even the “quiet smart kid”.  I was just a waste of oxygen.  By the time High School rolled around though, some of my friends were in honors classes and it became clear that I wasn’t stupid; I just wasn’t a very good student.  Three things saved my life during High School; friends, The Simpsons, and music.

I think about those times less and less these days.  I’ll still have the occasional dream that I’m back in high school though.

I feel like being in bands forces generally shy kids to socialize. Do you feel like music has made an impact on your life in that way? How much of that has to do with the time we grew up in? (where everyone and their cousin had 50 bands each.)

Like I mentioned earlier, I was VERY shy growing up.  I’m still a pretty “shy guy” but I’ve opened up quite a bit.  I accredit that to being in bands and meeting other people outside of my small crew, yet still in my age range.  We all developed a mutual respect for each other that translated into adult life.  This may have been because when you play a show, essentially you are forcing people to pay attention to you for 20 to 30 minutes straight (instead of quietly fading into the background).  After that, you have a certain amount of social currency.  You can walk up to people and immediately have something to talk about (You’re the bassist for the last band right?  You guys ruled!  Do you have any records?  What kind of bass/head/cab is that?  Where are you playing next? Etc.)  In your everyday adult life just do the same thing; pick a topic, ask a question, listen to the answer, joke around, become friends, respect them, enjoy your time together, repeat. 

Do you have any stories regarding the paranormal? Either firsthand or otherwise.

None firsthand.  However Frank Adams (Sounding Rockets, My Sister Kate, Four Letter Theory) grew up in a haunted house.  I did a paper on it once in college.  He told us there were times when you would hear someone call your name from a nearby room, and when you walked into it, no one was there.  One day Frank came home from high school, and was milling around in the kitchen.  He heard his mom upstairs fill the bathtub.  After a while he passed out on the couch and was awakened by the phone ringing.  When he picked it up, his mom was on the other end.  He said “Mom, how are you calling me from upstairs?”  She said “What are you talking about? I’m still at work.”  Frank hung up the phone, turned on the TV, turned the volume up, and waited for her to come home.  Pretty freaky.

Thanks Joe! For info on all the great bands mentioned check out www.wallriderecords.com

Exorcism Number Seven: Joe Steinhardt

Hey everyone. It's been a few weeks! Me and Jeff moved so it has been a little crazy! 

Today we have the amazing Joe Steinhardt. Joe is the awesome weirdo who, along with Zach Gajewski, runs Don Giovanni Records. He also played in a little band called For Science, is the main musical dude behind Modern Hut, and has in general been a huge supporter of the music in our area for years. Most importantly, he used to drunk IM me with almost totally unintelligible nonsense. He has come a long way babies. Enjoy.

You are the co-founder of Don Giovanni Records with Zach. When did you met Zach?

I met Zach a few weeks after starting college at BU and seriously thought he was the biggest loser ever because he had hair that looked like Kramer from Seinfeld and a pin of a pair of sunglasses and whatever.  I kept thinking he was a loser for like 2 months until I found out he was into the Beatnik Termites and Sicko.  When I found that out I was like “dude, we should hang out every day from now on” and we pretty much did. 

What made you go into business with him?

It didn’t really feel like we were going into business together or else probably neither of us would have agreed to do it.  We were in this band called Talk Hard together and originally I was just going to release the 7” myself but then Zach wanted to help for some reason so we figured we would go 50/50 on it and then just divide up the money if it came back.  But then by the time it came back some other friends of mine had asked about us releasing their record and Zach and I figured we would just release those and then divide up the money if it comes back or forget about it if it doesn’t.  That’s still kind of our plan. 

Has the label ever affected your friendship?

I think the label has actually had an incredibly positive affect on our friendship.  I feel like Zach and I are a lot closer because we are sort of forced to keep in touch about the label, but its usually just an excuse to talk about whatever else.  I don’t think we’ve ever had a fight or anything about anything related to the label, or anything else actually unless I’m forgetting something.  Were pretty much always on the same page, and if I bring him an idea he hates, I usually know he’s gonna hate it, and vice versa.

What makes you choose bands to be on your label?

They have to either be a big part of our scene or really want to be a part of it for the most part.  Originally our scene seemed to just mean New Brunswick, NJ but it slowly started to mean Brooklyn, and now it seems like there are bands that feel like they are a big part of our scene that live all over the country.  A lot of what seems to really bring a lot of the bands on our label together is having a similar take on what aspects of playing in bands are bullshit and which are important, mostly guided by DIY values etc.

Have you and Zach ever disagreed on a band's involvement?

Yeah, but never in any serious way where its felt like its gonna be the end of the label/friendship.  Usually its just where one of us feels really strongly and the other feels lukewarm.  For me though, if Zach really likes a band, that’s usually enough of a reason to feel like its important to do, and vice versa, unless its something one of us really really hates in which case we won’t do it.   Its really rare, I feel like Zach and I seem to really be on the same page about stuff that should be on the label and shouldn’t, even though we like lots of different things than each other musically.

Where do you think the label will be in 10 years?

Probably still trying to convince you to let us put out the unreleased Hunchback EP and Ugly On The Outside on vinyl.  Predicting the future is impossible, I was just telling Jarrett yesterday that if you asked me 5 years ago to tell you what DG would be like now I would have said that Stupid Party and Bad Blood would be our flagship bands.  Or that Cheeky and Pregnant would be.  Or who knows? I think the reason the label works so well is because instead of trying to predict and conrol whats gonna happen next we just sort of let it happen and be there to help enable it. 

Do you enjoy playing in bands also?

I do when I’m not singing.

Do you get stage fright?

I get more stage fright in a basement or a small show than on an actual stage since there I can see everyone there and they know me.

If you didn't start Don Giovanni would For Science have been more of a priority for you?

I think there was room for both of them honestly, although if For Science had kept going I would probably be dead by now.

(Personal.)

What was growing up like for you?

It was really weird, but I think it probably is for everyone right? I feel like im also still doing it kinda.  I feel like I learn more about how the world actually works every day.  As a little kid I was really into baseball.  Ironically I think I got into music originally because I desperately wanted to fit in, which is weird because in the long run I don’t think anything alienated me from my peers more.  But originally I wanted to be able to talk about what was on the radio with people in school who always seemed to know more about music than me and thought I was a loser.  When I realized that they still thought I was a loser even after knew who Blind Melon was or what the new Red Hot Chili Peppers single was it didn’t matter because I actually liked the music and it was a good escape from them.

What was you high school experience?

High school was actually really fun because I moved.  There was a really small number of people who liked me in middle school, and I think even they didn’t wanna admit it to other people.  In high school no one seemed to care that I was weird and in fact seemed to think it was cool.  At the same time though, I feel like I was spending as much time as possible either taking the bus to New Brunswick or leaving school to go to Princeton record exchange, so I never really fully embraced high school.  I know its punk to really hate high school, but I honestly didn’t.  I just didn’t really care about it that much either.

What are your parents like?

They are really smart and really weird.  They are really supportive of some things but not others.  I don’t think they liked that I was into music or film or anything like that and really wanted me to be some kind of a scientist.  If I wanted a $200 calculator they would get it for me, but if I wanted a $50 guitar they wouldn’t.  If I wanted a $100 math textbook they would get it for me but if I wanted a $24.98 Mellon Collie 2xCD I had to get the money myself.  So it was weird.  I’m still not honestly sure how they feel about all the stuff I do with the label and bands, but I think they are proud of the other aspects of my life.  They have always also inspired me.  They have an incredible work ethic and both grew up in very hard financial and family situations and got out of them through their hard work and education.  Their drive is also incredibly inspiring. 

Tell us about your bar mitzvah.

Oh god.  It was at this place called Kahunaville.

Tell us about your siblings.

I have 3.  Charlie is my older brother and lives in Japan.  Will is my younger brother and lives in Boston and shares my dark sense of humor.  Cindy is my sister and just started college at Princeton.

Tell us the weirdest conspiracy theory that you actually believe is real and true.

I don’t think any of these are that weird, but for starters, there is no way OJ Simpson killed his wife and Ron Goldman, there is a ton of evidence to the contrary.  I also think Lance Armstrong was set up by big pharma.  Monti Teo’s girlfriend was real, but he had her killed and this whole thing is a cover up.  I also saw Tupac once in New Orleans a few years ago.  Oh, and there is no fucking way that there is a mars rover.  That is actually the craziest thing the government is trying to get us to believe.  Yes, there was a moon landing, but there is no way there is a robot driving around mars right now. 

Did you ever have a paranormal experience? See a ghost? Get abducted by an alien?

I’ve never been abducted but there was once an extraterrestrial in the corner of my bedroom taking notes when I was younger.  I also saw a UFO once.  I’m still waiting to see my first ghost. 

I also talked to God once.

Thanks Joe!

http://dongiovannirecords.com/

Exorcism Number Six: Caroline Rue

Welcome back. Please enjoy this interview with one of my heroes, Caroline Rue - Hole's first drummer. This is actually from 2 years ago and was published in Dragana's fanzine, "Night of the Fandom." I was really honored when Caroline got back to me and it was incredibly amazing to read about her involvement in Hole's beginnings. I will share links at the end to my favorite examples of Caroline's drumming and some video too. Thanks for reading.

You have a unique and super heavy drumming style. Who are some of your influences?

Well, thank you, Miranda. My first lesson was from a teenage girl who wore checkered slip on Van's and a ponytail, popping gum. She was classically trained and loved John Bonham. Very heavy foot. That aspect of Bonham I really like. DJ Bonebrake (X), Keith Moon, Stewart Copeland, Rat Scabies (The Damned) for his intensity and the way he would ride the crash to make a driving sizzle sound, Earl Palmer and Hal Blaine for that swinging motown feel. Budgie's (Creatures) work on the Slits album was so inspiring. Todd Barnes from TSOL. I used to watch their practices and wish I could do fills like him.

Were there any drummers before you in hole? How do you feel about the drummers that came after you?

No, I was the first one. The others were Patty and Samantha. I like Patty personally. She's got great style. She told me they made her play some things the way I did, specifically riding the crash for that driving sizzle sound. I never met Samantha but think she's really an amazing player and a great performer.

The evolution of Hole's sound is, in my opinion, extreme. What do you think contributed to the sound/style changes over the years?

Well, first off, Courtney and I were the least skilled musicians and needed time to catch up with Jill and Eric. We hung out, listened to records, and they turned me on to the Pixies, which I had only seen the MTV video for "Here Comes Your Man." We became better players, so we were starting to refine our tool to do what we were intending.

What was the songwriting process like in hole?

It varied. Usually music was written by Eric or Courtney at home, but more often than not it started as a spontaneous noise or strumming between songs or I would start with a drumbeat and Eric would follow it and choose some chords (Dicknail started that way). It allowed me to tap into some very primal experiences and exorcise them. The way we worked was someone just accidentally or intentionally find something and we all put our interpretation in and it went from there. Very organic. Courtney wrote all lyrics. For me, they were so visual and my response to them was pre-verbal, kinda caveman-ish. She was very inspiring and a very hard worker.

What makes a band powerful- both live and in the studio?

Yeah, those are different approaches. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. They both require a  deconstructing of the songs. In the studio on our first single, we started bringing in phone conversations, very lo-fi tape recordings morphing into guitar noise or bits of popular songs-- things not meant to be reproduced live. To play live you need stamina and self control, don't sit down at practice! Stand UP! Play through your set repeatedly, make notes to weaknesses. Record practices, listen back and take notes to improve it next chance, like an athlete that watches playbacks of your last game. For live shows, bring everything you've got to the table, even rage. Courtney discovered I played better when angry so she'd find new ways to piss me off before we went on. Don't apologize on stage. EVER. Umm, did I mention PRACTICE?

What bands have you been a part of in your career and what are your favorite musical collaborations?

I joined my first band in 1981 in OC. It was called Sexually Frustrated. I then joined IUD-- all female 4 piece with identical twin, dare I say, borderline midgets. They were rad. We played Camarillo State Hospital with the Omlits, who I joined later that year. We played out a lot in Hollywood and OC, and oddly mental hospitals and men's and women's prisons around L.A. We recorded on Mystic Records comp called "The Sound of Hollywood Girls", Bitchcraft with Rebecca from Frightwig, Travis John Alford, Tiffany Anders in Hot White Noon, Mocket from Olympia on K Records, Echolocate with Mary from Mars Accelerator and The Darklings.

My favorite collaboration was with Hole in the very beginning followed by the Omlits. Another collaboration I really felt a big part of was with Mary in Echolocate. It was guitar and drums. No vocals. I learned a lot about arranging and "making suggestions." My current, band, The Darklings has a violin player, bass, guitar, drums and vocals. They're really passionate about the arranging process, and they give my suggestions a lot of respect and consideration and I'm learning a lot about violins!

And lastly... who are some of your favorite current bands?

The Duke Spirit, White Rose Movement, Cat Power, Elliott Smith, Modest Mouse, Octant, Band of Horses, Beck, Ikara Colt, Sebadoh, CSS.


Thank you so much Caroline!

Here are some links.

Turpentine. (The best Hole song.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbfHrjBAuFA 
Burn Black. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9RZ5qM-Wyc
Live Dicknail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwbtn_h6TP8

Exorcism Number Five: Jarrett Dougherty

HEY. Here's another one. This interview is with Jarrett Dougherty from the Screaming Females. (He's the drummer.) And a nice guy for finding time to answer my questions! Weirdly, I know very little about the Screaming Females and their members. I had fun reading these answers.
 Hope you do too!

How long have you been playing the drums and how did you learn?

2013 is my 20th anniversary of playing drums. I started taking percussion lessons at 9 years of age. I had a fabulous teacher who was a percussionist with the NJ Symphony and now is a director over there. I took lessons with him for 9 years although we actually focused very little on drumset. I learned a whole world of percussion instruments while studying with him. He was a master of mallet instruments and frame drums.

Did you ever take up any other instrument?

I always tell people that learning percussion as opposed to just drumset is like learning a 1000 instruments. Granted, it is easier to master a cowbell than it is a violin but most people don't realize that there are about 1000 ways to play a tambourine. I played alto sax in middle school and trombone in jazz band in high school.

Who are some of your drum idols? Why are they important to you?

The drummers who most influenced me would have to be Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine, Billy Martin of Medeski Martin & Wood, Questlove of The Roots, Brendan Canty of Fugazi, and Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters. I was also very influenced by hip hop producers, especially people like RZA, DJ Shadow, and DJ Primer. The thing I have always loved most about drumming is the groove. I find most drummers to be annoying to listen to. Most drummers play too many notes and do too many fills. I often rather listen to a "bad" drummer play than a "good" drummer because the "bad" drummer often supports the song better. Subtle changes in a hi-hat, kick, snare based rhythm are much more interesting to me than flashy fills. All the drummers and producers I mentioned above are known for creating distinctive beats that are an integral piece of the songs they are playing with.

Talk about your recording process and the preparation that goes into it. What are some of your favorite records as afar as drum sound is concerned?

For Screaming Females we always record guitar, bass, and drums together live. That means that we really have to understand each other's parts before we hit the studio because we can't really change things once we get there. Mike and Marissa both play very melodic and rhythmic lines. This means that I often can't just play a straight ahead rock beat and need to figure out exactly which notes they are accenting and create a beat around that. Also, I have a pretty good ear for rhythm and will often pick out trouble spots in riffs or songs. I can identify that something isn't matching up quite right. I will analyze each part. Sometimes I go so far as to write down the rhythms of the guitar, bass, and drums and line them up. That way I can visually identify exactly how the rhythms are interacting. 9 times out of 10 if something feels weird to me and I go through this process I will find one beat where one of us is accenting something slightly differently. Doing all that makes for really solid rhythms and distinct grooves. It all makes recording easier.

My favorite drum sound is on Rage Against The Machine's Evil Empire. The drums sound so tight without just being clicky noises. I hate drums that don't have body and tone (except for Lars, that is just his thing). I also love the drum sound on Pixies' Surfer Rosa and Weezer's Pinkerton. 

In my opinion, you approach the drums very academically. Has this approach always come naturally to you or was there an evolution over time?

As I said earlier, I am a classically trained percussionist. So I can read, write, and understand rhythms very well. But calling it academic makes it sound stuffy. I am going for the exact opposite of that. I want groove. It was the way I was taught to think about music so it is very natural.

How did the Screaming Females get together?

That's boring! Google it. Ha. Via a project my friends put together to get money from Rutgers U to put out CDs, I came into contact with Marissa's music. The only CD that the music label club put out had a song from Noun and Surgery On TV (which Mike was also in). I asked Marissa to hang out and she asked me to join the band. We changed our name to Screaming Females and the rest is history.

Did you always have specific goals set as to how far you wanted to go musically and professionally?

We very specifically have never had any musical goals. The only goal was to do what felt right. As far as "professionally" I would say that I had a very specific goal of releasing a real album. I had known some great bands that only released CD-Rs. It seemed to me that they didn't value what they were doing enough to make a lasting document of it. So in that way Baby Teeth is probably still my greatest personal achievement. I dreamed of being able to play music professionally right from the beginning. I thought that if I put all my focus into the band that I could make it work without needing to sell songs to ads or have a bullshit manager telling us what to do. I thought it was a very cool project to undertake and a place for me to focus at a point in my life when I was otherwise completely lost. SF was my full time profession from fall 2008 until fall 2012. I am now having to figure out what it means to be in a band that isn't a full time job anymore.

You seem to be the organizer of the group. How much time and effort goes into the band on a daily basis and how much has that changed over the years?

From about 2007 through 2012, I did all the emailing, phone calls, paperwork, and finances. I also took care of or was intimately involved with planning all our recording sessions, releases, and touring. From 2008-2012 I would spend about 5-7 hours doing band work most days. Some days there would be no work and other times I would spend 10 hours a day for weeks straight filling out and emailing paperwork. I enjoyed being involved in that way and learned a whole lot by making a bunch of mistakes.

I have stepped back from that role now. Mike and Marissa are handling all the managing duties now. I have had to get a full time job recently and have other projects I am focusing my time on. Mike has more time available to devote to managing the band's affairs and he definitely knows what he is doing.

Was there a moment where you realized that the band had gone from one level to the next in terms of music and fans?

Not really. Opening for The Dead Weather in summer of 2009 was the first time we had been on a stage playing for 1000s of people so that was definitely a milestone. Putting out Power Move with Don Giovanni Records was a big milestone because we were super reluctant to give up any control. It was a good thing we did because it was the first time that we realized that there could be people other than the three of us who had something important to contribute to Screaming Females.

Kind of going with the above question, how important is it that you still are able to go back and play a basement in New Brunswick or wherever?

We have always just wanted to play shows in spaces where the people there cared about what was happening. We want to have the best show possible and put on the best show possible for the people who show up. That type of show doesn't happen in any one particular type of space. Keeping our operation small but on a high and professional level allows us to be versatile. We can get up and play a festival to 6000+ people because we have learned how to do that (while the rest of the bands at those types of shows have crews and buses and shit) but than we can also go and play a great DIY show because our operation is small enough to work in that type of setting too. Being on tour with Ted Leo and Rx really showed me how that is a real possibility. They tour in a van with just the band and one sound man. And I have watched them roll into 1000+ person sold out shows and also into 60+ person DIY shows. 

What is your family like and what was your childhood like? Do you have siblings? What do/did your parents do for a living?

My family is great. I grew up in Montclair, NJ until I was 12. It is a very progressive town with a very diverse population along many lines. I grew up on the border of the "bad" side of town across the street from two abandoned houses. My parents bought that house in foreclosure and spent the next 20 years trying to fix it. I went to one of the few public Montessori schools in the country and was involved in an Orff music program there. It definitely shaped me to grow up in that environment. Then we moved to Pequannock, NJ. Pequannock is a small town full of banks, churches, and split-level homes. There was a lot of racism, homophobia, backyard keggers, and friday night high school football games. I didn't fit in and didn't care to. I was made fun of pretty badly. I left for college and never looked back.

I have a brother who is 12 years younger than myself. My mom is a music therapist and was a long time union leader for AFSCME in North Jersey. My dad was a semi-professional singer-songwriter, a wildlife removal specialist, a music teacher, and a professional sound technician for national and international television. They are both sort of retired but the economic disaster of the last 5 years has made a full retirement pretty much impossible.

Did you always want to play the drums or did you also want to be a hand model or a gym teacher too?

When I was younger I wanted to be a comic book artist. When I started taking drum lessons I stopped drawing. 

What other jobs have you had?

I worked sound for weddings at a church in my town. I worked at a deli (got fired). I worked in a cafe in New York City. I worked on an Organic farm. I worked in the dinning hall at Rutgers. I worked for a year at Starbucks. I worked in a university bookstore. I have done mystery shopping. I have written complete bullshit useless articles about crap for blogs. Probably some other stuff. Most recently I worked at one of the world's most high-end furniture manufacturers in the upholstery department (got laid off after 3 weeks because of Sandy). Currently I work a few days a week in a small kitchen for a cafe and a few days a week as a barista.

Do you have any ghost stories?

A friend of mine lived at a very strange house in New Brunswick, NJ. It was set back from the street but once you noticed it was there, you couldn't help but remark at how different it was from all the other houses in the neighborhood. It didn't match the rest of the city. I can only imagine that it was owned by the last family that wouldn't sell to the new developers who rebuilt the city some time in the early 1900s. It was all red brick with a red brick path to the front door and a red brick patio in the back yard. My friend filled a vacant room in the house and didn't know the other roommates very well. Not long after moving in he began to notice strange things. Every time he would come home his food would be moved around in the kitchen. At first he wanted to blame his new roommates but figured it wasn't worth bringing up. Then he started to notice what he could only describe as whispers when no one else was home. Finally one day he was home alone and distinctly heard the bell noise of the toaster oven being opened. He walked into the kitchen and found that the toaster oven had been opened even though no one was there! At this point he couldn't take it any longer. He got up the guts to mention it to one of the other house mates who replied by saying that he had been thinking the same thing but was too scared to mention it to anyone else!!! My friend stopped sleeping at the house. One day when the land lord stopped by my friend decided that he didn't care if he sounded crazy. He straight up said "I think there is a ghost in the house." To which the land lord replied "Oh, I know." He proceeded to tell him that when he had bought the house a year before that it had been empty for 20 years. He said that the legend goes that a infamous New Brunswick drug dealer had died of an OD in the house in the 60s. After that no one had lived in the house for more than 6 months. That young professors with full time appointments to the university had quit and left town after only a month or two of living in the house. After a few years of this the house had just stayed empty until the new landlord bought the house the year before my friend moved in. Upon hearing the story my friend decided that it all made sense, that the ghost wasn't trying to scare him. The ghost just didn't realize he was dead. He was high in the kitchen trying to make himself some munchies.

Thanks Jarrett. For more info about the Screaming Females GOOGLE IT. Hi-YO!