Dirtnap Records

White Wires keep it hot

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 | musiX | 1 Comment

Usually by the time fall hits (and it starts getting dark at 4-goddamn-p.m.) I’m ready for pajamas, tea, some sad-bastard music on the hi-fi and bed by 8. Not this year. It’s still summer in mine eyes: The sun is out. I’m grilling up disgusting amounts of meat. And right now, Ottawa, Canada’s White Wires is providing the soundtrack.

If you haven’t heard, the power trio is one of the catchiest things going. White Wires are set to release their third second LP (and first for the venerable Dirtnap Records) entitled WWII on Nov. 23. The first single “Be True to Your School (’Til You Get Kicked Out)” is a play off a Beach Boys classic (or is it a play off this classick?)—a two-minute snack before the main course, if you will. Guaranteed to burn its way into your brain … which is how I keep warm during the cold months.

“Be True to Your School (’Til You Get Kicked Out)” - White Wires

“Ha Ha Holiday” - White Wires (2008’s self-titled)

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TDoL gets some Goodnight Loving

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 | interviewZ, musiX | 1 Comment

“We’re already three songs into the next LP,” says Goodnight Loving guitarist/bassist Colin Swinney. “Beginning this Thursday we’ll be going back in the studio to hopefully finish the rest.”

I like the sound of that. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin four-piece has been receiving steady play over the last few months here at TDoL HQ. The Goodnight Loving’s ragged rock ‘n’ twang is the sound of a freight train chugging down a lonesome, dusty trail—fully embracing traditional country music, and tussling with ’60s folk and garage.

Of course, it only made sense that the Reigning Sound’s Greg Cartwright wanted to produce their 2006 debut Cemetery Trails (”He was really professional while still keeping up beer for beer with us,” Swinney says). Three full-length records and a handful of 7-inches later and The Goodnight Loving is still cranking out new tunes, no doubt a credit to the fact that all four members write and sing.

The band—which takes its name not from a nocturnal petting session, but from a Southwestern cattle trail established by a couple blokes named Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving—released their Nothing Conquers Us 7-inch for Portland’s Dirtnap Records in November and will—as the kids say—drop a 12-inch EP later this month on Italian label Wild Honey Records. Oh, and that new full-length? That’ll be out some time this summer on Dirtnap.

With so much on their—as everyone says—plate Colin Swinney was still able to make some time to answer all of The Days of Lore’s burning questions, explaining what it’s like to record in a cabin, getting lost in Europe, and why the band will never listen to David Bowie again.

TDoL: I read that you all started out playing in punk bands in Wisconsin. How did you end up coming together and shifting to more country-influenced music?
Colin Swinney: We definitely began with the idea in mind of starting something we hadn’t really tried before. A couple of the guys were writing songs together with acoustic guitars, and it seemed natural to try and play with a full group using those same instruments and whatever other ones we could bastardize, like harmonicas and pedal steels. We all loved country and ’60s folk music, but it’s not like we were into jam bands and pickin’ circles—you still would have found us in basements drinking Old English at a Holy Shit! show. You still can.

Do you ever listen to any of the old Bloodshot Records bands? The Goodnight Loving would sound right at home on that label …
I don’t know if we could count them as an influence, but we are certainly familiar with a bunch of those bands. I’ve seen the Sadies a couple of times and I know Kavanaugh saw Whiskytown open up when he went to John Fogerty with his parents.

Does it surprise you that The Goodnight Loving has been embraced by garage rock crowds?
Not really … everyone loves garage rock. It’s no different in spirit or anything to whatever it is we do. I don’t really know who else would embrace us, either. Soccer moms?

How was it working with Greg Cartwright on your first record?
It was wonderful. We were all really big fans of his at the time, so it was like having a highlight of your career be the first thing you do as a band. He was really professional while still keeping up beer for beer with us, so whatever nerves we had psyched ourselves into quickly passed.

What did you take away from the experience?
I’d say how to make a record to be proud of in just a few days. We didn’t quite know what to expect having never made an album with a producer or anything, but we definitely learned that you can just knock it out quickly as long as the performances can speak for themselves.

It’s not often you get a band where every member writes songs and sings. How does the process work? Does that make it difficult to whittle down songs?
It’s pretty fun and stress-free actually. We show up to practice and say, “Does anyone have anything new?” and go from there. Sometimes songs don’t work, but those ones usually make themselves obvious enough that we just don’t spend much time on ‘em.

I love that you recorded [2007's] Crooked Lake in a cabin. How did that affect your approach over recording in a traditional studio?
A big part of it was that we didn’t intend on coming away with a full-length record. We just had all these songs left over or written after the making of the first LP that we decided it’d be fun to get them down to tape. We picked a cabin on a beautiful lake in June to record them, because who wouldn’t? When it turned out we had enough songs, we fell into our next album.

You’ve had success outside the States … how do you like touring in other countries?
For as much as fun as it is, it’s also a lot of stress. We’ve been driving ourselves around while we’re in Europe, and it’s pretty intimidating trying to navigate with just a GPS that barely knows where the hell you are. That said, there’s nothing comparable to a trial by fire in another language. We always managed to have a good time and keep our spirits up when someone’s reaching a breaking point. And there’s almost always a new, delicious food to set anyone’s mood right.

Any countries in particular that have embraced the band?
Italy and Australia stand out as they’re places where we’ve had labels who released our records, and then followed through with promoting them and bringing us there. We’ve had some really great shows in both. Sometimes it’s hard though. There are some cities where nobody moves, just staring through you as you play and you think “well this sucks” … but you still might sell 200 bucks in merch and suddenly that crowd wouldn’t seem so bad anymore.

What’s usually in the CD player/iPod during tours?
Usually it’s Roger Miller, Buck Owens, Hank Williams, lots of Beatles, CCR … pretty standard road material. We once went five weeks with a Velvet Underground best of and a David Bowie 1962-1967 collection on cassette. No one ever got sick of the VU, but I don’t think anyone of us will ever willingly listen to Bowie again, no matter what period of his career. “Sell Me a Coat” will live on in all our top-five-worst-song-ever lists.

“Nothing Conquers Us” - The Goodnight Loving

“Colin Attends a Party” - The Goodnight Loving (self-titled LP)

“Drafted Into War” - The Goodnight Loving (Contaminated Records 7-inch)

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Mean Jeans mean business

Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

Green Noise was one of the first record stores I found when I moved to Portland about a year ago. Loads of garage and punk albums; not to mention owner Ken Cheppaikode is a helluva nice gent with an affinity for Reigning Sound, and an almost robotic ability for relaying the who? what? when? where? and why? of the most bizarro/obscuro bands from the past four decades.

The cozy, punk rawk hub on Clinton Street is also home to Dirtnap Records, the label Cheppaikode started in 1999 while still living in Seattle. The label has put out tons of 7-inches and records from bands like The Epoxies, The Marked Men and The Girls, the latter of which made TDoL’s 2008 Year-End List. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Dirtnap is offering a free 15-song sampler with some of the aforementioned bands as well as the Mean Jeans, who will perform along with White Fang tonight at Ground Kontrol to celebrate the release of their new record Are You Serious? And in true punk rock fashion, this shindig is FREE.

Mean Jeans might be the second coming of The Ramones … or perhaps one of those other bands that sound like The Ramones. Needless to say their two-minute jabs are damn catchy and fun. And based on members’ reported aptitudes for consuming illicit substances, I firmly believe that listening to the Mean Jeans could give you cotton mouth, the drip and the spins. So uh … when’s their next record coming out?

“Born On a Saturday Night” - Mean Jeans

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Girls to men

Monday, November 3rd, 2008 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

I grew up on a steady diet of early MTV—staring in awe at the TV screen as bands like The Cars, Bow Wow Wow, Devo and The Vapors awkwardly mugged for the camera and played sexed-up new wave tunes whose lyrics flew over my untainted little head. But I was old enough to know what a catchy tune was. I remember sitting on the couch and drumming along to those bands on the right arm with a pair of markers and … wait a second, I think I just figured out why I play drums left-handed.

Today I was sitting on my couch as I popped in The Girls‘ latest Yes No Yes No Yes No, and … where are my markers? The five men that make up The Girls have taken the innocence and good times of early-’80s new wave and have cranked it up to an acceptable aughts punk-rock volume. It’s music for swilling cheap beer, sniffing glue, eating paint chips, or any sort of unhealthy activity that makes you feel good (so I hear).

This is the Seattle band’s second full-length release on Portland’s all-things-punk Dirtnap Records, the label responsible for releases from The Ergs! and Denton Texas’ the Marked Men, the latter of which just released a new 7-inch. Dirtnap owner Ken Cheppaikode informed me that the label recently added locals The Mean Jeans and Autistic Youth to the roster (look for new records in early 2009). And to that I say, let the good times roll.

“Not I” - The Girls

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