New Brunswick's Modern Chemistry have posted a video for the single Cling. You can check it out here or visit you tube Here.
Modern Chemistry Bandcamp
Showing posts with label New Brunswick NJ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Brunswick NJ. Show all posts
Friday, May 29, 2015
Friday, January 2, 2015
Sink Tapes Streaming 'Pool Kid' from Upcoming Album on New Indie Label 'Sniffling Indie Kids'
New Brunswick's Sink Tapes are currently streaming 'Pool Kids' . A track from their upcoming album 'Creases'. To order the album, go to http://www.snifflingindiekids.com/
Friday, December 12, 2014
United By Images; Vision (Up Close)
New York's storied history. The garden state's contributions to the genre are just as colorful and numerous as that of their neighbor to the east. While bands like Adrenalin O.D., Underdog, Hogans Heroes, Supertouch, Turning Point, Lifetime and The Bouncing Souls immediately come to mind. Vision was one of the first that connected with me on more than one level. While the band would rightfully find it's place amongst the many NY/NJ Hardcore matinee in the 80's, 90's and beyond.. It was their D.C. / Dag Nasty hooks and melodies that I found inspiring. Decades after I got my first taste of Vision at a CBGB's Sunday matinee. I'm still stuck on those hooks, break and rhythms. In the handful of times I've seen them in recent years. They've never made me regret gassing up the car and making the trip south.
A band that, without a doubt, has stood the test of time.
Vision
Debuting the new feature "United By Images" with Vision makes a lot of sense to me.
Having grown up in New York and eventually moving to New Jersey. In some weird way,
I feel I've come full circle. James Damion
"You never thought about the consequences. You never thought at all. I never thought you'd be the one to ever take the fall." Falling Apart
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Monday, August 18, 2014
Holy City Zoo's Frank DeFranco Gets the Low Down on New Brunswick's The Dollys
Hi again. This is Frank DeFranco of Holy City Zoo and NGHTCRWLRS. I’ve done this once before for this blog and I’ve been given the opportunity once again to blabber away with a kick ass band who fortunately also happen to be buddies of mine. Dollys (New Brunswick, NJ) are a four piece vintage pop band with a breath of fresh air. They’ve currently finished recording their first full length album and have some fundraising going on to press it on vinyl. Below you’ll hear some jibber jabber on this and a fair share of other things. Enjoy or send me hate mail, either works.
Interview with Jeff Lane and Natalie Newbold of Dollys (8/10/14)
Frank: So lets start with…so you guys want to say the name of the new record?
Jeff: It’s called “Oh Please.”
Frank: Okay, so “Oh Please,” where’d you guys get the name for that? Like what was uhhh, howd’ you go about that?
Natalie: Interesting question.
Jeff: Well, it was an interesting thing for me because I realized that it’s one of those weird phrases that people say all the time, kind of like sarcastically, but you know, you could also take it seriously. Just thought it was an interesting concept because it could be taken more than one way.
Natalie: Yeah, it can kind of be like, ya know “ohhh pleeeasse” or like “oh please buy this record.”
(Lots of room laughter)
Natalie: It’s like, it can be taken either way.
Frank: Oh please keep me alive!
Jeff: I mean, it pretty much always comes down to Paul McCartney. I watched an interview with him and he was talking about how all the early Beatles songs came about, like
“Please Please Me,” “Help,” and stuff like that…he said a lot of that stuff was directly to the fans and I thought that was really interesting. “Please Please Me” is the first Beatles record or whatever, so it’s a little reference to that, but we just thought it was a nice thought.
Frank: That’s cool. No, no, that’s really cool. Mind if I snag another one of these
(pointing to beers).
Jeff & Natalie: Take as many as you want!
Frank: Thank you.
Natalie: That’s what we got them for!
Frank: Well muchas gracious. Okay, so with this record, you did everything to tape, right? I’m curious to hear about that experience, I know you have a lot of affiliation with
Lake House (Recording Studio), so kind of just go off with it, what’s the run down on that one?
(Frank cracks open beer)
Jeff: We really like the Beach Boys and the Beatles and all the records from the 60s and 70s and it always kind of fascinated me how much pop music has changed, and rock music too because back then it was like go in the studio and be a fuckin’ band. And that’s awesome.
Frank: And you had to be good.
Jeff: And you had to be good, because if you sucked everyone knew it and no one bought your record. Or they bought it and then they burned it in hot fire.
(More room laughter)
Jeff: Because it sucked. And we were like “well, lets see how good we are. Ya know?
Lets see if we can do something that is important to us that sounds good but doesn’t make us want to puke.
Natalie: And I think that Lake House was kind of this perfect fit for us because
John, the owner, loves vintage gear. Like so much. He has incredible stuff that is all super old and they wanted to get a tape machine and we just wanted to record to tape really bad, so it just made sense that we went there to record to tape.
Jeff: And Eric (bass player) working there and always saying “yo, you should buy this thing, the Beatles liked it.” And so John would buy it. So we were like, well we like that too, so lets record there.
Natalie: It just was obvious that we were going to do it there.
Jeff: I don’t know where we’ll really end up in the future, but right now it seems like the logical place for us. We’re super comfortable there.
Natalie: We all work there for the most part.
(Chuckles)
Frank: Well it’s always nice to feel comfortable in the recording process.
I’m sure you both know that there’s sometimes when you’re recording and you feel like this strenuous pressure and other times you’re just there just being yourself and feeling it, ya know? So do you have that added pressure, even though you’re in a comfortable place, knowing that you’re doing it to tape, because you have to play it good? Or was it comfortable enough at Lake House that you could kind of let loose and be yourselves?
Natalie: I think that when we first started recording, we did this one song, like seven or eight takes of it. It was getting up there.
Jeff: It was shameful, but it was also one of the more complicated ones.
Natalie: Yeah, and I think we would listen back to it and would be like “no, no, no, no, no, that’s not it.” And then something happened, we just clicked that no matter how many times we do it, it’s going to sound like us and that’s why we’re doing this to tape, ya know?
That’s why we’re doing this, because all the records that we love from the 60s and 70s have those weird George Harrison guitar mistakes.
Jeff: It’s always George.
Natalie: (continuing) that we love! (More chuckles)
Frank: Yeah, I think it’s those things that add character to the record that have kind of been lost or are flaws in the digital era. Like sometimes you hear one of those. (makes fart noise)
Jeff: Like that guitar hero noise.
Frank: Exactly.
Jeff: That’s exactly what it is.
Frank: But like all the weird little hums and guitar hisses.
Natalie: And not so perfect vocals, those vocal takes that give you chills but aren’t exactly like computerized, on point. Ya know?
Jeff: I mean, anyone who knows anything about music wants to hear real.
Frank: The human element.
Jeff: Yeah, not like the bullshit computer synthesized crap. Because it’s just weird.
It doesn’t sound real.
Frank: Totally. So with this album, you have pursued this Indiegogo campaign. So I’d like to hear about how your experience has been with that, how you feel about Indiegogo, and any advice for bands who plan to go about it the way that you have.
Jeff: Don’t just start one. Plan.
(Those faithful room chuckles return)
Jeff: And tell people beforehand and then hope for the best. Keep pushing it, keep telling people, keep working. But don’t let it control you’re wanting to be a musician or artist or however you see yourself, because worrying about money sucks. It can really suck away a lot of your creativity. So I’ve tried to do a good balance of like saying on facebook,
“why hasn’t my mom bought anything yet?” Just kidding, she put money in yesterday.
(I’m not sure if we’re laughing more or talking at this point)
Jeff: She waited long enough to give me the sweats but yeah, I don’t know, it’s hard, you have to do a lot of work.
Natalie: I would say just in terms of advice. If you think you’re going to do it, tell everyone about it before you do it. Like all your friends and family and get them on board with it.
That was something we didn’t realize we needed to do. We kind of decided in the band this was something we were going to do. We made it and made a video and within two weeks of it being up, my mom didn’t even know it was. She was like “what is that, I don’t know what that is!?! You keep posting about it, what is it?”
(Mom quote in Staten Island accent)
Natalie: So its something you kind of have to explain to people. It’s been a very interesting process and the fact that we’ve raised $2000 astounds me, that people
Frank: That’s pretty amazing.
Natalie: Yeah, it makes you feel good about what you do and gives you hope that you can do it.
Jeff: And to answer your first question, Indiegogo is great because they take the least percentage of what you earned. I’d say the only problem with it is that it is not as immediately recognizable as Kickstarter.
Frank: Well I think that’s because Kickstarter was the first of that kind of thing, unless I’m totally wrong about that.
Natalie: No I think they were the first ones.
Jeff: They were the first one to go ya know.
Frank: Viral?
Jeff: Yeah, whatever that means. It’s like Kickstarter is like Starbucks…you could see a store that says coffee and if it’s next to a Starbucks, it’s like Coffee whatever, Starbucks,
I know they coffee.
Frank: And I know what their coffee tastes like.
Jeff: Exactly. But yeah Indiegogo is cool. Everything makes sense on their site.
Natalie: I think one thing that we did differently than a lot of the bands and people we’ve seen use it is that we set it up so that it’s more of a pre-order. It’s not so much of a
“oh donate to us.”
Frank: So we can do this
Jeff: Or else it won’t happen. Because it’s going to happen anyway, we just figured, it would help us get a jump start on it if people can help put money down on it.
Natalie: Yeah, because it’s done. We’ve already put in all the money to record it. A lot of bands will have an Indiegogo to fund the entire project. We already did that.
Frank: We just want that wax baby.
Natalie: Yeah, we set a really high precedent getting our first EP done to Vinyl.
Jeff: And know we’re broke.
Natalie: We probably should do that again for the record. It probably deserves that.
Frank: Cool, cool. I personally know some roots about this band, but for the people who will be hearing about you for the first time, just throw me a little bit about the background of how Dollys came to be and what has guided you to where you are now.
Jeff: Oh man. That’s all you dawg.
Natalie: So we were recording a record as Green Paper and things weren’t really panning out the way that we wanted them to.
Jeff: There were a lot of differences creatively.
Natalie: A lot of creative differences, arguing about where the record should have gone. When you’re in a band and not everyone has the same goals, obviously at some point you’re going to have some differences that aren’t going to be fixed. So, Eric, who was engineering the record, and was our close friend at the time.
Jeff: He’s a sick bass player.
Natalie: He’s a sick bass player and an awesome musician.
Jeff: He gets along with us really well, and it seemed like the logical choice.
Natalie: And it was the right thing to do. We were like “hey do you want to start a band?” We really wanted to take this band in a different direction than Green Paper. Green Paper was a lot more Garage Rock, kind of psychedelic elements and we kind of wanted to do this very poppy but still a little modern interpretation of the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
Jeff: I think the Garagy kind of feel to it was mostly just inexperience, ya know? I had never recorded actually, and then when we started doing Water I was like “I kind of get like a good feel for this, I want to work with someone who can translate my terrible ideas.”
(More good time hang laughs)
Frank: I don’t know if I’d call them terrible.
Jeff: Well, like weird like “I want it to sound like trees shaving” ya know what I mean? I want that to actually make sense to someone and Eric for some reason seemed like the logical person, probably because he’d be like “whatever dude, I’m just going to make it sound good, okay?” But yeah, it was a long weird trip in Green Paper. We didn’t try to do anything too poppy, we just wanted to write a really good record that felt right and made people happy instead of sad, that’s kind of what we shot for.
Frank: I mean I loved “Fire” (Green Paper full length) and I enjoyed the singles and stuff, and then I heard the Dollys EP and when I heard it, it had this chilling feeling because it was something that felt familiar, but there was also this kind of fire (whoops) behind it, like this is born out of the ashes of something else and we need to do this. It had that sense of urgency to it, and it was really cool. You can feel the emotion that was put into that record.
Jeff: It was a bummer.
Natalie: Having Green Paper break up was probably one of the worst things that ever happened to me.
Jeff: It was one of those things where the band falling apart was pretty sour…it was one of those things that you have to be devastated and not let anybody know.
Natalie: But because of that happening, now I am a much happier person. I love the music that we are making and I’m so excited for the future.
Frank: That’s where it’s at.
Natalie: Yeah. For us to get to this point, that had to happen.
Jeff: I don’t even like music.
(Insert you know what goes in the parenthesis here)
Natalie: Just end the interview with that.
Jeff: My boss says that all the time and he owns a music store.
Frank: Soooo you kind of covered this partially in what we were just talking about, but is there a general message you are trying to send as Dollys, or with this record…
Jeff: 4:20 weed everyday. Just kidding. I don’t know. What message did the Beatles send?
Natalie: Peace, love, understanding?
Jeff: Not even, because like John Lennon beat wives.
Frank: I love John Lennon as a songwriter.
Jeff: Oh hell yeah.
Frank: But everyone is always like John Lennon, Hair Peace, this hippie man…back in his Liverpool days, you cross him the wrong way, that guy would fuck you up.
Jeff: Yeah. But, umm, I don’t think we particularly have a message yet?
Natalie: I think that one thing we’re trying to bring back is
Jeff: Is write good music?
Natalie: Is getting back to this idea of great songwriting or just always trying to write the best songs that you can and this idea of real musicianship again. Having pop music not be the thing that people think about and be like “pop music sucks” because it’s bad or because it’s easy or because it’s not technically difficult because those things don’t equate. Like we’ve all heard “I Want You Back” and that is CRAZY! From start to finish I’m like “what’s happening?!?” ya know?
Jeff: One time I was working at a place and this guy came up to me and was like “I really like Lady Gaga” because this one song she used a diminished chord. And I was like you could use a diminished chord any fucking time you want, you just got to do it right. And fuck you because you’re stupid.
(Beer belly laughter)
Jeff: I mean, I think that being in the right band and having the right attitude and being cool is important and is something you should work on. And ya know, playing your instrument well and being able to shred the gnar is important and you should practice that, but I think the most important thing, and this is time tested and proven, is just writing songs that are good. And are approachable but not fucking lame, like Monkees or something. Even though the Monkees are cool now, back in the day they were not because they were so bubble gum.
Frank: Okay, I’m almost done here. Have you figured out where/when you will be doing the listening party and release show or anything like that yet?
Jeff: I think Eric did, but we have no idea. We were actually doing interview questions the other day and Eric was saying that we should probably do some of this stuff early 2015.
Natalie: Uh, yeah, we’re timing how it’s going to take it to get mastered and pressed so we’re either thinking early 2015 or towards the end of 2014.
Jeff: And really the most important thing is making sure that everyone who is invited to the listening party can make it. Because that would be really stupid if they couldn’t.
Natalie: Listening party is at Lake House. Release show is probably going to be at the
Court Tavern.
Jeff: It makes the most sense for us because that’s where I feel like people know us from since the Beach Boys cover set.
Frank: Which by the way that was fantastic. Actually, lets talk about that a sec. What was it like paying tribute to a band that you love so much?
Jeff: It was great. It was really hard.
Frank: Now I love my fair share of the Beach Boys. I’m definitely not on your level but...
Jeff: We’re stupid about it. I’ve read stupid books on Amazon, like this book is stupid, but I should read it anyway. I’m sure there’s some information in it that’s important.
Natalie: We had a really great time.
Jeff: It had it’s ups and downs practicing it.
Natalie: For me personally, at that point in time, I was still a little unsure of myself vocally. The transition between Green Paper and Dollys was partly me becoming more of a lead singer and there was still a lot of confidence issues I was tackling in doing so, but that Beach Boys set made me practice, practice, practice on vocals, so much that it made me so much more confident in our own material, singing backups, singing leads, whatever it may be, and playing the drums. So it really helped me personally.
Jeff: I had more fun fucking up those songs, than fucking up any other thing. It was like really fun just being like I practiced this for three months which is waaayyy more than I’d spend writing everything. And then you know I just go on playing “Good Vibrations” and I’m like a whole step off and everyone’s like “Hello” and I’m like “Yeaaaahhhhh” and then all of a sudden I snap into it and I’m like, oh I can actually hear my guitar now, the cymbals have died out, oh I’m totally wrong, cool, this is the last part of the set and I blew it. And I just found it hilarious instead of like panicking and being like “god you’re awful.” It was a fun show.
Frank: Jeff, Natalie, thank you for your time. It’s been excellent to catch up with ya.
Dollys Band Site
IndieGoGo Donate Here
Interview with Jeff Lane and Natalie Newbold of Dollys (8/10/14)
Jeff: It’s called “Oh Please.”
Frank: Okay, so “Oh Please,” where’d you guys get the name for that? Like what was uhhh, howd’ you go about that?
Natalie: Interesting question.
Jeff: Well, it was an interesting thing for me because I realized that it’s one of those weird phrases that people say all the time, kind of like sarcastically, but you know, you could also take it seriously. Just thought it was an interesting concept because it could be taken more than one way.
Natalie: Yeah, it can kind of be like, ya know “ohhh pleeeasse” or like “oh please buy this record.”
(Lots of room laughter)
Natalie: It’s like, it can be taken either way.
Frank: Oh please keep me alive!
Jeff: I mean, it pretty much always comes down to Paul McCartney. I watched an interview with him and he was talking about how all the early Beatles songs came about, like
“Please Please Me,” “Help,” and stuff like that…he said a lot of that stuff was directly to the fans and I thought that was really interesting. “Please Please Me” is the first Beatles record or whatever, so it’s a little reference to that, but we just thought it was a nice thought.
Frank: That’s cool. No, no, that’s really cool. Mind if I snag another one of these
(pointing to beers).
Jeff & Natalie: Take as many as you want!
Frank: Thank you.
Natalie: That’s what we got them for!
Frank: Well muchas gracious. Okay, so with this record, you did everything to tape, right? I’m curious to hear about that experience, I know you have a lot of affiliation with
Lake House (Recording Studio), so kind of just go off with it, what’s the run down on that one?
(Frank cracks open beer)
 |
| Photo Credit; Andrew Holtz |
Frank: And you had to be good.
Jeff: And you had to be good, because if you sucked everyone knew it and no one bought your record. Or they bought it and then they burned it in hot fire.
(More room laughter)
Jeff: Because it sucked. And we were like “well, lets see how good we are. Ya know?
Lets see if we can do something that is important to us that sounds good but doesn’t make us want to puke.
Natalie: And I think that Lake House was kind of this perfect fit for us because
John, the owner, loves vintage gear. Like so much. He has incredible stuff that is all super old and they wanted to get a tape machine and we just wanted to record to tape really bad, so it just made sense that we went there to record to tape.
Jeff: And Eric (bass player) working there and always saying “yo, you should buy this thing, the Beatles liked it.” And so John would buy it. So we were like, well we like that too, so lets record there.
Natalie: It just was obvious that we were going to do it there.
Jeff: I don’t know where we’ll really end up in the future, but right now it seems like the logical place for us. We’re super comfortable there.
Natalie: We all work there for the most part.
(Chuckles)
 |
| Photo Courtesy of Cool Dad Music |
I’m sure you both know that there’s sometimes when you’re recording and you feel like this strenuous pressure and other times you’re just there just being yourself and feeling it, ya know? So do you have that added pressure, even though you’re in a comfortable place, knowing that you’re doing it to tape, because you have to play it good? Or was it comfortable enough at Lake House that you could kind of let loose and be yourselves?
Natalie: I think that when we first started recording, we did this one song, like seven or eight takes of it. It was getting up there.
Jeff: It was shameful, but it was also one of the more complicated ones.
Natalie: Yeah, and I think we would listen back to it and would be like “no, no, no, no, no, that’s not it.” And then something happened, we just clicked that no matter how many times we do it, it’s going to sound like us and that’s why we’re doing this to tape, ya know?
That’s why we’re doing this, because all the records that we love from the 60s and 70s have those weird George Harrison guitar mistakes.
Jeff: It’s always George.
Natalie: (continuing) that we love! (More chuckles)
Frank: Yeah, I think it’s those things that add character to the record that have kind of been lost or are flaws in the digital era. Like sometimes you hear one of those. (makes fart noise)
Jeff: Like that guitar hero noise.
Frank: Exactly.
Jeff: That’s exactly what it is.
Frank: But like all the weird little hums and guitar hisses.
Natalie: And not so perfect vocals, those vocal takes that give you chills but aren’t exactly like computerized, on point. Ya know?
Jeff: I mean, anyone who knows anything about music wants to hear real.
Frank: The human element.
Jeff: Yeah, not like the bullshit computer synthesized crap. Because it’s just weird.
It doesn’t sound real.
Frank: Totally. So with this album, you have pursued this Indiegogo campaign. So I’d like to hear about how your experience has been with that, how you feel about Indiegogo, and any advice for bands who plan to go about it the way that you have.
Jeff: Don’t just start one. Plan.
(Those faithful room chuckles return)
Jeff: And tell people beforehand and then hope for the best. Keep pushing it, keep telling people, keep working. But don’t let it control you’re wanting to be a musician or artist or however you see yourself, because worrying about money sucks. It can really suck away a lot of your creativity. So I’ve tried to do a good balance of like saying on facebook,
“why hasn’t my mom bought anything yet?” Just kidding, she put money in yesterday.
(I’m not sure if we’re laughing more or talking at this point)
Jeff: She waited long enough to give me the sweats but yeah, I don’t know, it’s hard, you have to do a lot of work.
Natalie: I would say just in terms of advice. If you think you’re going to do it, tell everyone about it before you do it. Like all your friends and family and get them on board with it.
That was something we didn’t realize we needed to do. We kind of decided in the band this was something we were going to do. We made it and made a video and within two weeks of it being up, my mom didn’t even know it was. She was like “what is that, I don’t know what that is!?! You keep posting about it, what is it?”
(Mom quote in Staten Island accent)
Natalie: So its something you kind of have to explain to people. It’s been a very interesting process and the fact that we’ve raised $2000 astounds me, that people
Frank: That’s pretty amazing.
Natalie: Yeah, it makes you feel good about what you do and gives you hope that you can do it.
Jeff: And to answer your first question, Indiegogo is great because they take the least percentage of what you earned. I’d say the only problem with it is that it is not as immediately recognizable as Kickstarter.
Frank: Well I think that’s because Kickstarter was the first of that kind of thing, unless I’m totally wrong about that.
Natalie: No I think they were the first ones.
Jeff: They were the first one to go ya know.
Frank: Viral?
Jeff: Yeah, whatever that means. It’s like Kickstarter is like Starbucks…you could see a store that says coffee and if it’s next to a Starbucks, it’s like Coffee whatever, Starbucks,
I know they coffee.
Frank: And I know what their coffee tastes like.
Jeff: Exactly. But yeah Indiegogo is cool. Everything makes sense on their site.
Natalie: I think one thing that we did differently than a lot of the bands and people we’ve seen use it is that we set it up so that it’s more of a pre-order. It’s not so much of a
“oh donate to us.”
Frank: So we can do this
Jeff: Or else it won’t happen. Because it’s going to happen anyway, we just figured, it would help us get a jump start on it if people can help put money down on it.
Natalie: Yeah, because it’s done. We’ve already put in all the money to record it. A lot of bands will have an Indiegogo to fund the entire project. We already did that.
Frank: We just want that wax baby.
Natalie: Yeah, we set a really high precedent getting our first EP done to Vinyl.
Jeff: And know we’re broke.
Natalie: We probably should do that again for the record. It probably deserves that.
Frank: Cool, cool. I personally know some roots about this band, but for the people who will be hearing about you for the first time, just throw me a little bit about the background of how Dollys came to be and what has guided you to where you are now.
Jeff: Oh man. That’s all you dawg.
Natalie: So we were recording a record as Green Paper and things weren’t really panning out the way that we wanted them to.
Jeff: There were a lot of differences creatively.
Natalie: A lot of creative differences, arguing about where the record should have gone. When you’re in a band and not everyone has the same goals, obviously at some point you’re going to have some differences that aren’t going to be fixed. So, Eric, who was engineering the record, and was our close friend at the time.
Jeff: He’s a sick bass player.
Natalie: He’s a sick bass player and an awesome musician.
Jeff: He gets along with us really well, and it seemed like the logical choice.
Natalie: And it was the right thing to do. We were like “hey do you want to start a band?” We really wanted to take this band in a different direction than Green Paper. Green Paper was a lot more Garage Rock, kind of psychedelic elements and we kind of wanted to do this very poppy but still a little modern interpretation of the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
Jeff: I think the Garagy kind of feel to it was mostly just inexperience, ya know? I had never recorded actually, and then when we started doing Water I was like “I kind of get like a good feel for this, I want to work with someone who can translate my terrible ideas.”
(More good time hang laughs)
Frank: I don’t know if I’d call them terrible.
Jeff: Well, like weird like “I want it to sound like trees shaving” ya know what I mean? I want that to actually make sense to someone and Eric for some reason seemed like the logical person, probably because he’d be like “whatever dude, I’m just going to make it sound good, okay?” But yeah, it was a long weird trip in Green Paper. We didn’t try to do anything too poppy, we just wanted to write a really good record that felt right and made people happy instead of sad, that’s kind of what we shot for.
Frank: I mean I loved “Fire” (Green Paper full length) and I enjoyed the singles and stuff, and then I heard the Dollys EP and when I heard it, it had this chilling feeling because it was something that felt familiar, but there was also this kind of fire (whoops) behind it, like this is born out of the ashes of something else and we need to do this. It had that sense of urgency to it, and it was really cool. You can feel the emotion that was put into that record.
Jeff: It was a bummer.
Natalie: Having Green Paper break up was probably one of the worst things that ever happened to me.
Jeff: It was one of those things where the band falling apart was pretty sour…it was one of those things that you have to be devastated and not let anybody know.
Natalie: But because of that happening, now I am a much happier person. I love the music that we are making and I’m so excited for the future.
Frank: That’s where it’s at.
Natalie: Yeah. For us to get to this point, that had to happen.
Jeff: I don’t even like music.
(Insert you know what goes in the parenthesis here)
Natalie: Just end the interview with that.
Jeff: My boss says that all the time and he owns a music store.
Frank: Soooo you kind of covered this partially in what we were just talking about, but is there a general message you are trying to send as Dollys, or with this record…
Jeff: 4:20 weed everyday. Just kidding. I don’t know. What message did the Beatles send?
Natalie: Peace, love, understanding?
Jeff: Not even, because like John Lennon beat wives.
Frank: I love John Lennon as a songwriter.
Jeff: Oh hell yeah.
Frank: But everyone is always like John Lennon, Hair Peace, this hippie man…back in his Liverpool days, you cross him the wrong way, that guy would fuck you up.
Jeff: Yeah. But, umm, I don’t think we particularly have a message yet?
Natalie: I think that one thing we’re trying to bring back is
Jeff: Is write good music?
Natalie: Is getting back to this idea of great songwriting or just always trying to write the best songs that you can and this idea of real musicianship again. Having pop music not be the thing that people think about and be like “pop music sucks” because it’s bad or because it’s easy or because it’s not technically difficult because those things don’t equate. Like we’ve all heard “I Want You Back” and that is CRAZY! From start to finish I’m like “what’s happening?!?” ya know?
Jeff: One time I was working at a place and this guy came up to me and was like “I really like Lady Gaga” because this one song she used a diminished chord. And I was like you could use a diminished chord any fucking time you want, you just got to do it right. And fuck you because you’re stupid.
(Beer belly laughter)
Jeff: I mean, I think that being in the right band and having the right attitude and being cool is important and is something you should work on. And ya know, playing your instrument well and being able to shred the gnar is important and you should practice that, but I think the most important thing, and this is time tested and proven, is just writing songs that are good. And are approachable but not fucking lame, like Monkees or something. Even though the Monkees are cool now, back in the day they were not because they were so bubble gum.
Frank: Okay, I’m almost done here. Have you figured out where/when you will be doing the listening party and release show or anything like that yet?
Jeff: I think Eric did, but we have no idea. We were actually doing interview questions the other day and Eric was saying that we should probably do some of this stuff early 2015.
Natalie: Uh, yeah, we’re timing how it’s going to take it to get mastered and pressed so we’re either thinking early 2015 or towards the end of 2014.
Jeff: And really the most important thing is making sure that everyone who is invited to the listening party can make it. Because that would be really stupid if they couldn’t.
Natalie: Listening party is at Lake House. Release show is probably going to be at the
Court Tavern.
Jeff: It makes the most sense for us because that’s where I feel like people know us from since the Beach Boys cover set.
Frank: Which by the way that was fantastic. Actually, lets talk about that a sec. What was it like paying tribute to a band that you love so much?
Jeff: It was great. It was really hard.
Frank: Now I love my fair share of the Beach Boys. I’m definitely not on your level but...
Jeff: We’re stupid about it. I’ve read stupid books on Amazon, like this book is stupid, but I should read it anyway. I’m sure there’s some information in it that’s important.
Natalie: We had a really great time.
Jeff: It had it’s ups and downs practicing it.
Natalie: For me personally, at that point in time, I was still a little unsure of myself vocally. The transition between Green Paper and Dollys was partly me becoming more of a lead singer and there was still a lot of confidence issues I was tackling in doing so, but that Beach Boys set made me practice, practice, practice on vocals, so much that it made me so much more confident in our own material, singing backups, singing leads, whatever it may be, and playing the drums. So it really helped me personally.
Jeff: I had more fun fucking up those songs, than fucking up any other thing. It was like really fun just being like I practiced this for three months which is waaayyy more than I’d spend writing everything. And then you know I just go on playing “Good Vibrations” and I’m like a whole step off and everyone’s like “Hello” and I’m like “Yeaaaahhhhh” and then all of a sudden I snap into it and I’m like, oh I can actually hear my guitar now, the cymbals have died out, oh I’m totally wrong, cool, this is the last part of the set and I blew it. And I just found it hilarious instead of like panicking and being like “god you’re awful.” It was a fun show.
Frank: Jeff, Natalie, thank you for your time. It’s been excellent to catch up with ya.
Dollys Band Site
IndieGoGo Donate Here
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
A Night of Releases, Debuts and Celebratory Hugs at the Court Tavern
Due to my hunger and the fact I spent most of the early part of my evening waiting for my food to come out of the kitchen. I managed to miss most of Darryl Norrell's acoustic set. The two or so songs had a laid back and cozy appeal that would have felt a lot more intimate if the crowd assembled had come anywhere close to the stage. Blame it on my empty stomach, but I was starting to picture myself sitting up on stage with the band roasting marsh mellows. Take it any way you want. It seemed a nice way to open the night. Say what you want, butI think that long bench at the back of the room serves as a Lazy-Boy for a lot of people who just aren't quite ready to fully commit to a good time.
Sink Tapes followed and though I had no prior knowledge of the local New Brunswick quartet. I found myself immediately drawn to their melodic and seemingly effortless approach to Indie Rock. Their set quite impressive musically. I felt drawn to
drummer / vocalist Gabe's delicate vocal delivery and easy approach to the drums.
I created an imaginary line a few feet from the stage. Not wanting to disturb the intimate setting their set created. My one regret of the night was not bringing enough cash to properly ransack Sink Tapes merch table. I hope to get the chance again soon. Only time will tell.
Considering how much time I've spent lending my ears to Modern Chemistry's
'We'll grow out of this' Review Here
and 'An Introduction' Review Here.
It's hard to imagine this was my first opportunity catch the band live. Lucky I caught them on this particular night, considering this was to be the bands last local show for some time.
Their uplifting energy and spirit moved the laid back and somewhat stand offish crowd away from the bar and the comfort of the bleachers within striking distance of the stage.
Lead singer / guitarist Brendan Hourican grades high in the frontman department. A mix of energy, charisma and the ability to perfectly engage in onstage banter without it sounding forced or phony. The band's set included songs from both EP's along with a couple of new ones.
Considering Modern Chemistry list 80's
Power Pop band The Outfield as one of their key influences. I shouldn't have been the least bit surprised when they rolled out a cover of the bands sole hit 'Your Love'. Regardless, my jaw dropped so low. I can accurately relay the the floor of the Court Tavern tastes like a combination of rubber and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
It really raised the eyes and ears of the already involved crowd and put a nice ribbon on an excellent set.
Being that it was their very first show. The Sound is Fine landed a pretty sweet spot on the bill. The Wayne, New Jersey natives whose members comprise of two sets of brothers (Reed and Skyler Adler and Evan and Colin Campbell) are no strangers to the New Jersey independent music scene. Reed, Skyler and Evan comprised 3/5 of the now defunct
Nico Blues. Truth be told. I may have never made it out if it were not for Reed personally asking. It's hard to believe it's been over a year since I've seen these guys. The band played a tight set of celebratory Rock n' Roll that included songs from their debut EP. One so good, I knew the words and hooks to each song before they even plugged in. Life their predecessors The Nico Blues. I can see The Sound is Fine making a big impression on the current New Jersey music scene and beyond. Be sure to check back in Friday for my review of the EP.
With their new single 'Grandview Terrace' in tow. Local heroes Holy City Zoo closed the night on a high note. The band and personnel have been favorites of mine since the inception of the blog in 2001. Earning a special place in my heart and partial credit for my continual hearing loss. While The New Brunswick noise makers provide the energy and intensity of the areas best Hardcore our. They've grown to become on of the most musically proficient and technically smart band I can think of. Think Rye Coalition meets the Foo Fighters in a dirty New Brunswick basement. I can't think of four more laid back and chill people to hang out with. Interesting, considering the brutal savages they become when plugged in.
It wouldn't be a Holy City Zoo gig if Frank didn't remove his shirt to revel his werewolf lineage. Like Modern Chemistry, they mentioned this would be their last local show in quite a while. They plan on following the new single with an extended lockdown in the studio.
One can only hope the time spent will help produce the bands first full length and big big spot for me on the "Thank List." Only time will tell. James Damion
This was only my second time back since the Church St. landmark reopened and it can't go without saying the new owners have really done a great job with the place. I look forward to more shows, warmer weather and a few games of pool in the near future.
Sink Tapes followed and though I had no prior knowledge of the local New Brunswick quartet. I found myself immediately drawn to their melodic and seemingly effortless approach to Indie Rock. Their set quite impressive musically. I felt drawn to
drummer / vocalist Gabe's delicate vocal delivery and easy approach to the drums.
I created an imaginary line a few feet from the stage. Not wanting to disturb the intimate setting their set created. My one regret of the night was not bringing enough cash to properly ransack Sink Tapes merch table. I hope to get the chance again soon. Only time will tell.
'We'll grow out of this' Review Here
and 'An Introduction' Review Here.
It's hard to imagine this was my first opportunity catch the band live. Lucky I caught them on this particular night, considering this was to be the bands last local show for some time.Their uplifting energy and spirit moved the laid back and somewhat stand offish crowd away from the bar and the comfort of the bleachers within striking distance of the stage.
Lead singer / guitarist Brendan Hourican grades high in the frontman department. A mix of energy, charisma and the ability to perfectly engage in onstage banter without it sounding forced or phony. The band's set included songs from both EP's along with a couple of new ones.
Considering Modern Chemistry list 80's
Power Pop band The Outfield as one of their key influences. I shouldn't have been the least bit surprised when they rolled out a cover of the bands sole hit 'Your Love'. Regardless, my jaw dropped so low. I can accurately relay the the floor of the Court Tavern tastes like a combination of rubber and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
It really raised the eyes and ears of the already involved crowd and put a nice ribbon on an excellent set.
Nico Blues. Truth be told. I may have never made it out if it were not for Reed personally asking. It's hard to believe it's been over a year since I've seen these guys. The band played a tight set of celebratory Rock n' Roll that included songs from their debut EP. One so good, I knew the words and hooks to each song before they even plugged in. Life their predecessors The Nico Blues. I can see The Sound is Fine making a big impression on the current New Jersey music scene and beyond. Be sure to check back in Friday for my review of the EP.
With their new single 'Grandview Terrace' in tow. Local heroes Holy City Zoo closed the night on a high note. The band and personnel have been favorites of mine since the inception of the blog in 2001. Earning a special place in my heart and partial credit for my continual hearing loss. While The New Brunswick noise makers provide the energy and intensity of the areas best Hardcore our. They've grown to become on of the most musically proficient and technically smart band I can think of. Think Rye Coalition meets the Foo Fighters in a dirty New Brunswick basement. I can't think of four more laid back and chill people to hang out with. Interesting, considering the brutal savages they become when plugged in.
It wouldn't be a Holy City Zoo gig if Frank didn't remove his shirt to revel his werewolf lineage. Like Modern Chemistry, they mentioned this would be their last local show in quite a while. They plan on following the new single with an extended lockdown in the studio.
One can only hope the time spent will help produce the bands first full length and big big spot for me on the "Thank List." Only time will tell. James Damion
Friday, January 17, 2014
House of Thieves - Dead Mouse Sessions
New Brunswick New Jersey's House of Thieves. Great chord progressions and changes work prefectly with askew, left of center vocals, highlighting a sound that never lingers too long in any set music genre or style.
Though my tastes may predate House of Thieves
influences. I sense a mix of late 80's Dischord and early to mid 90's Post Core acts such as San Diego's Evergreen.
While many of these influences seem present.
House of Thieves seem to be cultivating something that feels uniquely their own.
Progressive without any of the pretentious attributes connected to the term.
More than worthy of a listen and a download. James Damion
House of Thieves Bandcamp
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Holy City Zoo - Everybody Sells For More
The EP offers six songs (two of them instrumentals) of absolute dissonance. Songs like
"Givin' Him the Business" "Karmatosed" and the instrumental
"That Was Mos Def
(not a pinch of salt)" offer some of the best 90's inspired Punk/Screamo power and aggression. Often giving the listener a front row view of what it's like to be inside a schizophrenic's head.
However, it's on "Hello, I'm Awful", by far the most cohesive track, when the band shows it's true ability to grow and mature as both a unit and individually as musicians.
I'd personally like to see more of that in the future.
This is my favorite release by the band to date. Though I really enjoyed the record.
It was the fact that I was finally able to connect the dots on why I like these guys so much. It further made me see what I feel they're capable of. My best description of Holy City Zoo would be "What if Rye Coalition and the Foo Fighters had an unhinged punk rock love child on their 2006 European Tour?" These six songs are available for download and cassette. Maybe if we wait long enough they'll put it on wax.
James Damion
Everybody Sells For More Get it Here
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
An Interview with New Brunswick's Holy City Zoo
Holy City Zoo is a four piece juggernaut hailing from New Brunswick, New Jersey.
The band mixes elements of Punk, Alternative and Hard Rock to form a sound that is both addictive and contagious. (Think, The Foo Fighters meet At the Drive In at a sweaty
New Jersey basement show.) Since first witnessing the Zoo's apocalyptic live set during 2011's Brick City Riot Music Festival. I've followed the bands progress closely.
With their new record, "Nobody Sells For Less" still fresh in my ears, I decided to reach out and ask some over due questions about the past, present and future. Here's what they had to say. James Damion
James: I first saw you guys live last year at the Brick City Riot Fest in Newark. However, I had heard the name and legend of Holy City Zoo long before.
Can you tell me a little background on the band and how you got your wings?
HCZ: We started out in some form back in 2007 and went through a few incarnations that ultimately led us to the line-up we have now. This line-up is about two years old. Our main goals were to be raw and straight-forward, as well as being as "DIY" as possible. We've been around NJ playing music for a while, so at this point in our lives it was easier to make connections and have the knowledge to set things in motion. This lead to forming the Tiny Giant Artist Collective with
The Nico Blues, which definitely had an impact on our band and is probably how you heard of us. It was a good mechanism to break out of where we came from, and ultimately helped others as well (which is/was the real main goal).
James: Your one of a handful of current bands that are somewhat defying the whole genre classification. You're not Hardcore. You're not really Punk and you certainly aren't a lot of things. On top of that you can't dance for shit. Where do you see yourselves as a band?
HCZ: Our band is basically a massaged collage of everything we ever wanted to hear and haven't heard. We are huge fans of 80's and 90's underground alternative acts, as well as today's underground movement of forward thinking music. Holy City Zoo, at this point, tries to meld together the musical sensibilities of both. A crude way of putting it is we want to mash together the Foo Fighters with At The Drive-In, or The Smashing Pumpkins with
The Fall of Troy, or Jawbox and RX-Bandits etc. We do our research in modern times as well as the past times. "Rock" or "Punk" has been so many things to us and others, so we try to reflect that. Short answer, we don't believe in guilty pleasures: we play what sounds cool to us. So we really see ourselves as a giant music masher/rearranger of things we love, then fuck it up even more.
James: Your live shows are quite animalistic. I think it's pretty safe to say you're one of the most animated bands I've seen over the last year.
However, you seem quite subdued and laid back otherwise. What is it about the music, performing live and interacting with the crowd that helps flip that switch?
HCZ: Our live shows are all about our own cathartic release of energy. We feel personal and global injustices all over the place and our music is simply a way to let it all out. We aren't exactly political or "emo", it's kind of a weird mix of both. So on the stage we are maniacally trying to make sense of our lives and what is around us by bashing out these tunes. It's our expression during our quarter life. When we aren't playing music, we are just regular people that are pretty subdued and laid back. The shows and music in general are the means of
(rather overt) expression. Otherwise we'd probably be running around the streets screaming our heads off. It's great performing in front of a crowd because we are being completely honest and emoting our true feelings, and if someone can relate to that, then that is beautiful.
James: You've got a new record with "Nobody Sells for Less". It feels like it was a long time coming. Maybe even long overdue. Tell me a little about the process and finally getting to see the fruits of your labor. The record also shows off a lot of the raw energy that fuels your live sets. Was that intentional? Was there a game plan going into the studio?
HCZ: The main goal of NSFL was to experiment with more major keys. The first EP was really dark, this one is bright. It diversified our assets and could mix things up a bit more. That's the goal of every subsequent release, to paint a better image of how we feel.
With this EP we went in trying to make a high fidelity version of what we sound like.
The studio that we went in to has top notch gear with someone who knows how to work magic with it. It's the same person who recorded our first EP, Jeremy Cimino. The goal for both EPs was to show off our raw band in the best sounding way, sonically at least.
We took our time and tried to make the songs sound well and honest, but not polished.
Plus, we were a better band than the first time around, so this EP was also a way to show our progress.
James: You released the record on vinyl at a time when a lot of your contemporaries are going the digital route. Why did you choose this ancient method?
HCZ: We won a competition held by the Institute of Audio Research, where Joe attended school. We played Kid PK at Arlene's Grocery and the crowd thought we were the best artist and choose us to win. Weird. So the school offered to pay for something. We picked vinyl. Why? We wanted to hear ourselves on vinyl because we are dorks. Nobody Sells For Less is also available digitally also. Gotta do both these days.
James: I immediately got a Crazy Eddie (Not sure you guys know the legend of Crazy Eddie and the department store commercials in the 80's.) vibe from the record title. Why the name "Nobody Sells For Less"?
HCZ: It was on the window of an Unclaimed Freight store in New Brunswick. We were going up to practice one day and decided that would be a funny cover for the EP. It was a joke that stuck. The images on the front and back are the actual front and back of the store, just caricatured by the wonderful Rob Gnarly. It's a little homage to the Hub City and thought it would be a cool conceptual art piece for the vinyl.
James: The vinyl also comes with a download card that features an
impressive assortment of older tracks. It really puts things over the top
and delivers on the records title "Nobody Sells for Less".
What led to the decision to include so many extras?
HCZ: Well, we love the ideas of "B-sides". A small part of it was to pay homage to the weird stuff bands we love released on the flip side of their singles. Mainly, it was a way for people to really hear us develop. It has the demos, live and studio recordings. It shows the progression of how we evolved. Not many local bands do that, so we decided to take the plunge.
James: We've talked about the New Brunswick roots in the past. The town has produced many bands that changed people's lives musically. It's also regenerated itself over the years as college towns often do. With Holy City Zoo being a part of that present energy.
I can't help but ask, What makes the area so special? Is it something in the water?
the basements? the bricks? or the classrooms? that makes New Brunswick produce on a higher level?
HCZ: The real answer is that it's a relevant college town in the middle of miles of suburban towns. It's the only cool meeting place in central NJ. Students live off campus and throw shows in houses. New Brunswick does have a history, which does make it a marking point for touring bands. They usually love it here cause we really do treat bands with respect
and I guess that gets carried on to wherever they come from. Holy City Zoo and all the other hometown bands are to thank for that. We really try and keep it real here. We think it seems special because this doesn't occur anywhere else in NJ really. It is a perfect storm of all the things explained that happened to turn out well.
James: In the time since the Court Tavern closed it's doors. There was a hot spring of
Basement Shows popping up in the immediate area. Are you playing a part and do you think they can maintain the energy and dedication they've given the scene and touring bands?
HCZ: Funny thing about the Court Tavern is that it never effected nor crossed paths with basement shows. That crowd kind of stay there and vice versa. That place was 21+,
which is a big turn off. Younger people want to see bands too. Basements thrived for that very reason. Plus the intimacy of a basement is also a bit more primal, which attracted people who liked that. The Court Tavern was a cool place, but the basement scene is where the breeding grounds of bands are (nowadays at least). They were two different places with different functions.
James: You've begun sharing rehearsal space with Man on Fire recently.
Frank also recently played a double shift with Holy City Zoo and Man On Fire at
The Clash Bar. Can we expect further collaborations and Kahootsing in the near future?
HCZ: We share a practice space with Man On Fire and France. So that collaboration came pretty naturally. Since we now have a 24/7 space, more collaborations are likely to occur. Keep the ears peeled for that.
James: How has Frank's playing topless effected the band?
Has his chest hair received any endorsement deals?
Have you noticed a spike in attendance since he's begun this ritual?
HCZ: We may start a raffle for the shavings of one peck of franks immaculate chest mane.
James: I saw you mention that the upcoming Maxwell's show will be one of your last for a while. Did I read that wrong? What are the bands plans for the near future?
HCZ: We want to get our lives in order, as well as a full length album. Our goal is to really come up with something special and cohesive, as well as thinking of a cool way of releasing it. We are getting pretty philosophical here at the HCZ camp.
James: If you could define Holy City Zoo's sound, approach or goals in one word.
What would it be?
HCZ: Truth.
James: Excellent. Mission complete.
Interview and Photos; James Damion
Holy City Zoo Facebook
Holy City Zoo Bandcamp
The band mixes elements of Punk, Alternative and Hard Rock to form a sound that is both addictive and contagious. (Think, The Foo Fighters meet At the Drive In at a sweaty
New Jersey basement show.) Since first witnessing the Zoo's apocalyptic live set during 2011's Brick City Riot Music Festival. I've followed the bands progress closely.
With their new record, "Nobody Sells For Less" still fresh in my ears, I decided to reach out and ask some over due questions about the past, present and future. Here's what they had to say. James Damion
Holy City Zoo;
AJ Russo- Bass/Vocals Joe Lanza- Guitar/Vocals Frank DeFranco- Guitar/Vocals
Brian DePhillis- Drums
Can you tell me a little background on the band and how you got your wings?
HCZ: We started out in some form back in 2007 and went through a few incarnations that ultimately led us to the line-up we have now. This line-up is about two years old. Our main goals were to be raw and straight-forward, as well as being as "DIY" as possible. We've been around NJ playing music for a while, so at this point in our lives it was easier to make connections and have the knowledge to set things in motion. This lead to forming the Tiny Giant Artist Collective with
The Nico Blues, which definitely had an impact on our band and is probably how you heard of us. It was a good mechanism to break out of where we came from, and ultimately helped others as well (which is/was the real main goal).
James: Your one of a handful of current bands that are somewhat defying the whole genre classification. You're not Hardcore. You're not really Punk and you certainly aren't a lot of things. On top of that you can't dance for shit. Where do you see yourselves as a band?
HCZ: Our band is basically a massaged collage of everything we ever wanted to hear and haven't heard. We are huge fans of 80's and 90's underground alternative acts, as well as today's underground movement of forward thinking music. Holy City Zoo, at this point, tries to meld together the musical sensibilities of both. A crude way of putting it is we want to mash together the Foo Fighters with At The Drive-In, or The Smashing Pumpkins with
The Fall of Troy, or Jawbox and RX-Bandits etc. We do our research in modern times as well as the past times. "Rock" or "Punk" has been so many things to us and others, so we try to reflect that. Short answer, we don't believe in guilty pleasures: we play what sounds cool to us. So we really see ourselves as a giant music masher/rearranger of things we love, then fuck it up even more.
However, you seem quite subdued and laid back otherwise. What is it about the music, performing live and interacting with the crowd that helps flip that switch?
HCZ: Our live shows are all about our own cathartic release of energy. We feel personal and global injustices all over the place and our music is simply a way to let it all out. We aren't exactly political or "emo", it's kind of a weird mix of both. So on the stage we are maniacally trying to make sense of our lives and what is around us by bashing out these tunes. It's our expression during our quarter life. When we aren't playing music, we are just regular people that are pretty subdued and laid back. The shows and music in general are the means of
(rather overt) expression. Otherwise we'd probably be running around the streets screaming our heads off. It's great performing in front of a crowd because we are being completely honest and emoting our true feelings, and if someone can relate to that, then that is beautiful.
James: You've got a new record with "Nobody Sells for Less". It feels like it was a long time coming. Maybe even long overdue. Tell me a little about the process and finally getting to see the fruits of your labor. The record also shows off a lot of the raw energy that fuels your live sets. Was that intentional? Was there a game plan going into the studio?
HCZ: The main goal of NSFL was to experiment with more major keys. The first EP was really dark, this one is bright. It diversified our assets and could mix things up a bit more. That's the goal of every subsequent release, to paint a better image of how we feel.
With this EP we went in trying to make a high fidelity version of what we sound like.
The studio that we went in to has top notch gear with someone who knows how to work magic with it. It's the same person who recorded our first EP, Jeremy Cimino. The goal for both EPs was to show off our raw band in the best sounding way, sonically at least.
We took our time and tried to make the songs sound well and honest, but not polished.
Plus, we were a better band than the first time around, so this EP was also a way to show our progress.
James: You released the record on vinyl at a time when a lot of your contemporaries are going the digital route. Why did you choose this ancient method?
HCZ: We won a competition held by the Institute of Audio Research, where Joe attended school. We played Kid PK at Arlene's Grocery and the crowd thought we were the best artist and choose us to win. Weird. So the school offered to pay for something. We picked vinyl. Why? We wanted to hear ourselves on vinyl because we are dorks. Nobody Sells For Less is also available digitally also. Gotta do both these days.
James: I immediately got a Crazy Eddie (Not sure you guys know the legend of Crazy Eddie and the department store commercials in the 80's.) vibe from the record title. Why the name "Nobody Sells For Less"?HCZ: It was on the window of an Unclaimed Freight store in New Brunswick. We were going up to practice one day and decided that would be a funny cover for the EP. It was a joke that stuck. The images on the front and back are the actual front and back of the store, just caricatured by the wonderful Rob Gnarly. It's a little homage to the Hub City and thought it would be a cool conceptual art piece for the vinyl.
James: The vinyl also comes with a download card that features an
impressive assortment of older tracks. It really puts things over the top
and delivers on the records title "Nobody Sells for Less".
What led to the decision to include so many extras?
HCZ: Well, we love the ideas of "B-sides". A small part of it was to pay homage to the weird stuff bands we love released on the flip side of their singles. Mainly, it was a way for people to really hear us develop. It has the demos, live and studio recordings. It shows the progression of how we evolved. Not many local bands do that, so we decided to take the plunge.
James: We've talked about the New Brunswick roots in the past. The town has produced many bands that changed people's lives musically. It's also regenerated itself over the years as college towns often do. With Holy City Zoo being a part of that present energy.
I can't help but ask, What makes the area so special? Is it something in the water?
the basements? the bricks? or the classrooms? that makes New Brunswick produce on a higher level?
HCZ: The real answer is that it's a relevant college town in the middle of miles of suburban towns. It's the only cool meeting place in central NJ. Students live off campus and throw shows in houses. New Brunswick does have a history, which does make it a marking point for touring bands. They usually love it here cause we really do treat bands with respect
and I guess that gets carried on to wherever they come from. Holy City Zoo and all the other hometown bands are to thank for that. We really try and keep it real here. We think it seems special because this doesn't occur anywhere else in NJ really. It is a perfect storm of all the things explained that happened to turn out well.
James: In the time since the Court Tavern closed it's doors. There was a hot spring of
Basement Shows popping up in the immediate area. Are you playing a part and do you think they can maintain the energy and dedication they've given the scene and touring bands?
HCZ: Funny thing about the Court Tavern is that it never effected nor crossed paths with basement shows. That crowd kind of stay there and vice versa. That place was 21+,
which is a big turn off. Younger people want to see bands too. Basements thrived for that very reason. Plus the intimacy of a basement is also a bit more primal, which attracted people who liked that. The Court Tavern was a cool place, but the basement scene is where the breeding grounds of bands are (nowadays at least). They were two different places with different functions.
James: You've begun sharing rehearsal space with Man on Fire recently.
Frank also recently played a double shift with Holy City Zoo and Man On Fire at
The Clash Bar. Can we expect further collaborations and Kahootsing in the near future?
HCZ: We share a practice space with Man On Fire and France. So that collaboration came pretty naturally. Since we now have a 24/7 space, more collaborations are likely to occur. Keep the ears peeled for that.
Has his chest hair received any endorsement deals?
Have you noticed a spike in attendance since he's begun this ritual?
HCZ: We may start a raffle for the shavings of one peck of franks immaculate chest mane.
James: I saw you mention that the upcoming Maxwell's show will be one of your last for a while. Did I read that wrong? What are the bands plans for the near future?
HCZ: We want to get our lives in order, as well as a full length album. Our goal is to really come up with something special and cohesive, as well as thinking of a cool way of releasing it. We are getting pretty philosophical here at the HCZ camp.
James: If you could define Holy City Zoo's sound, approach or goals in one word.
What would it be?
HCZ: Truth.
James: Excellent. Mission complete.
Interview and Photos; James Damion
Holy City Zoo Facebook
Holy City Zoo Bandcamp
Monday, July 9, 2012
Holy City Zoo - Nobody Sells For Less EP
As of late the mail man has been putting most of my records inside the door due to a rash of thefts in the neighborhood." Truth be told, I've been listening to the record for some time now. I just needed to have my hands on the actual product in order to give it the treatment I felt it deserved. That alone would unleash the Hunter Thompson within. Holding the record would rejuvenate the thoughts and feelings that crystalized the numerous conversations and transactions with band members about the songs, the recording, the packaging; All building up to the sonic orgasm that would be "Nobody Sells For Less".
Holy City Zoo are a hard band to generalize. The New Brunswick, NJ powerhouse take all the best elements of Hard Rock, Post Hardcore and Punk to form this unstoppable juggernaut. As I put the needle to the record I was immediately hooked by the full blown chaos that ensues with the the opening of "WW5". The track is a mind fuck with it's sonic prowess. Match that chaotic discord with an anthemic, singalong chorus and you've got a track that will have you climbing up the walls.
"Afterburner" opens with post core guitar riffs that immediately had me thinking of the band Quicksand. Joe Lanza's voice cries out like a madman, perfectly highlighting the controlled chaos that surrounds him.
The B side opens with "Paper Beats Rock" a track highlighted by a dynamic, layered guitar sound that has its share of beauty and eccentricities. "Meadowlark Lemon" opens with a nice sense of melody that gives way to a crash and burn style that really ties the record together nicely.
Add to that the bonus download tracks and you've got a record that's worthy of worship and celebratory human sacrifice. I had very high expectations for this record coming in.
Thanks to Holy City Zoo for far exceeding them. James Damion
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