Dandy Eckert @ Driftwood Records

I met Dandy after Viciously hunting down The Exploration - Demography tape. He's collects action figures like me, and that automatically makes him a cool dude. He's got an awesome label going, considering he's merely twenty years old. Driftwood is basically heaven for a tape collector, and he has lots of undiscovered gems in his collection of bands. I'm just going to have him start sending me tapes at random, although i'm particularly partial to Among Giants, Righteous Cycles, Oh Dae Su, and of course, The motherfucking Exploration. Although he has an enormous number of artists involved with Driftwood, the majority of them are seemingly friends or Local. Lots of good stuff is coming from there, and I'm looking forward to figuring out what to order next from Mr. Dandy. He was kind enough to let me pick his brain, so here's what a drunken Dandy had to say on a Saturday night / Sunday morning. He's currently making a few J-cards and not nursing a hangover. If you plan on checking out Driftwood, please consider purchasing The Exploration - For Cabana 7"

                                                        Dandy and A bird, Yay! 

J: Hi, Dandy. Tell me the story of how Driftwood got started, and who Driftwood consists of? well, while I was in college, I was super depressed and had no friends, so I decided to start a label as a joke, and called it interskramz, which was just an inside joke. Eventually, when it actually started being a thing, and some shit had gone down between me and another person who was helping out,rename the label. kehan, who now runs don't livce like me records, decided to call the label driftwood, after a cursive song or something. A lot of people have come and gone in helping out but right now, it's me doing most of the work, with help from dube, t-chat, leland, and drew.

J: I have to know, how'd you acquire the name Dandy-Candy? dandy candy is a reference to my junk, but the nickname dandy came from the apple juice, apple dandy, which my best friend started calling me. That's not the full story, but I can't tell the full story without revealing my name, so butts.

J: Okay, now tell me about yourself as a Dandy I sit on my couch all day and annoy people on the internet

J: What do you do when you aren't working on distro stuff? i'm rarely working on distro stuff. when i'm not working on releases, I play with my cat, try to have sex with girls, drink apple juice, and play computer games.

J: Where do you get the moneys to finance everything? I have no fucking clue. Up until recently, i lived at my parents, so any money I made went into the label at this point it's basically just sales and such.

J: What are the fun/rewarding parts about running a label? I get to help people, basically. The rest isn't all that great. I get shit from people for not being punk or DIY enough, and for taking too long on orders sometimes it's like dude, I do this all myself, if you don't have something within a week of ordering, especially if it's a pre-order, chill the fuck out.

J: What do you feel is the biggest waste of your time running the label? listening to submissions from shitty bands, people asking me to listen to their bands first demo that I have no interest in, and keeping up with pressing info and variations and all that shit also keeping everything in order online. it sucks dick.

J: What are some labels you admire or feel a kinship to? well, i've done split releases with a lot of awesome labels, but the label I look up to the most is square of opposition, and the labels who have helped me out the most are middle man and it's a trap.

J: What makes your label special & unique? ummm. I have a fuckton of tape releases, I guess. i think i'm on like, 153 releases total, between tapes, vinyl, lathe, and cd, and some on multiple formats.

J: Biggest Letdown? The label doesn't get me hookers and blow

J: Where do you find your artists, and how do you pick them? Almost every single band has come to me, with the exception of bands who I was friends with already, and the concrete summer, the only band i have actually approached, up to this point if the band is good, the members aren't assholes, and they're into how I do things, i'm usually down to do the release.

J: Do you play favorites with your artists? Basically like, I do as much as the band asks that I can do. As far as vinyl, you have to play favorites, based on whether it'll sell or not. I do like some bands more than others, based on my relationships with the members, though

J: When are you making my get sad, not laid shirts? Probably when someone designs one? also when i can use my silk screen again the room i was using now has someone living in it

J: Do you enjoy music as much now as you used to & how has running a label effected how you listen to/hear music? I really haven't been super into music for a few years, but running the label has made me not even bother caring about most bands, or listening to new bands, unless i'm involved with the release or something

J: What are some things that make you want to work with a band? Them not being twinkly

J: What are some things that make you hate a band? If they're assholes or full of themselves

J: So, what ARE you listening to right now? Quick, top five! when I drive, I listen to ramshackle glory, wingnut dishwashers union, andrew jackson jihad, and paul baribeau. When not driving, I don't listen to music

J: How involved do you like to be in the artwork design for a release? I leave it up to the band. usually, bands will have their artwork already, and I give them the option of them designing their j-card for the tape, or us taking care of it. I've only taken care of the art fully in a few cases, including the nakusa/chinesedream split, the southtownbe lanes/place called home split, I did the back cover of, and there's a few others i've done, thought i've designed a bunch of j-cards really, it's up to the band to decide what they wanna do.

J: What song best describes your work ethic? I have no idea I do what I gotta do, cause otherwise i'd kill myself because i'd have nothing else to do

J: Do you take a cut of a band’s publishing? no. the bands usually pay for their copies of tapes/cds at a price below wholesale, and they get 100% of the profit from those they buy. I pay for all the copies that I sell in my store, and give them 15% of the profit made. As for digital sales, they receive 15% of any sales through my bandcamp

J: Do you have intern & street team programs & if so, how do they operate? i do most of the work myself, dube does a lot of the website design, some graphic work, and stuff like that. Other people come and go, helping out with stuff when I really need it.

J: Do you think the return of vinyl & cassettes is a fad? I fucking hate physical media. shit is dumb as dick. but people like it, and it's cool to have, so whatever.

J: What’s something you see other labels do that you think of as borderline unethical? glass nail records. that's really all I have to say.

J: In 20 years what do you think/hope your label will be known/remembered for? for not fucking over tons of people

Lastly, here's a link to Driftwood's summer sampler, courtesy of Dandy. Thanks for the interview and letting me rant about random shit all the time, Dandy. I haven't forgotten about the Llama socks.

Driftwood Summer Sampler

Dandy: i was drunk while doing this, punk lyfe.

The Exploration - For Cabana

I discovered The Exploration at a super yucky time in my life, and they just kind of stuck with me. I listened to Demography until it literally melted in my tape deck, and their newest ep, For Cabana was released on Driftwood records for Pre-Order on July 9th, Digital downloads already available.

This Grand Rapids, Michigan based band consists of Kyle and Garrett, and they've been together for some time. I mistakenly discovered them after making a mixtape for someone, and was immediately hooked on the subtle screams, twinkly riffs and heartfelt nature of the songs on Demography. However, For Cabana has a totally different approach in my opinion. It speaks more of growing up and leaving adolescence behind, subtly attacking The American dream, which we all try to avoid. Reminiscent of a softer Desaparecidos, in a way. For Cabana leaves you wondering what these guys will put out next, and so far, is my favorite album.

Writing about music is a lot like dancing about architecture

I wish to discuss the issue by posing the following scenario: Two people leave the same venue for a semi-decent show. One of them says "that was a wonderful piece", the other replies "no, I'm afraid that was musical rubbish." The question arises, is there any basis for resolving the difference of opinion?
All of us are music critics in that we have opinions about what we have heard. The discussion that begins after the concert raises several important questions, not least whether either of the protagonists is right? And if so, by what criteria is the decision arrived at?
The least helpful, if most common, response to the debate is to say 'well it's all a matter of individual taste.' If this view was correct, then of course, there is no point discussing the music. As Immanuel Kant observed: "we cannot say that each man has his own particular taste, for that would be as much as to say that there is no taste whatever, that is no aesthetic judgement which can make a rightful claim on everyone's assent."
At the opposite pole is the belief that there is an absolute standard against which music can be assessed. Plato, for example, would have no difficulty in resolving the argument. For him the goal of music is the love of beauty, rightness and healthfulness. The ideal Republic would ban sorrowful or relaxing music leaving only "the note or accent which a brave man utters in the hour of danger and stern resolve." For Plato many-stringed instruments and flutes are not required in order to play this heartening manly music, as they should be banned.
Such conservative, reactionary, ideas about the assessment of music would be laughable, except that they have entered the mainstream of Western thought.
Ruling elites throughout history have assessed music precisely by its function. For centuries the medieval music world was dominated by the idea that the purpose of music was to express the geometric perfection of the divine. Both the social realism supported by Josef Stalin and the campaign against degeneracy by Adolf Hitler attempted to suppress modernist developments in music.
So Plato's outlook needs to be taken seriously, although it can be rejected easily enough. The apparently objective nature of his argument dissolves when the assumption that music serves a moral purpose is challenged. Some music is indeed programmatic and can therefore be assessed at least in part as to how successfully it fulfils its aims. But even the programmatic musical experience runs for deeper than at the level of its immediate political message. This is how, for example, Dimitri Shostakovitch could overtly pay homage to the glorious social system under which he lived - fooling the critics - while moving audiences to tears with the sincere moments of sorrow and horror expressed in his work.
Aristotle better understood the divergent levels at which music operated, and offered, in addition to Plato's character forming purpose, the view that music also was a remedy for pain caused by toil, provided entertainment at social gatherings and gladdened the heart. These observations weaken Plato's position by offering alternative criteria for assessing music. But Aristotle retains the teleological method of measuring music against its purpose - only now introducing several purposes. But music need not serve an end at all. It can, and generally does, arise from deeply rooted creative human impulses, which are only later harnessed to goals such as earning a living or pleasing audiences. It is a perfectly valid answer for an artist to reply to the question "why did you create this work?" By replying "because I am human".
As an aside, before leaving Aristotle, it is interesting to note his observation that audiences 'are one of two kinds - free and educated, and the other a vulgar crowd composed of mechanics, laborers and the like - and the music will correspond to their minds; for as their minds are perverted from the natural state, so there are perverted modes and highly strung and unnaturally coloured melodies.' He has a point, although not in the way in which he intended. Musical experimentation and innovation has often been associated with the lower social orders.
So, to say that music can be measured against the purpose for which it serves is an insufficient criterion for assessing music. Does this mean that there are no objective standards to which we can appeal?
Very many reviewers concentrate on technical comments. This is understandable. It avoids the issue of the taste of the reviewer and it is perfectly, scientifically almost, objective. You can sit with the score on your lap and assess how exactly the performance matches the composition. The problem is of course, this approach does not get you very far. The performance might be immaculate, but if the orchestra were playing 'Baa Baa Blacksheep' they would hardly be using their artistic potential to the full. Our two protagonists leaving the concert can agree very quickly on the standard of performance, what they want to resolve however is whether the music was any good.
Another attempt to retain objective measurements with regard to music is to look to the physical relationship of sound to the human being, because for all that the musical experience feels like a spiritual one, it is rooted in the vibration of the air and its effects on the human body. Again this aspect of music rarely advances the argument very much. The physical and cerebral levels of music are connected, but they are nonetheless very different. Trying to assess music by studying vibrations and the ear is like trying to assess literature by examining ink, paper and typeface. So we have two propositions:
A) To say music is a matter of taste gets us nowhere.
B) There are no objective methods of assessing music.
Taken together, it seems that we are stymied.
However Immanuel Kant offered a way forward when considering exactly this contradiction. For him the existence of these contradictory statements about music was evidence that there existed a higher level from which these statements only appeared to be opposites; in the same sense for example that considering light to consist of waves or particles leads to contraction. It is both and neither. Kant concluded that there must be a supersensible transcendent beauty that approached by our intellectual faculty resolved the opposition. While the feeling of pleasure that we experience from music are subjective, the objective existence of beauty means that all people can find satisfaction in the music. Music gives subjective aesthetical experiences which being personal give no grounds for debate, and at the same time its beauty is objective, existing in a transcendent manner.
On first reading, it seems as though the philosophy of the enlightenment has broken through the sterile, monolithic aesthetics of the ancient philosophers. We are back on track with an exciting, dialectical theory of music. But there is a problem, Kant's transcendent beauty turns out to be a logical category and nothing with physical existence. It is 'supersensible' and by definition cannot be investigated. In other words, it is a concept (more than a bit like that of God in Kant's system) that cannot act as a guide to composer or audience.
At least Kant introduces the idea that there is a dialectical interaction between subjective and objective aspects of music. The next step is that of finding a dialogue which is more material that Kant's rather mystical, if fine sounding, transcendent beauty.
While our taste appears to be our own, at the same time, human beings are social animals. We share languages, the times we live in, schooling, the experience of world events, of shopping, of TV programs. Our personalities are unique, but the cultural forces that helped shape them are shared. This shared culture gives us a medium and a context for discussing musical experience in a genuinely useful way.
Suppose one of our proponents believes, as someone recently argued with me, that the highest form of musical excellence is the work of Mozart, and music has been downhill since then. This is a plausible argument, it is pretty much the line taken in the Concise Oxford History of Music. It also dovetails with the literary argument that there was a turning point in the history of the novel (about a century later) and it has been downhill ever since.
Now at this point anyone who loves contemporary music would have to roll up their sleeves and start fighting, but with what weapons? We have agreed that the experience of pleasure is a subjective one, so we cannot belittle our opponent's deep spiritual responses to the music of Mozart. Nor would we want to do so, it is unlikely that anyone who has not become familiar with Mozart and responded powerfully to his music would go on to find even stronger resonance's in Gyorgy Ligeti say. Our tools have to be those points of contact we share through our common culture. In general, the argument for modern music would rest on the same features of the world that champions of modernism in art and literature would also refer to.
The world we live in is a modern one, for good or ill. We are surrounded by sounds that would seem incredible to someone living in Mozart's day. Aeroplanes, drills, heavy machinery making noise at the lower end of the scale, high pitched drones from electrical equipment, whining, the screech of vehicles at the other. Living surrounded by these sounds means our musical needs must change. Furthermore socially we live in an extraordinarily fast moving world, with enormous cities, mass communication, swift travel. An inchoate babbling world, full of wonderful possibilities and at the same time utter misery and alienation.
It is understandable that someone might deliberately try to keep this world at bay by trying to limit the impact on them of the art that has arisen from it. Understandable, but as mistaken as those members of the audience who in 1913 rioted in anger at the performances of the Rite of Spring, or who found cubism undecipherable and Ulysses unreadable. Modernism in art was a conscious challenge to romanticism, and thankfully it broke through. Otherwise we would be shying away from important aspects of our own beings, aspects that have been shaped by forces that did not exist in Mozart's day. To someone arguing that it has been downhill for music since Mozart, the main response is that this belief is cutting themselves off from extraordinary musical experiences that relate to a much more complex, dangerous and yet thrilling part of our personalities. Gyorgy Ligeti, for example, is not better or worse than Mozart, by some Platonic or even Kantian ideal. But he is a great composer living in our times and has all the technical and compositional tools at his disposal that have evolved in the intervening period. That means that for those aspects of our lives that are not universal but are features of the last two hundred years, Ligeti strikes deeper than Mozart.
In other words, even if you don't agree with this conclusion of a debate about Mozart vs modernism you can have a meaningful, written, discussion about music.
To actually write a review involves a certain flexibility, conversation with others present, and if the critic is lucky, they will have accurately understood features of the music that have resonance's for the audience who were there, and indeed those who were not present but through the description gain some insight into the music of the concert. And it is by those features and their connections to the social world that we share that a commentator should be able to offer an opinion that is not entirely arbitrary.

Chrome Sparks/Jeremy Malvin

I met Jeremy a couple of months ago after a short e-mail correspondence asking if he'd allow me to interview him for my music project. When he finally made it to Oklahoma, The Manhattan/Michigan based artist looked beyond confused standing at the door of The Conservatory, and I was beyond disgusted that there was only a crowd of ten or so for such an amazing artist. I sat at the bar until their set, drank one too many Boulevard, conversed with a crackhead in the parking lot and when he finally got on stage, I was the only one in the crowd, standing there like a wide eyed confused donkey. I kept thinking he probably would of done better at Kamps where the electronic crowd tends to hang out. It was kind of sad, he just looked around and said, "What's up, Jen?" I stood there and scribbled and watched anyways, later noticing a crowd forming. I didn't really care, as nobody really seemed to appreciate his sound here in Oklahoma City. I was amazed at how fast he was setting up, and how comfortable he seemed albeit me, the critic, being the only one in the audience. The stage presence was quite amazing really. They were all quite in sync, like tiny robots working to produce amazing noise. He's currently touring in the U.K, and I certainly hope we get the chance to see him in Oklahoma again.

He's grown a lot since his 2011 debut, my <3. It still happens to be one of my favorites, though the limited edition of Sparks is a bit more introspective, and feels a lot more personal. He definitely has a niche sound, lots of light, xylophone shredding, amazing synth, really unique samples, lovely vocals and gentle breaks. Nontheless, both albums are full of way underrated Gems and nobody sounds even remotely similar to Chrome Sparks. My favorite tracks off of sparks have to be Luna Luxor or Claps of cosmic love for the dreamy xylophone, fun samples, and the super secret fact that I dance around while cleaning my house to this album. It also helped me tremendously through detox, and these two albums are like ten of my records that got play at that time. I toyed around with some of his songs, but I'll never post them!

To be brutally honest, the album My <3 still has MY heart, though. :) I'm linking both, because they're just that awesome.





Sidenote: Jeremy can pound the fuck out of a xylophone. No Joke.

The Hitt Boyz

                 

The Hitt Boyz consist of Nick Morgan - Drums, William Ogletree - Guitar/vocal, Brandon Schreiner - Bass, and Adam Thornbrugh - Guitar/vocal (also in Tallows)

These guys quickly became one of my local favorites due to the sheer energy they put into their music alone. They're uhm, very eccentric dudes. William had on this crazy awesome glitter unicorn t-shirt and they were just way laid back people. They're also another bunch of UCM kids! As you can see, Nick is also in this band (Giraffe Massacre too) They were super friendly, although I wasn't at the event with expectations of writing about much. I was wooed by their one lyric, "woo!" and decided i'd write about them too.



Their style is a lot different than a lot of the local prog/math bands, a lot dreamier, something good to listen to on a rainy day or road trip, almost reminiscent of the older jade tree stuff minus vocals, or way lighter explosions in the sky. There wasn't anything really heavy about them, just a bunch of average, slightly nerdy dudes way into their music. I admit, they had a very dramatic stage performance, though. They all fell down at the end of their set and I thought, aww! Alphabitz happens to be my personal favorite, followed closely by Best Cat. They seem to really dig Cats, Grandpas, Pokemon and Dragon Ball-Z.

The Hitt Boyz have released three albums on soundcloud, and I know they've also had quite a bit of member switching, though i'm unsure who the previous members were. I'd definitely recommend checking them out, as they're one of the better progressive bands in the area and it's impossible not to smile at their stage performance.

Ps- These Boyz do not condone the hitting of Boyz. 

Giraffe Massacre

Giraffe Massacre consists of Dave and Nick, both students of UCM. Coincidentally, most of the bands I've worked with as of late are or were UCM Students. I don't know the correlation, apart from really great local musicians are coming from there left and right, and I simply can't keep up with them all.

Giraffe Massacre are a really interesting band to watch/listen to. Initially, I got a porno groove type feel from their music, then realized Dave's metal influences bleed out heavily under the way technical guitar work and crazy time signatures, and beautiful repetition, twinkly breaks, and gently wound down to crazy instrumental dance your ass off type mathrock.

 He and Nick work really well together and are both super friendly people. It was a true sight for me to actually SEE and not just hear, as I hadn't seen Dave in years and was used to him being into way different things, like sleeping on my couch in a tiny apartment and getting stranded at a park, drunk on my birthday by a crazy ex friend.. I asked him how they feel they differ from other bands in the genre, although it was quite obvious to me personally. Dave contributed it to his musical A.D.D and laughed. He expressed his love for Vox, although Nick proclaimed they were not brand snobs, and did whatever they could to get their equipment, whether it was borrowing a friend's drumset or playing on a broken cymbal for months.

Some things don't change, though. He still does that weird knee jerk/leg hump thing, likes to smell his gauges, is extremely into his musical projects which also include a R&B cover band, The Heavy Thems and Collapse of State, which has been inactive for some time now . At this particular event, they had a guest bassist (Ukie Hart) who was pretty stellar too. They're an awesome team, but they made an even more awesome trio. Currently, they're working on releasing their first EP. It ensures to be nothing sort of amazeballs.

                                           

                                     

An impromptu blurb about Teen/Ragers

Okay, I admit I really underestimated these guys. I had initially gone to do a write up on my friend Dave's band, Giraffe Massacre. While they were setting up, I walked to a local pub with some new chums and came back late set. I don't know if it was the Peach Jameson, The heat, or the music at the time, but they managed to put a huge smile on my face with the song Prize in my Crackerjacks, their mathy/scramz type style, seizure esque flailing and wondering if two of the members were twins. I ended up listening to them the next day, and was pretty impressed so I contacted them for an interview, which ended up being laughable and quite fun. I tried to get a better look at their gear, but i'm really not that tall and some jerk kept getting in front of me. While writing this, I learned that they recently released their new album, too!

J: Tell me about yourselves? Who are you as a band, and are you guys working on any other projects music-wise? art-wise?

Teen/ragers is Aidan Woolum on bass and vocals, Sagen Cocklin on guitar and vocals, and Jake Jones on drums. Aidan also plays bass in local bands Dave, Shelton Pool, and plays guitar in Otters. Sagen also plays drums in Shelton Pool. Jake does art for the band mostly, and also plays drums in Sunny Side Up, Otters, and Anti-Patterns.

JJon: I am going to ACM next fall for drum performance and I do art for fun. I like to play drums.

AWool: I will be a sophomore at OCU as a string bass performance major. I like Star Wars more than the average person likes Star Wars.

SCock: I'm going to be a junior at OU doing physics and shit. People make fun of my name, it's cool though

J: So, what IS a Teen/Rager? I'm picturing an angsty angry pre pubescent kid, but I could have it down wrong. I didn't really get that vibe last night.

JJon: I mean, I thought it would be a cool band name and I thought it was kind of funny. Originally Teen/Ragers was just Aidan and I and we were kind of noisy and more punk.. So it kind of seemed to fit. Once Sagen joined we got more noodley and starting writing more rhythmically and melodically complex songs. Also we only have the ‘/’ in it because of the people often mistaking our name as Teenrangers. I don’t know what a Teen/Rager is, I think the music could give you a better definition than I.

SCock: Jake Jones

J: I'm really responsive as to how musicians react while playing their music. You guys are pretty animated. Is this practiced or random?

AWool: I feel like flailing around and being noodles just keeps us from feeling awkward, but there are actually a lot of visual cues that we all give and receive that make some of the transitions possible.

J: Apart from being viciously wiggle-worthy and maybe slightly heavier, how do you feel you differ from other locals in the post-rock/math genre? (asking several bands this, I can see the obvious differences but I like to write it to where others can read about it from your perspective)

AWool: We’re not trying to be different, really. Just with the way we all have grown up understanding music, it has been based on rhythms. Sagen and Jake are both spectacular drummers in my mind, and I’ve grown up on bass, so we’ve been studying difficult rhythms for years. When we get together, we just write rhythmically intense music. I think no instrument should be more important than the other in music, so we all just play parts that are fun and we love.

J: I hear a lot of different influences in your music. Auditory wise, who floats your boat?

JJon: The three of us all love the math rock/post rock genres but their are other subgenres we love such a midwest emo and scramz. Some of our favorite bands are father figure, Algernon Cadawallader, innards, choirs, Midwest Pen Pals, The Reptilian, Native, La Dispute, Sports Fans, Alta, and Merchant Ships.

J: How'd you guys meet? I could be totally wrong, but two of you look related, no?

AWool: Jake and I met in middle school, hung out, then didn’t until my sophomore year when we started our first band. We’ve made music together ever since. It’s funny that you would say Sagen and I look alike though! We actually met after one of his friends yelled at me from the speeding car next to me on 63rd Street and asked me to go get frozen yogurt. We hung out afterwards and they said the only reason they yelled at me was because I looked like Sagen. We’re also kind of like the same person. It’s weird finding your doppleganger.

J: The first 50 some odd seconds of Prize in my cracker jacks was awesome, and probably my favorite. How did this magical, twinkly gem come about?

AWool: The build up from the intro to that song is nice. When I was explaining it to the band I basically said start as soft as you can play and end as loud as you can play. We wanted a song that was slower and easier on my voice so we could take a break from face-melting, ya know?

J: I have all this garble in my own handwriting I cant even make out in regards to what pedals you were using. Was trying to jot them down, and then a super tall person got in my way. Care to share your Equipment? Are you guys brand snobs or no?

AWool: I’m not a brand snob, I’m just a sound snob. If it doesn’t sound as good as something that’s slightly more expensive, I will keep saving money. I use a Music Man Bongo 4 bass guitar, a Markbass CMD 102P 2x10 combo hooked up to a Mesa Boogie Powerhouse 2x12 cab. All I use pedal-wise is a Big Muff Pi and a Boss Harmonist.

JJon: I wouldn’t say I’m a brand snob but I’m proud to play on a grestch Catalina maple. My snare drum is a brass 13 in pork pie, and I generally have all my drums tuned pretty high. I like zildjin cymbals but mostly use Sabian because of price difference. I use Vic Firth 5B’s, they give me plenty of bounce for the faster songs.

SCock: Guitar pedals: I've never really cared much about my pedals as long as they make stuff weird. I've got a boss tuner (lame) a boss bass overdrive(I used to play bass) a danelectro tuna melt tremelo( dodododo) some chorus pedal(ooooh) whatever phaser thing was cool when I was a kid (wahawahawahawah) and my favorite, the danelectro BLT slapback delay.

J: For someone who's never seen you guys live before, what should they expect?

JJon: Expect a loud set and a lot of inside jokes. Just let yourself go.

J: What's the most rewarding experience you've had together, and why?

SCock: Finishing PUNKA and not being able to breathe.

JJon: DnD, and that time we opened for Native at the Conservatory

J: Anything super secret and awesome you're working on?

AWool: We are actually working on recording a split with a local band. The songs are badass and hilarious in a depressing way.

J: Who was the all time sexiest president of the US?

AWool: Calvin Coolidge

SCock: Andrew Jackson

J: Do you plan on printing your EP? If so, what form(s)? 

JJon: We have actually just finished recording ourselves and are mixing right now. We are planning to release a 7 song album which is our current setlist which will be produced by local label Cough & Boner. We’re really looking forward to putting it out so we can share the music we’ve worked so hard on with our friends and really listen to it yea know? The albums more for us if anything. We’ll be putting out CD’s and it will of course be free on our bandcamp.

J: I've noticed a lot of the younger kids getting into post-rock/Math rock/Twinklecore and think this is awesome. I felt like a dinosaur at your show. How did this happen? Thoughts?

AWool: The weird shit we all write together always turns out so strange, so I could understand feeling like a sloth or a dinosaur while raging.

SCock: I guess young kids are getting into twinkly shit because that's what's been fun to listen to lately. I think also a lot of the slightly older dudes who have started playing it know kids in high school who have been coming to shows, it's just a shared experience and junk.

J: Are sharks mean because they feel unloved, or do they just have a mean way of sharing their affection with others?

AWool: I don’t feel like I could give you an accurate representation on that because I hate the ocean. Whales poop in there.

SCock: Sharks are dicks, pop one in the nose.

J: Is there anybody in particular who's helped you guys tremendously?

Our friend Timmer Gee! One of best friends who helps us most every show and films them. Thanks dude!