What day is it? It's Wednesday. No, really... what day is today, exactly? It's 9/7. Why is this important? Because GOLDRUSH Music Festival is now exactly nine short days away from completely blowing the minds of Denverites young and old, short and tall, portly and thin... All shapes, kinds and sizes will flood the floor of one of Denver's most treasured venues, the Hi-Dive as well as Delite (just across the street) to enjoy hours of music coming in all shapes, kinds and sizes. And we just can't wait.
We TOME'rs are especially excited. So excited in fact, that we thought it best to give all those coming to the glorious weekend of jamz an insider's look into but a teeny-tiny slice of the incredibly wide world of music which we cover. The TOME has already provided in-depth, exclusive interviews with LaGrange, GA ambient outfit Quiet Evenings, as well as the Nintendo-mongering wavy-weirdness of Seattle's Megabats. This week, we head deep South to New Orleans, LA where the spritely, gnarly, rip-roaring drum/guitar duo of Caddywhompus humbly resides. Perhaps not so humbly... Caddywhompus is a band that quite possibly has most energy of any other band working on the planet today. I know this because listening to their recent EP, The Weight is like eating ten bowls of Smacks cereal with ten spoonfuls of sugar to match in one sitting. Super sweet, super punchy, power-pop gold. And that headache right after? The best kind possible: dizzy, dreamy, delusional you, all hyped up, hopped up and ready to drive your parents completely bonkers.
Caddywhompus is comprised of one drummer, Mr. Sean Hart, and one guitarist/vocalist, Mr. Chris Rehm. I point this out so that the following interview firstly does not confuse you fine readers too terribly, but also as an excuse to mention the fact that Chris is also an ace ambient/drone musician, having released several records we've fawned feverishly over since he first started shooting us e-mails almost two years ago. In addition to melting faces in Caddywhompus for what is sure to be one of GOLDRUSH Fest's highlight performances, Chris will also be performing some of this solo material across the street at Delite!
So, please sit back, enjoy the interview below, don't forget to scope an exclusive mix of "Recent Jams" hand-picked by Chris Rehm at the end there, and also check out Caddy's brand-spakin' new (and gorgeous) website, which comes with a handy downloads page where you can nab every single song the band has ever recorded, including some recently added unreleased jams. What, y'all don't like free music? C'monnnnnnnnn!
Oh, and by the way, tickets to GOLDRUSH are still on sale, though they are dwindling... and fast. If ye' be one of those out there who has not yet scored passes to the show, head over to the Hi-Dive's website to purchase, and good luck! Below the interview/mix, we've posted a pretty little image recently released via GR pard'ners Speaker Snacks and Magic Teepee that reveals the entire line-up and schedule for the weekend (which now includes Tjutjuna!), created by the lovely Liz Toler of Fig + Fox!
THE TOME: I understand you're in school right now. Where do you attend and what are you working on?
Chris Rehm: Yeah, I'm studying music business at Loyola University and Sean just graduated, living the life, designing websites and doing his thang. Right now, Sean and I are both trying to carry our weight in Chinquapin Records, a collective of regional musicians/classmates/friends. I'm working and seeing whether or not what I'm learning at school fits with what I want to do and how the group is functioning as a whole. Also, I'm finalizing the work on an upcoming solo split cassette (to be released on DZ Tapes) and a visual album (collaboration with Jono Foley). It's back to the practice space for Caddy and we're writing a bunch of new things. Can't say they're "songs" yet, but definitely things of some sort.
Think wayyyy back: what first turned you on to music initially? What was the first record you acquired that had a real impact on your life, how did you get it and how did it shape the music you would eventually make?
Sean Hart: My parents listened to Rod Stewart and Bruce Springsteen which I pretty much hated. When I started buying CDs I was into Nirvana and pop-punk. When I got into downloading I got as much Sonic Youth and Joy Division I could find. That was the music that struck me the most out of anything I'd ever listened to and it made me want to make music that made people feel the same as I did the first time I listened to Washing Machine or Closer.
C: I grew up listening primarily to my parents' copy of the two The Beatles greatest hits vinyls (the red and blue ones and the balcony and the hair changes) and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." I started taking guitar lessons at six, but learned most of what I know by learning Beatles songs out of a "best of" sheet music book I had as a kid. I remember learning Beatles songs by listening to my mom sing them and I'd follow on chords while watching the melody my mom was singing follow what was written. In 7th grade or so, I watched Transworld's "In Bloom" and heard "Look at That Car, It's Full of Balloons!" by A Minor Forest. It was unlike anything I'd heard before, and made me see music in a different light. I became obsessed not so much with the hunt for the next musical experience. I grew up being in love with music and was significantly impacted by "Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?" by Harvey Danger, "II" by The Presidents of the United States of America, "How Strange, Innocence" by Explosions, and a shit-ton of Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Radiohead, before high school, to name the big ones. What a silly amount of silly information that just was.
Chris: who's your favorite guitar player of all time? Sean: Same question for drums.
S: Vince Rogers from Tera Melos, Damon Che from Don Cabellero and Brian Chippendale from Lightning Bolt. And Phil Collins from Phil Collins.
C: Wow, I've never really given this too much thought. Ian Williams is definitely on some list, George Harrison for sure, definitely Django [Reinhardt].
Your songs are so complex - so many shifts in meter and timing. How do you go about arranging everything in rehearsal; how long does it take for you to get a song down-pat?
S: Usually Chris will have a riff in mind and he'll show it to me and we'll jam on it together stopping and starting to add things or take things away as we go through the song. We sort of keep the song as a whole in mind while doing this, being careful not to have redundant moments and to actually try and take the song somewhere new. Recently its been taking a long time, like we've been jamming the same eight minutes of music for our last three or four practices trying to get all the transitions right. The new stuff is a lot more dynamic and controlled which is kind of hard because we've been freaking out so much recently. Musically and generally.
C: Agreed.
What's the recording setup look like for Caddywhompus? What do you use to record, and what's the process you go through for getting your songs down to tape?
C: Well every time so far, we've used the mics and equipment available to us via friends, or at first, just the sub-par recording gear I own and use for my own solo music. EPs was recorded with three mics and a Yamaha mixer into Garage Band. As for The Weight and Remainder, I recorded them on Logic with decent pre-amps and with better (and more) mics thanks to a bunch of amazing people we're honored to be around. We've always recorded our parts separately, and since EPs, we've tried to limit the extrafunoverdubnoisesthatsoundcool things. Its much different than how I record by myself. Eps was recorded at Sean's old apartment, The Weight at his new one, and Remainder was recorded at our practice space.
Sean: you have a big bass drum if I remember right. How big is it? What kind of drums are you playing? Chris: You have a big amp if I remember right. How big is it, and what kind do you use? Both of you: What does your DREAM SET UP look like? What are you saving up for that you wish you could play on right this minute?
S: I play a Ludwig Accent Custom kit which is a knock-off of a Led Zeppelin kit. I got it 'cause it was huge looking and a good price. 26" bass drum with 13" and 16/18" toms. I think I would get the same size Ludwig drums but made out of maple instead of poplar. Foreal.
C: Well, all my my amps are currently broken, but i'm fixing them soon. This summer was rough. I use a low-end Yamaha PA system (200 watts or sumthin' w/two speakers) which powers most of my shit. Out of that, I run my guitar through one or two other shitty solid state 50 watt-ish guitar amps [S/O to Crate]. I also have been running a sub-octave through a big bass amp recently. I have like a 300 watt Peavey solid state 15-incher, but I've borrowed a lot of different bass amps from other bands we play with. [They] usually have a much better amps. My dream setup would be a huge PA, a big bass amp, and a sweet guitar amp. I've never fantasized about anything in particular, just want some solid shit.
You guys are... loud. How are the eardrums holding up?
S: I must have slight hearing loss, I hear ringing after most shows but nothing to make me want to stop playing or listening to loud music. I wear earplugs if I know something is really hurting me.
C: Been better.
The Facebook page says Sean plays "drums and stuff" - What's the "stuff?"
S: Tambourine, triangle. That's probably really old when we wanted to play more instruments live but we haven't done it yet. Maybe soon though...
Chris - would you say your ambient solo work is in any way related to what you do in Caddywhompus? What does one project satisfy for you musically that the other cannot? Also, how did you first discover your love of ambient music, and what made you want to start experimenting with drones, etc?
C: Making my solo music is how I relax and kind of escape from a lot of stuff, even Caddywhompus. It's like my meditation time, writing a lot while I'm recording. When I mix Caddy albums, I usually end up writing and recording a lot of solo music to kind of ground myself and take a break for a little while. I love playing live in both settings, but there's something about the intensity of playing a Caddywhompus show that reminds me of the pleasures of pushing myself beyond comfort and finding something I enjoy in that experience. It's good to stay in, but it's also good to go out sometimes. I first noticed the significance/power of ambient music when I saw "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints" when I was a freshman in high school or something. That movie was filled with such amazing musical space/texture/gloss, which really made the movie stick out to me significantly. After that, I discovered a lot of post-rock related droney stuff like Eluvium, Belong and Hammock—a lot of guitar-heavy shit—and started making my own. Been weirding out ever since.
You guys have already been on tour a lot. Do you book all your own tours? What's the best show you guys have played on the road so far, and why?
S: So far we have booked all of our own tours. Two West coast, three East Coast and whole bunch of Southern mini-tours. I don't know about the best show. I really like playing with Arvid Noe (Boston) and Fiasco (Brooklyn). We did Brooklyn and Boston together. Allston has some of the craziest basement shows and Death By Audio is great, especially when it's with four other awesome bands. Our friends Rashaad (who plays cello with Maps and Atlases from time to time and is an extremely chill dude) and Rosie can always convince us to stay in Harrisonburg, VA a couple extra days and go on a bender with them. First time we were there we played with Antlers and then with Heavy Cream which were both really good shows.
All of your records I've seen available so far have been free. You guys aren't... crazy are you?
S: No, we get all our digital music for free so why shouldn't everyone be able to get all of ours for free? We aren't really making music to make money, so we don't mind giving away our downloads for free and it makes it so that anyone who has access to a computer can hear us without any problem.
C: I want our music to be accessible in full online and for people to support us if they believe in what we do. We don't want to be police officers and crack down on people just trying to hear our music, so by making it free, it's all the mo' chill.
I'd like to know a little more about Chinquapin Records and Community Records. Seems like they co-release all your stuff—are you involved with these labels?
S: We started Chinquapin Records with a few Loyola friends who also play in the band Sun Hotel. Right now it's basically our platform for self-releasing and promoting our music collectively and we are looking to put out more of our friends' music and throw shows and parties together. Community Records is a local label that released a bunch of hardcore, ska, and punk stuff over the last couple of years. We went to school with the guys who started Community and really admired the way the ran their label.
The New Orleans scene seems to be exploding as of late. Aside from a lot of the group's blogs have already picked up on, what are some bands you feel like are being overlooked?
S: High In One Eye is a local noise-spazz-shoegaze duo who are friends of ours and they put on an incredible live show. Eyehategod are local sludge-metal legends that still shred. Hurray for the Riff Raff is amazing too.
C: Proud Father is a great local noise group doing gnarly shit. I seriously think Native America is one of the best bands around in the world right now. We're surrounded by a lot of great, hard working up and comers.
Who drew the amazing cat logo on your shirts?
S: Our friend Shelby Hohl drew it for us. He's a really great artist and does a lot of poster art for the Free Press in Houston, TX.
recent jams MIX
