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Home  Archive music profiles Bastards of the Beat: The Damnwells
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Bastards of the Beat: The Damnwells |
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Written by Jim Dunn
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
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Over the last three years, The Damnwells have toured
as much as possible and honed a sound that melodically carries their
listeners into the fray and returns them just a little changed in the
end.
Here is one to add to the list of thankless tasks: opening for Cheap
Trick. Forget about succeeding at this task; let’s just talk about
surviving it. “It wasn’t like we were stuck out there every night and
people were booing us and throwing beer bottles at us,” says Steven
Terry, drummer for The Damnwells. The band could have rightly feared
that. Cheap Trick fans are very earnest about their band and no opening
act should or will get in the way. However, something odd happened to
this up-and-coming Brooklyn band: the crowd actually paid attention.
“The crowd was very receptive to us, and that means a lot to a true
rock ’n’ roll fan. Playing with Cheap Trick is like a dream come true.
I was a huge fan of Cheap Trick before I even got that opportunity. You
know, being able to sit in and watch these guys every night is like
going to class.”
That is an apt statement that could come from
any one of the four Damnwells. The band personifies the words “music
aficionados.” The Damnwells—Terry, bassist Ted Hudson, guitarist Dave
Chernis, and singer/guitarist Alex Dezen—came together in the classic
“chance meeting” way when Terry tagged along with a friend to a
recording session featuring Dezen. “Some drums happened to be miked and
set up and I sat down and played a few songs with them,” said the
former Whiskeytown drummer. “One thing led to another and we just went
off with it.” Hudson was also at the session. The threesome started
performing together and, with the addition of Chernis, the band was
complete.
Over the last three years, The Damnwells have toured
as much as possible and honed a sound that melodically carries their
listeners into the fray and returns them just a little changed in the
end. Asked about their relentless touring schedule, Hudson effused,
“One thing we just fuckin’ love is playing shows. The hardest times are
periods of inactivity. We just start thinking and worrying, fixating on
stuff. Not working…it drives us insane, but as soon as we get on the
road, though it can be punishing, it is our element. It is what we
ultimately want to do: to tour.”
Dezen provides the
songwriting heart to the Damnwells. “Alex is a very prolific
songwriter,” says Hudson of his bandmate. “Sometimes it is all we can
do to keep up with him.” Having written hundreds of songs, Dezen
provides the base for the band’s moody and evocative songs. Bastards of
the Beat (Epic), the band’s first full-length, was recorded in between
touring stints over the last two years. “Our recording philosophy is
somewhat pragmatic,” says Dezen. “Whenever we have the opportunity to
get in there and record something, we do. If it gets a positive
reaction, especially from outside the band, we keep it.”
As
part of the touring survival package (i.e., gas/food money), the band
has been selling PMRs (their term, meaning “poor man’s records”) while
on the road. These early, stripped-down efforts (on one occasion, I saw
Hudson carefully stamping The Damnwells’ logo onto each CD sleeve)
formed the basis for Bastards. “So we went around for two years
recording it and we finally said, ‘shit, we should put out this
record,’” Dezen continues. They already had most of the songs recorded
and went in to add a few more. Bastards was released last October on
the tiny label Sixthman. “The Damnwells’ philosophy is we wait for no
one,” says Dezen. “We couldn’t just wait for anyone to decide to sign
the band.”
However, that is exactly what happened. Even
before the release, the band had been generating a lot of A&R
interest. “They had been sniffing around for awhile,” Alex explains.
“The rep from Epic would show up at our shows from time to time and
then just disappear.” Epic made them an offer that allowed the band to
sell off the remaining versions of Bastard and re-release it virtually
unchanged with heavy industry support behind it. The album streets on
April 6.
Bastards of the Beat offers an ideal distillation of
the band. Dezen’s songs are portraits of despair and heartache, held
together by an intelligent wash of instrumentation that gives the
melancholy a charge. “Basically, Alex writes the music and the words,”
says Hudson. “It is about creating something that is whole. We work
together to arrange the harmonic side of things in a way that is
conducive to the song. It takes a little while to flesh out the tune,
and we sometimes work on them for awhile. We work on the parts
themselves and on the vibe we are creating. It is something that is
very organic, something that takes shape gradually; sometimes it is
just there, right under your fingers and you know it intuitively.”
The album begins with a bang by featuring a song called “Assholes.”
“You are the first person to ask me about that song,” says Dezen when I
quiz him about its origins. “I wrote it at a time when I was moving out
of my apartment. You take that opportunity to throw out some stuff that
you’ve been hoarding for years—like a chemistry book you drew a picture
in in high school. I was going through pictures of people I knew and
thinking how they all grew up to be assholes.” Many of Dezen’s songs
tend to veer towards these sorts of truths, whether it is about the
people you mistakenly admired when growing up, relationships that sour,
or being alone in a crowd.
For the band, the release of the
new album is both exciting and a bit anti-climactic. “It has been done
in my mind since last fall,” reports Chernis. “When I finish one
project, I kind of let it be and let it spend some time out there in
the world. We are looking forward to the next one, though we won’t be
able to do it the same way as before.” Assisting on the new disk will
be Tim Hatfield, who has worked with Eric Amble, the Misfits, and Keith
Richards. “There is a certain thrill with being in a really legendary
room with an amazing engineer—it is sort of an elitist thing, but it is
thrilling,” Chernis says with a laugh.
Though their thoughts may be
racing toward their next release, The Damnwells will continue to do
what they have been doing for three years: tour and win new fans. “It
is one fan at a time,” says Hudson. “Literally some of our best shows
have been played in front of a handful of people. It might just be the
sound guy and three other people in the room, but if we make four fans
that night, fine, that is worth it.”
Currently, the band is
out on the road in support of the new album. Besides the possibility of
some more Cheap Trick openers, the band has been out touring with the
new Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) project, The Twilight Singers, and Josh
Ritter. “We are starting to pick up shows with bands that are up and
coming,” says Terry. “We fit in that motif a little better. It is
better for us to be out on the road with bands like that and building
our fan base.”
Whether it is in a big rock show or at a
smaller, more intimate venue or in the privacy of your home on their
new disc, The Damnwells create a special place for their listeners that
connects with both hearts and minds. These bastards of the beat are
here to capture fans; if you know what’s good for you, you’ll go
willingly.
Come see the Damnwells when they headline the
Playback St. Louis Second Anniversary show on April 24 at Lil Nikki’s
on South Broadway.
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