 Photo credit: Melanie Nissen DANDY WARHOLS "COME DOWN" - - TO SAN DIEGO As I entered the dark, mostly barren bar for the interview with the up and coming DandyWarhols, I was unaware I was about to receive another lesson into the old metaphysic relationship between perception and reality. I have long held the tenet that everything you hear or read should be taken with a grain of salt, though in my case it is usually more like a pound bag. In this case, though, I had bought into the general tone of the articles I read in the press release, which hinted at a band with a lot of attitude. After waiting for almost a half hour, I was convinced the hype was not without truth, when Zia skated into the venue with pink and white checkered pants followed by the remaining members of the band, dressed, with the exception of Peter, no different from your average construction crew. However, as the interview came to a close twenty minute later, I was left with a completely different opinion of these four, finding them to be instead one of the most charismatic, down to earth bands I had met to date; though not without their sarcastic side. The Dandy Warhols hail from Portland, Oregon, where they first received recognition with the release of their debut album Dandy's Rule OK under the mise of Tim/Kerr Records. After the hype that surrounded this release, the band was courted by several major labels before settling with Capitol, and recently releasing their highly acclaimed The Dandy Warhols ComeDown. This piece of psychedelia detours for their more poppy first album, stealing from a multitude of other acts, but somehow pulling it together into seventy-four minutes of plush, stirring, Brit-inspired rock. The band is centered around the sometimes sarcastic, drug inspired leader CourtneyTaylor, who is the vocalist and guitarist. Backing him up is bassist Peter Holmstrom, EricHedford on drums, and Zia McCabe playing keyboards and the tambourine. Included below is the abridged interview followed by a short review of the show that followed. Rich: You seem pretty unique to the Portland scene you hail from, and to American music in general. How do you think you developed this distinctive musical style? Courtney Taylor: I really don't know. Zia McCabe: We're just unique people to begin with. Courtney Taylor: We're special (sarcastically) Zia McCabe: Special people make special music. Eric Hedford: We all grew up listening to the same music as everyone else did in Portland, going to the same clubs, and listening to the same radio stations . . . Rich: You guys are all from Portland (Oregon) right? In Unison: Yeah. Rich: How and when did the band originally form? Courtney Taylor: He (Peter) moved back from New York (New York State), and I had been four-tracking since I was in high school, just making sh** up and not really playing for anybody, except maybe my girlfriend or something, and Pete was listening to it and kind of talked me into it. I mean it's just a matter of getting people who have taste in music . . . it wasn't like I'm going to do something I didn't want to do . . . I'd never sang or played guitar in a band before though. Zia McCabe: We were all pretty new to the music business. I'd never played anything before. I could play about three cords on the guitar, from going to my guitar class about once every two weeks. So I could at least recognize . . . they happen to be the three cords I play in all the songs, so I could (laughs), luckily they weren't tricky so I could see what they were doing. At this point we moved to a different part of the bar, because the background noise was making it hard to hear. We moved, unfortunately, to a booth right by the door on a uniquely cold mid-October evening, quite rare for San Diego (California). Courtney Taylor: Great . . . now I'm f***ing freezing. Oh . . . great! Rich: You guys seem to love being rock stars and the fame that accompanies it. Is this a fair appraisal? Courtney Taylor: Yeah, cause we're so famous (sarcastically). Eric Hedford: (Chimes in) We're so f***ing huge. Courtney Taylor: F*** . . . I wish. Zia McCabe: I like this part of it, this part right in the middle where you're opening up for another band but a lot of people came to see you. We can still hang out with everyone after the show. It's like, when we get to the point where we need security, I don't know, it's like a whole different thing. Courtney Taylor: Right now, to not be able to talk to who you want to talk afterwards, like (turning to Zia) I couldn't talk to (or) hang out with those two, the guy who gave you a ride, Nathan, and the friend that he brought, because it was too loud back stage. And so I'm standing there and someone comes up, and I'm just wanting to hang out with my friends, and then another two, yeah . . . yeah, it's nice to meet you, and then it just went on for two hours, I'm standing there. Zia McCabe: That happened to me too. I kept trying to talk to that cute boy James, and I didn't get to talk to him very much. But it's still really fun, and it's not like we need security to escort us out to our bus to where we could hang out with either industry or other things people. Courtney Taylor: We don't get mobbed. Zia McCabe: We can have normal friends still. Eric Hedford: It's fun to just, if you're in the mood, to talk to a hundred people over the course of an evening. It is quite enjoyable. Courtney Taylor: It's not like we get mobbed, it's more like we get blobbed. It's slow and it's muses. There's nothing splattery about it, it's not aggressive, it's just like this ooze that's just, like, one after another after another. Rich: Was it different in Portland? Eric Hedford: When you're in your hometown it's not even like that. Zia McCabe: The only person that would come over to talk to us was a friend, or they would probably feel uncomfortable. Eric Hedford: It's just enjoyable. When people say nice things to you, it reinforces what you're doing, and when you have a bad night and people come up and say "Man, you guys were great," it makes me feel much better (laughs). Courtney Taylor: It makes me feel like we're attracting idiots. Peter Holmstrom: Welcome to America my friends. Rich: Have you found any shortfalls to it so far? Eric Hedford: We're not that famous yet. Courtney Taylor: Yah, we're not. Zia McCabe: Yah, we don't know what they are. Courtney Taylor: We'll let you know when we find out what they are. (They all laugh) Eric Hedford: The shortfalls are like when you're sleeping in your van and their sitting there waiting for you to wake up so they can talk to you. Zia McCabe: Or sleeping out on the street outside the venue. And you look up and all these faces are looking in on you from the windows of the van. Eric Hedford: When you're trying to itch your butt. Rich: Tell me about the months of being treated like Kings (and Queen) while deciding which record label to sign with? Zia McCabe: We ate it up, we loved it! Courtney Taylor: Yeah . . . it was good. There was always this pressure of, like, we better sign with someone or it's all going to go away . . . Luckily it didn't all go away. Peter Holmstrom: We milked it for months too. Courtney Taylor: Yeah . . . Yeah, it was great, it was really fun. Eric Hedford: We were sluts! Peter Holmstrom: We didn't really mean to milk it on purpose. EH It was more like indecision. Zia McCabe: Well, we certainly didn't turn down any label that was interested. Even if we knew . . . Eric Hedford: (Chimes in again) That was interested in taking us out to dinner. Zia McCabe: . . . Even if we knew we weren't going to sign with them, but they're going to fly us out to New York and put us up at the Renaissance or at the Paramount. Well, okay, you know, we'll hear your spiel. Courtney Taylor: Hear them out. Zia McCabe: We'll listen for about an hour of dinner. (They all laugh) Eric Hedford: Hear them out. Rich: So, why did you finally settle with Capitol? Courtney Taylor: Um . . . Harry Watts Russell. Eric Hedford: The A&R guy. Courtney Taylor: Yeah, you know it was a bunch of things. Um . . . they have cooler bands, you know, they've got Mazzy Star and Radiohead. Harry is just really sharp and he's not full of sh** at all. I don't get that sinking feeling when I talking to him, like, oh God, do I have to go through all this sh** with this person to catch them up to where, you know, what do I have to say to this person to make them realize they don't have to bullsh** me; I'm not a f***ing idiot. And I'm not clueless . . . oh, oh, I have to say things to these people who work there to make them realize that I know that this means this, so you don't have to say that to me. You know, it's just like, come on, for God's sake, can we just talk? I want to get to the point. I don't have a lot of time on the phone, you know, it's like, we need to get this sh** taken care of. What do you want to do, what do you think, and what's your reason, not lick my ass and then do something else that you're not going to tell me you're doing. It's f***ing ridiculous. So Harry is absolutely not like that at all, so it's nice and just having one person whose you're only person at a label is indispensable, it's a f***ing life saver. Peter Holmstrom: Plus he's like that with the rest of the band too. He took time to meet the band and understand the dynamics and not just throw money around at us. We ran into people who were just clueless about the concept of, like, bands. Courtney Taylor: I like having an A&R guy, who, when you're about to not get any more money tells you ahead of time, you know. He's like, you guys, at the end of next month we're going to stop giving you money, all right, so you're going to have to figure out how to deal with that. Zia McCabe: You're going to have to figure out how to get more. Peter Holmstrom: We've had business managers that have told us that. Courtney Taylor: Yeah . . . our accountant was like that . . . Eric Hedford: They tell you, Oh, you're not getting your check this month Zia McCabe: When you call them on the third and your rent was due on the first, and they're like, No,that was six months, . . . you run out at six months. Eric Hedford: And your credit cards we've been getting receipts for the past three months that youhaven't paid them, well you better start paying them. Rich: So how did they pay you with this album? Courtney Taylor: Okay, here's what happens. They give you a big chunk of money, so much money that you really need someone to help you handle it. So you hire someone to handle it, and you trust them a little . . . and they make it all go away. And then you're left with nothing, and you better be fu**ing cool, and good and surrounded by incredible hype, so you can go back to the label and say, Just give us a little more money, because the people in this band can live on three hundred amonth . . . So do it, and we'll part-time to eat, and pay our rent. Rich: What happened with the first effort at an album with Capitol? Courtney Taylor: We tried to go in and make a purely experimental record and just . . . Zia McCabe: We made a really cool one. Courtney Taylor: Yeah, and did. It's not finished, and it just got to the point where it was hard to know what the hell was going on and where (we) should go. It's really easy to lose . . . if you're in the studio and you don't find it . . . there's a certain vocal center to every song or piece of music that is the thrust of it, and carries it, you know, from the first second to the last second. If you're not finding that, it's easy to get discouraged and that just happened . . . And if you listen to the same thing all the time, it gets demystified. Rich: How did you improve the recording environment and process to put out The DandyWarhols Come Down? Courtney Taylor: Wrote songs. Eric Hedford: Wrote songs for the record. Peter Holmstrom: Yeah, we had the experimental spirit with us, but we also had songs with a little bit of foundation to experiment on. Rich: What's the deal with all the nudity? Zia McCabe: What nudity? Courtney Taylor: We used to have a lot of it, but it doesn't seem to happen anymore though. That was just a local Portland thing. Zia McCabe: If people liked to get naked in every city, if people got on stage and got naked, that would be cool. Courtney Taylor: If they knew they could without getting in trouble, if they knew what was going to happen to their clothes . . . nobody wants to get thrown out of a club naked. Nobody wants to get thrown out of a club, much less get thrown out naked. Rich: Is that story true that you guys cruised to a convenience store naked once? Courtney Taylor: It was a full-on supermarket. Zia McCabe: There was about fifteen people. Courtney Taylor: Yeah . . . there were about twenty people at the house and I think almost everyone went. It was really funny because we were out of cigarettes . . . and wine, and needed to do some shopping. (Everyone laughs) Eric Hedford: It was something that just needed to be done. Zia McCabe: So me and a friend of ours got on the mopeds with the Peter Fonda helmets naked and we led the VW bus full of everyone else naked and jumped out at the confidence store, the first stop, actually just a gas station, and the guy was sitting there saying And now I've seen everything, and just starts handing out packs of cigarettes. And then we just jumped back on and said, Let'skeep going. Courtney Taylor: Yeah . . . they pulled up to the gas station naked with the stars and stripes helmets and ask for cigarettes and the guy is like, Now I've seen it all, and the van hadn't even arrived . . . And then we pull up in the VW bus and like ten people jump out naked and are like, Hey, how's itgoing? We need two packs of Marlboro Reds, four packs of Camel Lights, and he was like, Huh, huh, huh . . . dude! Zia McCabe: And then we went to the 24-hour convenience store . . . we made it in the door and out of the door. We just ran around as far as we could. Ran around, then ran back out. It was fun. Rich: What are the major influences on your musical philosophy? Courtney Taylor: Um . . . actually, just this completely unknown Portland band that I played the drums in, had a huge influence on my philosophy. This guy James Angel, is this pretty f***ing brilliant guy, who just said it is my job to make it passionate, to make it engaging, and interesting as a vocalist. One chord song, we should be able to have a one chord song, and if it grooves it's my job. One chord, just make it a groove, four minutes isn't that long and then Pete, he was living in NewYork and he had the connections, and was getting a lot of free records and stuff . . . Peter Holmstrom: And every once in awhile I got a good one (laughs). Rich: (To Peter) So what did you do when you were over there? Peter Holmstrom: Oh . . . I studied art. Rich: So you're an artist as well? Peter Holmstrom: (Rather sheepishly) Yeah. (Laughs) Zia McCabe: He's an artist (In a mocking tone) Ha, ha, ha . . . naner, naner. All laughing and looking at him. Peter Holmstrom: Shh . . . shh, don't tell. Courtney Taylor: He's trying to change Rich: How is the tour going so far? Courtney Taylor: Really great! F***ing awesome. Rich: Is this the last leg? Courtney Taylor: Yeah . . . this is the last leg, it's up the coast from here. Zia McCabe: We're almost home. I can't really imagine getting out of the van and not getting back in. . . . And taking my bags out. Courtney Taylor: I get to get on another plane and stay in another hotel. I'm going on vacation. Rich: Where are you going? Courtney Taylor: To Amsterdam. Rich: I hear it's changing now. Courtney Taylor: Yeah it's changing, I hear mushrooms are legal now, I hear you can buy mushrooms now. Zia McCabe: You get searched pretty hard core when you leave. Rich: Yeah, don't bring your bags into the hash bars. The dogs will be on you when you get back. Courtney Taylor: I will keep one outfit, like one pair of pants . . . or like my sweat pants, my cons, and one shirt that I won't wear in any hash bars and like one shirt that I won't wear until the flight home. Zia McCabe: Wash everything too. Rich: And then after that what will you guys be doing? Zia McCabe: We're going to be touring! Eric Hedford: With a bus, else we're not going. Zia McCabe: Did you hear the big news? They're trying to get us out of the bus. Courtney Taylor: We might not be touring? Zia McCabe: Yeah . . . that's fine. If we don't have a bus, we don't have a manager. Rich: How was it playing with Blur? Eric Hedford: They're great. Courtney Taylor: We liked them. Eric Hedford: Great guys. Zia McCabe: Awesome. Amazing crew, they brought a huge system, with like two semis and two . . . (laughs) Peter Holmstrom: Yeah . . . they were great. Eric Hedford: Lot of fun . . . it was an honor. An honor and a lot of fun. A few hours later I returned just in time to see the band take the stage. It was an eerily dark stage with a few dim red and white lights dusting the band members who, with the exception of Zia, played with little movement. The songs themselves, on the other hand, rang out with passion and a poppy, but enchanting feel. Courtney's voice altered in range often and intermittently broke out into long wailing drawls mid song. At one point, he burst out in a short diatribe on breaking up and stalking an ex lover followed by a repetitive monotone I love you, repeated over and over again. Peter played the bass adeptly with a cigarette hanging from his mouth in a Keith Richards like manner and Zia, between puffs of her cigarette and swigs of her beer, jumped around like a teeny bopper in the same pink and white checkered pants. The show was short but quite impressive and they were followed by the talented and entertaining Charlatans UK. Expect to see a lot of the Dandy Warhols in the future. Do go to their Official Website:: dandywarhols.com and tell'em rockaziners sent ya! |