Violitionist

Gutterth has had quite a run these past few years – issuing numerous local releases (New Science Projects, Daniel Folmer, Nervous Curtains, Dear Human), being nominated for The Dallas Observer Best Local Music Advocates and Best Podcast and for hosting numerous Episodes of live shows featuring bands they think you should hear.

All the while they’ve been collecting interviews and recordings and coding a new website which launches today:Violitionist.com. 

As the website explains:

"The Violitionist Sessions are 3 questions and 3 songs with bands from Denton and bands passing through Denton, recorded in a home in the best music city in the country. The sessions are all recorded live with no overdubs and no fancy tricks.
The goal is to document a moment in time. This is what happened in Denton, Texas."

That last sentence is the reason We Denton Do It and Violitionist will be teaming up to present to you, the most original content from local and national acts ever to come out of our tiny corner of the world.

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So in honor of Seryn's This is Where We Are releasing today (buy the record at Spune.com) and the launch of Violitionist -- we're offering some Mp3's plus a video of what you should be expecting in the future.

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Calhoun

Answering invitations from music industry executives, Calhoun visited New York City last Thursday to play two shows – the first at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and then Arlene's Grocery in Manhattan. I was able to speak with Tim Locke (lead vocals, guitar) and Jordan Roberts (keys, guitar) after their show at Arlene's Grocery in the Lower East Side.

 WDDI: What brings y'all to New York for these two shows? It's not part of a tour, it just the two shows at Knitting Factory and then Arlene's. What's the occasion?

Tim: We came to play for some people that liked the record. We sent it to one label and, we've only sent it to one label so far, and they liked it so we came up to play for them and a couple other people that liked the record too and we hadn't played New York in awhile and it just sounded like a good idea, fun.

Jordan: Ya, just to come up here and meet a few people and play for label types and various other industry types like booking agents and stuff like that so that's what these shows were about - just to come up and do that and then also to get out of town for a little bit as well. So it just kinda worked out.

Tim: Ya, you can't play Lola's every night.

WDDI: There was an article about a new entertainment law firm from Nashville opening a new location in Fort Worth and they mentioned y'all.

Tim: We played a show in Nashville a couple months ago and we got a great lawyer and he's been doing a great job for us, so he set up a lot of this stuff for us.

Jordan: We've been with him now, not officially with him, for I guess almost a month and he's really worked hard to hook us up with a lot of really cool things so we're just continuing to go where, we just do what he says, he says, “Go here. Do this.” and we say, 'Yessir. Aye, aye, captain.'

WDDI: How does it feel being scouted by label types, the booking types, the lawyers and all that? Does this change anything for y'all?

Tim: Not really, it's really nice to have people like the record because we haven't put it out yet.

WDDI: This is the new one, not “Falter Weave Cultivate.”

Tim: Right, this is the new album that nobody's heard yet, so it's good to have people like it because you get so far inside that you can't tell. I listen to it a lot and I like it, but you don't know if anybody else is. So people, industry-wise, have really responded to it really well and it's what we want to do for a living - we're looking for people who can help us perpetuate that.

WDDI: The new record. Is it more like Coma Rally and Dead City Radio or is it less like it?

Tim: I think it's the most focused record that I've ever done in my life. Jordan and I wrote all the songs in his apartment pretty much, we wrote everything together this time and it was just me and him. Toby and Nolan helped us produce it. And then, we didn't really have band because we quit and they were nice enough to come help us and now it's turned into a band. It's the most fun I've ever had, it really is.

WDDI: How is playing in New York different from Fort Worth? Is it more similar or more different?

Tim: New York is the ultimate destination of a nice place to visit. I love coming here and playing here, but everything you have to do to just get around the city and be on time or have an agenda here is very challenging. And I've never been happier to play than when I play here, when I get onstage that's when I can breathe.

Jordan: But all the leading up to it, getting here, getting your gear, making sure you have the right backline. Getting here is a whip.

Tim: That's the nice thing about here is they always have backline gear so you can fly up and do a show and not bring everything. No one in Texas really does that to where you have everything ready for you. So that's why you come here.

Jordan: Ya, a lot of clubs could learn a lesson from that all around the nation. Just having backline gear would be nice.

WDDI: My last question is, where from here? After New York? What's the plan going forward?

Jordan: Europe.

Tim: We're going to Europe and then put the record out and just see what happens. Play.

Jordan: We'll do a couple weeks in Europe and see what happens with the interest level of the people who came out, gauge that, and take it day by day - just see what happens from here.

-- by Drew Brown

Calhoun - Deal Breaker

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Seryn

It wasn't long ago that I was packed into a crowded house over on Ponder Street listening in on this band's first performance. Their potential was obvious even then, and though I still find myself crowding into sweaty houses to catch their shows, it is not the same band I heard two years ago. These five may have started as the Denton house show flavor of the week, but it is clear now, they have grown into truly professional musicians.

The Black Angels

(Part1 of 2) The Black Angels - Interview from WeDentonDoIt on Vimeo.

By Jordan Smith

The countercultural music of the 1960s was a direct response to an overwhelming, ambiguous strain caused by conventional norms of the 1950s. Psychedelic music was birthed out of this movement, and, before long, it became a centerpiece of the hippie generation.

Some 40 years later, though, Austin's The Black Angels have tapped into the same sounds that surrounded the formerly dominant subculture. Once again, though, it's a sound that comes across fresh, speaking to an audience searching for an anthem of social reform. This, and the Angels' inclusion in a 2009 History Channel documentary called Manson (which focused, as you might assume, on the stories of The Manson Family murders and the creation of pop culture icon Charles Manson) served as the bulk of our conversation with Angels players Christian Bland and Alex Maas, just before their recent performance at the Kessler Theater.

These two men are seeking what they call truth and, in their exploration, have found themselves in a position of influence. In our two part interview, the first part of which can be found above, and the second of which can be found after the jump, Bland and Maas discuss with us their positions on religion, politics and drugs. Enjoy.

Lemonade

From DC9 "This time last week, we posted WeDentonDoIt's piece on Delorean, who performed at Hailey's Club a few weekends ago. And now they've passed along a piece featuring Brooklyn's Lemonade, the dance pop act that opened the show.

Judging by the following video, you would think that Lemonade is still trying to figure out exactly who they are. But listening to their music, you get the feeling that they've taken an odd assortment of dance and world music influences and put them to tape in a concise, refreshing way. And, as was seen at Hailey's, it goes over really well in a live setting--that is, if they can keep the soundsystem from blowing."

Delorean

from DC9

"After 10 years of performing together, 2010 has finally seen Spain's Delorean breaking out in the States, thanks in large part to its ambient, transporting Subiza release, which has seen the band, among other praises, compared to the likes of Animal Collective and Phoenix. And that's fine by the band, which has spent the majority of its year touring American, as part of an attempt to increase its U.S. fanbase.

That's what brought the band to Denton last weekend for a show at Hailey's Club, where, despite pressing sound issues, the band still managed to offer up a phenomenal, lush set. And that's where our friends at WeDentonDoIt caught up with the band -- or, more specifically, band members Guillermo Astrain and Igor Escudeo -- for a charming, heavily accented pre-show chat about the band's influences, hopes and newfound affection for barbecue.

Toro y Mo

I had the chance to sit down with Toro y Moi this weekend at Fun Fun Fun Fest a few minutes before his set on Sunday.

 So I heard it is your birthday today.  How old are you today?

Chaz: Twenty four

Oh wow I hear that’s a good year.

Chaz: Haha, oh yeah twenty four is awesome man.

Anyway, the first thing I was curious about was, after seeing you live and listening to the recordings,  was how does your process go, about switching your recordings to live performance.

Chaz: Well the guys, Patrick and Andy, Patrick plays bass and Andy plays drums, we have all played together in previous bands and so we sorta know how we work.  I mean, we change it up to accommodate the way we work together a lot, not like how the record sounds.

So do you write everything by yourself or do they ever help with the recording process?

Chaz:  No, maybe that would be cool to let them help out with the recoding, but like if I ever want to do something live tracked, that would be cool to try to do, something old fashion style, everything played live.

So what are your plans? You’re coming out with a record soon right?

Chaz:  Yeah, I’m trying to shoot for February or March.  It’s actually on its way to mastering tomorrow.

So how is it going to be different from what you’ve put out before?

CHAZ:  Well, It’s pretty much all acoustic and live instruments.  The goal is to try to show another side, show another approach, reach out to different fans, and see where it goes.

Would you say it’s in the same vain as the first album or is it something totally different?

Chaz; yeah it’s very different; there’s a lot of haziness atmosphere and that kind of stuff.  My influences were completely different.

I’m curious about your gear.  What kind of stuff are you using up there?

Chaz:  Well I have a Korg R3.  I’ve got a couple of loop pedals, delay, and I have an SP 404(a sampler made by Roland).  Yeah I just started using the 404; I’d never used a sampler before.  It’s cool; I mean I don’t even know what else it can do.  All I know how to do right now is press and load samples.  But it’d be cool to use it actually as its full potential.

So what are you going to do for your birthday?

Chaz: I don’t know, probably going to hang out with friends, the band and the Washed Out guys.  Yeah, we have a rental car and we have a hotel so yeah.

Oh cool, so are you hanging out for the day in Austin?

Chaz: Yeah we’re here for like 3 more days. Yeah, we have a couple of days off.  Actually we’re in the middle of a 6 week tour, so we did like 3 and half weeks in Europe and now we have like two weeks left up the west coast. Driving around the states is so much more brutal than driving in Europe.  It’s like Europe is pretty much scattered everywhere people wise.  Driving in west Texas is a nightmare.

-- by Junior Varsity