Riding Shotgun With Deadbeat Descendant
This week, we're publishing on my birthday. And you know what that means -- I'm taking liberties (well, more so than usual) with this week's band. You see, they haven't played D.C. at all. Yet. Deadbeat Descendant, my favorite bunch of Brightonians/Londoners (who were found on Myspace), are a little garage, a little mod, a dash of glam, and all sorts of wonderful. Citing Iggy Pop, Roxy Music, and Eagles of Death Metal among their influences, these fans of skinny pants and big onstage personalities have the kind of sound that makes the indie girls go crazy. Hordes of fans are sure to be swarming soon. I asked Raal, Rosco, Jez and Dean some questions, and here's what they had to say. Read on for their witty, debonair responses about topics such as Art Brut gigs (inspiring!), Deadbeat merchandise (vibrating!), and Keith Moon (Rosco!). And then go collect every piece of Deadbeat music you can find. You can thank me later.
Fill in the blanks:
Touring is: the only way to travel.
Our first gig was: a half-baked pile of crap.
Our favorite venue to play is: only a cab ride away.
Hygiene on a tour is: to be admired.
Our favorite thing about touring is: meeting people you thought were cool on Myspace and finding that they are.
And the least favorite thing: a dull ache in the kidneys.
City with the best audiences: there’s no place like home….
The band member most likely to disappear after a show is: Jez, without a doubt the easiest of us to lead astray (meg. - this is true).
The tour bus/van smells like: fear.
Laundry is: a) washed regularly, b) washed irregularly, c) we go shopping a lot:
C no question, there’s only one thing worse than being recognized in a launderette, not being recognized.
What's the most unusual item on your rider? A horse.
Who controls the music in the touring vehicle? And what are you listening to at the moment?
We are utterly democratic in all such processes. Last trip was spent in the company of The Monks, The Sonics and a splash of early Zep.
Your new favorite watering hole after being on tour? And/or the best place to get greasy, hangover-curing food?
We really enjoyed the bars in NY, as always though the empty ones you spent the afternoon getting lashed to the four winds in are the ones you remember the fondest. Dublin House in the Upper West Side was such a place, hideously unfashionable thank the lord and sporting a great selection of Johnny Cash on the juke. Hangover cures at the appropriately named New Wave café, enormous omelets and mo’ coffee than you can shake a stick at. They treated us like we’d been coming there for twenty years, which naturally made us wish that we had been.
Most amusing memory from your current or most recent tour?
So many it’s hard to pick the highlights, the addition of sleep depravation added a frisson to the most mundane giggle. Two moments worthy of international recognition were an eccentric elderly resident of our hotel gadding about the corridors and lifts on a scooter which actually floored some of us the first time we saw it.
The second is reading in the paper of the activities of a certain gay church in New York hosted by the Reverend "Pat Bumgardener." Coming from Brighton we thought we’d seen it all, but that was inspired.
Please name the city you wouldn't ever play in again? Or, if not a particular city, which venue makes your skin crawl?
It’s difficult to be negative about anywhere we’ve played. Generally there’s always something that redeems even the most rotten little shack. Someone that comes through and lifts the mood. We’ve been very lucky in that respect. Ultimately we love playing together and we don’t get to do it enough, it’s never been bad enough to wish we hadn’t.
What's the best thing about playing in the States? The enthusiasm of everyone and general friendliness. That and that no one knows where you live.
Apart from the obvious cd, what's the merch item of yours you think people should shell out for? The Deadbeat Descendant Vibrating Egg.
Have you been to the top of the Washington Monument? No. Not even to the bottom. Is it all that?
What most brought about the creation of Deadbeat Descendant?
The complete simplicity of its inception. It was the most effortless coming together of four individuals you could imagine, we just wanted to do something and we felt we could offer something else to what was going on. We’ve never had a plan or an agenda; we never talked about the sound we intended to create. It’s the sound of the four of us and where we are right now.
The song "Haircut" is wonderfully tongue-in-cheek. And I don't think I've ever heard the word moribund used in a song (frankly, more bands should think about using it). It seems a rather ubiquitous song, but was there a particular haircut that served as inspiration?
At an Art Brut gig awaiting the band in a poisonously gauche venue in London. Preening imbeciles with very derivative bouffant hair-dos lined the walls. Trying to watch the support band as the same cretins shuffled past, endlessly looking for where the party was at. The realisation that none of them was paying the slightest attention to the poor fellows on stage. As they teased their fringes I was beset with a blue funk and ended up leaving before Art Brut took the stage.
It’s about self-regarding people and their eternal ability to kill an atmosphere and suffocate joy. Including their own.
Have you or will any of you ever throw a TV out a hotel room window? And who is most likely to veer down the Keith Moon school of band behavior?
Many, we are looking forward to the proliferation of lightweight plasma screens. The current widescreen models require collaboration.
Keith Moon would be Rosco who we were informed by one American gentleman is a ‘bad ass’.
What would you like people to be saying about Deadbeat Descendant in 50 years?
‘I’m really exited about seeing them on the moon tonight.’
Best thing about being in Deadbeat Descendant: Never having to say you’re sorry.
If you weren't in Deadbeat Descendant, you'd be doing: the back and forth…forever.
Please recite a line of poetry:
Men let your wallets flop out
And women open your purses.
-Captain Beefheart
And finally, it's BigYawn's round. What's your poison?
Four ‘cuntfulls’ (This is a pint glass full of a measure from all boozes on the top shelf. Honest).
NB The top shelf in the UK is ubiquitous with ‘smut,’‘Jazz-mags’ and the like, hence the rude name for the aforementioned beverage.
Need more Deadbeat Descendant? Of course you do. Click yourself to www.deadbeatdescendant.co.uk, or www.myspace.com/deadbeatdescendant. You know you want to.