by Will Sisskind (@theparisbuns)
In the year 2011 -- a more innocent time for America, but not one without its flaws -- West Virginia-based band Rozwell Kid released their debut LP, and Bloomington, Indiana-based band Sleeping Bag put out their debut self-titled album as well. This act of kismet would bring Rozwell’s Jordan Hudkins and Sleeping Bag’s Dave Segedy together in musical harmony. After two years of email correspondence and collaboration, the two bands released Dreamboats, a six-track EP marrying the chilled-out slacker vibe of Sleeping Bag to the punk crunch of Rozwell Kid.
Almost a decade has passed since these two bands put their first works out into the world. To celebrate the passing of time, Hudkins and Segedy have again combined their forces to craft the sequel to Dreamboats, to which they’ve given the appropriate name of Dreamboats 2. Right off the first few chugging bass notes and vocal oohs in “Absolutely,” Dreamboats 2 announces itself as a celebration of friendship, of collaborative artistry, and of honing a craft.
Both bands announced the album at the start of 2020 with a video set to the intro of “Letterman,” a sludgy punk bop punctuated with droning guitar harmonics, fuzzed-out guitar riffs, and whistle solos that urge the listener to join in. The slower jams continue with “Back to the Future IV,” a slacker hymn rife with cowbell and falsetto that plunges into headbanger mode near the end.
The fun of “Chiller Instinct” matches its video, which features plenty of juggling from John Riden, known as the “Running Circus”. “Let The Spider Chill,” the following song, takes things to an even slower place than the previous tracks, and the finale -- “Dr. Doom” -- ends the album on a wistful note, giving Dreamboats 2 a dreamy sendoff. With these six songs, you can hear parts of where Hudkins and Segedy contributed their own sounds to the record; however, they blend their musicality together so well that a first-time listener might think that Rozwell Kid and Sleeping Bag were one band, and had been so for years.
While no theme connects the songs on Dreamboats 2, the tight compositions and stylistic meshing between Hudkins and Segedy makes the album about the value of teamwork in making great music. Members of the best bands share a tight bond, and although Hudkins and Segedy come from two different acts, the music they create together matches that of some of the finest indie supergroups. Plus, it is a testament to their relationship as musicians and friends that they’ve come together seven years after their original collaboration to create something fresh and matching in quality.
With Dreamboats 2, Hudkins and Segedy set a new precedent for themselves. Listeners might now await the release of Dreamboats 3 in 2027, in order for Rozwell Kid and Sleeping Bag to complete the Dreamboats trilogy and cement their place in indie history.