When Doug Kaplan and Max Allison aren’t jamming in Good Willsmith or playing solo sets, they run a label called Hausu Mountain. Turns out, when they aren’t running Hausu Mountain, they’re posting memes, managing a clown, making insane art, getting certified in fields like baby psychology, collecting inflatables, going to a lot of festivals, and getting their dishwasher fixed.
The band’s pedigree is well known, as guitarist Trevor de Brauw, bassist Colin DeKuiper, and drummer Steven Hess have spent the past 20 years playing in bands that all but reshaped the sound of aggressive music. With RLYR, they expand that approach, making the most anthemic, catchy instrumental music that’s been released so far this decade.
The album pairs throw-caution-to-the-wind screamers with almost tear-jerking love songs and beautifully sung vocals. Some lyrics might be light and funny, while others tackle serious issues like climate change, growing old, and making the most of your time on Earth. Carl Shane discusses Universal Care, growing older, and his ideal recording situation.
Talking to the band just before Christmas found them in between one-off gigs and the planning of what is looking to be a much more extensive, but at the time of publishing tentative, tour. Band members Gretchen and Stephen spoke of the making of their latest release, the bands songwriting, and an unnamed loss which hung over the writing and recording process of Hush.
To celebrate Chips For Dinner's vinyl release, Palberta and No One And The Somebodies were kind enough to interview each other, asking the hard hitting questions you've always wanted to know about Palberta's royal origins, what kind of chip they would be, and the prospects of a NOATS family restaurant.
When Sam Potrykus was 16 years old, he went on tour with his brother, hitting up over forty states across the country. At the time, he never could have imagined that tour would be the beginning of a life that includes running a music website, a monthly newspaper, co-founding a non-profit organization, and curating a music festival now in it's ninth year.
Over the past four years, thanks to a sparkling debut EP and subsequent full-length, the duo has become a genuine cult sensation entirely without the help of a record label; only recently, with the release of new single “Talk a Lot,” did Morgan and Shih add a publicist to their minimal, close-knit team, which otherwise only includes a booking agent and a publisher.
