Pennywise album review

Reason to Dis(believe)

April 11th, 2008

Pennywise’s twelfth album and first release of any kind in three years fell into the public’s hands on March 25^th in a way that is becoming more and more popular in this age of digital wisdom and battles with big-name record companies. Reason to Believe was available to any man, woman and child the world around for the trifling price of being their friend on MySpace. That’s right, for the first two weeks after its release, fans could legally download free digital copies. Old-fashioned types could also find hard copies of the album in stores, but those, unfortunately, were not free.

The fact that the album was released for no cost at all seemed to produce more of a buzz than the actual music itself, proving that everyone loves to get free things no matter what they may be. But Reason to Believe, while aggressive, politically driven and energetic, is not entirely relevant on the Southern California skater punk scene. Pennywise have slowed down and mellowed out in a way that is inevitable after playing power chord-driven punk music for more than 20 years.

This is not to say that Reason to Believe isn’t a “good” album — but many songs on the album happen to sound very similar to each other, very quickly. The driving force and dynamic guitars behind “One Reason” give the listener a feeling of power over a worthy cause, but upon closer inspection, the song appears to be merely about fighting with a manipulative girlfriend: “Give me one reason for stopping your fall/Give me one reason to answer your call/ Give me one reason why I should care at all.” Something that had so much potential fell on its face by allowing itself to be completely shallow and inane.

That’s a shame, because the album’s cover has such deep and insightful imagery. With five symbols of peace and harmony along with the Pennywise logo inside a silhouette of a human head, the cover suggests that this album will offer the listener a “Reason to Believe” that the world has a chance. To place a shallow breakup song so close to the beginning of the record was a poor choice in my opinion and basically shatters the ideals the artwork had set up the listener for.

However, the radio-friendly “The Western World,” which speaks of the “celluloid boys and video girls,” allows the listener to feel at least slightly political while rocking out hardcore. The song expresses the depressing idea that “there’s nothing left worth fighting for/in the western world.” This doomsday message is cleverly disguised by the upbeat melody and non-stop avalanche of power that spews forth from the lead guitar. But is Pennywise softening with age and throwing in the towel? It may appear so.

While the band tried to redeem themselves from the shallow messages of the first few songs of the album with political pieces such as “The Western World” and “Affliction,” they do not give the listener any kind of glimmer of hope or even a soap box to stand on. They merely point out that the current political administration is not doing all it can for its people. But instead of rallying the troops to fight back as punk rockers are often wont to do, they choose to stand in the corner and sulk about how hard their lives are now that they are aging, former punk-rock-sort-of-stars who can’t play as fast as they used to.

Final Grade: C+

Posted by Melinda Spencer

Filed in Albums, Reviews, Rock/Pop

The Raconteurs album review

The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely (2008)

April 11th, 2008

Many of the so-called “super groups” are less than fantastic and have a tendency to merely bank off of their successful past and don’t feel the need to create actual works of worth. The Raconteurs do not fit into this category as is evident with their second album, Consolers of the Lonely which was released on March 25^th. Jack White and his comrades are able to create music that is wholly unique from anything that they created and played in their other more famous bands.

Consolers of the Lonely is an audio trip for the listener. Immersed within the tracks are the voices of the performers, and what I assume to be their friends, talking, laughing, joking and making notes as to how the track will sound in final publication. While this is not a new tactic in making a record feel more “real,” if is definitely effective in reassuring the listener that these musicians are real people who just want to make a bunch of good songs together. The fact that they are individually famous has nothing to do with what they are doing when they are together.

It is easy for the listener to get lost in these tracks and fade out of the real world into another dimension built on heavy-handed piano chords, raging and squelching guitars and Jack White’s unmistakable whine. The harmonies of “You Don’t Understand Me” create such an ambiance of sadness in the listener’s ear that the pain is actually tangible. It is easy to feel the desperation in White’s voice when he says that “there’s got to be a better way to do what we do.” While it really is just another love song, it is possible that this is the most genuine one I’ve heard in awhile. “You Don’t Understand Me” goes through the battle that so many go through once they realize that their mate just doesn’t get it.

It is so easy in this age of technology for a band to whip out an album, throw down the vocals, double-, triple-, or quadruple-track everything to make it sound like a bunch of people are involved and release utter rubbish to the public. This album isn’t like that. Each song has intricate interwoven pieces and a story of their own. Every time you listen to a song you hear something new and different. This is not an album that is easily overplayed. Every song finds a way to hold the listener’s interest in a different way with every spin, almost as if it were getting better with age.

The Raconteurs have gone out on a limb by trying something new in the name of experimental rock. The intermittent trumpet and the use of guitar as almost a percussion instrument bring elements of jazz and funk into tracks like “The Switch and the Spur.” In many ways, this is a risky record due to unusual instrumentation, the complexity of the musical arrangements, intelligence in both music and lyrics and the mixture of different styles in order to create something wholly unique — but somehow The Raconteurs pull it off.

Consolers of the Lonely is unique, dynamic and real in ways that the vast majority of today’s popular music could never be. It’s good to hear a band enjoy what they do for once.

Final Grade: A

Posted by Melinda Spencer

Filed in Albums, Reviews, Rock/Pop

Not Your Typical Marching Band

NOT YOUR TYPICAL MARCHING BAND

Marching Lumberjacks are a wacky good time for band members and their audience

by Melinda Spencer

On the quiet and desolate field, the football teams converse with their respective

coaches about tactics for the remainder of the game. Suddenly, an announcer’s voice

booms through the speakers.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Republicans and Democrats, the joint

efforts of the CIA and the FBI are unable to prevent your world-famous Humboldt State

Marching Lumberjacks!” A roar breaks the silence, not from the crowd but from

the field, as dozens of hard-hat wearing musicians run frantically onto the turf. They

narrowly miss running headlong into one another and finally settle into formation.

The Marching Lumberjacks, who started out as the Humboldt State College

Lumberjack Band, were once your typical marching band with polyester costumes, baton

twirlers and formations. When this group disbanded in 1968, an all-male band was

created in its stead. This band dressed as lumberjacks and, unlike most marching bands at

this time, did not have a strong attachment to marching in-step, or even marching in lines

at all.

The first woman band member joined in 1972, Maria A. Johnston, and she contended with a great deal of sexism and harassment She was determined, however, to be a part of this group. Unfortunately, once she was accepted she only played at one football game and three rehearsals before she quit. Though she did not remain long, she opened the door for six more women to join the band the following season. This was the beginning of the Marching Lumberjacks as we know them today. The Marching Lumberjacks are a rarity among marching bands. They are one of only eleven scatter bands in the country. Called scatter bands on the West coast, and scramble bands on the East Coast, most of these bands originate from the Ivy League schools of the East coast. The Marching Lumberjacks is the only one that hails from a public university and the West Coast

Liz Schroeder, the president of the Brown University Pep band, believes that the

reason students at Ivy League schools are so drawn to the scatter band structure is

because band members do not have to worry about attending as many rehearsals to learn

formations and marching steps.

Another theory, held by the student director of the University of Virginia Pep

band, Suzie Wright, is that scatter band members need to be of a higher mental ability.

Scatter band half-time shows are more “intellectually based” and aimed at poking fun

at opposing schools and current events. “They have to be more with it,” she said. Cornell University is the only Ivy League lacking a scatter band.

This raises the question, what exactly is a scatter band? A scatter band is very similar to a traditional marching band in several ways: they wear uniforms, carry instruments, and play music. But the similarities stop there. While scatter band members refer to their outfits as uniforms, they would be considered costumes by anyone else. They sometimes include tutus, Hawaiian shirts, wigs, oversized sunglasses, or anything else that band members can find in a thrift shop.

Many bands have signature pieces that every member wears – like the Marching

Lumberjack hard hats – and these often display homemade and store-bought buttons referred to as “flare.” The Marching Lumberjacks decorate their hard hats and suspenders with their flare while the University of Virginia band displays their flare on orange vests. Brown University, makes their own buttons to represent every football game. They display their flare on brown vests.

While scatter band members may play the standard brass and percussion

instruments of a marching band, they often add in some fun of their own. Different bands

play cellos, electric guitars, beer kegs, prosthetic legs, kazoos, banjos, bells or anything

else that will make noise on the field. Scatter bands are not all about making the most

beautiful and precise music possible, though when it does happen it can be nice. They focus more on playing tunes that the audience can recognize, such as “Hey Baby,” the theme from “Hawaii Five-O,” and “Stacy’s Mom.” The main priority is to get the crowd riled up and make sure everyone, including the band members, is having a great time.

The most important part of a scatter band, what truly separates them from all the other “normal” marching bands, is the field show. While most typical field shows start with the band marching in step, in neat, evenly spaced lines onto the field to form the shape of the school mascot or spell out the schools initials, scatter bands do not use the same air of dignity when entering the playing area. They will instead charge, full speed, onto the field yelling, leaping, rolling and crawling into their formation, which could range from anything between the school’s initials and a giant martini glass. Instead of seamlessly transitioning between formations, the scatter band has more of a tendency to dash haphazardly.

One of the most unique scramble band field shows can be seen at Brown

University where the band members wear ice skates to perform on ice for the half-time

shows at hockey games, Schroeder said. Once again, it’s all in the name of fun.

Being a member of a scatter band, such as The Marching Lumberjacks, is a rewarding experience for college students with any level of musical experience. One of the most welcoming things about a scramble band is that the only requirement to join is a willingness to learn and to have a great time.

“We are the most accepting group of people I have ever met,” said Chloe Ali-Oshatz, the current Axe Major of the Humboldt State Marching Lumberjacks. (To go along with the lumberjack theme, the Marching Lumberjacks have Axe Majors instead of Drum Majors to lead the band.) “You could really be purple and people will just be like ‘That’s awesome! You’re purple! Here’s a Kazoo. Play your purple self.’”

For many people, scatter bands are a way to relax after an academically taxing

week. These groups allow students to break out of their shells and be the person they

always wanted to be. Jacqueline Robertson, a first-year student at Humboldt State and a

Tambourine player in the band, was shy and quiet when she first joined the band. “Being

a part of this group has really pried and lovingly dragged me out of my shell. I have built

confidence and a self image of myself that I am proud of,” she said.

An important factor in keeping the group’s spirits and enthusiasm high is the

director. “I want to lead by example,” Ali-Oshatz said referring to her loud, enthusiastic,

over the top approach to all things band related. “I want to show people it’s okay to act

like that.” Ali-Oshatz is known throughout the band as a leader who is ready to go all the

way for her team and her band. She has been known to march into the ocean up to her

hardhat in the middle of a rainstorm in February to show her love for the band and its

traditions.

It’s not just members who are affected by scatter bands. Often people who see them in parades, at games, or other events feel the love and energy that the band exudes. The small towns of Fort Bragg, Calif., Bandon, Ore., and Cloverdale, Calif., are home to the largest Marching Lumberjack fan bases. When the band is in town, residents wearing customized Lumberjacks fan shirts come out to greet the band, cheer them on and recount stories about the performances from years past.

For many band members their first inspirations in life came from watching scatter

bands. “When I was a little kid I saw a scatter band in the Rose Parade and it was like

‘Yeah, blah blah blah. That band is marching in-step and oh look there’s one person who

is rolling on the ground and playing music. That looks neat,’” said Ali-Oshatz.

Because of the connection the band makes with the audience, and the time and

energy put into making sure people have a good time, The Marching Lumberjacks have a

fan base wherever they go. “We’re not run of the mill,” Ali-Oshatz said. “People f—king

love us.”

Chris Larsen, a baritone saxophone player, has been an active member of The

Marching Lumberjacks since the first time he enrolled at Humboldt State in 1995. For

Larsen, the best part is seeing the looks on peoples’ faces when they first see the band.

His favorite thing is “probably the smiles on little kids’ faces when we do parades. That’s

why I leave the line a lot,” he said. “When you see this huge smile on a little kid, the

feeling that they are special because someone in the parade came over just to play for

them, it’s a great feeling.”

Aside from all the madness, lengthy road trips, basketball games, football games,

marching into the ocean in February, modern tunes, parades, festivals, weddings and

funerals, scatter bands are a fantastic way to guarantee that college will be the best four

years of your life and will create bonds even beyond.

Emma Brown, a first-year Humboldt State student and clarinet player is already

thankful for what The Marching Lumberjacks have brought to her life. “I’ve only been in

The Marching Lumberjacks for one semester but I’ve already made some great friends,”

she said. “I’ve also had the chance to go places and see things that I otherwise wouldn’t

have been able to experience.”

The band is ever-growing and changing but one thing will always stay the same,

scatter bands are for everyone, whether you are in the band or not, and can build

characteristics that last a lifetime. “It’s a great social activity and I love to play and

travel,” Larsen said. “It’s kind of like a fraternity. [It’s] a group of people with a lot of

common interests, beer among them.”

Published in The Osprey, 4-13-08

I Come from a Land of Sun and Smog

Los Angeles has been called the city of dreams. It is the place where thousands of Americans go each year in hopes of gaining fame and fortune. But with the steady stream into the Los Angeles area, there is also a stream leading out into the more rural regions of the United States.

Currently, more than 17 percent of the Humboldt State University student population is comprised of people who previously called the city of dreams home, according to the most recent census. If L.A. really is the land of opportunity that it claims to be, why have such a large percentage of students migrated to the furthest possible California university?

There are many reasons why students come to Humboldt State to study in the final years of their academic career. Some note the inviting atmosphere of the smaller class sizes, some will point out the laid-back feel of small-town life. But it seems that whenever a former L.A. resident is asked this question, the answer is usually along the lines of, "It was the farthest I could go and still stay in California."

Kenna Oliphant, a Studio Arts senior, is one of those people. Oliphant, a L.A. resident of eighteen years, "hated" L.A. while living there and so made the voyage to Humboldt State because she was drawn to the nature that surrounded the university.

Oliphant says that she did have some attachment to the city but she was looking for an escape. "It was fun and there was always stuff to do but the people there make me crazy," she said. Since moving to Humboldt State, Oliphant says she has become more relaxed and it has made her able to find her place in life. "Living in Humboldt has shown me how to be humble and to not be concerned with TV, movies, and material possessions but to get out more and appreciate nature and pay attention to more important things," she said.

Many students come to Humboldt knowing nothing besides the busy life of an L.A. resident and are shocked by what they find when they arrive. Louis Gordon, an economics freshman, thought that everyone operated on the busy schedule that he was used to. "Honestly, I didn't really think about it," said Gordon who lived in L.A. for eight years. "I just accepted it as where I was. I accepted smog and traffic and large crowds as a part of life."

When Gordon returned home after his first semester at Humboldt State, things felt different to him. "I feel like L.A. numbs me," he said. "It makes me irritable and anxious and I don't like being there. I heard stories about people going back to L.A. and having trouble breathing. I dismissed them as exaggerations at first, but then I came back for winter break and was able to corroborate them first hand."

Yet no matter how bad the smog may get or how slow the traffic may travel on the freeway, for some Los Angeles will always be home. Jonathan "Doc" Myers, a Technical Theater freshman, still misses the hustle and bustle of city life on quiet nights. "I think it's dirty, but it's still home," he said. "I think it has more of a buzz and more unity than most other places have."

Printed in The LumberJACK, 1-23-08

Healing Hands

Imagine waking up one morning in Illinois and realizing that your calling in life is to be a spiritual healer in a small town in Northern California. Now imagine packing up your entire family and life and traveling all those miles with only the feeling that this is what you need to do as security.

This is what Maya Cooper did 10 years ago and her instincts were right. She is now the soul-proprietress of The Isis Osiris Healing Temple, and the publisher and creative director of the Isis Scrolls newsletter. Through her hands-on healing, a team of massage therapists and the Isis Scrolls, Cooper hopes to enlighten and unite the healing community to better allow those seeking relief to receive it.

Cooper is a spiritual, hands-on healer specializing in Intuitive Spiritual Guidance. She has spent the last 10 years helping people to free their congested energy to create more constant streams of energy by helping people deal with mental, physical and emotional blocks. She does not see herself so much as a healer but rather a facilitator of "deep, profound healing with themselves."

The Isis Center started out small and grew in the community. It became a place of reverence as Cooper's clients found peace of mind and body through her hands-on healing and emotional support.

"It evolved into a place where people feel relaxed and non-judged no matter what they say," Cooper said. Her understanding of people led to expansion and redecoration of the center, Cooper said as she ran her hand over the beautifully painted walls that had been a gift from one of her clients.

As the facility attracted more clients, Cooper found her abilities to aid people in dealing with what she calls "contradictory energy." Contradictory energy is when the body is going through one process but the mind may fear for the exact opposite. Cooper said one woman came in for a healing session and when she laid her hands upon the woman's womb, she could feel that the woman was afraid that she was pregnant. At the same time, she could feel that the woman was menstruating. She asked the woman about this and the woman replied, "I have been afraid that I am pregnant for three weeks. I just started menstruating today."

Soon, between the new knowledge that Cooper gained from her clients and the peace of body and mind that the clients received from Cooper and her associates, it was decided that the energy of the center had changed to become a sacred place to those who entered. The center's name was soon changed from The Isis Center to the Isis Osiris Healing Temple.

The temple took inspiration from both Isis, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood, and Osiris, the husband of Isis and the Egyptian god of life, death, and fertility. Cooper regards her work area as a haven for troubled spirits in search of release.

People in the surrounding community have been very supportive of the healing center and have kept it alive and thriving these past 10 years. Cooper attributes this to the spiritual openness that the community possesses. She said that she has found here that people become much more spiritually aware and sophisticated at younger ages than anywhere else she has known. "The kids up here are so much more aware," she said.

Many of the inspirations to heal people in this unconventional way come from the idea of being able to help people through natural means without the use of Western medicine. Reiden Olsson, an Intuitive Massage Therapist, Foot Reflexologist and Reiki Master Teacher at the Isis Osiris Healing Temple, was inspired to learn alternative medicine when she was 19 years old and her mother was able to relieve her headache with a simple massage. Astounded to learn that not every ailment demands a pill for relief, she went on to massage school to perfect her art.

Foot Flexology, one of Olsson's specialties, is especially important to her. It allows her to heal and relieve pressure throughout the entire body simply by putting pressure on certain parts of the foot. Olsson said this ability to aid people become more hopeful about life or simply in less physical pain is exciting and gratifying for her.

"It is a transformation," she said. "We are part of our own healing. There's so much we can do for ourselves."

Rebecca Owen, who is a hands-on healer and Chakra energy specialist, used to work at the Isis Osiris Healing Temple with Cooper. Owen recently opened her own studio across the hall from the temple to house meditation classes and open sessions to the community. She feels that the hands-on healing and meditation are a highly beneficial way for people to deal with problems in life.

"Our whole world would be a better place if we were able to access ourselves," she said. Owen hopes that she will be able to use her hands-on healing and meditation sessions to communicate with people's feelings and help people let go of the baggage weighing them down.

Cooper and Owen, both trained and long-practicing healers, share a certain intuition about healing. They both believe that it was a gift that came naturally to them. Owen expressed that she felt her hands were like eyes that allowed her to read into people's energy and feel their aura. These women then use this ability to help people understand where energy is being blocked and assist them in verbally working through the things restricting the flow.

Malin Terpening, who has been working at the Isis Osiris Healing Temple since October practicing Reiki, also felt this innate intuition about her path in life. "It came naturally to me," she said. The raw ability to read energy and auras was then honed and developed in Seattle before coming to the Temple to work with Cooper. Working with other people's energy is an enlightening experience, Terpening said. "You learn a lot from each session and apply it to your own life, get stronger for every session." Some people come into the center expecting to heal one problem, she said, and through healing sessions, resolve something that they previously had not considered.

"I hope to carry on what goes on in here, out there and unify the healing community," Cooper said.

INFO BOX
The Isis Osiris Healing Temple offers healing sessions on a sliding scale from $90-$120 for one hour and forty-five minute sessions. Massages range from one hour for $65 and one-and-a-half hours for $90. The Isis Osiris Healing Temple is located at 44 Sunny Brae Centre in Arcata.
Rebecca Owen of the Redwood Area Healing and Meditation offers free community meditation events every second and forth Friday of the month from 7to 8 p.m.

Printed in The LumberJACK, 12-5-07

Circus, Club of the Week

Come one, come all! See the amazing fire-eaters and hilarious clowns! Step right up, step right up! Come be frightened, titillated and amused by the amazing Humboldt Circus.

Humboldt State University's own Humboldt Circus mixes the crazy antics of the big top with a dash of burlesque and a pinch of the local laid-back attitude to create a show that is as much fun to watch as it is to perform.

Founded in 2000, Humboldt Circus is a rare opportunity for students who may have never had the opportunity to see a real circus to learn the skills of the big top and perform for their friends, family and community. Humboldt Circus offers instruction in poi spinning which is the ancient New Zealand art of spinning balls on chains that are sometimes on fire, juggling, clowning, acrobatics and many other unique feats.

Dan Menick has been a member of Humboldt Circus for two years and has performed in five shows. He now holds the title of co-Head Clown with Steven Dimon. "I've never been to a real circus," Menick said. The experience "opened [his] eyes" to things that he had previously never imagined and left him with experiences to be proud of, he said.

The members of Humboldt Circus come from many different backgrounds. Some have experience in the performing arts either through theater or other outlets while others are more familiar with static, visual arts. Others do not have any experience at all upon entrance, Menick said. This allows for many different perspectives and interpretations of what a circus should look like. This element, Menick said, is what makes Humboldt Circus so unique.

Steven Dimon has been performing with Humboldt Circus for two and a half years and is currently the head clown. He cannot imagine his Humboldt State experience without the Circus involved in it.

"I feel like I'm part of the true creative force of the community doing something inspiring and new," Dimon said. The circus for Dimon was "completely mind-altering" and gave him a new perspective on life and made him "a better person."

The Humboldt Circus wants to bring color and life to the community and inspire others to enjoy their lives and allow the spirit of Circus in.

"There is such a huge demand for Circus," Dimon said. The Humboldt Circus is there to fill that demand and inspire others to do the same.

One such person is Annie Sheppard, one of the newest members of Humboldt Circus. She is not currently a Humboldt State student but will be during the spring semester. After seeing one of Humboldt Circus' shows, Sheppard was inspired to take up juggling and is currently working as a visual designer for Humboldt Circus creating costumes and backgrounds. "I really wanted to contribute visually to something so inspiring," Sheppard said. She said she also hopes to incorporate the Circus into her life even more in the future.

Humboldt Circus meets every Tuesday and Thursday in the Forbes Complex from 5-7p.m.

Printed in The LumberJACK, 10-31-07

Devil Doll Raises Hell

The house lights dim, and the crowd waiting for what feels like all night is hushed by the abrupt charge of the guitarist into an upbeat, rockabilly riff, soon joined by the bassist and drummer. From the side of the stage emerges a young woman dressed in red and black. She walks up to the microphone, opens her mouth and you are blown against the back wall.

At barely five feet tall, Colleen Duffy, also known as Devil Doll, has a stage presence bigger and more intimidating than the bouncer at the front door of Jambalaya where she and her band performed Tuesday night. She and her band powered through their electrically-charged set of old favorites and tracks from their recently released album, "The Return of Eve." The audience could not remain in their seats and eventually all migrated onto the dance floor.

Devil Doll's mix of rockabilly, old school, outlaw country, punk rock and 1940s burlesque lends something to nearly everyone and Duffy's sometimes growling, sometimes purring voice will leave you wanting more.


The Lumberjack: What brings you to Arcata?

Devil Doll: Well actually the promoter, Norm. He had worked with a couple of friends of mine. They had recommended him. We're doing a California run. We're based out of Los Angeles. We wanted to take more advantage of the fact that we are in California and just decided to do a full California tour. So we came up here even though we got incredible motion sickness! We had to stop four times from Red Bluff to here. We were just barfing on the side of the road.

LJ: How is "Return of Eve" different from "Queen of Pain" for you?

DD: "The Return of Eve" record is a variation from "Queen of Pain" because I made it a little bit more guitar driven and I put some more old-school outlaw country music on there to remind me what country music was all about when it was first written. It was really punk rock actually. It was about telling the truth, cheatin', stealin', livin', dyin'. I don't know what happened to country music, but we really wanted to try to put some songs on the record to really revitalize that old flame of what country music was all about.
There's not as much jazzy, swingy stuff as there was on "Queen of Pain." We did focus more on guitar. But I also experimented with putting other people's songs on there too. "Queen of Pain" is all my music. "Return of Eve" has three covers on it. It has a cover of "Fever" which I put on there because I'm sick of people screwing up that song. So I wanted to be like "This is the way it's supposed to be sung," pretty much, or you know come as close as you can.

LJ: Who influenced you the most on your new record?

DD: I don't know, really. I was so nervous about making this record because the "Queen of Pain" record is so popular and we sold so many copies and people are so addicted to that record. And it had been six years since we put out a record so this record has such a tall order to be compared to that I was really, really nervous. As far as one artist really influencing me on this, it was more about being influenced by what I observed. I was more influenced by my experiences and watching movies than by actual artists because I had to find a certain freedom and allow myself to write different kinds of songs and a different kind of record and not caring if people are going to like it or not.

When I saw the movie, "Walk the Line," it kind of kicked my ass to get my shit together to get this record written.

There are people who continue to influence me. I mean, Joan Jett will always be one of my biggest influences in rock 'n' roll of all time. Janette Napolitano from Concrete Blonde will always be one of my biggest influences of all time. Elvis and Johnny Cash, Etta James. They always influence the way I process music and how it filters back out of me. Those women and those men taught me to take inspiration and make it my own. People can slander Elvis and give him a lot of shit but at the end of the day… He took so much shit. He got beat up for the clothes he was wearing. He did his own delivery. Johnny Cash, are you kidding me? Like anyone still delivers like he did. Joan Jett, are you kidding me? Do you know how many people still try to imitate her? And as far as Janette Napolitano goes, people no matter how famous or established they are, when Janette Napolitano is rehearsing at the studio the most famous of all musicians will have their ear to the door just trying to hear her sing. She blows everyone out of the water. People are in fucking awe of her voice. She has a lower register like I do and she has some similar influences but that whole gang of people always influence in the way I think, in the way I write.


LJ: What are your plans for the future?

DD: We have this tour going through November or December. For this record we're doing a national tour. We're doing a couple music videos at the beginning of the year and then we'll be going back over to Europe to play in some of the pockets in the United States we haven't hit in a while. We just got new management; a lot of good stuff is happening in the band right now. [There has been] some activity on the radio and all kinds of stuff. People really believe in this record.

Printed in The LumberJACK, 10-31-07