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What can we say about The Dandy Warhols?
They are our modern day version of the psychedelic
pop artists of days gone by, surrounding themselves
with other artists and assembling their own creative
love den, The
Odditorium. But in contrast to their forefathers,
their humble abode is not in the streets of New York,
San Francisco or London. They much prefer the laid back,
rich green of Portland, Oregon.
The online version of The Odditorium uses all the whiz
bang web media tools available, allowing fans to peak
into the Dandy's recent projects, including their latest
release, Welcome To The Monkey House,
the title taken from Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s book
of short stories. They even did a virtual tour, where
their new music was available for listening on various
web sites in the scheduled tour fashion.
In the vein of Andy Warhol’s Factory, the brink
and mortar version of The Odditorium is the Dandy’s
warehouse headquarters, where Courtney Taylor-Taylor
(guitar, vocals), Peter Lowe (guitar), Brent DeBoer
(drums, vocal harmonies) and Zia McCabe (bass, keyboards,
percussion) lives and works, and provides Portland’s
art community with an epicenter for exposure and expression.
The Dandy’s are definitely in building mode,
from the actual space where songs are born, to building
their musical substance. Welcome To The
Monkey House is definite evidence of this.
In addition to tapping into the growth of their own
music talent, this time around they’ve got “legends
in their own time” in their corner, providing
an immense production and writing skills, including
Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes, Tony Visconti (David
Bowie, T. Rex), and Evan Dando, the former lead singer
and songwriter of the Lemonheads.
The result is a dazzling array of songs that flow from
honey to a rich, chocolate soufflé that is addictive
in every way. “Welcome to the Monkey House”
provides an introduction their stripped down to their
newly acquired spacey style – not just in a heads
in the heavens type of way, but in the actual structure,
providing an acute intricacy to each track.
Lyrically, the creative juices flow like a champagne
fountain mixed with a flaming whiskey shot. On “Welcome
To The Monkey House”, Courtney takes a stab at
the music industry, “Wire is coming back again/Elastica
jot sued by them/When Michael Jackson dies we’re
covering Blackbird/And won’t it be absurd then
when no one knows what song they just heard/Unless someone
on the radio tells them first.”
Thing get very retrospective on “You Were The
Last High”, where many of us could relate to “And
I said just about all of the things you shouldn’t
say/So maybe you loved me but now maybe you don’t/And
maybe you’ll call me maybe you won’t/So
I am alone but adored by a hundred thousand more/Then
I said when you were the last I have been loved like
a whore/From at least ten thousand more/then I swore
when you were the last high.”
Okay, so maybe we can’t relate to having ten
thousand people adore us, but you get the picture. To
check out our full review
of Welcome to the Monkey House, go to our
Fresh Brew section.
To check out what Brent DeBoer, drummer and cousin
of Courtney Taylor, had to say about their upcoming
tour and the makings of their new album, read on. And
don’t forget, they’re here and larger than
life Tuesday, September 2 at the Fox Theatre’s
stage in Boulder.
Kaffeine Buzz: You guys just got back
from Australia, what were you guys doing out there?
Brent DeBoer: We played a few shows…we
did a lot of interviews on T.V., radio and what-not.
It was mainly a promo tour. We played a couple shows
that were really fun…went to New Zealand too.
KB: How was that?
Brent: So good. It’s gotta be
the best place.
KB: God knows that one interview after
another can be tedious. But it seems like you guys have
really gotten your fill of the British press.
Brent: Yeaaaa…not too
bad, just kind of boring and repetitive. You got to
the point where you had to kind of watch yourself if
you were talking about sex or drugs or anything, they
would just take it and run with it. You could almost
predict what the headline was going to be.
KB: What were some of the ones you
thought were the most comical?
Brent: (with a Brit accent) “The
Randy Dandys are at it again!” You know, non-stop
silliness.
KB: Hitting on the art side of things,
aside from the sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, what you
guys have put together with the Odditorium is pretty
damn interesting. I love the name.
Brent: (laughs) Yea, it works pretty
good.
KB: And it seems like you’re
more well known outside of your hometown, which is probably
a luxury to you because you can go where ever you want,
do whatever you want.
Brent: Yea, it’s perfect. However,
we would be far more successful if we lived in L.A.
or New York. You’re just in the press more often,
going to movie premiers where there’s paparazzi,
you end up meeting other famous people because you just
can’t help it, you’re hanging out with them
type of thing. I think people would just know about
us more if we lived in one of those two cities.
KB: But it’s not worth it to
you to do that type of thing?
Brent: No, because Portland’s
our home. We have family here, boyfriends/girlfriends,
husbands/wives, nieces/nephews, you know. It’s
a pretty small town, so it’s kind of hard to imagine
moving, plus, we like it here.
KB: And after you’ve been running
around crazy to different places, to be able to come
home where you can be with your family and friends would
be…
Brent: Perfect, yea.
KB: Speaking of family and friends
and the Odditorium, how long was that in the making
and any of these people within your art community of
sorts, did they have any creative impact on the songs
on the new album?
Brent: This new space came about miraculously
fast once the building was purchased, then it was time
to make a video. So it was unbelievable how quickly
that place got rewired, painted and cemented and all
this stuff. We had the money from the video budget to
create this impossibly surreal world to hang out in,
record in and rehearse…take pictures, make movies,
have dinner. It’s not done; it’s kind of
an on going project. As far as the recording of the
record, we recorded it across the river at a place we
had just leased. But influenced, yea, you can’t
help it because we all hang out in the same place, “the
bar” right around the corner, gettin’ drunk,
gabbin’ and blabbin’ about music. Those
people…I think their main contribution came from
us playing rough tracks for ‘em and checking out
their reaction or getting a little bit of advice here
and there.
KB: When I first listened to the new
album, it seemed a lot more subdued, at least from a
vocal perspective. After a few more listens, it was
really evident that you guys have matured, and are going
a lot deeper lyrically and musically. It feels like
you guys are growing up.
Brent: You might be right. You can’t
help it when you travel around as much as we do and
meet as many people; you’re going to gain a lot
of influences from different types of people, different
types of music and perspectives. I think that’s
the largest contributing factor. As far as improving
goes as musicians, our techniques in the studio, one
of those things we wanted to improve on was creating
more space between the sounds. We’d done that
wall of sound thing before, and it was beautiful and
a great experiment. But we wanted to see if we could
do this other thing, which was minimal in its rotation
and making the space between the songs LOUDER. You can
really stick your head all the way inside the mix and
look around.
KB: Everything seemed to be pared
down but refined. Even Courtney’s vocals feel
more like a fine wine than a sparkling cider. There’s
still a heavy pop essence, but…
Brent: Yea, I heard Courtney say once
that, “This was our first, big city record.”
I think that’s a good description. Having Nick
helped finish the record.
KB: The kind of mentor/producers that
influence you both musically and in the music business
itself, must have had an impact.
Brent: Nick was the first champagne
and caviar, truly sophisticated producer we’ve
worked with…well, maybe not the FIRST, but he
had this champagne quality.
KB: How did you come to work with
Even Dando? We haven’t heard anything from him
in quite a while. I wondered what happened to him.
Brent: He’s out touring now.
KB: That’s what I heard. He’s
just popped up out of nowhere. It seems like it anyway.
Brent: Yea, it does seem like it.
He’s a great lyricist. Courtney met somebody I
think, that said they could introduce him. Courtney
had a song with a few lyrics that he was having trouble
with, finishing “The Last High”. He went
over for one night with him, had some beers and sat
around on the floor, and kinda hashed it out.
KB: That would be an amazing experience,
since he’s such the icon in the indie pop world.
Brent: He just does great versus too.
His new record is really cool. There’s only a
few songs that I just don’t understand yet. But
there’s one song that’s got to be the best
song I’ve ever heard in my life…I think
it’s called “Honey, It Looks Like You”
or something like that. It’s like the Credence
Clear Water Revival sounding, country rock song. I love
country music…not that new country music.
KB: It’s interesting that you
guys hooked up with Ron English [for your album cover
artwork]. He did this showing in San Francisco years
ago, and I got to interview him on this college radio
station I was at. I’ve always thought his whole
controversial concepts were so interesting.
Brent: He’s pretty much the
smartest guy in the world.
KB: How did you guys get hooked up
with him?
Brent: This is the story I heard.
He was asked by many, many bands to do album covers.
He kept saying no, no, no. So somebody asked him to
write down a list of bands he would work with just in
case they called. He only wrote our band name down,
so…
KB: That was it? Just you guys?
Brent: Yea! That was a major compliment.
So he went out to look for an icon, just like the Warhols
icon. He definitely came up with it, which is that banana
on the album. It’s great because it’s a
combination of the Sticky Fingers cover, Velvet
Undergound and Nico. He also did portraits of us, which
are really, really out there.
KB: Where are they?
Brent: They’re up on his web
site, www.popaganda.com.
You just click on the picture of Courtney and you can
see all of them. I REALLY love mine. It’s like
the coolest thing anyone has done for me.
(The portrait of Brent looks like he’s part of
a wild, fantasy forest’s central nervous system,
appearing with a huge smile on his face in this acid
trip like pose.)
KB: Did he give you the original?
Brent: No. I don’t think he
would do that.
KB: He’s done that before. I
remember he did one for John Henson of Talk Soup on
E! He’s definitely done a number of originals
for celebrities.
Brent: Maybe he would give it to me.
That would be so cool if he did.
KB: It certainly wouldn’t hurt
to ask. So you guys are just back from Australia, then
you’re going to tour around here, then you’re
off with Bowie.
Brent: Yep, two months with Bowie.
KB: You toured with him before, didn’t
you?
Brent: We just did one show, the Meltdown
Festival in London, which was an honor. It was seven
nights of bands, and he picked them all. He had us play
with him on the last night…had us come on stage
with him and play “White Light, White Heat”,
which was like a dream.
KB: That’s gonna be pretty exciting,
to say the least.
Brent (laughs): Yea, I got 30 tickets
to Bowie.
KB: You’re gonna be at the top
of the list of fans that’s scene him the most.
Now, is it my imagination, or is that piano intro on
“I Am Sound” very reminiscent of Bowie?
Brent: It’s kind of got that
“Ashes to Ashes” trip.
KB: Yep.
Brent: When we played that song for
Bowie in his studio, we were working with Tony Visconti.
Bowie came over, and we were, “Hey, check it out,”
and played a few songs for him. When that one came on,
he’s like, “That’s my song!”
KB: But it’s just subtle enough,
it’s not it’s the whole song or anything.
Brent: No, of course not. It has that
similar drumbeat. We’re not afraid to show our
influences.
KB: Well, you shouldn’t be…’cause
everybody has them.
Brent: It’s not like anybody
has invented the words, the chords…certainly nobody
is reinventing rhythm. You just draw on your experiences.
Experience the full, artistic presence that is The
Dandy Warhols, Tuesday, September 02 at the Fox Theatre
in Boulder.
-Kim
Owens, August 29, 2003
See More Interviews at our
Interviews Archive
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