San Francisco’s All Teeth and Knuckles is embarking in a mere few hours on its semi-national tour (they go as far east as Chicago). We met up at their practice space in West Oakland, which is home to DJ and synth master Giovanni De La Cruz, and where band founder and lead vocalist Patric “Sick Face” Fallon has been crashing. The house is trashed out from a party the night before. A chair is upturned and general vacated disarray fills the room. “There was an aquarium in that corner” says Gio, with an air of mysterious pride with regard to its absence.
The boys crack open a couple beers and we head to the couch for a chat. We are all a bit sweaty in the Oakland afternoon heat, and Patric plays kind host by offering a drink, but we decline, explaining that we just sweat all the time. No worries.
Patric: I’m the same way. Every time that we play I end up drenched.
Kaffeine Buzz: That’s a good thing though; people see that and they think, “That guy’s working really hard.”
PF: And if you’re standing in the front you can feel the sweat hitting you in the face.
Gio: Girls like sweaty dudes, too. It’s like, pheromones
KB: Let’s start off with an All Teeth and Knucles 101. What should people who are about to see your show expect?
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PF: The name of the album pretty much explains it all, Club Hits to Hit the Clubs With. It’s dance music, which can go any direction. It can be disco, it can be R&B, it can be rock, it can be punk. Dance music is just something you can move to. We even throw comedy in there.
The whole live show ends up being a lot more embellished than the recording cuz there’s a lot more freedoms, with like, Gio doing live synthesizer, me doing things with the live vocals, and there’s no live drums on the recording.
You see bands like Hot Chip play and LCD Soundsystem. They don’t always have live drums [on their recordings], but they always do when they tour. And it brings an extra element.
KB: Few purely electronic groups can keep a show interesting with just their solid state performance. Daft Punk is one of the few examples that come to mind. Having an analog element and having more people on stage just makes a show more interesting.
PF: Absolutely. Gio started out doing music as a DJ, doing raves and techno stuff, but I started out strictly doing live music; playing in punk and hardcore bands in high school. I was in a band called The Evaluation when I lived in Chicago for a bit. So not having a live element is difficult for me. I’m just used to having an unexpected element—something that’s natural feeling, and you can watch it being made.
KB: I know there’s a few people that perform with you, but this was a one-man project originally, correct?
PF: I started the whole thing by myself, all with a computer, a microphone and some anger. It’s just been constantly progressing. I wrote all the songs. Gio just does live stuff now, but hopefully he’ll be more involved in the writing process. And then we have a drummer that plays live with us. We were hoping to hit the road with four—we had somebody that was doing percussion and background vocals, this drum-and-bass DJ UFO. He helped produce the whole album. He was going to go on tour with us; but he just decided it was more important that he just does his thing.
KB: Well, three out of four ain’t bad, and we’ll be looking forward to seeing any number of you when you come through Denver next week!
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ATAK proved that taking their act on the road is done in an organized fashion and that there are strict rules that all members must adhere to. By the time the interview came to an end, they had only gotten as far as Rule 5. But here they are. Read and learn:
Rule 1: If it’s free, take it, eat it, drink it, fuck it, especially if it’s drugs.
Rule 2: If it means having a place to stay, take one for the team.
Rule 3: No alcohol left behind.
Rule 4: Before excessive drinking begins, all equipment and merchandise must be loaded into the van.
Rule 5: Sex in the van is okay as long as all other band members have a place to stay.
Kaffeine Buzz Presents All Teeth and Knuckles at Larimer Lounge Monday, August 27, with CAPN Fresh and the Stay Fresh Seals, Jason Roth. Check out our review of Club Hits to Hit the Clubs With.
