Jennifer Bastian
The band at the “office,” aka Mickey’s Tavern.
Proud Parents, the sophomore album from the Madison power-pop quartet of the same name, had been in the works for more than a year when guitarist and singer Tyler Fassnacht reached out to Ken Cheppaikode of Dirtnap Records to see if the label would be interested in putting out the record.
Cheppaikode, who grew up in Madison, founded the label in 2000 when he was living in Seattle, Washington, and later moved operations to Portland, Oregon. He moved back to Madison in 2017 and is starting to work with more Midwestern bands.
“We knew [Cheppaikode] really liked Proud Parents, and he kept asking about the album,” Fassnacht says. “Then I gathered the courage to ask him [if Dirtnap could put it out]. It was terrifying waiting for the response.”
It wasn’t an immediate yes — entering into a band-label relationship is a big decision for everyone involved — but after a meeting at Mickey’s Tavern (the band jokes that the bar is their “office”) they sealed the deal, and on April 9 Proud Parents became the first Madison band signed to Dirtnap Records. It’s a huge deal, says singer and guitarist Claire Nelson-Lifson.
“This is going to give us a lot of opportunities,” Nelson-Lifson says of the relationship. “Now it’s not out of the question for us to tour Europe or play at South by Southwest.”
Proud Parents will play an album release show at the Crystal Corner July 20. It’s the penultimate stop on a two-week tour promoting the album that dropped June 11, and will take the band through Nebraska, Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee. In September, they’re hitting the road again for a smaller east coast tour. “The plan is to tour as much as we can,” Fassnacht says.
Both Madison natives, Fassnacht and Nelson-Lifson have been friends for a decade, playing in bands together in high school and forming Proud Parents in 2014. Drummer Heather Sawyer — who plays in The Hussy with Fassnacht — later became part of the group. Bassist Maggie Denman joined earlier this year after original bassist Alex Seraphin departed. “I had been fangirling Proud Parents for a long time,” Denman says.
In a city rich with punk and garage rock bands, Proud Parents stands out for reliably jangly, melodic power pop and energetic back-and-forth vocals. There’s a refreshing vulnerability to their songs and more than a little nostalgia — they would sound at home on a college radio station in 1997. Since the group’s excellent 2016 debut, Sharon Is Karen, local music fans have been waiting impatiently for the follow-up release, but the band members wanted to take their time. Plus, they’re all insanely busy, with each member playing in at least two other bands or projects (Denman is in five). They recorded a handful of songs last January with Bobby Hussy at his home studio, Hex Empire, and worked on more tracks throughout the year. “We wanted to make sure we got it right,” Fassnacht says. “When you’re taking that much time, you’re able to return to stuff with a different mindset.”
Fassnacht, Nelson-Lifson and Sawyer all contribute to songwriting, and there’s something endearing about a band that essentially has three lead vocalists (who are all genuinely good singers). Earlier material was highly collaborative, but as the group has matured the members have become more independent in bringing song concepts to the group. “I still definitely rely on suggestions, but I feel stronger as a songwriter now,” Nelson-Lifson says.
Beyond gaining fans for their music, the members of Proud Parents have also cultivated goodwill over the years for being staunch supporters of the local music scene. In a group interview at their office, aka Mickey’s, they reflected on the last four years of music in Madison — shifts in the corporate and DIY venue landscape, the wealth of new bands and the strangeness of suddenly being elder members of the local scene.
“I remember being younger and looking up to other bands,” Fassnacht says.
Adds Nelson-Lifson: “It’s weird to think that we might be that for some other person.”
