Here's another trio of recent Brewtown releases, accompanied by an interview with bassist Shotgun Chris!
The DUI's: Booze the Fear EP
The DUI's have only been together for about a year but it's been a busy one, with a debut EP and a pair of comp LP appearances already under their collective belts. A new split EP with The American Dead is being released at the Frequency on Thursday, June 21. Considering the band name and their Milwaukee origins, one might guess these guys like to drink, and Booze the Fear doesn't do much to disprove that supposition. The cover art features a dinosaur apparently barfing fire but not letting go of the bottle of rotgut, an appropriate (and awesome) image to introduce the muscular, meat and potatoes punk rock within. The EP's opener, "A Righteous Beginning," opens with acoustic guitars and includes the couplet "broken bottles, broken dreams" -- so this isn't your standard happy-fun-drunk-time pop punk, folks. The DUI's sound very serious, at least on this record, and I like it.
Bass player Shotgun Chris was kind enough to answer a few questions about The DUI's via email.
Vinyl Cave: Are the three of you all new to bands, or have you played out in other groups in the past?
Shotgun Chris: All of us have played in bands before, as well as together in other bands. I used to play bass in #9 Hard, and I also play in bass in a female fronted pop/punk band, All The Damn Action. Mike use to play guitar in Direct Hit. And Joey used to play drums in The Status. This is basically how we all met as well. I had played some shows with both Mike's and Joey's old bands in the past, Joey had filled in on one of the #9 tours on drums, and I had filled in a number of times on bass for Direct Hit. After we all left or quit or got kicked out or whatever, Mike and I started to get together and then shortly after I asked Joey to join and The DUI's became a band.
How did you get hooked up with a label in Cleveland so quickly after the band formed?
Aaah yes, S.B.S. Records from Cleveland, Ohio, check them out on Facebook -- they put out some epic shit and have amazing bands! I have known Jessy (owner) for a number of years now. I originally met him when I first played Cleveland with his band. Antiseptic. I also help out quite a bit with SBS doing art work, templating art for shirts, CD, vinyl, web site design and maintenance, promoting. I also was a part of getting together the 12-inch vinyl comp Bringing It Back Vol. 1 with S.B.S. (as well as Mitch from Benedict Arnold) that cams out a few month back. So that is a big part of how I know S.B.S. Records and Jessy; my old band #9 was signed to S.B.S. and one of the first and original band to be part of the record label. So as soon as Jessy heard I had started a band, immediately he wanted to hear what I was doing. We recorded out tracks for out first 7-inch, and boom, he liked it, put us on, and now we are part of the family! But don't get me wrong, that wasn't just handed to me -- we work our ass off as a band and we put just as much back into S.B.S. as they give out to us! June 21 we will be putting out our second release, "Drunk and Driving Straight to Hell," with our good friends The American Dead (fourth if you count the Blankface Records comp and the Bringing it Back Vol. 1 comp) in less than a year.
Is someone in the band doing the artwork (the Booze the Fear sleeve, the sticker with the punk in the coffin)?
I do a lot of the artwork myself, whether it be drawing up designs and doing it 100% on my own, or taking other images and editing them together, or altering them from photographs or whatever it might be. I also know a number of amazing artists that have designed art work for me: Mac McDannald, my tattoo artist from Sugar Stems: "Greatest Pretender"/"Did You Ever" and "Like I Do"/"Never Been in Love"
Milwaukee's power pop rulers have returned for spring 2012 with not one, but two singles, both recorded by Madison's own Kyle Motor. "Greatest Pretender" may be their most addictive concoction yet, combining crunch and clever lyrics into an irresistible package; it's backed by an amped-up Hullabaloos cover. The other A-side, "Like I Do," is power pop filtered through a combination of The Hullabaloos crossed with the rockabilly edges of its own flipside cover, a Dave Edmunds/Rockpile song. The four sides pass by far too quickly and leave the listener wanting more, so hopefully they're just a trailer for another full length! Both of these singles (including a repress of the first) area already sold out from the label -- but those who are interested should get in contact with the band, as they may still have some copies. Also, CPR will be issuing a limited run of the two original songs back-to-back on one single sometime in June, but be prepared to act quickly if you want one. (
