{"id":2336,"date":"2017-05-02T10:45:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T10:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-dead-bars-bar-necessities\/"},"modified":"2018-03-21T22:15:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T22:15:52","slug":"interview-dead-bars-bar-necessities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-dead-bars-bar-necessities\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Dead Bars –\u00a0Bar Necessities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing straight forward about the story behind Seattle\u2019s Dead Bars<\/b>. Formed by two New Jersey natives living in Seattle, by way of semi-successful gigging bands and plenty of missed opportunities, it\u2019s a story that breathes life into the group\u2019s debut album, \u2018Dream Gig<\/i>\u2019. <\/p>\n

It’s also a story of hard-luck, anxiety and mundane daily challenges, but one brimming with optimism and a burning desire to follow your dreams. For some, Dead Bars<\/b> are a band to get drunk and commiserate to, for others they are a band that bursts with life-affirming optimism. It\u2019s a tricky trade-off but one that Dead Bars<\/b> manage deftly: <\/p>\n

\u201cDead Bars<\/b> is really about hope,\u201d<\/i> says vocalist John Maiello. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of crazy as a lot of people might say \u2018Oh, these songs are about getting fucked up or life sucks and I\u2019m really depressed\u2019 \u2013 but how can you want something better if you don\u2019t experience some of that pain?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Of course, this pain is often masked by humour; the outstanding \u2018Tear Shaped Bruise\u2019<\/i> charts a story of heartbreak by going to a punk rock show at a whisky bar, possessing a fuck-it-all dust-yourself-off optimism, despite the fact it\u2019s a pretty shitty situation. <\/p>\n

Yet what makes these stories so successful is the life experience Dead Bars<\/b> bring to the table. ‘Dream Gig’<\/i> is not an album young pups starting out could make. The stories come born from world-weary experience, yet still hold their head high with a stoic smile.<\/p>\n

A case in point would be the title track, ‘Dream Gig’<\/i>. \u201cI\u2019m an ageing rocker trying to make it in this world,\u201d<\/i> the gravelly-toned Maiello blasts, acknowledging the fact that Maiello himself is nearly 30, while other founding member C.J. Frederick is in his mid-30s. \u201cIt started off as a joke \u2013 and I\u2019m gonna put C.J. on the spot \u2013 but the whole ageing rocker lyric, I lifted that 100% off his Tinder profile,\u201d<\/i> laughs Maiello. \u201cIt\u2019s from when we were both single a few years ago, but I mean, that line is amazing.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Frederick affords himself a laugh too, before admitting the killer line was indeed off his Tinder bio. \u201cThe thing is, yeah it\u2019s jokey, but with the title, people can grab onto it and it can mean something to lots of different people. I think that\u2019s why it\u2019s attractive,\u201d<\/i> says Maiello. “\u2019Dream Gig\u2019 became far more conceptual than what we actually planned,\u201d says Frederick. \u201cI think we actually used it to inspire us.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dream Gig by Dead Bars<\/a><\/p>\n

While the idea of a ‘Dream Gig’<\/i> may have served as an inspiration when it comes to writing and recording, both Frederick and Maiello stress that their Dream Gig<\/i> could be in front of 1 person or 10,000 people \u2013 audience size simply doesn\u2019t matter \u2013 provided they have a great time. This message of leaving it all on stage even makes it through to the group\u2019s promo artwork, tying the album\u2019s concept together perfectly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we have this one shot, and we\u2019re playing on stage and there\u2019s this one person with curly hair watching us. That\u2019s our friend Neil,\u201d<\/i> says Maiello. \u201cHe\u2019s probably only missed 10 Seattle shows we\u2019ve played \u2013 and we\u2019ve played a lot of Seattle shows. The point of that that photo and \u2018Dream Gig\u2019 is that there could be only 1 person at that show, and if they believe in us and we believe in them, then we\u2019ve done something right. That\u2019s the dream gig.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

This grounded attitude has carried Dead Bars<\/b> through a handful of singles, EPs and split releases prior to their release of ‘Dream Gig’<\/i>. But, like all the best bands, there\u2019s an impish charm to the story of how they hooked up with punk rock heavyweights No Idea, as C.J. explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in August 2013, we had recorded a bunch of songs in our practice space, and that night I went out and partied really hard. I texted some of my friends in Florida to say \u2018hey, I just made this recording, I think No Idea<\/b> should hear it.\u2019 So I got Var [Thelin\u2019s] number and sent him a text message and an email. I had a bit of history with him as my previous band Big Eyes was distributed through No Idea and we toured a lot, so I\u2019d some connections in Florida.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I sent him the demos and I woke up at like 3pm the next day and I had this text message from Var that just said: \u2018Howdy, it\u2019s Var, it\u2019s on\u2019. But I was so fucked up I was like \u2018what does this all mean \u2013 is he putting out our record?\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI messaged back something like \u2018cool. What?\u2019 Then I heard nothing from him for two more weeks. Finally, he was like, \u2018I like these recordings, what do you want to do with them?\u2019 and those recordings became our first EP and our split EP with Sunshine State.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Since then, alongside the album, the group squirrelled themselves away, working on ‘Dream Gig’<\/i> as well as numerous singles, which have found themselves homes on labels such as Japan\u2019s Eager Beaver Records<\/b> and the UK\u2019s own All In Vinyl<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Alongside these diversions, one of the reasons the album took so long was the lack of label input \u2013 something of a blessing and a curse, explain the duo, which led to constant tinkering with the sound as the band got trapped in a headspace of wanting to make the best album possible:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on \u2018Dream Gig\u2019 for a really long time,\u201d<\/i> says Frederick. \u201cI think partly through lack of touring; it\u2019s not that we don\u2019t tour, but we don\u2019t really hit the road as hard as other bands do. So we spent more time in the practice space doing various recording sessions and we got kind of obsessed with it.<\/i><\/p>\n

Dream Gig by Dead Bars<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThen, when we finally finished it about a year ago, we sent it to Var and even though it wasn\u2019t finished he was like \u2018I have some pretty strong opinions about this record\u2019. I was like \u2018oh shit, what does that mean\u2019.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cSo we sort of ended up with two versions of this record; there\u2019s the LP \u2013 that has 8 songs, but it comes with 2 downloads \u2013 the LP and the director\u2019s cut version, that has a little extra material on it \u2013 maybe like an additional 10 minutes.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Another reason given for the slow process is the isolation felt by the group, holed up in the Pacific North West and away from the current punk hotbeds found in the likes of Philadelphia and, somewhat ironically, New Jersey:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, because we live out here in Seattle, and because it\u2019s physically and culturally removed from No Idea Records and the global punk scene \u2013 it\u2019s like we have our own thing here,\u201d considers Maiello. \u201cWe were just hibernating up here working on songs. And it was a good and bad thing,\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s the isolation of the North West,\u201d<\/i> says Frederick. \u201cWe don\u2019t get a lot of bands like us coming through. I book a lot of shows, but I book a lot of bands that Dead Bars<\/b> doesn\u2019t have a lot in common with.<\/i> <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super involved with the music community at large, but I don\u2019t even tell a lot of people that I play in a band called Dead Bars<\/b>, because I don\u2019t think they\u2019ll get it or really care. But, to loop it back around, we got really stuck in our heads working on this album and it took three or four times longer than it should have in which to finish it.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

They may protest \u2013 and it may have been a long time coming \u2013 but ‘Dream Gig’<\/i> is more than worth the wait.<\/p>\n

‘Dream Gig’<\/i> by Dead Bars<\/b> is out now on No Idea Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Dead Bars<\/b> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Rob Mair (@BobNightMair<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s nothing straight forward about the story behind Seattle\u2019s Dead Bars. Formed by two New Jersey natives living in Seattle, by way of semi-successful gigging bands and plenty of missed opportunities, it\u2019s a story that breathes life into the group\u2019s debut album, \u2018Dream Gig\u2019. It’s also a story of hard-luck, anxiety and mundane daily challenges, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":16305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[1848,373,374,1847,1846,15022],"class_list":["post-2336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-c-j-frederick","tag-dead-bars","tag-dream-gig","tag-john-maiello","tag-no-idea-records","tag-rob-mair"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInterview: Dead Bars -\u00a0Bar Necessities - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There\u2019s nothing straight forward about the story behind Seattle\u2019s Dead Bars. 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