Tag: Dischord Records

Ep. #221: Ryan Nelson of Soccer Team

Post author By vish
Post date November 5, 2015

Ryan Nelson is a musician and visual artist who resides in the Washington D.C. area. Formerly in the bands the Most Secret Method and Beauty Pill, Nelson currently plays in Michigan’s Minutes and the D.C. group Soccer Team, which he co-founded 10 years ago with Melissa Quinley. Nine years since their debut, Soccer Team just released their second album, a sharp, witty, pop affair called Real Lessons in Cynicism, which is out now via Dischord Records, and they plan to play Baltimore at Make Studio on November 28 at 3 PM and at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington D.C. on December 11 at noon. Here, Ryan and I discuss my nerve-induced and unnecessary pluralization of album titles, good names, that time he left Washington D.C. for Kalamazoo, Michigan for five years and then came back and Soccer Team was still a thing, wanting to be a teacher and isolating himself, avoiding music and art, a life-altering gym membership, Danzig, no presh, Star Wars Monopoly, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Samuel L. Jackson, the stupid prequels, how Minutes started, what’s up in D.C. and with Dischord, raising twins and letting music scenes pass by, the band Puff Pieces, the band Priests, songs based on conversations, the aging body, why dancers smoke, observational songwriting, mediation, the story of Francesca da Rimini, delving into someone else’s area of expertise, overcoming the stigma of reading comics and getting into making visual art, Roy Lichtenstein and Aquaman, the intricate criminal underworld within Atlantis, funny Justice League comics of the late ‘80s, comics in movies and mainstream culture, making his own comics, the transition from skateboard artwork to album art for Real Lessons in Cynicism, drawing paused motion pictures, The Blob, the future of Minutes and Soccer Team, the song “Vacations on the Lam,” and that was that.

Related links: dischord.com/band/soccer-team vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #111: Hamilton Leithauser

Post author By vish
Post date June 24, 2014

Hamilton Leithauser is a very talented singer and songwriter who is best known for fronting the acclaimed New York City band, the Walkmen. Last year, the Walkmen announced they’d be taking an extended hiatus after releasing a string of wonderful albums. Before long, members of the band began releasing solo material, including Leithauser. His new album is the startling and wondrous Black Hours, a timeless star-studded pop affair that was released on June 3 via Ribbon Music, and has prompted him to tour including a stop at Hamilton, Ontario’s Supercrawl this September. Here, Hamilton and I discuss NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series, that time I saw the Walkmen play one of their last shows together in Halifax this past October, knocking a tooth out on a microphone, when work on Black Hours first began, why he made a record under his own name, who helped make this album a star-studded affair, the relationship between the conception of this solo record and the end of the Walkmen and why the band is taking a break, Frank Sinatra records, songwriting reversal, a nightclub, night time tone within the phrase “black hours,” Danzig, Self-Pity, growing up in Washington D.C. and seeing Minor Threat, Nation of Ulysses, Fugazi, and other Dischord Records bands, playing punk, working as a studio assistant at Inner Ear studios while Fugazi was recording Red Medicine, not making it into Instrument, being young and apolitical, loving the Make-Up and Ian Svenonius, the Cramps and the Modern Lovers, lead singers versus bands, Chain and the Gang, being in a band or being on your own, not sounding like the Walkmen, the new record’s weird storyline, the bizarre circumstance of the Walkmen’s “extreme hiatus,” trying new things but the Walkmen will likely be back, it’s fun to play, there are already new songs written but there was some writer’s block, working well with others, playing “Mr November” with the National, Hamilton playing Hamilton, Ontario, the song “The Silent Orchestra,” and then Hamilton out.

Related links: hamiltonleithauser.com vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #61: Tony Dekker

Post author By vish
Post date January 14, 2014

Tony Dekker is the well-respected singer, songwriter, and founder of the celebrated Canadian band Great Lake Swimmers. This past fall, Dekker released Prayer of the Woods, his first solo album, and on Feb. 7 he plays the Hillside Inside festival in Guelph, ON. Here, Tony and I discuss why he released a record under his own name, our awesome ringtones, being sideswiped, touring a lot, why he started playing music, his early interest in Dischord Records, Minor Threat, and Fugazi, DIY community building, caring for the natural world and becoming more outspoken as an artist, recording and playing in unusual spaces and tapping into them, coffee and agave nectar, the Woody Guthrie Center, the BP oil spill, the Lake Ontario Waterkeepers, the Great Bear region and the Northern Gateway Pipeline controversy, hiking the Bruce Trail, the “Prayer of the Woods” poem, new Great Lake Swimmers music, the song “Somewhere Near Thunder Bay,” and more.

Related links: greatlakeswimmers.com hillsidefestival.ca vishkhanna.com

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Tags Dischord Records, Fugazi, Great Lake Swimmers, Hillside Inside, Lake Ontario Waterkeepers, Minor Threat, the Bruce Trail, the Great Bear, the Northern Gateway Pipeline, Thunder Bay, Tony Dekker, Woody Guthrie