Three Stars: Loose Lips

DCist: When did he join?

Donny: He joined in August. We started playing in May of 2008. And we were always looking for a keyboardist or a guitar player or maybe both. We auditioned a few people on each and then I put an ad on craigslist and he responded to it. He’d played with The Sentiment before. It was the singer from Black and White Jacksons fronted that band and Mike’s a great singer. And sadly the Black and White Jacksons finished. So, I think he’s going to reform The Sentiment without Andrew so that’s what Andrew sent me as sound samples. So he joined. And then I remembered Jeremy because me and Jeremy actually go back a really long way.

Jeremy: Cub Scouts together.

Donny: Yeah, we were in Cub Scouts together back in elementary school. And so I knew him throughout high school and he was actually in death metal bands.

Jeremy: I had hair down to here.

Donny: Metallica shirts every day. But we were also in a Weezer cover band together right after high school.

Jeremy: Summer of 2002. Summer of ought 2 as they say.

Donny: And do you want to talk about why you started a Weezer cover band?

DCist: Yes, please do.

Donny: It’s very interesting.

Jeremy: I was interning in the summer of 2002 and this intern manager named Blair. She was foxy. A fine lady. She admitted that she liked Weezer so I thought I’d start a Weezer cover band to win her affections. So I contacted Donny.

Donny: Why did you think of me, actually. I’ve never even asked you.

Jeremy: I don’t even know.

Donny: It’s funny, I hadn’t even listened to Weezer since like 8th grade. And it’s funny because we were both bass players but I obviously started with guitar and I’m sure he did as well. So he called me up and said, do you want to play guitar so I said sure.

Jeremy: Yeah I don’t remember how I thought of you.

Donny: Since we were friends in high school.

Jeremy: Since we started the Weezer cover band, we had this guy named Jason playing drums for us. We played a couple of shows and the chick Blair didn’t come out at all. Ever. So in that respect, it was a complete shitshow. Complete failure.

Donny: Even though I was just a thread in his failed web of seduction, it was still very valuable because like I said, I had sort of been playing bass at the time and I was getting into jazzy elements and stuff but it had sort of brought me back to the joy of playing simple rock and roll and simple power chords and playing these great pop songs and it’s funny cause I had the Blue Album, but I’d never really gotten into Pinkerton so now that’s one of my favorite records.

DCist: And you covered it live.

Donny: Well that was also at his request (motions at Jeremy) and since he was graduating that day, I decided to honor it because he’s always asking me to play covers.

Jeremy: I’m of the mind that we need to cover everything, like all of the frat party, like, Livin’ on a Prayer, Everybody Dance Now by C&C Music Factory, featuring Freedom Williams. But these guys are a little more reserved in their attitude towards covering, their cover philosophy.

Donny: The way I feel about it is that if you’re going to put that time into working on a song and working it out that it’s probably better spent on your own songs. We have a lot of stuff that’s sort of on the back burner. So my philosophy with covers isn’t to do your own thing with it and put a creative spin on it. It’s sort of, pick a song that’s easy, it’s fun, everybody knows it, so like, “El Scorcho.” Prime example. The other song that we do is The Cars’ “Just What I Needed,” which is kinda cool because we have that keyboard sound that Andrew does. So just, things like that. I think it’s cool to do just one cover in your set.

Jeremy: I remember I started jamming with the two of you guys in March of ’07.

Donny: So it’s sort of been long in the works. We really did take our time in a way.

DCist: So you guys were just jamming together in March of ’07?

Donny: Yeah, I mean, we had a few songs and we were really just sort of developing things and just took our time and at the end of ’07 we just started recording. And I wanted to have a recording, a demo, to give out to people at our shows before we actually started playing shows. So that was sort of the goal in that it had its own challenges and setbacks and whatnot.

Daniel: There would be months at a time where we wouldn’t practice at all.

Donny: We’ve been better than that, recently. But yes, it was sort of slow going in the beginning and it sort of picked up steam in the beginning of 2008. Then we played our first show in May and since then we’ve been pretty good about practicing.

DCist: Where did you guys play your first show?

Donny: (Motioning to Daniel) He works at a restaurant in Fairfax, actually, called PJ Skidoo’s. So we played there and it was kind of a cool room. You have to bring your own PA and so it’s sort of, humble beginnings, so to speak. So it was fun. We played there a couple of times. Fairfax crowds are a bit different than DC crowds. I think at this point we really like playing in DC more or Arlington.

DCist: What would you say are the biggest differences between crowds in Fairfax and crowds in DC or Arlington?

Daniel: I would say that there’s not much difference. No one really dances at the DC shows, but they do at Fairfax.

Jeremy: Huge gang presence in Fairfax!

Donny: I’d say the DC fans are more into music, in general. I think Fairfax fans are just Mason students who are kind of casual about it in a way. I mean, all my friends who lived in Fairfax moved to DC just to be able to see more shows and the more interesting bands that come through. So it’s hard to get them to come to Fairfax.

DCist: Did you guys grow up in Fairfax?

Donny: I grew up in Springfield, and then yeah, I went to Mason.

Daniel: I was a Mason student. I grew up around the Lynchburg area.

Jeremy: And Donny and I went to the same elementary school, high school, middle school in Springfield.

DCist: And you just graduated.

Jeremy: Yeah, I went to William & Mary for undergrad but with the exception of those few years in Williamsburg, my entire existence has been in the greater Northern Virginia area. But, it’s fine here. It’s good.

DCist: Out of curiosity, did you guys get involved with college radio ever?

Jeremy: No. I was in a couple of bands down at William & Mary. I started the Metal Club down there.

DCist: What was the progression from playing metal to what you guys are doing now?

Jeremy: I mean, for me, in high school I was in a European death metal band, like, In Flames, Meshuggah, God Dethroned. I’m a Christian, but I love God Dethroned. I was all into that. Then a kid on my hall freshman year played the Blue Album. And in middle school when Weezer came out I was like, “They’re on MTV! I’m way too cool for that.” Then I gave it a try in college and I was like, “Holy shit. I can’t believe I’ve deprived myself of the greatness of Weezer for this long.” So I completely fell in love with Weezer. And really, I just love playing. I love getting up onstage and jumping around like an asshole. The first couple of times I heard the Blue Album, sort of gave me license to step away from the harder stuff.

Daniel: I feel like we’ve been talking about Weezer most of the time.

Donny: What are your influences, Daniel?

Daniel: I listen to a lot of ‘60s rock, British rock, bands like the Libertines, the Arctic Monkeys, stuff like that. And then stuff from the ‘60s like the Kinks, The Beatles, The Who, The Yardbirds.

Donny: So I think he maybe brings the garage-y element that we have.

DCist: How about you?

Donny: My influences? It’s funny, because my last band was a metal band also, so my tastes are all across the spectrum. Everything from post-hardcore to, like, the Beach Boys. I mean, I still have a love for this music that I grew up on and remember my mom playing in the car on the way to soccer practice. Beach Boys and Beatles and Elvis Costello, The Cars and stuff like that. I think I still have a great appreciation for that but I’m definitely into new bands, too. I like Wolf Parade and all the Wolf Parade spinoff bands. And Radiohead of course. So, stuff like that. But I did go through a metal phase as well. So, music is great. There’s only two kinds of music, right? It’s a famous quote, I don’t remember who said it, but, good and bad music. So, I’m sort of open to everything. I think the most important influence is sort of what these guys want to play. So, I’ll bring songs in and sort of like a focus group, and if they’re not into it we’ll move on and try something different. A lot of times, stuff will be things that we come up with in practice. So that pretty much guides what we do, rather than saying, “Oh I want to sound like this” or “I want to sound like that” and that limits ourselves to sounding like a genre or sounding like a couple of different bands.

DCist: Is that pretty much how your songwriting process works?

Donny: It is sort of like that. I came out with this demo that I did on my own, after I left the metal band that I was in at that time and I sort of went the opposite way where it was just me doing sort of like, a real time drum machine because I was too lazy to program it and then I had this Monotonix synthesizer where you could only play one note at a time, so it’s only good for lead tones. I had that and I had guitar and vocals and those were the elements I wanted to use. Cause I remember reading about how the White Stripes wanted to keep it simple and just use guitar, vocals and drums. So I kind of wanted to limit myself and see how that would. So I wrote four songs under that. And I was trying to find a band to play those songs with and we still play two of those songs now.

DCist: Which two?

Donny: Paranoid. And there’s one called Long Night Stream that we haven’t actually recorded yet. But we do play it.

Jeremy: It’s going to be on the box set!

Donny: It’s going to be on the exclusive B-sides and rarities, yeah. So, a few of our songs came from that, but most of our songs come from things that we play, right after practicing a song. And then I sort of go into a riff that sort of comes out of thin air and then these guys come in and play their own things to it and I come in and say, “That’s cool” and I always have a tape recorder ready to come in and record it.

DCist: So you record your practices?

Donny: Well, when a good idea comes up. If a good idea comes up, I’m like, “Record that or I’m going to forget it.” So we’ll record that and I’ll sort of develop that and a lot of times I’ll come up with the verse and chorus on the fly. Or maybe it’ll just be one part and I’ll go back and work on it and bring it back and see if everyone’s on the same page and sometimes they don’t like it and sometimes when it comes to the band it just doesn’t work out. I’ve tried to write full songs and bring them in and it just doesn’t work out or they don’t like it. So, I try not to do that anymore. If I bring anything in, it’s usually just a verse and a chorus. And I kind of see how that plays and how we add things to it. So I don’t try to force anything. I think it’s like 50% stuff that I bring in that’s just an idea and 50% stuff that we just come up with in practice.

DCist: If you guys come up with a song that doesn’t seem to follow the direction where the band band is going, is that something you try to change to fit the band’s course, or something that you’ll just hold in your personal arsenal?

Daniel: I don’t think it’s easy to describe a direction we’re going. We’re just more going with whatever happens.

Donny: Yeah, it’s more about if we want to play this song or not. I don’t think we ever ask the question of, “Is this a Loose Lips song or not?” I don’t think we really wanted to find it because it gives you so much more freedom. And I’m hoping to get into a little more experimental territory and stuff like that, so I really don’t want to limit ourselves in that sort of way by rejecting a song because it doesn’t sound like us.

DCist: Is the mustache a holdover from the metal bands?

Donny: No, actually I went over to San Francisco on business last summer and I noticed that a lot of gentlemen over there were sporting mustaches and it always sort of made me laugh. So I grew it as an ironic thing. And then I sort of grew to like the way that I looked. I first just hoped that people would laugh at me, or laugh with me, but now I like the way that I look, sort of. But I think I’m about done with it, I think its days are numbered.

Jeremy: Don’t say that.

Donny: I had a beard in the metal band, but I never had a mustache.

Jeremy: My lady threatens violence if I even suggest that I’m going to grow a mustache.

DCist: I’ve noticed that you guys have played with a variety of both more established and newer bands in the area. Are there any that you feel a certain affinity with?

Daniel: Maybe Nary the Flounder.

Donny: Yeah, Nary the Flounder’s really cool. There stuff is like an unholy alliance of Jimmy Buffett and the Pixies. It’s really great and they’re super nice guys and I really like their stuff. Other than that, Alex Gruenberg, a really good friend of ours writes amazing pop songs. Paperhaus.

Daniel: Chief Joseph, I like those guys.

Donny: Yeah, we haven’t played for awhile. They’re completely different than us. They’re more of a funk band. But, it works somehow when we used to play with them. Other than that, I really like Mittenfields a lot.
I know that Dave from Mittenfields used to do the booking at Dahlak, did you ever play there?

Donny: He booked us there. I’m not a huge Dahlak fan. I think the sound in there is a little bit rough.

DCist: Not being a huge Dahlak fan, you sound pretty enthusiastic about Galaxy Hut, even though you’re also right there next to everyone. There’s the table. What’s the difference?

Donny: It’s a good question because I typically don’t like places where people are sitting down watching you and you’re playing there but something about Galaxy Hut and just the way that they let you play loud and turn up. I don’t know, I just like the room. I like the atmosphere.

Daniel: I like the atmosphere, too. I’ve only been here a few times but I think Dahlak is a straight up restaurant. They don’t even have kegs or anything like that. It’s a small restaurant, small bar.

Donny: Yeah, it kind of seems like the music was sort of an afterthought whereas Galaxy Hut, I’ve seen a lot of great bands play here. And it also seems like there’s sort of a built in crowd, too. People come in on the Sundays and Mondays where they actually have shows and they expect to see bands play.

Jeremy: I liked Dahlak. We played a show there on Halloween and my fiancee and all of her friends came out. And Donny and his lady were dressed as a pilot and a flight attendant and with the mustache it was perfect. But it was more the memory of the show than the actual set up. Andrew was dressed as a taco.

DCist: What’s been your favorite place to play? DC or otherwise.

Donny: Personally, the Black Cat has been awesome. There’s a lot of prestige that goes along with it and you can think back to all of the great bands that you’ve seen play there. So it’s cool in that respect. Actually, that was my goal when I started this band was to play Black Cat eventually, not knowing when that was going to happen. It actually happened pretty quickly. We just got lucky. So that was a lot of fun. I think DC9 is a really great room. The way that it’s set up, it’s more spread out and it always sounds really good in there. So, I think as far as sound goes that’s my favorite. And they’ve been getting a lot of good shows.

Daniel: That’s actually what I was going to say. I think I like playing there the best out of anywhere in DC.

DCist: Why is that?

Daniel: I don’t know. The layout of the room just seems a little more spacious than say, The Red and the Black which is just straight on.

Jeremy: My favorite place is Rock and Roll Hotel. I like being high up.

Donny: You like to have the monitors that you can put your feet up on.

Jeremy: Exactly. Steve Harris from Iron Maiden is like my guy. He’s my dude. So I like to put my feet up and there were six monitors upon which one could place one’s foot. But Black Cat we had our own dressing room. So even though it was like, a utility closet turned into one with like, a chair in it. It still counts as a dressing room.

Donny: We were technically the headliner, we could’ve taken the big band dressing room if we’d wanted to. Because nobody was playing upstairs that night.

Daniel: There’s one that’s small and then there’s one that’s probably the size of Galaxy Hut. With couches.

Donny: I think they left the lights off on purpose to deter us from going in there, but of course we did, anyway. And there was this really cool Black Panther statue hanging from the middle of the wall there and I don’t know why they don’t just hang it from the middle of the mainstage. That’d be so much cooler, I think. But I guess it’s just for the benefit of the bands to go, okay, we’re at Black Cat.

Jeremy: It’s a perk.

DCist: Has there been anyone that you’ve met that’s been particularly helpful in terms of getting shows, or in general?

Donny: I think Dave Mann definitely helped us out a lot. He got us our first show at Dahlak. He got us the Black Cat show. He’s someone that I sort of bounce off ideas and say, “Hey, what do you think of this new song that I have?” He also helped us with naming our EP, actually.

DCist: How did that happen?

Donny: Well, I knew that I wanted to do something with winter because I felt like a lot of the songs that we recorded sort of had this wintery theme. And I was sort of thinking Waiting Winter or something like that. So I was talking to him and he said, “What about ‘The Weight of Winter’” and I thought, “Oh, that’s interesting. We’ll maybe call it ‘Weighing Winter,’ because it has different dimensions to it. You can think of the way that winter sort of weighs on you. It’s uncomfortable. It’s cold. And then on the flip side, the value of having that. When you have winter it sort of makes spring and summer better. And then when you sort of think about winter as the classic metaphor for old age, you can think about the dimensions in that respect as well. Also there’s the alliteration. Loose Lips and Weighing Winter.

DCist: You mention old age and there’s a song on that EP, Youth “Obsession,” that deals with that subject matter. Did that contribute to the naming of the title?

Donny: Yeah, I think so, too. It’s basically a satirical comment on our society’s obsession with youth and holding up this ideal of youth and youthfulness. Which is ridiculous because it can only be obtained through getting yourself cut open by surgeons and being injected and buying creams and pills. So that’s what that song is about. It’s basically a criticism of our society’s obsession with youth. There’s no money in saying, “Why don’t you just age naturally?” There’s a whole industry that’s built upon trying to stop the aging process. And it’s kind of too bad. I don’t think anyone’s happier for it.

DCist: Are you trying to pick up shows in or outside of the area in the near future?

Daniel: We’re trying to pick up a show in Baltimore and one in New York. Donny knows someone in New York, one of his friends.

Donny: Yeah, unfortunately we’ve had to turn down a few shows in Baltimore, I’d really love to play there. I have a friend who books shows in New York so we’re going to be playing there in the near future. And yeah, we definitely want to do those weekend excursion type things and see how it goes. I don’t know if we’re ready to book our own DIY tour across the country, but we definitely want to play outside of DC. Richmond as well.

DCist: I’ve seen comparisons to Interpol, among other bands, in reviews. What do you think is the most accurate comparison of your sound?

Jeremy: I kind of liken us to The Killers, just because we have guitar, bass, drum, keyboards.

Donny: It’s funny, I’ve heard that before, too and I’ve never listened to The Killers. I’ve heard “Mr. Brightside” and that’s about it.

Jeremy: And not to knock The Killers, I love the Killers, but I like the fact that we have a good range. We’ve got rockabilly under the way. We’ve got some funky songs, some jazzy songs. I think we’ve got a good range.