Dealbreaker. Photo courtesy of the artist.By Jessica Garson
Dealbreaker is a relatively new hardcore band to the area that features short, minute-long songs that hit you like a comet. This month, they released an aptly titled EP entitled Pissed. With six songs and a total runtime of just over seven minutes, the songs are full of rage with driving vocals and a precision that gets straight to the point. It’s the perfect music to mosh to in a basement after a hard day.
We talked to Ian Thompson (drums), Kevin Kalb (bass), and Jeremy Evans (vocals and guitar) (guitarist Jason Yawn was not present) about their experiences of growing the band, their latest 7-inch, playing in D.C. and why solos are unnecessary.
Listen to their music: On Bandcamp
Where can we see you next?
Ian: We are looking to play soon, but we don’t have anything booked yet. We are looking to play more in the future so we’ll have some dates coming up pretty soon in the future.
I mean we all work and we live pretty spread out from each other. Jason our guitarist lives in Woodstock, Virginia. Oddly enough, that’s where I also went to militarily school. At times it’s a challenge for all of us to get together. But we defiantly are working that out and we want to be playing more in the future.
You just released a new 7-inch. Tell me about that.
Ian: Originally it was just Jeremy and I. He had all the riffs and frameworks for the songs. We got together and flushed those out. We recorded everything ourselves. Now, it’s Kevin, Jeremy, Jason and myself. We are now a four piece and will play and record as such in the future.
We are going to put out another 7-inch entitled Another Nail in the Coffin as working title with the full band. That might not be the title but it will be something that invokes feelings of finality. The album should come out sometime in early 2014.
So you transitioned from a two piece to a four piece act?
Ian: We always wanted to be a four piece but we were just looking for the right players so it took us a moment to get there. I know Kevin from Hubris, I’ve seen them play and my label Cricket Cemetery put their record. I’ve always admired his musicianship and wanted. I knew Jason from this band I liked Trial By Fire and he expressed interest. So we got together and it sounded great.
Kevin: Yeah, I came to play one day and after one song Ian said “yeah this will do.”
How long did it take you to record your new 7-inch?
Ian: It was all done live basically one take per a song with Jeremy going back over and recording a guitar and bass parts, so it was a quick process. I can’t wait to record with Jeremy and Kevin because they both their own flavor to the sound. Kevin’s bass tone is my favorite and I can’t wait to hear it recorded. Honestly, it happened really fast, we went recorded it. And it was over. The other interesting thing is that up until the time we recorded I’d never heard Jeremy’s vocals up until I heard them recorded. It was a shock, a good shock since his vocals are really what make our songs. They don’t sound like anyone else’s. They are pissed and angry in a good way.
Did you mean for the songs to be so short while recording them?
Ian: Yeah, I think so. I don’t want to speak for Jeremy, but I think he just needed to get them out.
Jeremy: I always aim to have them go on for about a minute and a half. If you let them go on for too long, they just go nowhere. They repeat or have a solo, and really who needs a solo.
Kevin: We come from the short and sweet school of thought. We go for short minute long panic attacks.
Ian: Just like the kind I have in real life.
Where is your favorite place to play in D.C.?
Kevin: I’m not from D.C. and I’ve only played a hand full of places but I’d have to say the Casa Fiesta show, where we just had our record release is one of my favorites.
Jermey:Yeah, Casa Fiesta or The Rocketship.
Ian: Yeah, we played Comet Ping Pong as well. I liked that show. We’ve only played a few places since we are relatively new. We played an awesome show in a basement off of Porter Street north of the Zoom that was a fun show.
In general my favorite places to play are the Black Cat and the Rocketship. The Black Cat is pretty well known venue and the Rocketship is a basement in someone’s house so they are very different, but I love them both equally.
Kevin: They recently changed the layout of the Rocketship so it hits your head on when enter the basement. There is something about the way sound hits you that makes it perfect.
What local bands are you into these days?
Ian:There is this young kid Robin Zeijlon. He’s in Thick Skin. He’s just a really solid drummer and he’s been in a bunch of bands. It’s been great to watch him grow, every time I see him he gets better. He’s someone I think has a lot potential.
Dealbreaker will be playing shows around town soon.
