Continued from page 24
I hope he doesn't sue me…"
"Heavy Heart": It's a more lighthearted,
playful, horn-peppered tune. Dezen: "This
was a fun collaboration with my friend Eric
Rosse. I think I name-dropped myself in
that song, which is something that Rhett
Miller had done; I remember hearing him
say the lyric, "I'm Stuart Ransom Miller, The
Serial Lady Killer," and I was like, 'That's
kinda badass to quote your self in a song!'
And I've been dying to do it ever since. So
Rhett and I are currently tied."
"Kill Me": This is a cheeky, punky, pop culture commentary that most people can relate to. Dezen: "Everyone can relate, I'm
sure."
"This Ship of Ours": This is Dezen at his
achy-breaky hearted best, wearing it on his
sleeve and making us all want to give him
our shoulder to cry on. Dezen: "I wrote it
with a guy name Kit Karlson, who played
in Steven Kellogg's band. I wrote this when
I was going through a terrible breakup with
one of my first or second post-marriage
brief relationships. And it was like, it doesn't seem to matter what I do, this ship is
going down… And I happened to be on a
ship when I wrote it! We played this thing
called the 'Rock Boat,' which is both fun and
horrifying, being locked on a boat with a
bunch of crazy people who are drunk out
of their minds."
"Too Old To Die Young": Cheeky fun guitar
riff with a touch of horns for extra cheekiness and humorous lyrics. Dezen: "That
was a guitar riff that Dave came up with
and I wanted to write something cool to it
There have been quite a few songs called
'Too Old To Die Young,' and I'm not at all
original in the concept. But it very much
spoke to us and our experience, seeing people still out there just raging at 37. It's like,
'Kid, it's not happening, not working for
you.'"
"None of these Things": At trip's end, the
bedtime story is another sad one reflecting
on love gone wrong. If only the band didn't
break our hearts so damned well… Dezen
"That was one I wrote with Eric Rosse
again, post-marriage woe-is-me nonsense
More of that good stuff."
The Damnwells will set out on a tour of
select cities in May, starting with their home
base in New York, and hitting Double Door
in Chicago on May 15th. Dezen has a rosy
outlook for the original foursome's first
time out on the road together in eight years
"We gave up expectations a long time ago
That way we'll never be disappointed!" he
quips. "There are no expectations because
there's no pressure. I mean, we already
know what's going to happen; at the very
least we're going to go out there and have a
good time. That was the heart of this whole
project, for us to get together - these four
brothers banded together by rock and roll and just go out there and do what I feel
strongly we were meant to do together. And
if that happens – which it already has – then
we're successful with this record. Right now
everything's really great. Nothing can go
wrong yet, the record's not out, we haven't
played any shows, we haven't been through
the trials and tribulations yet. But I feel like
this trip and this record will be a lot more
trial way less tribulation."
Appearing: 5/15 at Double Door, Chicago
PETE BERWICK
PHOTO BY: CLICK CHIQUE PHOTOGRAPHY
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40 illinoisentertainer.com april 2015