September Little d After Dark by Denton Media Company

OPENING SHOT

Eisley at Rockinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Rodeo on July 19. Photo by Ed Steele

Little d After Dark

September 2012

C O V E R S T O RY Did you feel that? That vague wave through the fabric of time and space? It might have been Frank Zappa, sitting up and cocking his head a bit from another dimension — trying to hear the squawky sax on Fergus & Geronimo’s sophomore album, Funky Was the State of Affairs. The duo returns to town Sept. 1 for 35 Denton’s Hot Wet Mess — a back-to-school bash at the North Texas Fairgrounds, where the Black Lips, Reggie Watts and Big Freedia headline. Story by Lucinda Breeding

SEPTEMBER 2012 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

F E AT U R E S putting money on small changes The notoriously raucous Riverboat Gamblers released their newest full-length album earlier this year, The Wolf You Feed, and kick off a tour this month in New Braunfels.

buried with friends Team Tomb’s self-titled debut album is the eventual product of the mad-science music band members started making together during jam sessions in 2010, just after Denton indie artist Caleb Ian Campbell’s best-known project, the >>

Polycorns, disbanded.

where the atmosphere’s thinner Gravity Mission is neither chillwave nor nowave. The simplest way to describe this intersection of Denton’s Ruben Erazo and San Francisco’s Scott Werley is to call it an ambient electronic record influenced by the fractured verse heard at a local open-mic poetry reading.

Publisher Bill Patterson Managing Editor Dawn Cobb 940-566-6879 dcobb@dentonrc.com

Features Editor Lucinda Breeding 940-566-6877 cbreeding@dentonrc.com

Advertising Director Sandra Hammond 940-566-6820 shammond@dentonrc.com

Advertising Manager Shawn Reneau 940-566-6843 sreneau@dentonrc.com

Classified Display Julie Hammond 940-566-6819 jhammond@dentonrc.com

Contributing Writers Megan Radke, Alyssa Jarrell Photographers David Minton, Ed Steele, Chris Newby Designer Rachel McReynolds On the cover Photo illustration by Rachel McReynolds The contents of this free publication are copyrighted by Denton Publishing Co.,

Courtesy photo

THE ELEMENTS opening shot

good dates

editor’s note b-side beat

the alchemist A cavity-inducing, cakeflavored cocktail in celebration of our first birthday.

flavor junkie This brisket sandwich is guaranteed to add a little color to your brownCourtesy photo/Alan Blanquicet

bag lunch.

out permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. Little d After Dark is published monthly by Denton Publishing Co., 314 E. Hickory St.

have your people call our people

to submit an event for little d’s calendar, e-mail littledcalendar@gmail.com

SATURDAY

SEPTEMBER 2012 MUSIC at Denton venues

SUNDAY 2

MUSIC elsewhere

MONDAY

Luke Wade, noon. Free. Love Shack. Catastica, Hares on the Mountain, 4 p.m. Andy’s Bar. 2 Festival: RTB2, Brent Best, Satans of Soft Rock, 8 p.m. $10. Dan’s Silverleaf. Del Castillo, Mariachi Quetzal, 8:30 p.m. $20-$30. The Kessler. Jefferson Colby, Pistol Packin Mama, Droidekka, 10 p.m. $5-$9. Lola’s.

Luke Wade, noon. Free. Love Shack. Hamell on Trial, 5 p.m. $8. Dan’s Silverleaf. Vektor, 7 p.m. $6-$8. Dada. Hares on the Mountain, 7:30 p.m. Free. Dan’s Silverleaf. UNT A Capella Choir, 8 p.m. Free-$10. Winspear Performance Hall.

Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios’ Free Week: Deep Snapper, the Demigs, Danny Rush & the Designated Drivers, Spooky Folk, 10 p.m. $3 under 21.

MUSIC at UNT

TUESDAY 4

The Learning screening, 6 p.m. Free. UNT. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios’ Free Week: Vulgar Fashion, Public Health, Filth, Corporate Park, 10 p.m. $3 under 21.

Labor Day

Riggs, Slater, Hamilton Jazz Experience, 5 p.m. Free. Dan’s Silverleaf. Earl Bates, 7 p.m. Free. Abbey Inn Restaurant & Pub. Bowling for Soup, the Von Ehrics, 7 p.m. $15-$17. Hailey’s Club. One O’clock Lab Band, 9 p.m. $5. The Syndicate. Yeasayer, Daedelus, 9 p.m. $20-$30. House of Blues. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios’ Free Week: Cozy Hawks, Ice Eater, Secret Cakes, Double Dave Damage, 10 p.m. $3 under 21.

THURSDAY 6

One O’clock Lab Band, noon. Free. One O’clock Lounge. Tyler Rogeux, 6 p.m. Free. Love Shack. Pujol, Soviet, the Longshots, 7 p.m. $8-$10. Dada. Two Tons of Steel, 9 p.m. $10. Dan’s Silverleaf. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios’ Free Week: the Angelus, New Science Projects, Eccotone, Summer of Glaciers, Ryan Thomas Becker, 10 p.m. $3 under 21. Skeleton Coast, 10 p.m. $5-$9. Lola’s.

Love Shack. Pygmalion, 2 p.m. $10-$20. Campus Theatre. Ormonde, Team Tomb, 8 p.m. $7. Dan’s Silverleaf.

23 Pygmalion, 2 p.m. $10-

$20. Campus Theatre. Ben Folds Five, Kate MillerHeidke, 8 p.m. $45. Palladium Ballroom.

Gjedrem, 9 p.m. $12-$18. Dan’s Silverleaf. Thanksgiving, the Pajama Party, I Am the Lake of Fire, Grim Graves, 9 p.m. $6-$8. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.

24 Terminator 2, Deep Snapper, Paper Robot, Hot Coffins, 3 p.m. $3-$5. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.

Fair to Midland, White Elephant, the Phuss, Hormones, 7 p.m. $15. Granada Theater. Spoonfed Tribe, Hatch, KatsüK, 8 p.m. The Abbey Underground. Faun Fables, Warren Jackson Hearne & Le Leek Electrique, Daniel Markham, 8:30 p.m. $12-$15. Dan’s Silverleaf. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios’ Free Week: Bad Design, Street Arabs, Vinyl, 10 p.m. $3 under 21.

Rudy Cervantez, noon. Free. Love Shack. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Moon Diagrams, Bodyguard, 7 p.m. $18. Granada Theater. Scared of the Dark, 7 p.m. Andy’s Bar. David Lindley, the O’s, 8 p.m. $17.50-$25. The Kessler. Holt and Stockslager, 10 p.m. $10. Dan’s Silverleaf. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios’ Free Week: A.Dd+, Idiots, Shiny Around the Edges, the Atomic Tanlines, 10 p.m. $3 under 21.

13 Matt Dunn, 6 p.m. Free.

14 Chris Watson, 6 p.m. Free.

15 Pygmalion, 7:30 p.m. $10-

18 Snarky Puppy, the Funky

19 Earl Bates, 7 p.m. Free.

20 Yeah You Rite screening,

21 Adam Ant, 7 p.m. $32.

22 Pygmalion, 7:30 p.m. $10-

Knuckles, 9 p.m. $12-$18. Dan’s Silverleaf. The People’s Temple, 9 p.m. $6-$8. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.

25 Choralfest!, 8 p.m. Free-

$10. Murchison Performing Arts Center.

30 Hood Internet, Body

Language, Oscillator Bug, 7 p.m. $12-$15. Dada. Circa Survive, Balance and Composure, O’Brother, Touche Amore, 7 p.m. $20$25. House of Blues.

12 Riggs, Slater, Eckels Jazz

Black, Dead to a Dying World, Terminator 2, Filth, 9 p.m. $5-$7. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.

17 Snarky Puppy, Hildegunn

FRIDAY

11 Sutekh Hexen, Pinkish

Experience, 5 p.m. Free. Dan’s Silverleaf. County Rexford, 7 p.m. Free. Abbey Inn Restaurant & Pub. Missy Higgins, Katie Herzig, Butterfly Boucher, 8 p.m. $22. Granada Theater. County Fringe, Jake Robison, Jim Bowles, 9 p.m. The Basement Bar.

Love Shack. Saint Vitus, FTW, 9 p.m. $15. Lola’s.

Hispanic Heritage Month

16 Luke Wade, noon. Free.

Hot Wet Mess festival, 1 p.m. $15. North Texas State Fairgrounds. Day of Tragedy, 7 p.m. Andy’s Bar. Bone Doggie and the Hickory Street Hellraisers, Danger Cakes, the Matthew Show, 8 p.m. $5-$7. Hailey’s Club. Fungi Girls, War Party, Doom Ghost, Sealion, 9 p.m. $6-$8. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. Ella Minnow, the Demigs, Paper Robot, 10 p.m. $7. Dan’s Silverleaf.

STAGE & SCREEN

WEDNESDAY 5

Abbey Inn Restaurant & Pub. The Walkmen, Milo Greene, 7 p.m. $18. Granada Theater. Owl City, 7:30 p.m. $22-$25. House of Blues.

26 Pink Ribbons, Inc.

screening, 5 p.m. Free. UNT. County Rexford, 7 p.m. Free. Abbey Inn Restaurant & Pub. Fundamental, Moosehound, Nimik, 10 p.m. $7. Dan’s Silverleaf.

5 p.m. Free. UNT. Mike Calaway, 6 p.m. Free. Love Shack. A Silent Film, 8 p.m. $10-$12. Dada. Broken Gold, Brent Best, On After Dark, 9 p.m. $1-$3. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. Afro Deezy Axe, 10 p.m. The Abbey Underground. Black Taxi, Swindle Boys, Antiques, 10 p.m. $7-$10. Lola’s.

27 Wanda Jackson, 7 p.m.

$20-$41. Granada Theater. UNT Symphonic Band, 7:30 p.m. Free-$10. Winspear Performance Hall. Sondre Lerche, Fancy Colors, 8 p.m. $15-$17. Dada. Animal Collective, Micachu and the Shapes, 9 p.m. $30-$35. House of Blues.

Love Shack. AJ Rafael & Us, Alyssa Bernal and Jeff Bernat, 6 p.m. $20. Granada Theater. Pygmalion, 7:30 p.m. $10-$20. Campus Theatre. Whiskey Folk Ramblers, the Holler Times, Convoy and the Cattlemen, 9 p.m. $5-$7. Hailey’s Club. Mission of Burma, 10 p.m. $13-$16. Dan’s Silverleaf. The Relatives, Pleasant Grove, Seryn, 10 p.m. $17.50-$27.50. Dallas City Performance Hall.

Granada Theater. Pygmalion, 7:30 p.m. $10$20. Campus Theatre. Gravity Feed, Human Groove Hormone, Afro Deezy Axe, Faces Clouds, 8 p.m. Hailey’s Club. Beach House, Dustin Wong, 8 p.m. $22-$25. Palladium Ballroom. The Band of Heathens, 10 p.m. $10-$15. Dan’s Silverleaf. Maymok, Vats, Vulgar Fashion, DJ Donna Bummer, 10 p.m. $5-$7. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.

28 Bodie Powell, Kyle Redd,

6 p.m. Free. Love Shack.

$20. Campus Theatre. Mike Stanley, 8 p.m. Free. Love Shack. Bach Norwood, 8 p.m. $7. Dan’s Silverleaf. High Tension Wires, Hex Dispensers, Occult Detective Club, Something Fierce, 9 p.m. $6-$8. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. Pearl Snap Shirts, Protean Broadcast, Afro Deezy Axe, 9 p.m. Free. Hailey’s Club. Pinkish Black, the Angelus, Yells at Eels, 10 p.m. $8-$10. Lola’s.

$20. Campus Theatre. Greg Reichel, 8 p.m. Free. Love Shack. The Dick Beldings, Reality Bites screening, 9 p.m. $8. Lola’s. White Arrows, Young Buffalo, 10 p.m. $10-$13. Dan’s Silverleaf.

Autumnal Equinox

29 Dark Star Orchestra, 7 p.m. $24. Granada Theater. Monica, Sarah Sellers, 8 p.m. $40-$81.50. House of Blues.

National Piano Month

Little d After Dark

September 2012

Rapping at your door

hem. You there? No, you, with the beard, glasses and toboggan. Yes, you. And that woman to your left? The one wearing the prairie skirt, Pan Ector T-shirt and piercings — nudge her, too, will ya? I know you don’t know me, but I have a weird request. Little d After Dark wants an invitation to your party. The one that generates hundreds of empty cans and bottles in your backyard and throughout that careworn house you rent with four of your best friends. The one where unknown acts come to polish their chops and their charisma and threaten to crack the plaster at chez devotee de la musique. Little d wants to come to your house show. We want to attend this party because, well, we want to shoot some pho-

Little d After Dark wants an invitation to your party. The one that generates hundreds of empty cans and bottles in your backyard and throughout that careworn house you rent with four of your best friends.

tos and jot down some notes. And we wouldn’t be averse to snagging an interview or two. Little d After Dark has known for a while now that a healthy house show scene has nourished the independent music scene for a long time. How’s it done this? By giving freshman rock stars a place to work on their material and a way to practice destroying hotel rooms. And by whetting the college market’s appetite for the new, the experimental, the loud. Look, there’s no ulterior motive, here. Mavis on Maple Street isn’t trying to find out where you’re partying so she can give the cops an address to shut down that infernal racket. We won’t even publish addresses. House show names will work just fine. So christen your shabby rent house with a strange name — the Bleeding Ear Hole, the Language Lab or the Splintered Monocle — and give us a hint when your next big bash will be with a note e-mailed to ldafterdark@

gmail.com. Who knows? We might show up with a camera and a notepad. Forgive us, though, if the earplugs give us away. — Lucinda Breeding

Contributors SONNY STRAIT, an animation voice actor and comic book artist, will be bringing us his B-Side Beat every month. Best known as the voice of Krillin on the TV show Dragon Ball Z, Sonny works as an artist for the comic book series Elfquest. He also just happens to be in a band — a basic requirement of maintaining Denton citizenship.

September 2012

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September 2012

the riverboat gamblers

by megan radke

Rolling the dice Riverboat Gamblers put money on small changes in new album

hough the Riverboat Gamblers call Austin home these days, it’s hard to forget the group got its start in Denton. The notoriously raucous punk quintet released their newest full-length album earlier this year, The Wolf You Feed. The band plans to head out on tour in support of Wolf with a few different acts in tow, including Valient Thorr, Cobra Skulls and Lagwagon. The Gamblers will kick off their “Wolf & Snakes Tour” by playing alongside Fort Worth legends the Toadies at the fifth annual Dia de los Toadies, Sept. 1 at New Braunfels’ Whitewater Amphitheater.

‘THE WOLF YOU FEED’ ONLINE Available on Amazon.com and through the iTunes store. 12-inch LP available for $14.99 from record label Volcom Entertainment (store.volcoment.com).

THEY’RE WITH THE BAND Mike Wiebe — vocals Fadi El-Assad — guitar, vocals Ian MacDougall —guitar, vocals Rob Marchant — bass, vocals Sam Keir — drums

The Wolf You Feed is a step in a different direction for the Riverboat Gamblers. The band best known for its energetic, fast, fun punk sound still upholds that >>

Continued on 13

Courtesy photo/Gary Copeland

Looking for a Fresh Alternative to the Loud, Smoke-Filled Bar Scene? Come discover the Hickory Street Lounge, where our highly skilled, attentive mixologists serve up classic, hand-crafted cocktails in a friendly smoke-free environment. It’s the ideal place to meet with friends before and after dinner. Happy Hour is from 11am to 7pm 7 days a week!

September 2012

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Little d After Dark

September 2012

cake batter martini

by rachel mcreynolds and lucinda breeding

The drink 3 ounces cake-flavored vodka 3 ounces white or clear creme de cacao 2 ounces amaretto 2 ounces heavy whipping cream 1 ounce white chocolate liqueur multicolored non pareils or sprinkles To decorate the glass rim (optional), place sprinkles on a shallow plate that is a little larger than the mouth of your martini glass. Dampen a paper towel with heavy cream (or water) and wet the rim of the glass. Dip glass into sprinkles to coat the edges. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake for about 30 seconds. Strain into martini glass. For our version (pictured), carefully spoon sprinkles along the top edge of the glass so that they sink down and leave a colorful streak through the liquid. Makes 2 drinks. — recipe via thenovicechefblog.com Little d After Dark turns 1 this month, an exciting time of new discoveries like solid food and walking. What better way to mark our journey out of infancy than a good, stiff drink (and a nap afterward)? This cocktail’s definitely sweeter than the average bear (if you’ve ever heard of cake-flavored vodka before this, you’re more of a lush than we thought) — but hey, it’s our birthday. Tell restraint to suck it.

The tunes While you’re sipping, listen to these artists whose vocal chords seem powdered-sugar-coated: Arielle LaGuette (this UNT grad now on the singer-songwriter circuit in Austin has polished, personal vocals, and when she hauls out her ukulele, it’s something to celebrate), Ingrid Michaelson (incurably hopeful indie-pop made of a grown-ass woman’s wisdom and a college girl’s pluck), Regina Spektor (English piano rocker who could be mistaken for a retro fashion plate with a killer voice and command for the keyboard).

Photo by David Minton

September 2012

Little d After Dark

Courtesy photo

Little d After Dark

September 2012

fergus & geronimo

by lucinda breeding

id you feel that? That vague wave through the fabric of time and space?

It might have been Frank Zappa, sitting up and cocking his head a bit from another dimension, trying to hear the squawky sax on

Fergus & Geronimo’s sophomore album, Funky Was the State of Affairs. Funky isn’t directly influenced by Zappa — it’s weird and easy enough to understand and it isn’t about subverting musical laws about tempo and tone. (That said, the track “Roman Nvmerals/ Wiretapping Muzak 1” ends with a saxophone blast that would wake a Canadian gander out of a coma.) No, Zappa would just love the cheek of Fergus & Geronimo — or does love them, if he really is in some parallel universe, rolling his eyes at the very idea of Rihanna. Fergus & Geronimo got its start with the musical wiles of Andrew Savage and Jason Kelly, who decided to play around with sounds when Kelly mixed and recorded the album Foreign Lands by Teenage Cool Kids, of which Savage was a member. The duo returns to Denton for 35 Denton’s Hot Wet Mess — a back-toschool bash at the North Texas Fairgrounds, where the Black Lips, Reggie Watts and Big Freedia headline. Fergus & Geronimo has come a long way from the few leaked tracks that stirred up hearty praise when they were found by new-music hunters. After the Seattle indie label Hardly Art picked up the band, Fergus & Geronimo recorded its first full-length album, Unlearn, last year. Funky is a concept album. Earth has collapsed under the weight of gotta-haveit-wanna-have-it consumption. That consumption seems to be represented by the knotted mound of spaghetti that is wireless communication. Or maybe media saturation. Or maybe Fergus & Geronimo, the band, is playing the part of Savage and Kelly as they strut and dodge the remains of the digital revolution, running from the aliens who have landed. Or maybe Fergus >>

Continued on 13

Track for track: Funky Was the State of Affairs

NO PARTIES Savage and Kelly find one note to punch through this what-have-we-done beatdown. Delivered in a funny mock-English accent, the song deplores the self-selected wasteland that is the human condition. The people of Earth are enslaved by screens, gadgets and a steady stream of B-grade media. There’s nothing B-grade about the track, which cleverly assigns an assemblyline-steady beat to insightful lyrics.

SPIES Is it a coincidence that there’s something James Bond-meets-Pulp Fiction about this song? A twangy, California-cool guitar chases a bop-a-wop cowbell or woodblock through the song. We can almost see Savage and Kelly in silhouette, posing with guitar and synth — their weapons.

FUNKY WAS THE STATE OF AFFAIRS

Andrew Savage, left, and Jason Kelly of Fergus & Geronimo. Courtesy photo

Little d After Dark

The sprinting drums of “Wipeout” join plodding horns in this danceable title track. With chirping “ows!”, “ohs!” and “ays!” the song gradually tapers into an all-female chorus of the title. Dare you to keep from doing pogo-style jumps in your bedroom. September 2012

FERGUS & GERONIMO IN DENTON

Continued from 12 >> & Geronimo, the band, is actually the band playing at the apocalyptic kegger, where decommissioned yuppies introduce the aliens to as many women as they can. Crossed wires ensue, but from the sound of Funky, a good time is had by all. Padded occasionally by short and comedic bits, Funky wants us to know that we really ought to have more fun with all this. One funny interlude between the first and second tracks gives us a character named Heather Strange. She’s a weary-sounding, no-nonsense woman making what seems to be a dating service video. “Really,” Heather says, sounding bored, “I’m just looking for a man whose cerebral capabilities haven’t been fried by LCD screens yet.” And another thing: Heather is putting herself out there for a pretty broad dating pool, as she identifies herself as a “23-year-old human earthling female.” If the last human earthling male is more emotionally invested in Xbox combat than anything else, she’ll take her chances on the cyborgs. Or the little green men. In “Earthling Women,” Fergus & Geromino borrow the persona of the aliens. They survey the blonde-brunetteredhead selection and commence to utter

Hot Wet Mess festival, with the Black Lips, No Age, Reggie Watts, Big Freedia, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, RTB2, DJ Sober. 1 to 10 p.m. Sept. 1 at the North Texas Fairgrounds, 2217 N. Carroll Blvd. Cost is $15. bit.ly/QEFZGU.

THEY’RE WITH THE BAND Andrew Savage — guitar, vocals Jason Kelly — guitar, vocals Bob Jones — guitar, bass, analog synth Jef Brown — tenor saxophone

in monotone: “I can’t get enough of these damn earthling women/The smiles and the laughter and vibes that they’re giving/From North Pole to South Pole/ There’s one thing I’ve found/It’s easy to live when there’s women around.” Conversely, “Earthling Men” is a sneering critique of standard masculinity — learn how to argue about nothing and shoot a gun and, well, you’re good to go. Musically, there’s a sense of ordered chaos on Funky. In the second track, “No Parties,” Savage and Kelly affect clipped Cockney accents to bemoan the glut of tripe found on social media. They sing, “It kinda bums me out inside the creature you’ve become,” then go on to name all the

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little things so many of us do — posing for self-portraits, saving our excitement for trivial and fleeting delights. The duo goes back to the Devo-esque beeps and tones to move the song along, almost as if it were coming across a telegraph wire. In other spots, Funky feels a tad punk. “Roman Tick,” a play on “I’m a romantic,” is a softer Johnny Rotten listing all the special things he won’t do for a significant other, featuring shouted lyrics and driving drums. In the end, Funky Was the State of Affairs stands as an astute observation of all the craziness we sign up for, and how we let media reinforce a lot of our flimsy assumptions about said insanity. The best thing about Funky is that it’s also a solid parody of all those things. Many a social scientist has tried to pull back the veil on the delusions we nurture by presuming what an alien race might think of us on a fact-finding mission. Funky dreams out the same idea in bright, happy, ridiculous color. LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached by calling 940-566-6877 or by sending an e-mail to cbreeding@dentonrc.com.

the riverboat gamblers

Continued from 7 >> reputation on the new album, but also adds a darker, somewhat brooding spin. The Gamblers kicked off preproduction in Los Angeles, but finished piecing the album together in Dallas with the help of producer Stuart Sikes, who has worked with artists including the White Stripes and Cat Power. The album is grittier and more raw — more like a live show — but that’s certainly something fans will appreciate, since the band is known and loved for its live shenanigans and sound. As of now, the Gamblers don’t have a show scheduled in the Dallas-Fort Worth area but more dates and stops are said to be added soon. Until then, fans can look forward to the release of a new video for the track “Comedians.” They can also catch the Gamblers at this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, which starts Nov. 3. MEGAN RADKE is a University of North Texas journalism graduate who’s obsessed with music. She lives in Dallas.

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team tomb

by lucinda breeding

Running with a new pack Lone wolf Campbell both reined in, set loose by his first band post-Polycorns

Courtesy photo

eam Tomb’s self-titled debut album is the eventual product of the mad-science music band members started making together during jam sessions in 2010. Team Tomb assembled around Denton indie artist Caleb Ian Campbell just a month after Campbell’s best-known project, the Polycorns, disbanded. The Polycorns retired after their packed showcase at Sweetwater Grill & Tavern at 35 Denton in 2010. Campbell dove into a solo project right away. “I love Caleb’s solo stuff, but I think he needs a band behind him,” said Team Tomb piano man Roy Robertson. “Caleb’s solo stuff is really good; I don’t mean to say that it isn’t, because it’s good and I really like his solo music. “I loved the Polycorns, and I know what Caleb can do when he’s got a band behind him. I think it brings out the best in him.” Campbell’s solo music is headier than the music he makes with others. When he plays as a lone wolf, Campbell makes music that sounds angular, sporting time signature swatches that can lean toward the fussy or artsy. His talent for straightforward melodies is still clear when Campbell plays alone. It’s just that some of his esoteric gloss gets a smart edit by his bandmates when he shares his music with players he trusts and admires. Team Tomb began when Campbell asked drummer Benny Bailey to spare some time. “Benny played with Land Mammals. He played keyboard with them,” Campbell said. “They’re one of my favorite bands, and I was actually kind of intimidated. I asked him if he wanted to jam with me. The motive was really just for fun.” Team Tomb is something of a musical chimera. “Made by Sharks” is just waiting to be plucked from indie anonymity by directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) to write leitmotifs for the unpredictable and lovable characters they create. But the premonition for this tune’s poppy chords and bub>>

Track for track: Team Tomb WORRY IN ME This opening song has shades of Denton’s Sundress — vocals that aren’t easy to understand and convey an uneasy feeling. Cool, wavy guitar lines keep the sound suitably soft, the drums push instead of punch, and after showcasing Campbell’s voice — a Vienna choirboy soprano — Team Tomb is more about serenading the listener’s unruly brain that it is about moving the hips.

SKIN IN TEETH A guitar solo that could easily be borrowed by a violin or cello fades into keyboards that hold steady with a recorder-esque effect.

TEAM TOMB IN DENTON With Ormonde. 8 p.m. Sept. 16 at Dan’s Silverleaf, 103 Industrial St. Doors open at 4 p.m. Cover is $7. teamtomb.bandcamp.com. danssilverleaf.com.

THEY’RE WITH THE BAND Caleb Ian Campbell — lead vocals, guitar Benny Bailey — drums Roy Robertson — keyboards Jeremy Buller — bass

Continued on 16 Little d After Dark

September 2012

gravity mission

by lucinda breeding

Track for track: Before the Spoken Word

HIVE MIND In this standout track, Ruben Erazo’s treatment is apt. Erazo chooses a bustling beat and a simple pop melody to illustrate something shared and exciting and to make Scott Werley’s verse more mass-market. Bright sounds shimmer and a keyboard solo leads to the big finish: an anthem that finds division the enemy of the hive in the song. In this setup, everyone plays a part. The song would succeed as an instrumental, too.

Ruben Erazo, left, and Scott Werley. Courtesy photo/Alan Blanquicet

Mission incomplete

INSTINCTS

Electronic duo barely scrapes surface of big ideas in debut

ravity Mission is neither chillwave nor no-wave. The simplest way to describe this intersection of Denton’s Ruben Erazo and San Francisco’s Scott Werley is to call it an ambient electronic record influenced by the fractured verse heard at a local open-mic poetry reading. Before the Spoken Word is a concept album by Werley, a closet poet and graphic designer by day, and Erazo, a Colombian-born professional who sings with the Dallas Opera chorus. “Basically, both Scott and I believe that we all need to change the way we treat this planet,” Erazo said. “Both of think that this is a priority for every human being living on this Earth.” For Werley, the record is ambitious. Through music and rhythm, it means to plant its message in the listener’s subconscious. The lyrics and music do double September 2012

duty, joining Werley’s design and the record’s aesthetic to urge listeners toward relationships. “We want to start a dialogue,” Werley said. “We want people to be able to see the songs and the album as a jumping-off point. There are a lot of people who are dealing with these kinds of frustrations and want change. For us, the record is part of that dialogue.” Gravity Mission is wrapped up in a sci-fi sort of identity yoked with a spiritual quest for ye olde oneness. The CD sleeve even declares the band’s mission statement as a three-point plan of big ideas: “To recover our conscious form that connects us to all living things; to pursue with dignity the endless mysteries of life and love, death and absence; to remember we are ancient secrets — stardust and all of its impossibility — on the bountiful shores of our infinite cosmic reality.” The album even follows a familiar creation story plot that is palatable for a broad audience. It opens with “Unsung

Words,” moves through “75 Percent Water” and “Forest Meets Mountain” and “Hive Mind,” before it gets to the proverbial first day with “Daybreak.” After that, Gravity Mission spends four tracks on the

Little d After Dark

Continued on 18

Gravity Mission likes its electronic chimes. Which makes sense when you take Before the Spoken Word as a call to the human race to congregate at a common natural altar where they can be transformed. The song begins with the chimes chanting before breaking into a 4/4 tempo pledge to follow nature’s hard wiring. Gravity Mission also makes repeated use of the keyboard solo to transition into the final half (or the middle third) of the song, and as pauses between chorus and verse. “Listen to the voice within,” Erazo urges — because an urge repressed can be dangerous later on.

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team tomb

Continued from 14 >> bling rhythms comes with the album’s opening track, “Intro.” Both songs showcase songwriting that could live under the chamber pop tent. Bailey and Campbell’s songs can flow into blissful moments that are nothing more than indie adagios or would-be concerti, with the guitar standing in for the strings and the keyboards taking over where a harpsichord might play. “Benny and I definitely have an appreciation for classical music, and we’ve listened to a lot of it,” Campbell said. “We weren’t consciously trying to put any of that in the record, but if someone hears that, it comes naturally to both of us.” Then he recruited busy local musician and graphic designer Jeremy Buller (the Hope Trust, OK Sweetheart) to chip in on bass. Campbell said he had written three or four songs and he and Bailey wrote 15 songs together before Team Tomb was a fully staffed band. “We jammed and the ideas came up pretty fast,” Bailey said. “The idea to record happened really fast. Eric Nichelson [Midlake] engineered some songs, and then Caleb gave all of it to Robert Gomez to remix it.” Campbell said he had a handful of mixes before Robertson was tapped to play keyboards. “I had some mixes, and we hadn’t even played our first show yet. We had songs written for another recording before we’d really played a show,” Campbell said. Team Tomb’s first appearance was a Halloween house show. Robertson had come aboard and fleshed out the

songs with plastic-y synth lilts. “People were hanging out and listening in costume,” Bailey said. “It was kind of cool to debut our music that way.” Once the four-piece was established, the band got down to business. So far, Team Tomb is driven mostly by Campbell’s ideas, with Robertson, Buller and Bailey keeping the band’s musical feet on the ground. Even with its indie-pop aesthetic, Team Tomb gives itself permission to chase experimental rabbits. That’s what will likely make Tomb a pocket band — loved by musicians with a cultish appreciation for art rock or indie bands that experiment, and a favorite of music buffs who like to listen to their music through earbuds and then see what a band will make of things live. “I think we have a knack for trying to do something instead of going verse-chorus, verse-chorus, and being just unpredictable,” Bailey said. Team Tomb does somewhat indulge Campbell’s love of playing with tempo, dancing a listener through an upbeat opening verse only to slow down, exploring the melody at half-time. Just as suddenly, Team Tomb picks things up

again. The songwriting complements Campbell’s lyrics, which are intuitive ideas lifted from his stream of consciousness and organized into simple rhymes. The band released the record Aug. 3. Now the fourpiece hopes to take advantage of any chance to play the

So far, Team Tomb is driven mostly by Campbell’s ideas, with Robertson, Buller and Bailey keeping the band’s musical feet on the ground. Even with its indie-pop aesthetic, Team Tomb gives itself permission to chase experimental rabbits. songs live. “I’m proud of the whole thing,” Campbell said of the album. “I like the sound we’ve put together, and we’re just ready for other people to hear it.” LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached by calling 940-5666877 or by sending an e-mail to cbreeding@ dentonrc.com.

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Little d After Dark

September 2012

brisket sandwich

by alyssa jarrell

his month we’re giving you a better-than-Lunchables version of the back-to-school lunch. You may or may not be packing up little ones for school (or still be in school yourself) — but there are better options for you than a small bag of Cheetos and your run-of-the-mill turkey sandwich on white. What I remember from lunch as a kid is that there were three categories: cafeteria food, the cool packed lunch and the lame packed lunch. The lunch line had its advantages, of course. Fridays were normally pizza-and-french-fries day. On the other hand, the lunch line usually included at least one questionable, beige-colored pile of food a day. The lame packed lunch was always brought by

Launching a better lunch Get the lunch ladies quaking in their control-tops with this brisket sandwich

the kid with the super-healthy mom, who packed celery sticks and rice cakes. Or it could go the other way: the dreaded leftover lunch with whatever random casserole the family “enjoyed” together the night before. Then there was the cool packed lunch. You’d want to sit next to the kid who brought that lunch, which was usually filled with storebought, pre-packaged gold. Lunchables, tiny bags of name-brand chips, stacks of Oreos, a sugar-filled soda and a Hostess cupcake or Jell-O pudding snack pack. But we’re grown-ups now, gosh darnit! We have more sophisticated palates that demand more than stacks of ham, cheese and crackers. So we’re amping up your back-to-school lunch with a meal you’ll want to keep all to yourself. Try a little slow-cooked brisket, roasted tomatoes and marinated olives, and you’ll really have something to look forward to come lunchtime. We paired our brisket sandwich with our favorite store-bought marinated olives and a blackberry Izze soda. ALYSSA JARRELL is an adventurer in the kitchen who enjoys giving her culinary creations to family and friends. Her website is thepinkantler .com. >>

Continued on 19

Courtesy photos/Chris Newby

September 2012

Little d After Dark

Come celebrate the

gravity mission

Continued from 15 >> building of consciousness and planetary awakening. The final track, “In the Beginning,” intentionally borrows the opening line of Genesis, the biblical account of how life came to be. “The album ends with the beginning. This is intentional,” Erazo said. “When you think about what we are doing to this planet, it is not something we can continue. If we don’t find a way to start over, to have a new beginning, we are facing our own end.” For all of the urgency Werley and Erazo feel about reforming the First World’s shortsighted lifestyle, Before the Spoken Word is a call to slow down, observe the mania and detach. The beats are never frenetic (because, hey, the Earth’s heart beats between volcano eruptions and continental drift) and the vocals, provided by Erazo, are consistently relaxed and easy. The record’s biggest fault might be that it occasionally drifts close to Muzak, thanks in part to trance-like beats and sporadic keyboard jazz chords. “75 Percent Water” maintains the tempo one might associate with yoga’s famous “corpse pose,” where the point is to bring the resting heart rate down to a mere slow tick. Even when

Gravity Mission picks up the pace, as it does with “Forest Meets Mountain,” the beat is quick but blunted by a lulling wolf howl and blunted synth drumbeats. The music lags behind Werley’s design and Erazo’s chops as a melody and beatmaker in terms of maturity and sophistication. Lyrically, Gravity Mission tends toward the trite when presenting its message about spiritual renewal through interconnectedness. The planet has a long (and often hippie-dippy) history as Mother Earth — a kindly, nurturing figure who just wants all its kids to get along. Gravity Mission urges a quasi-New Age communion between person and planet, insisting that human moral and spiritual disease might be patched up by a mindful jaunt into the forest. Experiences with the natural world can be enormously good for exhausted First Worlders who are too plugged in and too committed to hyperproductivity. But Before the Spoken Word doesn’t try to touch the shadow side of the planet — the side that unleashes Ebola, cancer and things with teeth and claws. And so the record is slightly stunted by hackneyed notions of an all-altruistic Earth. The >>

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Continued from 17 >>

Brisket Sandwich with Roasted Tomatoes and Mustard Aioli

EST. 1996

JAZZ

Brisket: 1 pound beef brisket, trimmed 2 tablespoons sea salt 2 tablespoons pepper 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, minced 1/2 cup dark beer 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce Season the brisket with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the brisket, brown on all sides and transfer to a slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and stir well. Slow-cook, until very tender, about 8 hours. Remove from slow cooker and allow the meat to rest for 15 minutes. Carve into thin slices for your sandwich. (I allow the meat to cook overnight, take it out in the morning, and make the sandwich before leaving for work.)

Sunday, September 2:

Tuesday, September 18:

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Tuesday, September 4:

Sunday, September 23:

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Mi Son, Mi Son, Mi Son

Tuesday, September 11:

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Roasted Tomatoes: 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil

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Mustard Aioli: 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard 1 teaspoon honey 1 clove garlic, smashed to paste Salt and pepper to taste In a small bowl whisk all ingredients together, adjusting salt and pepper to taste. Cover, and refrigerate overnight. Assembly: Slice a small French baguette in half, spread the mustard aioli on one side, and pile the tomatoes on the other side. Place a generous amount of brisket in the center and wrap up with parchment paper.

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gravity mission

Continued from 18 >> album would feel less campy if Erazo had turned all of Werley’s spoken poetry into sung lyrics. Erazo’s vocals are pitchy in spots, especially given the ultra-smooth sound of the music and slickness of the production. But the piano work is assured and effective, keeping the album moving along in its quest. And “Daybreak” is appropriately steady. Gravity Mission has a foundation to build on. Werley and Erazo know how to September 2012

tame an idea into a concept that can anchor a record. The pair reports that it is working on its second release, tentatively titled Quiet. With more focused vocals and better poetry, Gravity Mission will have a new and stronger treatise for the reform it so passionately preaches on Before the Spoken Word. LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached by calling 940-566-6877 or by sending an e-mail to cbreeding@dentonrc.com. H4

Little d After Dark

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Little d After Dark

September 2012