It’s a big week for you. Your band, Direct Hit!, is about to release their debut full length Domesplitter on August 2nd on Kind of Like Records, and as I understand it you just got engaged, so congratulations are in order!
Thanks man!
What can people expect from the new Direct Hit! album? How would you describe it to someone who has never listened to your band before?
Reworked and better-sounding versions of shit we’ve already put on the Web, played by musicians that are actually still in our band, on a format that doesn’t require a high speed internet connection and no life. It’s pretty awesome. You should buy it.
I describe the band differently to different people. I like to say we sound like a pop-punk Andrew WK in general, but that’s an insult to the dude because he released I Get Wet, and that’s my favorite album ever. If I’m talking to like, my parents’ friends though, or people I meet at work, I usually just say “loud, fast, and atonal.”
The songs on Domesplitter were re-recorded based on fan selections from your 5 EP releases. Were there any songs you were really hoping would get chosen that didn’t make the cut?
I really wanted to do Captain Asshole again, and Robbie and Danny really wanted to do Last Train Out. All of us have our favorites and less favorites. But we figured if we were going to tell people the album was worth buying, even though they had already gotten it for free, we might as well let them pick what their favorites were.
You released your last two EPs on Death to False Hope Records, a digital-only label. What was your experience like working with DTFH and do you feel that releasing your music digitally in a pay-what-you- can model helped your band?
It was great working with DTFH! I wouldn’t even really use the term “worked with.” It was pretty laid-back, and Scotty’s more of a friend than an “associate.” I credit a lot of what relatively little success we’ve had to how much he hyped our band to his friends when nobody had heard of us before. We wouldn’t be working with KOL if it wasn’t for Scotty, and you and I probably wouldn’t be talking to each right now either.
And yes, I do think releasing music more or less for free has helped our band out a lot. Nobody wants to pay $12 for a CD anymore. And downloading music from iTunes is a bummer too usually. But nobody just sits at their computer and listens to streams all day long either, so giving people the ability to bring the music away from their desks was really important to us. Not to be presumptuous or anything, but I think that whole aspect of our band has made it a much more communal kind of project. I think it’s awesome that people send our shit around to each other, post it on message boards, and burn copies for their friends. It’s really flattering to know some people care even that much.
I understand that you’re a big comic book fan, which is exciting because we’re all pretty huge comic book geeks at Punks in Vegas. If you could have any comic artists, past or present, provide artwork for a Direct Hit! release, who would you go with and why?
I don’t read a lot of his stuff, but I’d shit myself if Robert Crumb would do a cover for us. He did a bunch of albums back in the day for a bunch of bands like the Grateful Dead and stuff. I just think his art is so weird, and gross. But it’s really detailed too. That’s always what makes album art cool, for me at least – those details that take a few looks to notice. Either way, I don’t know if he’s into punk rock. Probably not. I think they talked about him being more into jazz in American Splendor. A friend of ours, Jake Grimes, just got me into this book called Prison Pit too. This guy named Johnny Ryan draws it, and his art is the shit – just super-sketchy and violent. It’s almost like if that dude Neck Face drew a comic book. I’d give him a call too if I had the chance.
Conversely, what comic adaption would you like Direct Hit! to write music for? I’ve always thought your music would fit well with Warren Ellis’ Nextwave, or really Warren Ellis’ work in general. And you’d be a much better fit for the Spider-Man reboot than Macy Gray was for the original film.
Like if a comic was made into a movie that we could provide the soundtrack for? I’d be pretty psyched if we could do the soundtrack for an animated version of this book Prison Pit. A dude on the internet, Jake Grimes, got me into it. This dude named Johnny Ryan is the writer and illustrator, and it’s like an 8th grader in the back of a classroom made it. I’d love to write music to go with that. But only if it’s animated, and only if Ryan’s directing.
Do you have any plans to tour the west coast soon? Maybe a stop in Las Vegas?
Yeah, we’ve pretty much been trying to figure out a way to make it to the west coast since we started playing music together. I love the Rockies, and pretty much everything on the other side of them. Vegas will definitely be a stop. My last band played at the Double Down Saloon a few times, and they saved our ass on money at least once. We were supposed to play at another venue in town, and they dicked us over both on money and support, so we went over to the DD just to drink our sorrow away with a lot of ass juice, and the bartender was actually from Cedarburg, which is about a half hour north of where we were from. So we spent all night talking to him, and they let us play on a minute’s notice, and didn’t raise a stink when we walked around begging people for change.
What are some albums you have been digging lately?
The new Fucked Up and Death Grips albums will blow your mind. I’m pretty certain that when I’m standing in line at the gates of hell, Death Grips will be playing at top volume. And I’m pretty sure the broadway production of David Comes To Life will win as many Tony awards as The Book Of Mormon some day.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Play blackjack all day.
Thanks, Nick! Domesplitter, Direct Hit!’s first full-length, is now available for pre-order at the Kind of Like Records e-store. While you’re waiting for it to ship, you can head over to the band’s new website Directhitsucks.com and leave the band a message.
-interview by Emily Matview
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