Interview

Richard Dreyfest Interviews Panther Car

by Austin Finn

To start off, something simple. Names, birthstones, and zombie apocalypse home base location (ie, where you would go to setup as your central HQ in case of a zombie apocalypse)?

Connor, Chrys, Andrew, and Scott. 

Kidney Stone, Cold Stone, Black Stone Cherry, and Amethyst, respectively.

If zombies were to apocalyze we would head straight to the Morty Dome, where the walls are made of hundreds of screaming Mortys, distracting the zombies, and allowing us to pinch ‘em off one by one

Describe your sound in three sentences or less using the words “belly”, “Sheffield Wednesday Football Club”, and “oblong”.

Our oblong tones have often been a popular choice at the Sheffield Wednesday Football Club‘s annual pig roast, where the residual grooves tend to sit in one’s belly and cause indigestion, leading to the customary passing-of-the-Tums-bottle.

Do you guys remember, like 5 years ago, we played a show together at a place in Billings called the Terminal. That show and venue has sort of become legendary now, for a lot of different reasons. Do you remember anything about that show? What did you think of the space and the bands?

That was the first time we saw Idaho Green! It totally changed our perception of Billings, we had no idea that anything like that went on there. In a way it seems like Dreyfest is trying to preserve the legacy of the vibe of that show.

Dreyfest organizer and MSU alumn Nels Jensen is obsessed with La Parilla. I went with him twice and both times he got the fettusccine alfredo burrito. Can you please talk some sense into him?

It seems like Nels has got his head on straight now, he’s joined the hordes of us addicts at Taco Montes, with their tantalizing array of fusion tacos

Ever play the Haufbrau? It’s still one of my favorite places to play in the entire country.

The best, coziest, shittiest, drunken, noisy, fun-times are had there. The first show we ever played was at the Haufbrau and we still piss off patrons there constantly    

Ever play shows with Tales From Ghost Town? I’m convinced he’s the punk poet laureate of Montana. 

Tales From Ghost Town is great - we played with him years ago in Helena. Nick plays with another group, Gang Member, who also rule.

Any tours of up coming projects you guys are stoked on in the future?

We’ll be trying to release our new EP in the first-ever boof-able format…so look out for that

First word that comes to mind when you think of Billings?

Rims

Panther Car's links:

 

For more info about Panther Car, check out an article about the band from Gabba Gabba Magazine by clicking hereSee the rest of the lineup for Dreyfest or check out some more interviews.

Also, check out this year's venues and get your tickets!

Richard Dreyfest Interviews In Rapture

      by Kelly La Croix

Hey folks - who are we interviewing, what’s your age, what is your stance on pineapple on pizza?

Nate, 28. Samm, 27. Zach, 25. Tony, 24. JR, 22. One of us could die from consuming pineapple. So….we aren’t entirely fond of it on pizza.

I read in your bio that you started as a solo project that needed to be fleshed out. Nate, how did you choose who you would want to work with?

I knew Tony and Zach from a band called My Soul Beside Me. I recorded some of their songs and after that I showed them some material I was working on and we just started experimenting and building. I had known Samm for a few years before that. And we met JR through We 3 Bears, another band I had recorded.

Not too long ago, you all recorded at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle. First, was it at all intimidating going to a renowned location to record, knowing that so many great bands have been in the space before (small sampling of bands who have recorded there: Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Death Cab For Cutie, Heart, Sunny Day Real Estate)? Second, I see a former Billings-ite in some of the pictures on the studio’s webpage…was he your hookup? Third, how was the experience, overall?

It wasn’t too intimidating at first. But we had practiced, and practiced and played a lot of shows up until then so we were primed and ready. Our good friend Kee Curlee was working there and invited us out to record Oceans to Arsenic at the studio. We could not pass that opportunity up of course so we jumped at it! The experience was amazing and we met a lot of cool people! It was pretty intimidating having Robert Lang come steal some of our potato chips though. 

What has the general reaction been to your live shows when people learn you play instrumental music?

A lot of people are really surprised! Some people come to us and say, “I don’t really like metal, but you guys are awesome!” It’s a different reaction from everyone which is really cool because you can tell how their experience to your music truly was.

Since you are into a wide range of sounds, if you could add one more instrument to the band, what would it be?

We all like strings because of the amount of emotion you can play across the instrument. Violin, or Cello would be amazing.

Favorite Netflix/tv/online show?

It changes over time but at the moment:

Nate: Better Call Saul, South Park

JR: The Office, Seinfeld

Samm: Metalocalypse, Once Upon A Time

Zach: The Leftovers, Game of Thrones

Tony: Rick and Morty, Attack on Titan

I know that at least some of you are from Laurel (Billings’ quieter, smellier younger sibling). What’s the best thing about the place?

Skating the ghetto half pipe that was only available when the big ditch running through town was actually empty. Shit was off the chain.

A piece of music that you own that people probably wouldn’t guess that you own:

JR: My Chemical Romance, “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge”

Nate: Sir Mix A Lot, “Mack Daddy”

Samm: Insane Clown Posse, “The Great Malenko”

Zach: Nightwish, “The Poet and The Pendulum”

Tony: Childish Gambino, “Awaken My Love!”

Can anyone do any stupid human tricks? Y’know, like balance a mop on your forehead or triple flip into a pool of bees or whatever?

Zach can open a bottle with his teeth. It’s pretty hard to watch though. Nate’s talents are impossible to describe via text because they’re ungodly, high shrieks created using his voice. Samm can sound exactly like Jigglypuff. JR can turn purple. Tony can nail the Herbert the Pervert voice off of Family Guy.

Got any links for the readers to check out?

 

Richard Dreyfest Interviews The Windermeres

      by Kelly La Croix

 

Hi Windermeres! Who are you and what do you do and what is that awful smell?

Jeremy: I play drums and provide harmonies.

Andrew: I play guitar and sing backing vox.

Chris: I sing and play guitar and am the bossy jerk of the Windermeres

Andrew: That awful smell could be any one of us after 3 days of touritos.

Are you native Denverinians or are you from elsewhere?

Chris: We are! We are all from different suburbs of Denver.

I saw a photo of you guys and one of you had a fucking Assorted Jellybeans shirt on. First: I can’t believe anyone knows who that band is in 2017! Second: Do you guys like a lot of mid/late 90’s stuff?

Andrew: That is kind of our wheelhouse, haha.

Chris: We are pretty into all Fat Wreck and Epitaph stuff - especially mid-to-late 90s.

Will Dreyfest be your first trip to Billings/Montana in general? What (if anything) are you looking forward to?

Jeremy: Nope! We actually played shows in Billings, Bozeman, and Butte in our last tour. So this will actually be our second time in Billings this year!

I see you’re on For the Love of Punk Records, a venture, I assume, that is linked with Johnny Wilson honcho of the website For The Love of Punk. How did that relationship happen? (Side-note: Johnny has some Billings ties - when he was in Moral Crux they played out here a few
times and a few of us know him. Tell the guy hi from Billings!)

Chris: Johnny has been a fan of ours since we opened for The Gamits a few years back. When he heard that we were doing a new record, he asked if we had anybody putting it out. We didn't so he offered.

Andrew: My favorite Johnny story is how Moral Crux's first show was opening for Jawbreaker.

Chris of The Gamits produced your record. Did he impart anything to you fellas… sage words of advice or anything you observed that taught you something valuable?

Chris: Practice, practice, practice your songs before you get into the studio. Good drums and good vocals sell a record. Fogal is a pretty laid back guy. Oh! He likes to have his singers liquered up a little when doing lead vocals. He thinks it helps get them to be a little more loose and emotive.

Looking over your past and current releases, it seems like the subject matter has changed; do you intend to write socially conscious lyrics or is that just what’s at the forefront of your mind when you’ve been writing lately?

Jeremy: It's kind of hard not to be more political with the state of the country - and the world - right now. That definitely influences our music.

Chris: I feel like the first record is just as political as this one. Maybe, it was just a little more poetic or subtle. Maybe we were a little more aggressive about it on the second record? Hahaha

You guys recently lost a member. Will you be tuned up and ready in time for the fest??

Andrew: Hell yeah, we will. Nothing really slows us down.

Jeremy: We actually had a good friend fill in on our last tour and it was no problem at all. We have a similar situation for Richard Dreyfest.

You go to the corner store with $4 in your pocket. What do you purchase?

Jeremy: Water and rolling papers! Hahahaha

Andrew: Orange vitamin water and sriracha almonds.

Chris: Water and spearmint gum.

The ol’ job interview question: Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

Chris: Drinking beers and eating burritos with Daisy Riddley.

Jeremy: Supporting Billy Joel on his world wide farewell tour! Hahaha

Andrew: Brand new house, wife, kids, fast car, ...welll except minus the house, car, wife, and kids. Hahaha

Thanks guys! SEE YOU AT DREYFEST

-Richard P. Dreyfest

Links for The Windermeres: