Leatherbag (Randy Reynolds) - Photo: Mary Sledd

It’s dangerous when you get two music nerds into a room at once. And mind you, I mean nerds, not snobs. The difference? Well, it’s slim, but a music snob probably wouldn’t admit the influence Tom Petty’s had on his latest album Love & Harm. Leatherbag (aka Randy Reynolds) is by every definition a music nerd. Between all the nerding-out over Wilco demos and Sonic Youth interviews, he and I managed to chat for a bit about his new album, his production credits on Graham Weber’s latest album, Door to the Morning, and, true to our nerdom, books.

Big Diction: There are a lot of obvious influences on the album that you’ve talked openly about, how do you see them fitting with you own songwriting on the album?

Leatherbag: Well its hard, its really hard. I mean this past week I’m obsessed with two things: Dwight Twilley… and Tom Petty. And people laugh every time I fuckin’ say it, there’s something about Tom Petty. I can’t explain it, but he knew when he had really good songs, ’cause the songs are really well taken care of. Every part works exactly the way it’s supposed to. And I’m only listening to stuff from ‘76 to ‘81 where they’re still trying to figure out what they’re doing, nothing that went platinum yet except Damn the Torpedoes which is awesome, awesome. But dude, when you listen to “Refugee,” you can walk down the street and play that, and people know exactly what it is. It doesn’t matter if they know who’s singing it, but they know the song. Part of me at least, wants to get to the place where you can do that one time at least, and say that’s my thing. His song “Listen to Her Heart,” it’s awesome. It sounds like them and nothing else.

Continue reading Interview: Leatherbag

Colour Revolt - Photo: Daniel Sprague

On this edition of the Daily Dic, we speak with Jesse Coppenbarger of Colour Revolt about his new album Plunder, Beg and Curse, out now on Fat Possum. They’ll be in Austin tonight at Emo’s with The Breeders. Highly recommended.

Big Diction: I hear you took your exams early to hit the road. Does “We’re going on tour with The Breeders” have as much clout in the academic world as it does in the music world?

Jesse Coppenbarger: Surprisingly, yes. Kinda.

Big Diction: Speaking of The Breeders, what has it been like on tour with them so far?

Jesse Coppenbarger: It has been crazy fun. They’re really nice and talk to us, from time to time, which was surprising.

Continue reading The Daily Dic: Interview and New Music from Colour Revolt

Blake - Photo: Andrea Bucci

It’s ironic that, even though I’m interviewing the mastermind of what is perhaps the most unique band in Austin, at least in terms of not quite fitting in with the “scene,” I’m in the interview capital of the city – Spider House. Blake, of Aliens, has agreed to join me for the evening, and we’re now crammed into a secluded booth, sharing ideas on the nature of “genre labels,” the exclusivity of “the Austin sound,” radio commercials and, most importantly, Aliens.

Big Diction: People have a hard time classifying the aliens, I’ve heard “Punk,” I’ve heard “Rock,” I’ve heard just “Noise Rock.” Where do you put the band and does that matter to you?

Blake: Yeah, it doesn’t really matter, I mean it’s just music. To me it’s music that I think about and it just comes out that way. But it is intentional too, it’s something very specific that I’m trying to do. So I kind of shy away from labels, but only because people use them as a way to forget you. They use them as a way to negate any power you might have. They stick you in this little box and say, “This is all you are.” It seems like a way to pigeon hole people and forget them, “Oh they’re that – they sound like this band.”

Continue reading Interview: Aliens