With bands like White Mystery and Sister Crystals, the DIY punk scene in Chicago is getting everyone’s attention. Don’t have enough money or time or the constitution to get yourself over there? No worries, one of the staples of the scene, Twin Peaks, is bringing their brand of rock’n’roll fuckery to New Orleans tonight at Gasa Gasa. We caught up with bassist Jack Dolan while the boys were on the road headed to Austin mid-tour, and we talked about everything from superstitions to shitty band names, to offending Sean Lennon.
WYAT: What’s the most disgusting thing that’s ever happened to you on tour?
Jack Dolan: Umm, one tour I was having nonstop nosebleeds the entire time and that was pretty gross after a while. It was pretty much winter in Chicago, and we had gone from this super cold climate straight down south for tour, so I had to keep wiping it [onstage].
WYAT: Who’s your favorite person you’ve ever offended?
Jack Dolan: Oh I really freaked the shit out of Sean Lennon in Toronto. I was in a stall and he was peeing in the stall next to mine, and I reached under the stall and I grabbed his shoe and I said “nice shoes.” Then he dipped out of the bathroom really fast and he wouldn’t look at me for the rest of the night. I thought it was funny though.
WYAT: Are you guys ever gonna shoot a music video indoors?
Jack Dolan: Oh that’s- we have shot one indoors, but it was like a long time ago. It was the Ocean Blue, we’re just standing in a room smoking a joint. It’s funny, it was really just our friend’s art project, he’s from Baltimore and he had to do a short little video thing and it ended up looking really cool.
WYAT: I know you guys like The Beatles and a lot of their music is used in movies, either as part of a soundtrack, or the content like Yellow Submarine or Across the Universe. Would you ever be interested in doing a soundtrack or making visuals for your music?
Jack Dolan: Oh yeah. Definitely, definitely. We’re all big fans of film and that would be really cool. A while ago we messed around with a little short film-not sure where you’d be able to find it, but it’s called “Acid Jokes Burn”* and it’s actually really funny.
WYAT: What did you spend your first advance on?
Jack Dolan: We had been playing with a bunch of shitty equipment for so long so we spent all that money on new stuff. There’s a place called Chicago Music Exchange, it’s the shit. It’s the coolest music store in Chicago and they treat bands they know really well.
WYAT: People make a lot of fuss over your name. What’s the best band name you’ve ever heard?
Jack Dolan: (Asking others on the bus) What’s the best band name y’all have ever heard? (laughing) Ok, so these are a bunch of obscure bands you’re gonna have to look up later: Jaw Milk*, Masturbation Genocide, Mouse on the Keyboard, and Poo Poo Pie. Also (indistinguishable noise) they’re more of a rap collaborative.
WYAT: And what’s the worst?
Jack Dolan: Ok, so we made all those up. (Laughing) There’s so many bad ones. If you go into a green room and look at all the stickers, just close your eyes and point at one and that’s probably the worst band name you’ve ever heard.
WYAT: What’s the dumbest thing someone’s ever said about your music?
Jack Dolan: Someone came up to Clay once and was like, “Yo man, I love you guys man. You guys are like Foo Fighters.”
WYAT: Foo Fighters like the band?
Jack Dolan: Yeah like the shitty Dave Grohl band. People say dumb shit about our music all the time.
WYAT: Well cause I was reading all these interviews and the things people say! Like, “It’s lo-fi garage rock”or “Scuzzy power pop” I don’t know…
Jack Dolan: Yeah, yeah. People, they try way too hard to compartmentalize everything into one-you know, something they can explain to someone else what it sounds like. It’s kinda bullshit, it forces certain bands to only stick with what they were labeled as when they first started. The great thing about being an artist is being able to expand and do new shit.
WYAT: I don’t know if you know who Frank Ocean is, but everyone always refers to him as an R&B singer, which he’s completely not, it’s just because he’s black and he sings, and so when he uploaded his album to iTunes, he made the genre “Bluegrass” to show how arbitrary that all is.
Jack Dolan: That’s hilarious. There was like a thing for a while when he was getting famous with people who like him, called “PBR&B.”R&B for hipsters, and that was probably the worst shit ever. That was really bad.
WYAT: Is there anything you feel embarrassed for liking but that you still love?
Jack Dolan: Umm well I know a good amount of us who were into Blink-182 back in the day, still fucking rock with that shit (laughing). Obviously there’s a time when you realize that when you were a kid, all the music you were listening to and you love and you just can’t deny that you love, is just the worst ever. You have to go through this total soul search and re-evaluate everything. But obviously some of that stuff still sticks with you. You know, some Jimmy Eat World hit, or fucking, Offspring, whatever it may be.
WYAT: Is anyone in the band superstitious?
Jack Dolan: (asks other members in van) You guys aren’t superstitious are you? (pause) No we don’t really have any- we love that Stevie Wonder song. Nah we’re pretty much- (puts on a voice) We look at the world how it is (laughs).
WYAT: Where Y’At: (laughs) How is it?
Jack Dolan: (same voice) It’s just real life, man. (drops voice) Nah, on our first tour we did like the sage, but then we never did that again.
WYAT: You did what?
Jack Dolan: You know sage-ing things? Like blessing it with the sage? You burn it and it smells like sage. Yeah, but we never did it again. I mean, we did that and pretty much right after we did that one of our tires exploded. So we were like, fuck this superstition shit. We don’t really believe in that stuff.
WYAT: Do you have any fears about the band?
Jack Dolan: Not really. Because I think that a lot of what we used to worry about has already worked itself out- Holy shit.
WYAT: What?
Jack Dolan: No, we almost just-my only fear about the band is like, crashing-
WYAT: Did you almost just get in a car accident while you said that?
Jack Dolan: Yeah (laughs).
*Might not actually be what he said…they were in a van, hearing was difficult at times
