I got an email the other day that’s the best news I’ve had all year. The Dexateens are releasing their new album, Singlewide and for the first time ever, they’re going to tour to promote it! You probably don’t know who The Dexateens are, but in my little part of the world, they get as much play as any other band I’ve ever followed. They were my New Favorite Band back before someone at Fox pissed me off and I quit my occasionally updated and hardly read blog. They have too many releases to maintain that title, so they just fall into the category of one of My All-Time Favorite Bands Ever category.
I found out about them in the best way to find out about a band. I was shopping at My Mind’s Eye in Lakewood, OH and in the miscellaneous “Ds” I saw their first album. I liked the cover, and I loved their name. I flipped it over and saw they were on Estrus and I figured the odds were damned good that this band was gonna have some guitar firepower. I have always shopped like that, and I usually have good luck. I had a few other things that day and when I got in my car I listened to those while I was driving around doing my job. I never got around to The Dexateens that day, but the next day I looked at the stack of new stuff and popped that in first and headed for the other side of town.
I don’t know what it is about twangy punk that I like, but it’s something. I never cared much for Southern Rock, mostly because I never much cared for The South, I guess. I live as far North as you can get in my part of the country, and if you go a few miles north in Lake Erie, you’re in Canada. So I feel a lot more in common with that nation than I do with the Deep South of my own country. I hate the racism and the stereotypes of The South, and my few dealings and visits there didn’t do anything to change my mind. When I popped in the first Dexateens album and “Cardboard Hearts” staggered up and slapped me in the face I knew I was gonna be hooked. This was fast, sloppy, loud and just made me want to knock off early, get some beers and make some noise!
The Dexateens, “Cardboard Hearts”
I had started listening to Drive By Truckers around that time, and I was seeing that the music coming out of The South was completely different from what I thought it would be. I like DBT, but I’m not one of their legendary fans. They just made me think I shouldn’t judge 50 or so million people by some hang-ups I had. I’d been listening to Lucero a lot and I was feeling pretty wrong about a lot of my preconceptions of The South, and here was a band that just seemed all fired up for fun. I was totally unprepared for “Cherry,” a 200 mph bitter diatribe against Bobby Frank Cherry, a white guy that bombed a Black church in 1963, killed four Black girls and lived free to boast about it until 2002. Then he was tried and put in jail, and that’s where the SOB died. These guys – The Dexateens – seemed like a band I could really get behind. By the time the Stonesy “Shelter” played, I really thought I might just play the first five songs on this album all day and never move past them. I started looking all over to see if they would play in Cleveland, because I couldn’t wait!
When their second album, Red Dust Rising, came out in 2005, I was ready for another sonic assault with some decent lyrics and plenty of guitars. They were still on Estrus and I was pretty sure that it would just be more of the same, but that sameness would be just fine by me. What I got was still plenty of guitars, but more twang, and a more deliberate pace. I was thinking maybe they needed a slow song so they could take a break a little during their shows, but this was different. I had tried finding out something about them, and it led me to a band called The Quadrajets who were a big influence on The Dexateens. I really assumed Red Dust Rising would be the same thing, and I was wrong. They still played some things fast and loud, but they were tighter and their sound was more their own. It’s definitely Southern Rock, but where that wall used to be impenetrable to me, their attitude and good sense to use many loud guitars whenever possible had me won over. I hate picking songs from this album for you, because I think everyone should have this one and there isn’t a weak spot on it. I think “Take Me to the Speedway” portrays their frustration of things in The South, but it works as a personal relationship, which I think is something Southerners feel more deeply than those of us up North. “Devoted to Lonesome” almost caught me by surprise, but that had already happened with the title track, and I knew I had found a band that I could really get behind. Still no Cleveland shows, though. I consoled myself with the boogie of “Pistol Totin’ Man.”
The Dexateens, “Take Me to the Speedway”
The Dexateens, “Devoted to Lonesome”
The Dexateens, “Pistol Totin’ Man”
(Much more after the jump!)
The next thing that happened was an Italian release of their first recording sessions (I think – they happened before the first album came out), called Teenager. These songs are very strongly influenced by The Quadrajets, and they’re all fast, hard and noisy. The subtleties of some of their lyrics or playing are all missing here. All that’s left is Kick and Ass. There’s a sameness to the songs, but it’s okay in the way Motorhead is okay. Yeah, it’s the same pounding song, but it’s a great pounding song and they only play it for 20 minutes or so, so it’s a good way to get fired up for a night out. No shows in Cleveland, but I think Europe got to go see them.
In 2007, Skybucket released Hardwire Healing, which was produced by Patterson Hood and Dave Barbe. At this point I had no idea what The Dexateens might try, but I was betting I’d like it. Hardwire Healing is a more traditional Southern Rock sounding piece, but it’s still infectious as hell and lyrically a step up from Red Dust Rising. I thought a song about Neil Armstrong being up on the moon for 25 years before coming down would be really bad, but I like it a lot. We also get a wonderful, slow quiet drinking song called “Downtown” that I never would have thought the band of “Teenager” or the first album would have done. The first time I played this, I had no idea what would come up from song to song, and there are definitely more acoustic songs on this one, and a weird thing called “Outside the Loop” that mentions Ohio. Bodes well for a tour, huh? One of the band members is in Ohio at this point, so I’m only a little disappointed when the closest they get to me is Columbus opening for DBT.
Which brings us to their last album, Lost and Found. They gave it away for free, and you can still get it as a free download here.
Lost and Found has more acoustic and slow songs on it, but they all have the Dexateens attitude and knack for coming up with catchy songs that never seem to get old or tired. They’ve honed the three-guitar sound to a fine point, the lyrics are the best they’ve ever been, and where this one doesn’t have as many gale-force rockers, it’s their strongest album from start to finish. “Mary” is a nice little rocker that sounds like a single take. It sounds nice and live, like it’s recorded in a room where the whole band can see each other play. I also really like “Sweet Little Loser,” which may be my favorite Dexateens song yet. I think that’s strange since so many of their songs are the guitar blasts I love so much, but there’s just a lot there for me to like. I like the way they put the song together; it’s simple, but it says a lot. Are they coming to Cleveland? Hell, no.
Now, they’ve announced a new album due May 12th called Singlewide. Mine’s already ordered and will be waiting for me that Tuesday when I get to the record store. There’s a couple of songs on their MySpace page, but I won’t go listen to them because I want to hear the whole thing. I’m betting it will be one of my favorite albums of the year. Better yet, they have announced a tour to promote the album for the first time ever! I’ll be seeing them May 19th at The Grog Shop in Cleveland. You should check their MySpace page to see where and when you’ll be seeing them!
They certainly have a lot of guitar fire power. I saw them with DBT last year and, at one point, I swear there were over thirty electrified guitar strings on stage blaring at the same time.
Definitely a wall of sound.
Not sure I’d be the biggest fan of their music, but that boxing-themed promo video is awesome!
Hankfan, you are very lucky in my eyes! If you couldn’t tell, this is like the best thing ever if you ask me! I’ve got a live show from Athens where at the end they do a “RRRRRROOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL TIDE! ROLL!” Thingy and they get booed off the stage after a set where they made a pretty good impact on the crowd. I like that.
HVB, you’ll like them. They’re the ginchiest!
Thanks for continually spreading the word on these guys, 2K. Last year I downloaded the songs you had up on your old blog (sorry Fox!), and I dig hearing them pop up on my iPod. I like this band’s guitar firepower. I like that “Teenager” song best and the other earlier, punky things I’ve heard, but “Devoted to Lonesome” was a good side of them. It was cool to hear them slow it down and allow for some backbeat. My one stumbling block is their singing style. Basically, beside Mick Jagger and Roy Loney on early Flamin’ Groovies records, I have trouble with that “truck-drivin'” style of singing. Loney was an acquired taste, but maybe the fact that he’s trying to imitate a British guy who’s imitating a redneck helps.
I knew you liked these guy, 2k, so I was glad to finally hear them. I enjoyed the tracks. Can’t say I’m dying to buy all their records. They’d probably be fun live, but I can’t help but think the six extra strings don’t really add anything special. It seems like their hearts are in the right place.
The thing I find interesting is your comments about the South and twang. I’ll try not to take all that personally, which I tend to do sometimes. But it struck me that your beloved Stones did their best work when they were channeling the South of their dreams and incorporating twang into their rock. Even after that you find yourself resistant to southern accents in music?
I can see where you’re coming from geographically. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be from northern Ohio. But many people use music to escape from their background, and sometimes I feel like living vicariously in Kinshasa, Kingston, Manchester, San Francisco, or Berlin. I’ve been to Tuscaloosa, though, and it wouldn’t exactly be my first choice.
I guess I don’t really have a point, and I’ll refrain from getting on my soapbox about how all rock music originated in the South. I think place is important. Sometimes we feel constricted by it, and sometimes it’s liberating.
Mr. Mod, I think Elliott’s truck driver singing style is because he’s from Tuscaloosa. Anything else and he wouldn’t be himself.
BigSteve, any of my misconceptions of The South are my own hangups. I liked Punk when I was a kid, and to me the music of The South was .38 Special and Molly Hatchet and I tossed Lynyrd Skynyrd in there as well. The Stones didn’t seem to be channeling that at all, and if anything they seemed to be laying down a blueprint for what Rock music from The South should sound like now, and those bands were trying to sound like The Stones. Even Patterson Hood was too cool for that music once.
I think that had I spent more time on that (hey, the tour is coming soon and the important thing is just that people go!), I’d have thought long and hard about how that Southern sound The Stones did so well seems to be easier to find done well by Northern or British bands, and here’s a genuine band from Alabama that’s talented and certainly brings The Rock and they’re total unknowns, even in the circles where people listen to that music.
I’m slowly learning that it’s possible that the world doesn’t revolve around me. After 47 years I actually tried Thai food three weeks ago. My wife wishes I hadn’t because I can get kind of singularly focused on one thing sometimes and I gotta say, those people know how to cook! It’s not at all what I thought it was. I don’t mind being wrong, so long as I find out what’s right sooner or later.