THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The cheekiest band in the land are back with Rockmaker, The Dandy Warhols’ 12th album. Produced and recorded by the band at their studio/funhouse The Odditorium in Portland, OR, Rockmaker sees the Bohemian Like You hitmakers celebrate their 30 years together with a sprinkle of glitter on their grime.
Accompanied by guests Debbie Harry, Slash and Pixies’ Frank Black, The Dandy Warhols wrangle paranoia, untangle anxious discontent, and lust after life while the dance grooves go deeper, heady drones get weirder, and riffage fit for bong rips hammers. Rockmaker is the Dandy’s clearest statement yet, at no sacrifice to their outré leanings. This is the sound of outsider alt-psych fixtures looking in as the walls come down.
“It started with a riff that either sounded like Misfits or Danzig and then got slowed down,” explains Courtney Taylor-Taylor of their single Danzig with Myself. “Over time, it became the working title that was just too good to replace,” he laughs at the play on words.
Featuring the inimitable Frank Black — who adds a heavy dose of Pixies’ fuzzed-out surf guitar — Danzig with Myself screeches like a Chevy Nova on a bender. Careening perilously, courtesy of Peter Holmström’s guitar, anchored with a steady and heavy rhythm from Zia McCabe’s deep bass and Brent DeBoer’s intent rhythm, Taylor-Taylor’s vocals keep laser-focused on the road.
Always experimenting and pushing the boundaries of their own creativity (their previous album Tafelmuzik Means More When You’re Alone was a three-and-a-half-hour exploration of what one way characterized as a “soundtrack that would typically score a mid-16th century banquet”), this album delves deeper into minor guitar chords that often characterize post-punk, deep metal, or even goth.
“Sometimes we have a very focused idea of what we want,” Taylor-Taylor says. “It’s generally what we want somebody else to make but since they never do, we have to. It has a very specific sound. There aren’t a lot of heavy guitar records currently coming out that we like, so that was the impetus for Rockmaker.”
Lending their hands to the production, celebrated British DJ and producer Keith Tenniswood (David Holmes, Primal Scream, Rotters Golf Club) of Two Lone Swordsmen mastered the record and acclaimed British producer Jagz Kooner (Massive Attack, Kasabian, Garbage) mixed it.
“Overall, Rockmaker is the manifestation of our desire to hear a record of heavy raw punk and metal guitar riffs, but it has its own alley,” Taylor-Taylor concludes.
Watch my interview with Peter Holmström HERE.
