Thursday, April 15, 2010
When your friends are talented musicians, you kind of have to start a band. That’s what happened to the Dactyls. John Bergwell knew his brother, Nick, and friend, Brendan Costello, were the best guitarists he knew. “Nick’s the kind of guy who will sit and play for hours just because he really enjoys playing,” Bergwell says. So four years ago, they started a band. With drummer John Momberg, they recorded two 7-inch singles and released an EP.
Mombeg left the band late last year to play with the Appleseed Cast and Old Cane, and was replaced by Dan Benson.
The Dactyls played South by Southwest in 2009 and while in Austin recorded a full length LP that was produced and mixed for free by producer Jim Vollentine, who has worked with bands such as And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and Spoon. They spent two weeks at Jack Rock’s Tree Fort Studios, which is home to a huge collection of classic gear, including tube mics and old amps. The band used the retro gear and recorded analog, on 2-inch tapes, to achieve their characteristic sound.
“It’s loud,” Bergwell says. “It’s rock music.”
Bergwell, who plays bass, says they use alternative tuning and inverted phrasing to make their music more textured. The tuning defines their sound because not many bands do it.
The band is in the process of looking for a label to release their LP. But they love being productive and writing new music. They have already finished writing another album. They will go back to Austin in late spring and record it with Vollentine producing again.
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