BLURT’S BEST KEPT SECRET #6: Bulletproof Vests
Sep 29, 2009
Memphis garage/power pop/soul musos know where to find the best chicken salad.
BY FRED MILLS
The BLURT staff put our heads - and ears - together and we have the latest pick for our Blurt/Sonicbids "Best Kept Secret": it's Memphis outfit the Bulletproof Vests. Take a little bit of garage, a whole lotta power pop, touches of Beach Boys vocal harmonies, sprinkle in some twang, some soul - pure Memphis, in other words.
The music city's in the quintet's genes, in other words (and in their jeans as well), and based upon the evidence of the Bulletproof Vests' debut album Attack!, they couldn't fake it if they tried. From "To The Moon," which righteously marries Big Star to T. Rex, through the anthemic pop/soul (think erstwhile Memphians the Reigning Sound) of both "Magic Wand" and "Down in Yer Pocket," and all the way to the unreconstructed Nuggets-worthy, raveup of "Queenie in Trouble" that'll have you hittin' the nighttime avenues, ready to rumble - these guys got the stuff.
The band: brothers Jake and Toby Vest, on guitars and vox; Greg Faison, on drums; Dirk Kitterlin, on keyboards; and Brandon Robertson, on bass. With a collective resume that includes the likes of Antenna Shoes, Jump Back Jake, Snowglobe, The Third Man, and even a one-off with the late producer Jim Dickinson called the Trashed Romeos, those Memphis roots are consistently on display. Jake and Toby also operate their own studio, High/Low Recording and have been diligently documenting the Memphis indie-rock underground in between working on their own projects.
You can hear tracks from Attack! at both the band's MySpace page and their official download site - it was originally self-released earlier this year in a super-limited run, but it's slated to have a full national release very soon via local label Electric Room Records. Meanwhile, totally smitten by what we've heard to date, we contacted the band to get the scoop on where they came from, where they're going, and everything we need to know about their home town. A big salute to the band from BLURT and Sonicbids.
***
BLURT: Where did all the members come from - previous bands, etc. - and when and how did the Bulletproof Vests form?
JAKE VEST: Toby and I were in the midst of mixing a record for our first band, The Third Man, when we got a call from a friend offering the Third Man a gig at the legendary Hi Tone Cafe. Sadly, some of the members of the band had scheduling conflicts - one had chest waxing appointment, another had to wash his hair - so we couldn't commit to the gig as The Third Man. Toby looked at me and said, "Why don't we just write 15 songs and get some folks together and bash through it." I immediately wrote our song "Magic Wand," and the idea of another band was born.
We toyed with names - Deathcopter, Vietnamicon, Grammar Napkin, Wizard Tears, etcetera - and while drunk on a plane, we decided to include our namesake and call it The Bulletproof Vests. Through the passing of time and the shifting of the solar plexus we put together a band that included Brandon Robertson, of Snowglobe, Coach & Four, Jump Back Jake, and Antenna Shoes, on bass; Greg Faison, of Antique Curtains and Jump Back Jake, on drums; and Dirk Kitterlin, a member of The Third Man, on keyboard instruments.
TOBY VEST: Let me also say that one of the main reasons for starting The BPV was to have a creative outlet that was miles away from what we'd done before. The excitement of expanding our creative palette really fed into the way the songs came about and the way the record sounds. That, and the fact that we were tired of jumping up and down on effects pedals in The Third Man, so something a little more natural was a welcome change.
I'm also told that some of you were in a band called the Trashed Romeos with Jim Dickinson and Greg Roberson - what was the deal with that?
JAKE: We were lucky enough to spend a couple afternoons with Jim Dickinson at Zebra Ranch throwing around song ideas, jamming on stuff, and listening to great stories. We took the demo tapes, picked the best songs, and cut them at our studio, High/Low Recording. After that, we went back to Zebra Ranch and Jim played piano and organ like a madman all over it. I mean, he NAILED that shit to the wall! In that short time, Jim Dickinson taught us more than we would ever be able to thank him for. He is and will always be an important influence to us musically and beyond.
TOBY: We'll forever be grateful to Greg Roberson for introducing us to Jim and facilitating the project and to Jim for welcoming us into his world.
Tell me a little about the album Attack! and how it came together.
JAKE: I guess the best way to explain the album is to look at the cover. Our friend Mary Carmack created the collage that we used. I relate intensely to her work for many reasons, one being that her collages are just like our band. She uses classic images in concert with her own creations to make something completely new and exciting. That was our goal with this record. When I saw her piece that we used for the cover, it just made so much sense. We wanted this record to be a full out attack. So we just dropped those words on top of it and called it a day. Hopefully, she'll let us continue to butcher her work in the future.
Musically, the album is the result of us learning to be a band. And at the time of recording our lineup was different. Our friend/Third Man bandmate Preston Todd was on drums, and he contributed greatly to the writing and singing of the vocal harmonies. So you have songs where Faison would be on drums AND bass, Preston would be singing, I'd play 2 acoustic guitars and an electric, etc. etc. All these odd little pieces surprisingly ended up as a somewhat cohesive album. It was loose and fun and still is.
TOBY: The recording of the record was pretty much a club house kind of situation. Jake or I would come in with a song and we'd cut a track and start to build on top of it. There were no sessions, per se, for the record; it just kind of came together by working as much as possible over the course of maybe a 6 months or so. It was fun and relaxed. We had the songs done for a while and were introduced to Adam Hill, who works at Ardent, by Greg Roberson and he did a great job turning our ramshackle recording into a listenable album. We pressed a small run, maybe 100 discs, and sold them at shows this summer. We are going to officially release it on local label Electric Room Records this fall. Then world domination can commence.
Memphis has a schizophrenic reputation: it's one of our most legendary music towns, yet numerous musicians have told me that it's a damn hard place for an indie rock band to make a go of it. Is that true?
JAKE: I don't think I understand the question, really. It's not hard at all to be a band in Memphis. You find some dudes, or dudettes, you like and you play music and have fun doing it. Sure, if you bring expectations into the equation, then eventually you'll get disappointed by something like a low turnout or the 1,000 copies of your record you still have stored in your house. The way I see it, this is the EASIEST town to make a go of it. Not only do you have a huge wealth of musicians to work with, but you also have venues that support their bands and an audience that is hungry for live music. I challenge anyone who disagrees to an arm wrestling contest.
TOBY: I think one of the biggest obstacles in this city is the audience for live music because this town doesn't tolerate bullshit. Either you believe in what you are doing or you don't and the audience in Memphis can tell. And if you don't, then why the hell are you doing this anyway.
What are some of the best kept secrets in Memphis - from bands to venues to vices - we should know about when planning our vacations to your fair city?
JAKE: I'd say musically its Richard James & the Special Riders. Richard and his wife Anne Schorr make up the core of the band, and they are incredible. The live show is not to be missed. The Hi Tone Cafe has the finest pizza, Payne's BBQ has the best barbecue, the Lamplighter has the best patty melt, the shows at the Buccaneer Lounge are always insane and out of control (in a great way), and Alex Threet is the greatest bar regular you will ever meet.
TOBY: Jeffrey James and The Haul is another band that stands out to me - great songs, great dudes, and fun for all. I might also say that what is going on at our studio space, High/Low Recording, is a pretty well kept secret. Over the last year we have recorded Jeffrey James and The Haul, Antique Curtains, two Richard James and the Special Riders records, Chinamen, New Mary Jane (featuring Dave Shouse and Scott Taylor of the Grifters), and Holly Cole, as well as all the stuff we are personally involved in - The BPV, The Third Man, Trashed Romeos, and Kid Polio. Our hope is to make it easy and comfortable for our friends to make records in a relaxed environment.
I hear a lot of styles and influences in your sound, but I wanted to know, if YOU were encountering the Bulletproof Vests for the first time, what would your reaction be?
JAKE: My reaction would be as follows: "What a bunch of drunk fools up there lookin like they're having the time of their lives playing music with each other. And shouldn't that drummer lose some weight?"
TOBY: "What's with the tights?? Is that a statue or a keyboard player???" Or simply, "Bitchin'."
Biggest successes to date? Biggest failures? Plans for the immediate future?
JAKE: For me, our biggest success has been that our friends keep coming out to our shows and having fun. Our biggest failure is when we ran over that possum in Pittsburgh last summer while on tour. All I'm gonna say about the future is that we are recording our 2nd record and where we're going, we wont need roads.
TOBY: I concur.
Anything else we should know about the band, the city, life, love or the pursuit of happiness?
TOBY: "Never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese."
JAKE: Our mom makes the best chicken salad you will ever taste.
blog comments powered by Disqus
More Photos
