The Hex Dispensers Interview!

This interview was originally published in Audio Ammunition on June 25th, 2013

One can take any given Hex Dispensers song and create a very good screenplay out of it. The song’s lyrics put you into the skulls of paranoid, delusional individuals straight out of a Coen Brothers movie. Or it can plant you into the desperate situation of a science fiction calamity. All of this is delivered with one of the most contagious brands of garage punk combusting in the universe today. The music rockets into your psyche and forces you to beat your feet and shimmy your shoulders like you’re under some kind of Haitian Voodoo trance. The full meaning of the name Hex Dispensers has now become clear to me. I’m going to go find my copy of the Serpent and The Rainbow now.

Interview by Jay Castro

Who’s answering the questions here?
Alex Cuervo

Who is in the band and how do you earn your keep in it?
Alex Cuervo - guitar/vocals
Alyse Mervosh - drums/vocals
Rebecca Whitley - bass/guitar/vocals

Where are all of you from, originally?
The band is from Austin, TX. I'm originally from El Paso, TX. Alyse is from the Washington D.C. area, and Rebecca is from Houston, TX.

What is the bands origin story, how did you all meet and come together?
We had our first rehearsal on 06/06/06 (Really!) Original lineup was myself, Alyse and Tom "Kodiak" Micklethwait (who recently left the band to focus on his amazing BBQ business, Micklethwait Craft Meats). The three of us had been playing in a band called This Damn Town which was winding down and we wanted to keep playing together, so we started this one. We were later joined by David Bessenhoffer on bass. Tom and Dave left the band around 2010 and Rebecca joined on bass. Tom re-joined for about a year, but left again, so now it's back to being a 3-piece.

I’ve seen an interview of you guys talking about the original sound of The Hex
Dispensers being nothing like what actually came out when starting to write and
play songs. What sound did you have in mind when starting out?
I guess initially we talked about something between the Coachwhips and the Marked Men. The raw, fucked up, blown-out quality of the Coachwhips mixed with some of the more refined songwriting and precision of the Marked Men. I can see where we were trying (on some of the early stuff), but the end result became something totally different - mostly because we couldn't pull off that recipe. Not in our wildest dreams.

Tell me about alexcuervo.net and what is it all about? What inspired you to go into
that musical direction?
It's been a longtime dream of mine to write music for films (and television, and video games), and I started getting really serious about it a couple years ago. My day job is writing custom music for clients (advertising/digital, etc...), but my long-term goal is to write music for films/tv/games all of the time. I also do some graphic design and print production freelance work, but lately the music work is more frequent. So far, I've only scored a couple short films and have licensed music for a feature film. I'll be working on scoring for my first feature film this summer - an experimental documentary called Yakona that I'm very excited about. I'm not the primary composer on it - but it's a really ambitious and creative film and I'm blown away to be involved with it.

You recently contributed music to the film “Bad Kids Go To Hell”. With that, plus
the mood of Hex Dispensers records, I am guessing you are fans of Horror movies
and/or books. What are some of your all time favorites of the genre?
Yeah - I'm big into horror and science fiction films/books/comics etc. I strongly prefer supernatural horror or monster movies to the slasher/torture porn kinds of films. I'd say I really just like genre films in general, be they sci-fi, horror, suspense, fantasy or whatever. I guess it's important to point out that we don't really consider ourselves a "horror rock" band, as I'm really not into that aesthetic at all. I just write about stuff that interests me, and the whole spooky/occult/supernatural thing just comes naturally to me. It's hard to pick favorites, I mean I'm crazy about all the classics, like the Shining, the Exorcist, Night of the Living Dead, etc. Some recent films I've really enjoyed have been Cabin in the Woods and Drag Me to Hell. Believe it or not - I really really liked the remake of Evil Dead. I think everybody that's hating on it thinks that they're "supposed to". I found it really well made and totally in the spirit of the original. Lot's of reviewers keep making the rookie mistake of comparing it to Evil Dead 2 instead of the original Evil Dead - which is super annoying.

Who inspired you to learn how to play music and pick up an instrument in the first
place?
Wow - it's a really long list! I've always wanted to play music since I was a really little kid, but I never had any kind of lessons or instruments. I just banged on upside-down trash cans or whatever. Back then I was all about Foreigner, ELO, Queen, or whatever my big sister was listening to in the 70’s. As time went on I discovered skateboarding, which turned me onto punk rock and then it was just a matter of digging up whatever I could find, which in El Paso Texas in the mid 80’s wasn't super easy. Once I discovered magazines like Flipside and Maximum Rock & Roll, I just mail-ordered tons of stuff as I could afford to and it grew from there. By the time I was 16 I was playing drums (badly) in a punk band, and then I went on to sing for another one and I've been at it since.

If The Hex Dispensers could tour with any band/musician from times gone by, who
would it be and why?
Hmmmmm... It's a tricky thing you know, because I could say Black Sabbath, and it would be crazy and decadent, but we would have been booed off the stage every night - so where's the fun in that? I guess the Ramones original lineup would be great just because it would be so awesome to see them that much - and we'd be less likely to get booed, but we'd play a really short set and get the hell out of the way as quickly as possible.

I recently read that out of all different art forms, music has the power to alter a
person’s disposition the fastest. Do you agree with this? Do you have any favorite
music that you can put on that will always lift you from a slump?
I totally agree. It's weird, that sometimes if I'm down in the dumps - I like to listen to really sad stuff. I just hunker down and let myself get super bummed out, and let it pass through. I have a playlist of go-to songs for just such an occasion. "Goodbye" by Reigning Sound really gets me super sad. Beautiful song. "The Grand Tour" by George Jones is another one on the list. If I'm feeling aggro or exercising (neither of which occur all that frequently these days) it's kind of a mix of grimy/weird hip hop like early Wu-Tang or Death Grips with pseudo-metallic hardcore like From Ashes Rise or Black Breath.

I recently read an interview with Keith Richards saying that anyone buying digital
music is getting short changed. Do you agree with this and if so, why?
I like vinyl for it's tangible quality - but I'm a digital convert. I love making playlists and having a ton of music on me all the time. I'm not a purist at all when it comes to fidelity - so digital is A-OK with me. Alyse and I will still spin records while we're having brunch at home or on an occasional Friday night, but mostly - we listen to digital music.

I don’t like using the term “guilty pleasure” because I don’t think anyone should be
made to feel ashamed of anything they like. However with that being said, what to
you listen to that you think a lot of Hex Dispensers fans may be surprised by?
You're right - "guilty pleasure" is a stupid concept. If you're ashamed of liking something then you're too worried about what other people think, and that's shitty. Just stop it. Like what you like and stand up for it. I listen to a lot of film soundtracks and instrumental music because it's what I want to do. I'm just as likely to be listening to Clint Mansell, Explosions in the Sky, John Carpenter, or Mogwai as I am Black Flag, Devo, or Thee Oh Sees. I like a really wide range of music: 60’s soul, 70’s Country, Psych, Hip Hop, Hardcore, New Wave/Darkwave/Goth, Industrial/Experimental, Delta Blues/Folk Blues... all kinds of stuff. I tend to gravitate towards dark, or somber/melancholy kinds of music - but I cast a pretty wide net.

What music have you unleashed on the world and where can people go to hear it or
buy it?
www.thehexdispensers.com - Most of the Hex Dispensers discography is there, as well as some solo releases of mine, and my instrumental electropunk side-project: Espectrostatic.

What does the band have in store for us in the near, or not so near, future?

We're planning on recording a 7" this summer, and we'll be doing a short European tour the first week of September, but other than that and playing Chaos in Tejas - not much is planned. We don't play all that often. I'm working on an Espectrostatic LP which is all instrumental and kind of late 70s/early 80s sci-fi/horror film soundtrack type stuff. Alyse and I are also thinking about starting an instrumental band, but it remains to be seen if we can pull it off or not.

An interview with The Breakup Society

This interview was originally published in Audio Ammunition on June 11th, 2013

After hearing the Breakup Society for the first time, I felt ashamed that I had never seen them play live. I truly believe they are one of Arizona’s best kept secrets. The band cranks out power pop rock n roll in the same school as Dramarama, Buffalo Tom, and The Replacements. The band has 3 consistently great full lengths with the legendary Get Hip Records. With comedic, cynically introspective lyrics and a barrage of guitar volume, this band deserves your attention, your time, and your attendance!

Interview by Jay Castro

Who’s answering the questions here?
This is Ed Masley. I sing lead, play guitar and write the songs.

Is the band originally from the Phoenix area?
That question is more complicated than it seems. I’m actually from Pittsburgh but I flew in with two members of my former band, the Frampton Brothers, to make an album with producer Bob Hoag, also formerly a Frampton Brother, at Flying Blanket Recording in Mesa. In the process of making what was meant to be a solo record, the Frampton Brothers imploded, and I was starting to dread the idea of putting my own name on that album, “James at 35,” because I was worried that people would maybe assume it was more of a singer-songwriter deal with just my name out there. So, I needed a name. And the Breakup Society struck me as a cool way to acknowledge that the guys who made that album packed with breakup songs had broken up while making it. So, we were kind of born in Mesa. But I was still living in Pittsburgh, so I formed a Breakup Society there and that first lineup stayed together for several years until I moved to Phoenix in 2006 and formed a new Breakup Society here.

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?
The current lineup is:
Ed Masley – lead vocals, guitar
Nick Pasco – drums and backing vocals
Joe Golfen – keyboards
Jason McGraw – lead guitar
Chris Adams – bass, backing vocals

When starting the band, did you have a particular sound or artist in mind?
That first album, “James at 35,” was meant to be a straight-up tribute to the power-pop recordings of my youth because the subject matter of the first half, in particular, was just very nostalgic. But I’d pretty much abandoned that idea by the time we did our second album, called “Nobody Likes a Winner.” I’ve always liked the idea of being a rock and roll band, like the Beatles, where you write a song and that’s the song. You don’t worry about what genre you’re supposed to be. You just play music.

At a young age, what bands/musicians inspired you to want to pick up an instrument in the first place?
The Beatles changed my life. I had horrible taste in music until I saw one of their movies (“Help”). The Beatles had been broken up for years by then but they still hit me like the revolutionary force they are. That got me into the British Invasion and Dylan so I was immersed in all this music from another era (the Kinks, the Beatles and the Who, in particular) when the punk/New Wave thing kind of rocked my world just as I was writing my first songs. So, I can’t help but gravitate toward filtering those ’60s sensibilities – that sense of songcraft – through the attitudes and some would argue sloppiness of punk and New Wave.

You recently opened up for Soul Asylum. Out of any local band, I can’t think of anyone better suited to do so. How did that go? Were you guy’s fans of theirs prior to this?
That was probably my favorite show I’ve played since moving here. I was a big fan in the “Hang Time” days and I think that new album’s everything you could have wanted it to be. They had to play that show without their drummer, who was having trouble with his leg, and they were just amazing, rising to the challenge of carrying on with the show despite the lack of drums.

The song “The Way We Weren’t” on your newest album So Much Unhappiness, So Little Time was written in collaboration with singer/songwriter John Wesley Harding, how did that relationship come about?
We had opened for John Wesley Harding in Pittsburgh and struck up a friendship. Then, he emailed me in Phoenix to ask if I could play one of his Cabinet of Wonders shows in Pittsburgh. I said, well, I can’t afford to fly to Pittsburgh for one show, but while I have your attention, would you wanna write a song together? I’d written the music to that song and didn’t feel like I could do it justice with my darkly comic sensibilities. It had that whole ’70s Lennon vibe and I was thinking he might have a better shot at coming through with something closer to “Imagine.” So instead, he wrote “The Way We Weren’t.” And I was glad he did. In fact, I can’t believe he beat me to that title. And it suits the album better than a song more in the spirit of “Imagine” would have.

I noticed you count The Mr. T Experience as one of your influences. I happen to be a long time fan of theirs as well. Front man Frank Portman has written a few books which, as far as I know, at least one of them is being adapted into a feature length film (King Dork). With The Breakup Society lyrics being so narrative, do you have any interests in such aspirations or endeavors as well?
I actually just started writing my first book five days ago. I’m thinking “darkly comic” is the way most people will describe it. Some may even mean that as a good thing.

You have had a long affiliation with Get Hip Records, Was it intimidating at first being on a label with such a history and an impressive roster of acts like The Cynics, The Beat and The Fleshtones?
It was intimidating, sure, especially because the Cynics are so popular and Get Hip had never expressed any interest in doing a Frampton Brothers record. But they really like these three albums I’ve made with the Breakup Society.

I hear songwriters like Joe Jackson and Paul Westerberg in your music a lot. Much like these guys, the lyrics in The Breakup Society seem to wear their heart on their sleeve, so to speak. I can’t think of anything other than some firsthand experiences that can inspire lyrics like this. Either that or you really know how to crawl inside the heads of characters from old John Hughes movies! Is it sometimes difficult revealing some of these experiences in your life to the public or is it rather therapeutic?
Well, you know, the feelings in those songs are almost always based on feelings I’ve experienced. But the actual details can be fairly fictional. Or based on a reality I’ve witnessed but not lived. So, it is therapeutic to write them but because I tend to blur the line between reality and fiction, I don’t find it difficult to share, although I have made people feel uncomfortable because they thought for sure a certain song was aimed at them, which it frequently wasn’t. The working title of this album was “A Collection of First-Person Character Sketches” to get at the fact that there’s almost always some of both in every song. And “Mary Shelley” kind of gets at that whole concept.

I read a quote by someone saying that, above all the art forms; music has the ability to instantly change a person’s disposition. Do you agree with this? And if so, is there any song or artist or songs that you can think of that can lift you out of a serious slump, or vice versa?
The Kinks can always make me smile. Or sometimes cry, and that’s good too. It’s kind of hard to have a shitty day while the Ramones are playing. And the Beatles always make me smile. But if I had to pick one song, it’s probably “A Quick One, While He’s Away” by the Who.

Do you think the art of music can still be a vital and inspiring force to kids in such a disposable age?
I think music matters now as much as ever. I just think we’ve grown into a culture where people feel comfortable stealing their music. And I’m fine that, I guess. But maybe if musicians aren’t expected to be paid, they also shouldn’t have to pay for anything. You know, like the doctor can download your music for free and that’s OK, but in return, he has to see you when you’re sick and not expect some sort of payment in return.

50 years ago people used to buy music and get their water free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think this affects the music industry, epically the artist?
I think I accidentally answered this on the previous question. It’s bad for the industry, obviously. But that’s just how we’re wired now. I wish it hadn’t come to this. But when you write a song, you write it in the hope that people will listen. So, if that’s the way we listen now, then steal my music, please.

Where can people go hear the band or purchase your music?
We’re pretty good about letting you know when and where we’ll be playing on Facebook at facebook.com/thebreakupsociety. Are new album, “So Much Unhappiness, So Little Time…” is available here in Phoenix at Stinkweeds, for sure. And all three albums can be found at Amazon and iTunes.

What’s next for The Breakup Society?
I’d like to make a few more videos for this most recent album and I know we have enough new songs to start the next one soon. I’d like to get into the studio before the year is out. And in the meantime, of course, we’ll be trying to play as many shows as possible. I think the next album is feeling like more of a rocker because we’ve been playing so much.


The Breakup Society on Get Hip Recordings