DINOWALRUS @ Vassar

This past Thursday Brooklyn’s Dinowalrus performed at Vassar with Mirror Mirror and Au. After the show, I got the chance to catch a few words with guitarist/singer Pete Feigenbaum about independent radio, remixes, and Poughkeepsie. Check it:

AGD: When is the first official Dinowalrus release coming out?

PF: There’s a 7″ with “Electro-car Gas Guitar” and “Cage Those Pythons,” our shorter electro-rock songs, coming out soon. We just have to mix it and Josh from BIG A little a is going to master it. Ian from Titus Andronicus designed the cover, it’s going to be purple ink on a natural background. I think mostly because we had extra purple ink. We also have a split 7″ with this Melbourne band Bachelor of Arts coming out on EXO. I don’t know if it will be released in the U.S. but I don’t care- Australia is definitely up there with Detroit, Tokyo, etc., all places where awesome bands are spawned.

AGD: Has independent radio benefited Dinowalrus at all?

PF: East Village Radio has played some of our stuff, and I recorded some live tunes there. WFMU also gives us some air play. That’s pretty much it.

AGD: Weren’t you involved with college radio?

PF: Yeah I was a music director at Yale’s station (WYBC), but I was pretty delinquent. At first I was really excited about all the free CDs, but then I got overwhelmed by all the bands that are out there. I kind of fell off my duties, I feel bad about it now, being on the other side.

AGD: What do you think of Poughkeepsie?

PF: Hell of a town. I’m surprised there’s decent Mexican food to be had. It’s a little more down and out than I thought, I pictured a more idyllic or New England-y town.

AGD: I saw that Dinowalrus remix of “Black Star” by Yngwie Malmsteen floating around the blogosphere- I didn’t know you guys did remixes

PF: We are totally a remixing band. I’ve been working on doing a remix on this new song of ours, “Haze on the Mobius Strip.” It’s been a long and arduous process of mixing due to the long song structure. It’s not boom-chic-a-whatever, every minute (of seven total) there’s a different sonic structure. I’ve also been into the 8bit dance thing that’s been happening- those fast arpeggios are a combo of combining live guitar shredding with a digital medium. It’s a tangible, interwoven thing. I do a lot of experimenting with beats on the computer or record beats on drums into the computer as a sound file, send them to three different tracks so one will be like bass in your face, one with be reverrbbbb and the other can be whatever you want. I definitely listen to a lot of dub-step, so I make bass tracks that have sort of a disco beat, with big booty beats or ghetto tech or grime backing it. I’ve been really inspired by the Health remixes album, especially the Pictureplane remix.

AGD: I’m sure you get asked this all the time, but why did you choose Dinowalrus?

PF: I don’t know. The first rule of Dinowalrus is that there’s no imagery of dinos or walruses.

AGD: Fair enough. Ever wish you were called something else?

PF: Kyle does, he thinks Dinowalrus is kind of goofy. I think in the 90s there were too many wane-y band names, it just got too trendy to show your existential name on your sleeve. We were trying to steer clear of that.

AGD: Any parting words?

PF: I’m unemployed, give me a job.

You can listen to Dinowalrus on their myspace: www.myspace.com/dinowalru

Ariel has a new music show called “Bells & Whistles” on Tuesdays from 3-5pm