A couple years ago, legendary Pussy Galore/Royal Trux iconoclast Neil Hagerty decided on a whim to resurrect the weirdo, groundbreaking statement released in the 90s: Royal Trux’s monumentally shit-fi, sound-fried maelstrom and soundtrack for heroin junkies everywhere, Twin Infinitives. Upon completing that drug-addled and noise-mongering frenzied epic live—sans former Trux partner, Jennifer Herrema—Hagerty retreated back to leading his bloozy band of chugging honky tonkers, The Howling Hex.For Hagerty’s latest slab of deconstructionist fuckery, Twin Infinitives has once again engulfed his warped mind. In a typically Hagerty-ian twist of fate, he just happened to be manning the boards over a new Drainolith record when the opportunity presented itself to birth a new band and lay down a record. Hagerty, along with Alex Moskos AKA Drainolith, joined forces with Nate Young (of Noisenik kings Wolf Eyes) and Charles Ballant (of Formant)—who happened to be toiling around his Denver ‘hood—and crowned themselves Dan'l Boone.Naturally, the Boone is some twisted shit. Their self-titled debut piles on mountains of Twin Infinitives-styled cheapo electronics splatter and grind, melts that elastic soundage with some mangled knob-twiddling noise torture and emerges from the outer world with minimalist psych-stoner vibes and triptastic jamming action.Noisey: So, Neil, in 2012, you resurrected Royal Trux's Twin Infinitives for one night here in Brooklyn at Saint Vitus. How did doing that show inspire you to go the route of Dan'l Boone?
Neil Hagerty: It definitely was an inspiration for the recording once we got going but Dan'l Boone came together pretty much by accident.How would you compare Twin Infinitives to Dan'l Boone?
Hagerty: For this record TI was the reference point that we could all agree on, treating that LP as a genre and what a band would sound like if that were their roots.Hey Nate, let’s talk some Royal Trux. It must be a trip playing with Neil. What can you tell us about first hearing Twin Infinitives?
Nate Young: The first time I heard Twin was in Aaron Dilloway's bedroom around 1998. I remember asking him if it was the recording from our early Wolf Eyes mutation called The Michigan Wolverines band. He laughed and made me guess again, I guessed Isis and Werewolves, his other band with Steve Kenney. Dillo never told me what it was. In 2002, I bought a used copy on CD and it all made sense. Dilloway would do this to me all the time back then, same thing with Big Stick.How important was that record on Wolf Eyes?
Young: Twin was not as important to us as Accelerator was. The "direct sound" or "over compressed" guitar on Accelerator influenced Dread and our over-all studio recordings. The guitar tone on "I'm Ready" was almost electronic sounding.I remember having a lot of trouble figuring out how to record with a computer. It always sounded so empty and sterile. Trux seemed to embrace that as a new space to experiment in. This totally inspired and informed how I approached recording digitally. Years later, last year I think, I read about the process they used on Accelerator, something like using a spectral analyzer to check out the EQ used on pop radio hits, and then applying it to their own recordings… just compressing and compressing over and over, or something…I bought a compressor the other day but only used it to cut up Waka Flocka so far.You went in to record a new Drainolith record but decided to make another record at the same time, which turned out to be the Dan'l Boone. How’d that work out?
Moskos: Nate and I went out there to work on the Drainolith record with Neil and we decided to cut another record at the same time. Like George Lucas did with Episodes I, II, III. Do all the heavy lifting at once and then finish them up individually in post. But, Nate and I had the Drainolith record mostly arranged and tracked in Detroit beforehand so it was less work to do than we initially thought. We had the time to work on Boone.The record was supposedly recorded in the dead of winter in Denver. How did the Colorado weather factor into the Boone sound?
Hagerty: I don't know, it was definitely like a better version of Canadian weather, I think they were pleasantly surprised. The way Denver is it might snow at night and then the sun comes out crystal clear in the morning and it gets into the 60s. It was a groove really, clouds of weed smoke, fresh air and a little altitude warp helped things go well.Somehow George Washington's birthday figures in to Dan’l Boone also.
Hagerty: Yeah, this was all happening and getting together around the date of that holiday so I dug out a score of this old Charles Ives piece "A New England Holiday Symphony" it has sections entitled: Washington’s Birthday/Decoration Day/The Fourth of July/Thanksgiving. I used some of the string section chords for the "Washington's Birthday" section to tune my guitars and sort of give us a chromatic field to start with.What does the actual Daniel Boon have in common with your band, Dan'l Boone?
Young: I think it is some hostage rock reference or some early empathetic involution with later in life sub-divisions, or nothing at all. You are going to have to ask Neil about the name, he came up with it before I could say anything. I think it is good. It would be too obvious and have little mystery if the name was something like Folded Men or Psychedelic Crank. I voted for Psychedelic Crank, actually if anybody wants to put out a Psychedelic Crank record it features all members of Dan'l Boone.There's some trippy-assed grooves on the Dan'l Boone. How much weed consumption actually was there during the making of the record?
Moskos: There's a lot of ways to find good grooves. You don't need much. The sounds of a misfiring tractor engine can be funky as hell. We just went and saw Denis Coffey play at a little bar around the corner form here in Detroit and his band was so taught, you know, it just rolled along smoothly, but you can abstract these things further and further out and they still retain their essence as a groove. That’s a lot of what happened in Boone.What’s up about you being bummed about the weed dispensaries in Denver?
Moskos: I was just more stoked to go hang with the street hassles and check out gear in pawn shops on Broadway, you know. Or some of the incredible Sci-fi bookstores in Denver.Drinking a lot of coffee and beer seemed to fit into the making of the record.
Moskos: I know. I need to drink less coffee. I drink far too much. Hagerty does as well. Nate and Charles drink a manageable amount but Hagman and I need to cool it.Have you left Wolf Eyes to concentrate on Dan'l Boone full time?
Young: No man, I have too many ideas to concentrate.Neil, Dan'l Boone might be your most "out there" record, since, well, Twin Infinitives, and the polar opposite to the Hex, which you've been doing for a long time. That said, is it going to be another 24-25 years before we get another Dan'l Boone/Twin Infinitives-type record out of you?
Hagerty: We'll have to see how people respond, how sales are and how the shows go. It would be easy to keep doing it if everyone else wants to because the Howling Hex is strictly conjunto music on electric guitars, just as Wolf Eyes and Drainolith are settled things we could all keep doing Dan'l Boone because it just doesn't interfere, it is like a new space for everybody.Could Dan'l Boone type stuff be the direction you are going from hereon in?
Hagerty: It's all the same aesthetic for me even if the sonic manifestation takes varied form, maybe that gives the impression of intention on a material level-- but in the end it really comes down to how audiences accept it and give it life. I am interested in pursuing it as far as it can go.There’s a snippet that says Dan'l Boone "is a group effort but it's conceptually Hagerty's record."
Hagerty: Haha. I haven't read that stuff but it just sounds like they're trying to put the blame on me.Dan’l Boon tour dates:
10/2/14 Saint Vitus Brooklyn NY
10/3/14 13th Floor Music Hall Florence MA
10/4/14 Lilypad Boston MA
10/5/14 La Vitrola Montreal Quebec Canada
10/6/14 Double Double Land Toronto Ontario Canada
10/7/14 Trinosophes Detroit MI
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Neil Hagerty: It definitely was an inspiration for the recording once we got going but Dan'l Boone came together pretty much by accident.How would you compare Twin Infinitives to Dan'l Boone?
Hagerty: For this record TI was the reference point that we could all agree on, treating that LP as a genre and what a band would sound like if that were their roots.
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Nate Young: The first time I heard Twin was in Aaron Dilloway's bedroom around 1998. I remember asking him if it was the recording from our early Wolf Eyes mutation called The Michigan Wolverines band. He laughed and made me guess again, I guessed Isis and Werewolves, his other band with Steve Kenney. Dillo never told me what it was. In 2002, I bought a used copy on CD and it all made sense. Dilloway would do this to me all the time back then, same thing with Big Stick.How important was that record on Wolf Eyes?
Young: Twin was not as important to us as Accelerator was. The "direct sound" or "over compressed" guitar on Accelerator influenced Dread and our over-all studio recordings. The guitar tone on "I'm Ready" was almost electronic sounding.I remember having a lot of trouble figuring out how to record with a computer. It always sounded so empty and sterile. Trux seemed to embrace that as a new space to experiment in. This totally inspired and informed how I approached recording digitally. Years later, last year I think, I read about the process they used on Accelerator, something like using a spectral analyzer to check out the EQ used on pop radio hits, and then applying it to their own recordings… just compressing and compressing over and over, or something…I bought a compressor the other day but only used it to cut up Waka Flocka so far.
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Moskos: Nate and I went out there to work on the Drainolith record with Neil and we decided to cut another record at the same time. Like George Lucas did with Episodes I, II, III. Do all the heavy lifting at once and then finish them up individually in post. But, Nate and I had the Drainolith record mostly arranged and tracked in Detroit beforehand so it was less work to do than we initially thought. We had the time to work on Boone.The record was supposedly recorded in the dead of winter in Denver. How did the Colorado weather factor into the Boone sound?
Hagerty: I don't know, it was definitely like a better version of Canadian weather, I think they were pleasantly surprised. The way Denver is it might snow at night and then the sun comes out crystal clear in the morning and it gets into the 60s. It was a groove really, clouds of weed smoke, fresh air and a little altitude warp helped things go well.Somehow George Washington's birthday figures in to Dan’l Boone also.
Hagerty: Yeah, this was all happening and getting together around the date of that holiday so I dug out a score of this old Charles Ives piece "A New England Holiday Symphony" it has sections entitled: Washington’s Birthday/Decoration Day/The Fourth of July/Thanksgiving. I used some of the string section chords for the "Washington's Birthday" section to tune my guitars and sort of give us a chromatic field to start with.
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Young: I think it is some hostage rock reference or some early empathetic involution with later in life sub-divisions, or nothing at all. You are going to have to ask Neil about the name, he came up with it before I could say anything. I think it is good. It would be too obvious and have little mystery if the name was something like Folded Men or Psychedelic Crank. I voted for Psychedelic Crank, actually if anybody wants to put out a Psychedelic Crank record it features all members of Dan'l Boone.There's some trippy-assed grooves on the Dan'l Boone. How much weed consumption actually was there during the making of the record?
Moskos: There's a lot of ways to find good grooves. You don't need much. The sounds of a misfiring tractor engine can be funky as hell. We just went and saw Denis Coffey play at a little bar around the corner form here in Detroit and his band was so taught, you know, it just rolled along smoothly, but you can abstract these things further and further out and they still retain their essence as a groove. That’s a lot of what happened in Boone.What’s up about you being bummed about the weed dispensaries in Denver?
Moskos: I was just more stoked to go hang with the street hassles and check out gear in pawn shops on Broadway, you know. Or some of the incredible Sci-fi bookstores in Denver.
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Moskos: I know. I need to drink less coffee. I drink far too much. Hagerty does as well. Nate and Charles drink a manageable amount but Hagman and I need to cool it.Have you left Wolf Eyes to concentrate on Dan'l Boone full time?
Young: No man, I have too many ideas to concentrate.Neil, Dan'l Boone might be your most "out there" record, since, well, Twin Infinitives, and the polar opposite to the Hex, which you've been doing for a long time. That said, is it going to be another 24-25 years before we get another Dan'l Boone/Twin Infinitives-type record out of you?
Hagerty: We'll have to see how people respond, how sales are and how the shows go. It would be easy to keep doing it if everyone else wants to because the Howling Hex is strictly conjunto music on electric guitars, just as Wolf Eyes and Drainolith are settled things we could all keep doing Dan'l Boone because it just doesn't interfere, it is like a new space for everybody.Could Dan'l Boone type stuff be the direction you are going from hereon in?
Hagerty: It's all the same aesthetic for me even if the sonic manifestation takes varied form, maybe that gives the impression of intention on a material level-- but in the end it really comes down to how audiences accept it and give it life. I am interested in pursuing it as far as it can go.There’s a snippet that says Dan'l Boone "is a group effort but it's conceptually Hagerty's record."
Hagerty: Haha. I haven't read that stuff but it just sounds like they're trying to put the blame on me.Dan’l Boon tour dates:
10/2/14 Saint Vitus Brooklyn NY
10/3/14 13th Floor Music Hall Florence MA
10/4/14 Lilypad Boston MA
10/5/14 La Vitrola Montreal Quebec Canada
10/6/14 Double Double Land Toronto Ontario Canada
10/7/14 Trinosophes Detroit MI