Arts & Crafts - Merchandise

You know how sometimes you find a band you really like, and you see that they’re playing a gig near you, so you go, and their show just fucking blows you away? Like, utterly and completely changes everything? Like, incites an obsession where you’re researching and digging up their first demos and listening to everything on repeat for weeks? You’ve been warned: Merchandise may have this affect on you. At least, it did for me, after seeing them at Home Sweet Home in NYC. They’re not a band who has some gimmick, and it’s not like they have crazy stage antics. Merchandise is just plain amazing.

Birthed out of a bedroom project in Tampa, Florida, they’ve been creating extremely original noisy goth pop since 2009. Guitarist Dave Vassalotti wrote a book entitled Desire in the Mouth of Dogs to accompany their latest record, Children of Desire. We thought that was rad, so we talked with Merchandise about it after they came home from their Fall tour. Here’s what we learned about the trio’s interest in film, their literary idols, and the new record.

That show at Home Sweet Home in NYC was crazy. What was the best show from this past tour?
Dave: Home Sweet Home was a blast. That was probably the best show from the whole tour in terms of atmosphere and sound. All three NYC shows we played were totally different, but all were pretty memorable. Aside from those, Toronto and Boston were really great.
Carson: Canada is always great to play. The Midwest is fun and kind of like a secret place that no one knows about. All the shows are so different that it's hard to say what night we were ourselves and what night we were playing the fool.
Pat: The shows that stand out in my mind are the three NYC shows, though they each stand on their own, so I hate to lump them together. I had a blast in Boston, and Toronto was insane, but I'd say the whole outing was positive and memorable.

Cult Ritual was a pretty huge deal to punk. What was the reaction like when you first started Merchandise?
Dave: The reaction (if there even was one) was cold for a long time. Cult Ritual and Merchandise were around at the same time, we even played a bunch of shows together. I remember Carson and I trying to give people the Merchandise demo on one of the Cult Ritual shows and it being pretty much impossible to get anyone to pay attention to it. They would just end up in the trash. Luckily, some of our punk friends liked it enough to put out an LP, otherwise the band would've died long ago.
Pat: I believe the only "fan base" we had for years were a handful of friends around Florida and Adam.
Carson: Yeah, no reaction. A couple of diehard kids were supportive. We were such a super secret, both bands, I can't say I remember anyone thinking it was strange.

How was playing with Jandek at Cropped Out in Kentucky? Do you see any similarities between your styles of art?
Dave: We didn't play the same day as Jandek, so unfortunately, we didn't get to see him. We did end up playing right before Lil B, though. As far as similarities go, Jandek is a strong influence, but I don't know how much that shines through in the end. We probably sound just as close to Lil B as we do Jandek.
Pat: I was bummed to miss experiencing his set and hearing his music, I don't think there is a direct line between us and him.
Carson: The spirit of Cropped Out was really strong. All the bands shared something more than a stage there. It was crazy how comfortable I felt during the whole thing. For me, it was like maybe Lil B, Jandek, and everyone playing have a lot in common, as opposed to what it looks like on the surface. I believe people end up in the same place for real reasons.

Have you written anything since the story that accompanies Children of Desire? If so, could you tell us about it? If not, do you think you might write more stories/pieces in the future?
Dave: There haven't been any new writings since Desire in the Mouth of Dogs, but there'll inevitably be more pieces, long and short, popping out as time passes. We're just very busy at the moment.
Carson: Yeah, it’s hard to tell. We’re just trying to catch up with life post-tour. It's hard to focus when you're running around.

How did you discover the Surrealist movement and what is it that intrigues you about it?
Carson: Hard to say…Breton is maybe my favorite part of it, because he kicked people out of it, like Dali. Movements in art are typically just a handful of people to me. Dada hit me a little harder than the Surrealist. Art at the turn of the century is fascinating, because so much had been said that to find a new a voice was not easy. I'm more fascinated by people lost or alone in between movements. Cezanne was the daddy of the Moderns, but never even wanted to be part the Impressionist; he was bigger than that. Movements are, in there own way limiting, and freedom is like oxygen to me. Surrealism is like one voice to me that is just one part of a greater picture. I would like to understand our time's voice more than anything. It's sort of living in the shadow of the Modern without legs to stand on its own right now. In order to learn it, we have to relearn our past and march through it. Artists say more than politicians or world leaders. I place their history over most anyone’s.

What are you reading right now? What authors have you been into recently?
Dave: The Journal of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen, which kinda goes back and forth between brilliant and irritating, but it's been a fun read so far. The only books I managed to get through on this tour were a collection of linguistic/historical essays by Umberto Eco and then Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, which really blew me away. I try to use the long drives to get more "well read," but ultimately spend most of the time staring out the window with Type O Negative tapes blasting in the background.
Carson: Rereading Rimbaud. Tried to finish an autobiography of Elia Kazan on tour, but also became distracted by Type O Negative.

I know you’re interested in poetry. How does this affect the songwriting process? Do your songs start as poems? Do you turn poems to songs or vice versa? Who are some of your favorite poets?
Dave: Poetry is a vein that runs through everything we do to some extent. The line between poems and songs, at least how I write songs, is very blurry. Baudelaire, Ungaretti, Pasolini, and Cocteau are all important voices to me.
Pat: I think song writing can be heavily influenced by poetry. Cadence and flow have a lot to do with how a song ends up sounding.
Carson: I don't know. It's like a blind thing that works through me. Favorite poets? Carl Sandburg, Jim Carroll, just picked up an Ezra Pound collection on tour that's great… William Blake—this is a list that is always changing because of what I'm into at the moment.

You guys create all your own music videos. Which was your favorite to shoot?
Dave: "Schoolyard," which is maybe the only video of ours shot outside of a house. We went all over town collecting footage, highlighting the parts of Tampa we know and frequent. All the videos have been fun to make and were all valuable learning processes.

Pat: My favorite shoot was for "In Nightmare Room." The abandoned house definitely set the mood and offered a spot-on setting for me.

Carson: I can't pick. They are all my babies. "Time" might be the best one to me just cause of the moment and how important this record is becoming to the band.

Why did you decide to make the WMix series a feature on your site? Whose idea was it?
Dave: I don't remember who came up with the idea for the WMix, probably Carson. We pick up records all the time and just figured this would be a fun and interesting way to spread some of the music we obsess over.
Pat: I haven't had a chance to sit in on a WMix.
Carson: It’s a music appreciation project. We love and listen to so many different types of music, and it's important to share and educate. It's the point of music to express yourself. It's fun to do that with other peoples music. Plus, it's about music history! And love of history. Jazz is a big part of the larger picture, and for some reason, it's like a lost language to our generation even though the radio still plays music based in blues scales. How did that happen? A lot of my vinyl records are dollar bin records that people have thrown away and I came upon through fate. That's also a part of it. Records fate has willed us and we are sharing with you! It's super important to me that we keep doing this.

What can you tell us about the new 12-inch off Night People? Stoked for it!
Dave: Four songs, 35 minutes. Lots of stuff going on in this one. It's good, I promise.
Pat: It's a very eclectic record, but cohesive at the same time.
Carson: Real proud of it, but I wouldn't say it's a proper third LP. It's a big collaboration between us and NP. I don't know what people will think, nor is it something I really go into recording thinking about. It will be a bridge to whatever we do after it, like every release. Really excited for it as well. We should be doing some dates with Wet Hair to support it.

Keep an eye out for Merchandise’s next record, due for release in January 2013. And, of course, catch a show from the tour that will inevitably follow.

@teedunc