In the late 1990’s, The Dimestore Haloes,
along with a handful other bands were the soundtrack to my young adulthood. I
felt a connection with a lot of these bands not only because of their greatness
but also because they were all around the same age as me. Then suddenly they
all started retreating back to the corners of the country from which they all
came. This was now the mid 00's, a time in underground punk that I call “the
dark times.” A time when good bands and labels were few and far between, compared
to the salad days of the mid to late 1990's that is. But now it’s 2014 and the genre is experiencing a resurgence
of sorts and Chaz and Kevin of The Dimestore Haloes are back, this time as The
Cheap Cassettes, a glam, power-pop powerhouse that hits you like a pair of
difibulators to the chest. The Cheap Cassettes are here to send Rock N’ Roll
energy back into the pulse less hearts of America!
Interview by Jay Castro
First off, I want to thank you both for taking some time here for us,
we appreciate it!
CHAZ: No
worries, I’ve got the day off work and I was spending it watching old Kix
videos on YouTube. In my underwear, trust me you are not interrupting anything
important.
KEVIN: No problem. Glad to be here.
Let’s start with introductions: who are you guys and how do you help
fuel the Cheap Cassettes Rock N’ Roll machine?
CHAZ: I play guitar and sing. I write a good portion of the
songs. I play Gibson guitars and I use Dr. Rubin’s hair grease.
KEVIN: I play drums, some of the bass, a little rhythm/lead
guitar and some backing/lead vocals. I also ended up doing most of the
mixing/mastering/album art.
You
guys used to be in a much beloved band of the late 1990’s early 2000’s called
The Dimestore Haloes. What led to
the decision to put the brakes on that?
CHAZ: It just kind of fell apart in 2003. We had done
four full length records and a bunch of singles and had a bunch of different
line ups, and it seemed like it had run its’ course. Then Kevin left Boston for
Hawaii, so that ended that. I had always kind of hoped we’d do more someday but
then after our original drummer, Jimmy Reject died in 2006, it just seemed more
definitely over with.
KEVIN: I always end up taking the blame for that one ha ha.
Let’s just say that our bass player at the time literally couldn’t play and we
had some other issues. That and I followed a girl half way across the world.
I
was reading the bio on The Haloes Facebook page and it read “Made some great
records nobody heard, played some great live shows few people attended,” do you
plan to try a different approach with Cheap Cassettes so that this isn’t the
case again? Do you think if social
media was as prevalent then things would have been any different?
CHAZ: Well, the thing for me is this; we are
from a different generation of Rock and Roll type people, and unlike a lot of
kids today, we never learned to be businessmen. We never had a manager, we
never had a booking agent, we haphazardly did everything ourselves, and while
we were great at writing songs and playing guitars and looking cool onstage, we
were not good at those practical, real world aspects of the business. Looking
back, I am satisfied that we are still known and remembered by a clued in
elite, for lack of a better term, who were very into the more interesting bands
from that era. I think those types of people are happy that, unlike the
Dropkick Murphy’s for instance who started out in our scene and quite quickly
became more of a mainstream thing, the Haloes still sort of belong to the
underground. As far as doing anything different with the Cheap Cassettes:
probably not ha ha.
KEVIN: I can’t really comment too much about the records and
live shows. I think I played on one 7” and the last album? I was just glad to
have been part of the whole disaster! To me, the real Dimestore Haloes was
always Chaz, Jimmy, Lorne and Marcus so as far as a different approach: I guess
the way we are going about the whole thing is pretty unique. If social media
was prevalent when I was in the band I wouldn’t have had to mail out press kits
and make follow up calls on my land line phone ha ha.
So
the collection of songs you have up on your Bandcamp page
(cheapcassettes.bandcamp.com) has been a long distance work in progress. Recording took place on the east coast
and mid west and then there’s Hawaii? How did you end up there and has it been
difficult piecing everything together in this manner?
CHAZ: Kevin has lived in Hawaii since
the mid 2000’s, I left Boston in 2011 and have lived in Ann Arbor, Chicago and
Madison, Wisconsin since then. We’ve done the record one piece at a time,
emailing tracks and lyrics back and forth. We only “speak” via text and email.
Neither of us likes talking on phones. We’ve seen each other and hung out a few
times when Kevin is on the mainland, but we haven’t physically played together
in a little over ten years. So it’s a weird thing, but it’s a great Rock and
Roll album that came about in an unusual way. We still rock like murder, as
somebody once said.
KEVIN: Like I said earlier, I ended up meeting the love of
my life and followed her. We ended up coming back to where she grew up, Hawaii.
For various reasons we had to stay. It sounds cliché, but it’s true! Chaz
approached me sometime in 2010, I think, about making a long distance record. I
thought it was a great idea and we kind of worked out a way for him to send me
tracks online. I then recorded my parts (drums, some bass/guitars/backing
vocals) at my house and mixed everything down. It hasn’t really been difficult
at all. In fact it’s been kind of seamless. The only trouble we run into is
that we are both really busy and two weeks turns into two months turns into two
years.
I loved that you covered “Happy
When It Rains” by Jesus and Mary Chain, Darklands
is one of my favorite records of all time! Is there any music that you guys
listen to that you think may surprise some of your fans?
CHAZ: I listen to everything from old
country and rockabilly to power pop, blues, new wave, heavy metal, post
punk...I like guitar music, and I like good songs. Genres and haircuts and
shoes don’t really matter, as much to me now as they did when I was a feisty
youngster.
KEVIN: I suggested that we each
pick a song to cover and I ended up choosing that song. I remember having a
list of songs that I wanted to tackle and that one just struck me. I don’t
think anything I listen to would really shock any of our fans. I have been
listening to The Replacements last two albums non-stop for about two months
now, that may ruffle some feathers!
Chaz, I read your post How to Be a Well Dressed Man about
Town, Spring 2014 Edition on
your blog http://chazmatthews.blogspot.com and I absolutely loved it especially
that you kept affordability in mind.
Tell me a bit about what led you to write about men’s fashion and have
you had any thoughts about a career in that industry?
CHAZ: I’ve always been into clothes, and history, and
retro fashion. Even in the Haloes era, I was very into rockabilly and doing the
whole ‘50’s thing. It’s evolved since then for me, and a lot of the stuff I’ve
always liked is accidentally in fashion now, maybe because of TV shows like
“Mad Men” reminding people of how cool people dressed in the ‘50s. I think its
fun to write about things I like, that’s what blogging is about I suppose, and
one of the things I like is the timelessness of that certain era of style. I
also love those old ‘70’s and ‘80’s glam rock looks, but as you get older,
those looks don’t age so well. The ‘50s and early ‘60’s look is timeless and
it’s also very Rock and Roll. I would include the mod and skinhead fashions
with that as well. You can age well in those looks. As for a career in fashion,
I wouldn’t have the slightest clue how to proceed there.
Besides
the Dimestore Haloes and now Cheap Cassettes, you guys have been involved in a
few other musical endeavors, can you tell me about the absolute worst shows you
guys played and what made it so disastrous?
CHAZ: Saints In Vain and Streetcar
were bands I was in pre-Haloes that never really released anything. All I have
for this question is that in the Haloes days, we considered it very punk rock
to be under rehearsed and over lubricated with alcohol and that led to a lot of
things, some good, some not so good. We considered tuning your guitar to be
kind of something fancy rock stars did, and we wanted no part of it. Those were
different times.
KEVIN: I wasn’t in any of Chaz’s old bands, so I can’t
really comment. I was in a few bands in the mid-late 90’s that nobody has ever
heard of though. Sputnic, The Hanks, The What-Nots, Lugano etc. The What-Nots
actually opened up for the Dropkick Murphys in 1996 I think. Downstairs Middle
East, we sucked so bad. When I was 16, I ran a record label/distro out of my
bedroom. I released two 7” records by Sputnic and a cassette tape of a band
called Plankton.
There
are a lot of retro influences in Cheap Cassettes sound, like old power pop,
mod, glam, ‘50’s Rock N’ Roll etc. In your travels, have you found any current
active bands that inspire you?
CHAZ: Oh yeah, lots. I
love the Strypes. I love almost all of the bands on Wild Records, especially
The Dragtones. I love the Crazy Squeeze from L.A., Giuda from Italy, Lion’s Law
from France. I like JD McPherson and Nick Waterhouse and John Paul Keith and
Nikki Hill. There’s so much, I can’t remember it all.
KEVIN: To be honest nothing new has really grabbed me and
shook me in quite a while. I am pretty picky about what I listen to these days.
I like to dig back and (re)discover old bands and records. I love The Tripwires
from Seattle although they haven’t put anything out in a while. I love when The
Figgs release new records. The Swingin’ Utters, The Copyrights. Anything Rusty
Willoughby does. The Obits are awesome. Chaz is way more hip to the new bands
playing around these days.
What
can we expect from Cheap Cassettes for the remainder of the year? Any tours, new albums etc?
CHAZ: The album will finally have a physical release this
year. It’s called All Anxious, All The Time, and there
will be a CD to buy some time in the near future. We also have a track on the
new Jolly Ronnie/Mooster Records compilation CD. As far as live shows, there
are tentative plans in the works and we’ll let you know when we know.
KEVIN: All the songs are recorded and I am currently in the
process of mastering the album. It WILL be out this year, we promise. I would
love to play out at some point. My wife and I are planning on moving back to
the mainland within the next year or so, so you never know. I can already hear
people going “Ohhh no.”
