Those Darlins – Citizen Dick Interview

It’s heresy to say this in Ohio, but we’re as excited for Those Darlins as we are for Dan Auerbach tonight.  (Both are playing at the Beachland this evening; if this is news to you, get yourself over there quickly, as it’s probably going to sell out.  If you’re reading this on Friday, you missed the boat.)  We know that the Black Key is going to shred, but we’re just as stoked for the country stylings of Murfreesboro’s finest semi-punk trio.  We had the opportunity to pass a few questions along to Those Darlins; their responses to those are below.  Those Darlins will continue blazing a trail across the United States with Mr. Auerbach and have a full length album coming out sometime in the summer. (We’ll keep you informed as the release date approaches.)  We’ll have a full report on their live show tomorrow (barring some sort of wildly unexcepected event, like Auerbach falling in love with us and taking us to New Zealand).

Citizen Dick: What should we expect from the upcoming full length?  Any inside dirt we could pass along to the readership?

Those Darlins: Expect it to be longer than the EP…

This is a hard question for me to answer because I’ve heard the album so many times… and its me… so when I listen to it i just think of it all in pieces and it’s hard to hear it as a whole.  I would imagine what I think you should expect of it would be something opposite of what someone else would tell you to expect of it. I think you should expect to enjoy it fully! And I think if you liked the EP, you are not going to be dissapointed but pleasantly surprised.

What’s the difference between inside dirt and outside dirt?

CD: What albums did your grow up on?  We’ve got this idealized notion of scratchy Moon Mullican 45s on a rickety turntable, but that can’t possibly be right. (editor’s note: Those Darlins responded individually to this query, which we find endearing.  Their responses follow their names, because that makes sense.)

TD:

Kelley Darlin – My sister and I choreographed our own performance to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and my parents listened to a lot of 60s pop on the Oldies Station. They had a tape collection of hits from the 50s and 60s that I would rollerskate to in the living room. I grew up at the beach and there was a lot of beach or “shag” music around. I also distinctly remember The Chipmunks version of “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” and The Judds “Mama He’s Crazy” being played a lot around the house.

Jessi Darlin-  Bubba Dubba’s first record Midnite Rollin‘ was a constant. I also had a Dr. Suess Record, I think it was Mr. Brown something, and a Popeye record. “OLIVEOIL! YUCK YUCK YUCK!”

CCR- Chronicle

The Beatles- Rubber Soul

Later on it was mostly Ramones… Carter Family. And then I fell in love with Ernest Tubb.

Nikki Darlin- Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit was my lullaby as a child. The Beatles, The O.K.’s (my dad’s band)  Cab Calloway, Ramones, Clash, P.J. Harvey, Courtney Love and Patsy Cline were big influences on me as as a teenage gal…..god I don’t think I can start really getting into the long list but I did listen to my mom’s and grandfathers old vinyl a bit.

CD: In the wrong hands your music might sound cruelly parodic or awkwardly heartfelt.  How do you manage to walk that line, maintaining a bit of a sneer without being jerks about it?

TD: It’s au naturale.

CD: When approaching a cover, how do you make it your own?

TD: Play it. (Sounds too simple right? But we just never were able to duplicate other peoples sounds well enough, and they just turn into our song immediately. And of course it has to do with song choice as well. You have to really connect with the message of the song before you can make it yours.)

CD: The clips we’ve seen of the live act look scorching; any new wrinkles on this tour?

TD: We have a map of the United States that we put pins in after we’ve played a city. It says “The US Travels of Gordan and Edith” and is personalized by the original owners. They traveled everywhere! So we have a lot of catching up to do. On this tour we’ll get to add DC, Seattle, Portland, LA, San Francisco and Cleveland.

CD: How have the crowds been with Dan Auerbach?

TD: The crowds have been crazy psychos who wanna dance and party.

Many thanks to Those Darlins.  Good news that we fit into the crazy/psycho/dancing/partying mold – we’ll fit right in.  Enjoy the video below, extolling the virtues of drunken chicken eating.

http://www.vimeo.com/2696644