Dexter Freebish Interview: SXSW 2010

Dexter Freebish are a pop-rock quartet hailing from Austin, Texas. Their debut single, 'Leaving Town,' won the 1999 John Lennon Songwriting Contest's Song of the Year Award. Since then, their songs have been featured on various video games and TV shows, and they have started releasing albums independently. After a three-year split, which ended in 2008, Dexter Freebish have been writing and producing a new album, expected to be released sometime this fall. Spinner recently chatted with Scott Romig, the band's lead guitar player, before the group heads to SXSW.

How would you describe your sound for people who aren't familiar with it?

Historically, I would have categorized us as kind of your American rock band. But on this new album -- this is our first body of new work in about six or seven years -- we rewrote the old playbook. I think at the core of Dexter Freebish, we've always been focused on really strong melodies and really relatable lyrical content. And we've kept that at the core of what we're doing, but we've definitely changed the sonic landscape. We've done a lot more programming with the keyboard and drum programs. It's a lot dancier than anything we've ever done in the past. It's still going to be awesome in the live arena, but it can also work just as well in the discotheque in Berlin.

Who are your musical influences, particularly on the new album?

If you were to combine some of the cool British alternative pop music from the '80s -- Duran Duran and Depeche Mode -- and pull it into 2010, I think that's kind of where the sonic landscape starts. But everything influences us, everything from Radiohead to the Black Eyed Peas. There's two kinds of music in the world, good music and bad music, and I listen to all of it, both good and bad.

Beatles or Stones?

That's really funny, because our new album has one song that's fairly Stones-y in its nature -- Stones-y in the way of the Dandy Warhols. But I guess in the end I'd have to say we're Beatles guys.

Do you have any musical guilty pleasures?

Um ... Neil Diamond. The Carpenters. We actually built an intro that we'll probably use for SXSW that takes a Carpenters song and techno-fies it -- it's pretty cool. Let's see ... I gotta admit, when I was a kid, I was really into John Denver. It doesn't get much cheesier than that.

How did your band form?

Chris and I went to high school together. We put an ad in the Austin Chronicle looking for a singer with influences of Bono and Sting. Over the course of several months, we must have interviewed 75 singers, and we just could not find the right fit of influences along with a really cool voice along with a personality that we could live with day in and day out. Finally, [Rob] Kyle comes along. We were the first band he had ever tried out for. And it was just magic.

What do you guys expect from SXSW this year?

I think that it's a fantastic opportunity to meet other artists, especially if you're trying to break ground in a certain region in the world. One of the things we're looking to do is to expand our fan base out of the country and really into Europe and Britain. So I think we're going to be spending some time trying to meet some other bands from that area that might be able to do some show trades with us, or meet some promoters or booking agents from those areas.

Can you talk a little about your touring experience?

We've done a ton of national touring. We haven't done a proper world tour, but we have toured a lot in support of the troops. It's the kind of deal where the USO flies you over and you play bases. So we've been able to do Italy, Spain, Bahrain, Dubai, and Japan. It's really cool. Just getting an opportunity to play for people that are putting their lives on the line for me and for you and to give something back is just so gratifying. And to be able to do it in other countries and other cultures -- it was fascinating.

Do you guys like touring?

I think we would all agree that we love the show. And we love getting to meet and build relationships with our fans. And we have people that kind of came into the fold as fans and are now friends. The challenging thing, though, is that you're gone from everything that's familiar. You might be out for six weeks, and then you have four days at home, and that's really hard. But the concerts make it all worth it, because it's just so much fun to get out there and play and connect with the people.

What's the craziest thing you've ever seen on tour?

We spent six or seven weeks touring with Everlast here in North America. And at the time, there was a pretty big rivalry between Everlast's camp and Eminem and D12. So, we're in Detroit. We had just gotten off stage, we had a really great set, and I remember I was actually doing an interview kind of similar to this in the front of our tour bus. And I remember watching as people ran helter-skelter out of the front of that club like it was on fire. So our drummer comes running in, [and] he's like, "Lock the door! Lock the door!" I'm like, "What's going on?" Apparently, some people that were associated with D12 had run in there with some clubs and baseball bats, and started beating the heck out of people, just random fans. It ended up making it on 'MTV News.' Far and away that was the craziest thing I've ever seen. Fortunately, nobody died.


Adam Iddings is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.