The Dexateens
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The Dexateens We have been a band a long time. Since 1998. There have been a few years that we have played less than 30 dates. That’s barely enough to be able to call yourself and band and not be lying. In the first several years, we were a punk rock band. Our favorite bands were the Quadrajets and the Neckbones. Our first recording session was supposed to be our last. We traveled to Water Valley Mississippi to record at the Money Shot with Bruce Watson. At that time, Bruce was recording all the Fat Possum Blues artists there in that old school house. We felt that the atmosphere there in Water Valley would be a charming place to document the short life of the Dexateens. That recording session came out seven years later in the UK as the “Teenager” EP. The Dexateens really didn’t do much during the next four years after we recorded at the Money Shot. I got married, had a child, and started my cabinet business. Sweetdog was called back to active duty with the Marines shorty after 9/11. That was also about the time that John moved from Alabama to Ohio where he would teach school at Antioch College. Patton worked a restaurant job in Tuscaloosa and drove to Jasper Alabama on Sundays to play bass in the church gospel band. Our second recording session was also supposed to be our last. This session was in West Point GA with Tim Kerr as acting chancellor. Tim told us that his main job was to make our band sound on tape the same way that we sounded live. That’s why we left all the mistakes and drunkenness. I remember him telling me, “Throw your guitar into the wall and see what happens.” I thought he was kidding. Now that I have a few more years under my belt, I realize he was serious. That session was when we learned that keeping things real all boiled down to being raw and being alive inside the moment. This recording became the “Dexateens S/T” record. Within the band we refer to it as the "Headphones" record. After this experience, I quit trying to break up our band. Our next record was done the next year in 2005 and was also produced by Tim Kerr. We called this one, “Red Dust Rising” and recorded it in our home quarters of Tuscaloosa Alabama. We recorded everything in a 12x12 room over the course of 2 days. This is where we began to figure out how to keep the punk rock attitude even when the songs were derived from country or soul. John left the band before this record came out. Patton no longer drove to Jasper on Sundays to play in the church band. The worship service at his church no longer played traditional gospel music , but instead began singing modern, contemporary praise music. Our fourth record was recorded twice. The first attempt was without the contributions of John Smith. The results were weak and bland. That’s when I realized that I would never be able to create the sound of the Dexateens without him. When John rejoined the band, we re-recorded those songs again and the material became “Hardwire Healing”. We recorded this one in Athens with David Barbe and Patterson Hood. While John was away from the band, he kept writing songs. He sent me a clear cassette tape with a date written in black magic marker. We recorded the songs on that tape at Old Capitol Recording in Tuscaloosa over two weekend sessions that were almost two years apart. Those songs became “Lost and Found”. This record is available for free at http://www.skybucket.com/media/dexateens/ Our forthcoming record is called “Singlewide”. This is the record I have been attempting to make with this band since we recorded Red Dust. It is real countrified and and has a warm and cozy sound. It’s stripped down and soft as well as jangly and rhythmic. We recorded this in Nashville with Mark Nevers in his Beech House studios. We plan on going back in a few months to finish it up. It will be our best yet. Progressive Global Agency books our shows. You can contact them at PGA MUSIC.COM Send us a message or come see us play a show. We are fun to talk to. CHECK IT. (if you wanna put this banner on your myspace page, instructions below)