Dustin Umberger has been recording pop punk for years as Grim Deeds, Dumberger, and The Gungans. His prolific releases have nearly perfected the idea of the Bandcamp artist, with frequent single song releases showing up on his Bandcamp pages (Grim Deeds, Dumberger, and The Gungans) and EP’s and full lengths coming out through OUTLOUD! Records.
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview him via email. The following has been lightly edited.
Curious about your various activities. As a teacher, husband, dad, and musician you wear a bunch of hats quite similar to those I wear. How do you make time to do all your various music ventures? What challenges do you face trying to balance all these things? What kind of impact on your life has all this COVID stuff had on you and your various activities over the past several months?
Thank you for this question. I always hope to cover this in interviews because it’s an ongoing challenge to balance Mr. Umberger the teacher, Dustin the husband and father, and Grim Deeds the artist. These roles have always been and remain separate from one another, and yet run parallel 24/7. The demands of one often seem to eclipse the others but I’ve managed to keep them all in working order for the past 6 years. The key has been accepting certain limits without becoming discouraged, and also maximizing my efficiency while pushing myself to explore and develop new ideas. Pop punk has always been my go-to style for Grim Deeds because the format is very user-friendly for an amateur musician like myself, but I’m not limited to any particular themes or lyrics so I tend to use it as an unlikely device for expressing all of my darkest thoughts, deepest emotions, personal reflections, etc. I’ve also maintained a high level of motivation and drive to continue doing it for its own sake, which has led to me developing some efficient and sustainable creative routines.
For example, I’ve trained myself to always have my feelers out for song concepts, titles, lyrics, etc. It’s gotten to the point where I’m able to sense when an emotion I feel or topic I’m thinking about is “song worthy”. There are specific times throughout the day that I tend to ruminate and zone out, and during these times I’m always sure to have my phone ready to record a voice memo, or a notepad to jot down a title or concept for a song. This typically occurs when I’m in the shower, washing the dishes, riding my bike, or doing a chore that affords some alone time.
Another strategy I use is doing a little bit of something creative each day. I look at it almost as a daily duty I must fulfill, similar to a work or family responsibility. It’s not important that I finish a specific amount or quota, but it is crucial that I continue to work on whatever idea I have going to some satisfying degree. That might mean writing some lyrics that day, or recording drums, or demoing a song on my phone, or studying my list of titles and choosing what’s next, or thinking about artwork for the next album, or how many songs there will be, or checking in with friends about their projects and pitching some ideas for collaboration. There are many things that I could do, so I just try to do something each day and it keeps me moving forward in a satisfying manner.
The pandemic has impacted everyone in different ways. We’re living in unprecedented times and it’s very challenging to process it all mentally and emotionally. When COVID-19 was surging back in March, I wrote some songs specifically addressing my fears and concerns about the virus and our response to it. I also wrote an entire album of silly pop punk songs to kind of counter those feelings – and that ended up becoming The Gungans album. So in one sense it provided direct inspiration for songs that were very on-topic. In another sense it inspired me to make music that would serve as a purposeful distraction from those topics. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions and one of the biggest challenges for me personally has been achieving harmony at home. We live with my mother-in-law and she’s a high risk case. My wife and I are both educators working remotely, and my son is 4 years old doing remote learning for preschool. We haven’t left our house much at all in the past 6 months other than to get take-out on occasion or run some essential errand. In response I’ve been trying to increase the amount of healthy routines in my daily life – exercise, learning Japanese, cooking and doing chores with a renewed sense of purpose and pride. I combine those routines with music to cover my own needs, but must also remain mindful of the energy required to keep pace with my work and family life. It’s not easy, but I’ve chosen to use it as an opportunity for positive change and it’s largely paid off despite some hiccups and setbacks here and there.
As we’ve discussed, both you and I work in education. Do you see any crossover between the work you do in education and your efforts within the music world? I seem to know several people that were/are way into punk that ended up going into teaching without ever losing/letting go of their music and creative processes. Any ideas as to why that is?
Yes, I do see some crossover and notable commonalities. For instance, teaching offers the opportunity to be creative and perform regularly. To make your lessons effective, you have to lesson plan and instruct in ways that keep your students engaged in a similar way that a musician needs to plan the set list and stage performance to keep the audience entertained. The teaching schedule also allows for musicians to plan recordings/shows/tours around the school year’s built-in breaks and vacations. I’ve encountered and befriended many musician/artist teachers, including some notable names in our scene like Danny Secretion, Chris Shary, Brian Moss from Great Apes, Hewhocannotbenamed from The Dwarves, and now you! Among these friends I feel that I share a great deal in common not only musically and creatively, but also in terms of personality and our approach to life. That being said, there are also plenty of teachers who I have very little in common with other than the job title.
Can you go through your songwriting process a little bit? What usually comes first, the words, the melody, the style? Do you go at it with a “first thought, best thought” mindset or do you do a lot of editing over time? In your head, what makes for a good song for you?
I’ll speak on my current process which has evolved considerably since I started writing songs around 2007. Because I made it my business to study and focus on a very specific and simple style of music (Ramones-worshipping punk) for over a decade, I’m now well past the point of wondering if my songs will “work” because I can basically write a 3 or 4 chord song within a few minutes if you give me a topic. That’s been my continuous habit so I feel very well-versed (no pun intended) in creating the minute-and-a-half pop punk song. I could break it all down for you by the specific parts and measures, chords and keys, structures and so forth – but none of that matters unless the song itself commands the listener’s attention. And the approach I’ve always taken is to make the topics and lyrics honest, true to life, and as relatable as possible. I love the juxtaposition of simple, catchy music with inappropriately heavy themes. In a way it’s more subversive and aggressive than playing hardcore punk or thrash with the same themes. It makes you do a double-take. That’s what I aim for in a Grim Deeds song. I want people to experience some internal conflict as they nod their head and tap their toes. I want the songs to be irresistibly catchy and yet full of lines that kill the buzz, so to speak.
In terms of process I usually start with a topic, jot it down on a list, and then keep it in mind while I’m doing the activities that tend to produce melodies and/or song parts. Often the topic will lend itself to a verse melody or chorus. Sometimes the process feels magical and the songs seem to write themselves. That’s the best natural high for me. Other times I know there’s something there but I have to massage it a bit before settling on a structure and arrangement that’s “close enough”. For every 20 songs I write there’s usually 1 or 2 that I feel are pretty good and memorable. But for me it’s just as important to write the other 18 or 19 that are just “okay” because that routine keeps me primed for the divine inspiration that the universe occasionally gifts me. The rest of the time I just do what I know I can do with ideas that I feel will resonate somehow. As I’ve continued writing songs I’ve tried to hone my lyrics a bit to be more universal and less specific to whatever topic I’m writing about. I also enjoy reading interviews with songwriters and actively seek out music to listen to that I feel will inform my own songwriting. A good example of that would be my discovery of the band Onion Flavored Rings. Steve’s songs are basically what Grim Deeds songs aspire to be. He’s great.
So much of your music seems sort of like some cathartic therapy for you (lyrically). Why do you put out music? Does it work that way for you? Is the creation process therapeutic, something that helps you manage challenge and struggle day-to-day?
This is a great question, thank you for asking it. I do indeed use music as therapy and it has served me well in that regard. There are different aspects of my personality that putting out music satisfies. The creative drive has always been there since I was young, but also the sense that I’m an odd person with instincts and desires that aren’t typical. That feeling combined with the creative urge means that I constantly feel the need to express myself. Grim Deeds has been my message in a bottle thrown into the Internet instead of the ocean.
I must also say that I genuinely enjoy the songwriting and recording process from start to finish. This labor is satisfying in itself, even if I’m just writing something silly like “I Love Jar Jar Binks”. I get a thrill from completing a new song, and a bigger thrill from firing up GarageBand and laying down tracks. I’ve recently begun playing “real” drums (on an electronic drum kit) on my songs which adds another layer of fun because I’m learning as I go and playing to a metronome is a very meditative experience once you loosen up and find your groove. Also the vocals, the mixing, the mastering, loading the track onto bandcamp, and finally sharing it – it’s a process that I’ve repeated literally hundreds of times and I never tire of it. Watch the new Neon Bone video and you’ll understand what I mean.
But beyond the creative urge and the thrills I experience, there are definitely parts of me that are in constant conflict and cry out to be heard. I’m from an abusive family background and experienced many more poor examples of adulthood than positive ones growing up. Having my own family was such a profound challenge that it triggered a deep depression, and I struggled to manage it for many years. I’m now 40 years old and finally beginning to feel that I have agency and control over my own emotions, which feels great considering what I had to go through in order to arrive at this place. The Grim Deeds catalog consists mainly of songs I wrote while struggling with depression and turmoil in my personal life.
I’ve really liked the Grim Deeds stuff and I was a little slow learning of Dumberger. But I’ve loved the stuff you’ve released as Dumberger, too. Is there any differentiating factor between them for you? How do you know which name a song belongs to? You also did The Gungans this year with Meesameesameesa! – is that a one-off or something you see yourself coming back to at some point? And do you really love Jar Jar Binks? If so, what’s he got going for him?
Dumberger was a very purpose-driven project where I just tried to hone my pop-punk songwriting craft. I challenged myself to write each song fast, and not to dwell too much on the ideas before committing to them. So it was more an exercise than anything else. The lyrical themes are all fairly pedestrian but I tried to put my own spin on the prototypical pop punk love song. I also wanted it to be a more “pure” form of the genre as compared to the raw, unpolished edge that Grim Deeds has maintained. I ended up doing two Dumberger EP’s and almost a third but ended up losing interest and moving on to what later became The Gungans. That project served a similar purpose in terms of being an exercise, but this time it was focused on making the songs as simple and silly as possible. As mentioned above part of this was to counter the steadily creeping dread that was overtaking the world as the pandemic threat was worsening and quickly became the main thing on everyone’s mind. In the liner notes I made mention of this and hope that the album brought some smiles and a welcome distraction from all the fear and anxiety we’re all still feeling.
The song “I Love Jar Jar Binks” really could’ve been a Grim Deeds song and I think it’s the best Gungans song. I tried to connect my own flaws and vulnerabilities to the character of Binks, who is widely considered the lamest ever. For that reason I’ve always felt a connection to him. I love that he’s one of the only warts on the otherwise pristine face of the Star Wars Universe. Star Wars is sacred to many, so his presence being so unwelcome really tickled me as I imagined how bummed serious fans of the franchise must have been when his character was unveiled. Also the actor who voiced and played Binks suffered major blowback from his role, including death threats and result in a depression that nearly led to his suicide. Reading about that gave me pause and made me realize that the Jar Jar phenomenon relates more to Grim Deeds than I had previously considered. I see Grim Deeds as being sort of the “avatar for human suffering” (as Jason V of The Jasons put it), so Jar Jar has always seemed a natural ally and has been featured in the album art of several Grim Deeds albums.
Throughout my experience doing Grim Deeds I’ve taken breaks to work on side projects and explore other types of songwriting. In the end Grim Deeds is the one that matters most to me.
Okay, so super generic: Mount Rushmore of music…who’re the 4 bands/artists up there for you? Why is each up there for you?
I love this type of question! I’m could answer in many ways for various genres but I’ll keep it relevant to Grim Deeds:
- Kody Templeman (Lillingtons, TBR, Sack) – he’s simply the best, and also a close friend. The scope of his talent is incredible and he’s so humble about it. He’s my #1 for sure.
- David Jones (After School Special, Enemy You). David was also a close friend of mine and a direct influence. He was a special kind of songwriter – honest and soulful yet unabashedly nerdy. I miss him dearly and his memory is part of why I continue doing Grim Deeds.
- Dr. Frank (MTX) – in terms of ability and songcraft, no one else really comes close. It’s not normal to write songs as good as his. He’s also a friend and someone I see as a mentor. I’m nowhere near his league but he’s offered plenty of support and I am very grateful.
- Kepi Ghoulie (Groovie Ghoulies) – Kepi is a purist and a living, breathing rock n’ roll shark whose radiance hasn’t dimmed a bit in over 30 years of making music. He’s a major inspiration to me and a rare example of someone who truly wants to make the world better with music.
I know you’re a metal guy. I like a little bit of metal, but I don’t listen to it much – I’m really selective and I have to be in the right mood. What’s a 5-song metal sampler that you’d suggest to get me going?
I do love metal and have been obsessed since 6th grade, so my archives are deep. Metal spans a very wide spectrum of genres – something for every mood, really. I’ll provide you with a list that represents some of my favorite bands and songs:
- Metalucifer (Japan) – “Warriors Ride on the Chariots”
- Falconer (Swe) – “Wings of Serenity”
- Kalmah (Fin) – “Hades”
- GWAR (USA) – “Gor-Gor”
- Running Wild (Germany) – “The Privateer”
What’s the weirdest band/music/record/song that you love listening to? What is it that you like about it?
There are a lot of weird songs that I return to. I’m a sucker for melody so anything goes, really. One artist that immediately comes to mind is Weird Paul Petrosky. He’s got a ton of releases that are also home-recorded and he writes songs about all kinds of weird stuff. If you’ve never heard “Peanut Butter Recall”, I encourage you to seek it out immediately. You won’t regret it!
It seems like you know a lot of people. I think I first heard you interviewed watching your dueling interviews with John Pierson on YouTube. You’ve gotten to work with people like Kody from Lillingtons/Teenage Bottlerocket and you’ve interviewed a seeming who’s who of every pop punk I grew up adoring for your blogspot site. How? Did you just reach out to them or get to know them through going to shows? What’s your background in the punk community? Did you play in bands or anything before you started doing the Grim Deeds/Dumberger/Gungans stuff?
I’m grateful for this question. My style has always been to always reach out to people who inspire me. I highly recommend doing it as long as your intentions are right. You just also have to be prepared for it to backfire. That’s happened to me plenty of times. But you’re sincere and not too self-conscious there’s a good chance you’ll be able to connect, and when that happens it’s awesome. It’s led to many close friendships with people who I was “merely” fans of to begin with. But being a fan who keeps a respectful distance is also a cool thing. I just think it’s a wonderful opportunity and now that everyone’s more or less reachable via the Internet I figure why not? Most of the musicians I’m connected with are people I didn’t know and just reached out to at a show or by email. I personally think it’s important to do the work necessary to stay in touch with people you care about. With respect to the music community, I like to check in with people and also reach out to congratulate them when they release new stuff or reach a new milestone. I’ve always been that way.
I did play in a pop punk band called The Sprains before starting Grim Deeds. We played mostly in San Francisco and did two mini-tours, an album, and had a great time in general. Dan and Jesse are great dudes and awesome musicians. It was such a good experience that I decided never to be in a band again, haha. The way the stars aligned for us was too rare and special to relive, so I just remember those days fondly.
Beyond that my background in the punk community consisted of me just reaching out to people to say I liked their songs or their label or whatever. I had to learn the etiquette and all that stuff the hard way. My experience with the PPMB and Weasel Acres forums left a pretty bad taste in my mouth, but I was also younger and less aware of things then. The cool thing that happened unexpectedly was a resurgence in what I consider to be “true” pop punk – and all these labels started forming to support it. Now all the bands I’m friends with are also the bands I consider favorites. It’s a really cool thing and I’m grateful as can be.
So I heard Dr. Frank perform his Grim Deeds song on a YouTube video. It’s pretty fantastic and funny. What’s it like to have such a wonderful songwriter write a tribute to you like that?
Thank you for asking about this. To be honest, I’ve always felt undeserving and don’t bring it up because I feel that it’s such an honor and privilege that I don’t want to tarnish it by drawing attention to it. We all know that Frank is the best songwriter, so just to get his stamp of approval was more than enough. But a song? When he told me he was going to do it, I could tell by the way he said it that he was serious. Sure enough the first time he played it live I had to leave the show early to be on new dad duty! Thanks to Dina (Mrs. Portman) I got to see a video of it. Marisa (one of the biggest MTX fans in the world) posted that video of him playing it from a rare acoustic gig where I got to open for Dr. Frank and Kepi. We played at this really cool hippy-fied space in Berkeley for the family reunion of another big-time MTX and Ghoulies fan named Joseph Curran. It was a real hootenanny! Dr. Frank has played the song every time I’ve come out to see him and watching people react to it is pretty cool, man. Usually there are a few people who know me and get the references, but he keeps it a bit mysterious which I appreciate.
I grew up doing a little inline skating, but never figured out skateboarding. Last year I bought a longboard, deciding that if I didn’t learn to skate by 40, I never would (and I turned 40 last October). After doing that for a year, I’ve been kicking around the idea of buying a smaller board and trying to learn a few tricks. I remember hearing somewhere that you skated (at least at some point in your life). Is my idea dumb? Am I too old to try learning to do anything besides cruising on a skateboard? Any advice?
It’s funny that I’m answering this question now, because earlier this evening I landed my first-ever slappy grind which is a big deal to me! I’ve been skateboarding for 33 years and that’s one of the oldest, most primitive tricks you can do on a board but I never took the time to learn how until this pandemic hit. It’s also one of those tricks that seem impossible until you wrap your head around it and conquer the mental blocks. The trick involves basically carving INTO a curb so that your trucks ram into it and the momentum pushes you into a grind rather than ollieing into it. It’s almost a rite of passage for older skaters like me! Back to the roots type of thing.
Here’s the great thing about skateboarding today – there are no limits, no rules, and every style gets respect. In the 80s and 90s things were way more “strict” in the sense of what tricks were considered cool, what you were supposed to wear, etc. There were very defined standards and it was important then for skating’s progression, but also restrictive in some ways. The skater identity has evolved to the point where now it’s not uncommon to see every color, creed, gender, and age ripping.
The other thing that’s awesome is that most places have well-designed free public skateparks. And while it does take away from the raw freedom of street skating, there’s nothing lame about skating fresh concrete and a park that flows. It’s pushed the level of skating to incredible heights, too. People are now doing the tricks that I used to only think were possible in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game!
And while the level is now unattainably high, there’s also WAY more room to breathe and skate however you want to. And all you really need to do in order to have fun is just ride the thing! You can choose your own adventure and see where it takes you. I mainly skate parks now and have lost 99% of my tricks, but I can still ride fast and ollie so the stoke is alive and well! So my advice is simple: Go for it – it’s never too late to skate.
With your incredible output of music, have you ever wondered something like “what’s the point?” in putting your music out there? Do you go through that sort of questioning of the purpose/meaning behind what you’re doing? If so, how do you work through it? Are there any particular philosophical approaches that have re-shaped your ideas when questions seep in?
This is a great question. I addressed it in an earlier interview and I’m going to reference it here. My friend Hayley from the awesome band Hayley and the Crushers asked me to name the top 3 recurring negative thoughts I battle as a musician. My response included reckoning with the incompatibilities of Grim Deeds and my other life roles, the dread of maintaining an ongoing social media component, and also the ongoing concern that my artistic needs are egocentric in nature.
Doing the “labor” of it is actually something I quite enjoy and would do anyway. Writing songs is something I love doing for its own sake. I also enjoy recording and hearing the result. Sharing it is a natural instinct, too – it’s just that the purpose behind sharing it can become a bit complicated once you start getting ambitious and developing expectations. I’ve tried to keep those urges in check, though my friend David Jones once warned me it would happen. Each time a new milestone is reached, the natural response is to want more.
I won’t bullshit you, there was a time when I really hoped to be signed to Fat Wreck Chords. I wanted recognition from Fat Mike specifically, and to be seen and heard by as many people as possible. But as time went on and my connections within the pop punk world deepened, I became more and more content with and grateful for my standing among my peers. I no longer have any particular goals as far as reaching more people. I’m very grateful when I’m able to connect with new like-minded people (like you!). That’s more than enough. Plus my favorite songwriters are now close friends. What more could I want?
It might be a bit presumptuous to say this, but I’m now at a point where I’m more inclined to “give back” to the community and contribute by helping other songwriters and musicians who are inspired to go for it. I helped my friend Nick Spoon produce and promote his first album for Lesser Creatures and it was a totally cool process. To watch him gain confidence and feel the rewards of his success – it was awesome. It’s the same for anyone who reaches out to me to share their music or anything they want to contribute. I aspire to be someone in the scene who is approachable, relatable, and supportive. That means way more to me than any other form of success, and it’s my honor to have that opportunity now.
You release single songs with great regularity, and then after a while you seem to compile them into an EP or full length. How do you know when it’s time to start compiling? Is there some sort of pattern or concept you have in mind that influences this? Is it more of a feeling? Or is it a number – like, “that’s 12 singles, guess I better toss them all onto a record”?
Another great question! I’ve always struggled with the conflicting urges of wanting to release traditional full-length albums on physical formats, and also wanting to release music constantly without having to wait. With Grim Deeds I stumbled on a way to have my cake and eat it too, because I basically just release singles as soon as I record them and then compile them into albums whenever they feel complete. In the past I would base it on the number of songs – I felt that 15 was a worthy amount for an album and sometimes I’d do more or less. This pattern has persisted through 16 albums so far, but I’ve begun to loosen up after gaining more control over my own music production in recent years. I now feel way less pressure to release albums in the traditional manner. And while I still love the process of creating an album that I know will be pressed to vinyl, cd, or tape, there’s something even more liberating about creating everything myself and just putting out whatever I want whenever I want. Most of my sales come from bandcamp, anyway (although I want to credit OUTLOUD! Records and Matt Bennett for creating the IDEAL label experience for me – I couldn’t be happier with the freedom offered and the multitude of options and resources I’ve enjoyed all along. Thanks Matt!).
That being said, I’m also interested in pushing the pop punk form in progressive ways because it’s a genre that could use more weird and less of the same old thing. And so with respect to producing and releasing music, I’m a purveyor of “laptop punk” and encourage people to do things their own way. It’s not necessary anymore to follow the standards of the 1990s. Even if I had the option to record in a nice studio, I’d rather save the money and record a great sounding album on the cheap through ingenuity and resourcefulness. All the tools are out there. You can make the connections needed to achieve any goal. And I’ve found that 99% of the time it’s not only possible but also better to just Do It Yourself. Allow input, invite collaboration, but ultimately take responsibility for your art and take control over how much or how little you want to produce, distribute, promote, etc. That’s way more punk to me than adhering to someone else’s out-dated standards rooted in nostalgia for a form of music that is completely irrelevant to most people in 2020.
Jeff (of That’s Good Enough For Me) noticed this and was curious: You release music constantly (like Spotify CEO Daniel Ek controversially suggested artists should do in recent comments) and are a Bandcamp champ, but you don’t put anything on Spotify. Any philosophical reason? Or just haven’t felt like getting up on that site?
This is another great question. There are two answers, essentially. One reason I primarily release via Bandcamp is that the routine of uploading and the instant gratification of publishing on that site far surpasses any other platform that I’m aware of. It’s just so easy and convenient. I can upload and publish a track within minutes.
With Spotify there’s a whole process to go through and you have to do your homework to make sure that the release is official and legal. I just had to change one of the tracks on the Lesser Creatures/Grim Deeds split because the last song was a Screeching Weasel cover and we needed to get the mechanical license in order to use it. I knew that wouldn’t really be worth the trouble so I just gave Nick a different song. That’s the kind of thing I don’t want to have to deal with, and I don’t have to on bandcamp. I’ve had zero problems so as they say, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
Now the second answer to this question has to do with my overall perception of what it means to have your music available “on all streaming platforms”. One of the things I swore to myself never to do as Grim Deeds is to cram it up people’s asses. I only post when I have actual songs to share or releases to promote. I don’t look at analytics or strategize about how to get more clicks or views. I can’t stand the thought of spending my precious creative time that way. And while my approach may not be the most savvy or effective, at least it’s honest and doesn’t involve begging for micropayments. I trust that people will seek out things if they’re interested enough. That’s how I ended up finding some of my favorite bands, after all.
So I keep writing up quick news stories about a new Grim Deeds song. Inevitably, I have a line that says something like “this is the first new Grim Deeds song in the past 5 days”, so I hesitate to ask as everything seems to change and progress so quickly for you. But what’s next for Grim Deeds/Dumberger?
This is a fair question indeed. I often experience crises of identity and direction as an artist, and these struggles usually either result in more Grim Deeds songs or some kind of side project. There have been plenty of times when I wanted to stop doing Grim Deeds completely in favor of doing whatever I felt was the next step in my evolution, but so far I’ve always come to realize that Grim Deeds has plenty of room to evolve and is more personal and unique to me as an individual than any other creative project I’ve done.
By the time this interview comes out, people will have seen another collection of songs released as a mini-album or EP with art by Ben Minter called Grim Deeds Returns. It’s supposed to represent a return to my old style of releasing shorter works digitally with Ben Minter’s art featured on each release, which is how I started out. Another notable yet probably not very noticeable feature is that all of the songs feature me playing drums.
Another project that I’ll be releasing concurrently with that EP is a spoken-word album called The Archives. It’s a collection of 8 stories from my childhood and young adult years formatted so that it flows like a Grim Deeds album. Each story is about the length of a Grim Deeds song and evokes a similar vibe with the spoken word and storytelling. It’s something I’ve wanted to try for a while and I’m interested to see how people react to it. All of the stories are true and it’s a mix of funny, harrowing, and dark tales that I’m hoping people will relate to.
Beyond that, only time will tell. I’m eager to clear these projects from the queue and take a much-needed break. Of course for me that means maybe a week or so before diving back in to more songwriting and recording. My main concern is that I use my time wisely and try to create as much worthwhile art as possible while I can.
As mentioned earlier, you’ve interviewed a bunch of people and you do a great job of it. Do you prefer being the interviewer or the interviewee? What do you like about each side of it? Any tips for me?
Interviewing is something that I’ve done for fun for the past 15 years or so. I’ve always enjoyed reaching out to people who I admire, and getting to interview them is always a great treat for me. It also creates a situation in which I’m able to offer them my best as a fan. Through interviewing I can convey my sense of appreciation for their work, and also offer observations that they might be surprised to hear. I only choose to interview people who I’m already very familiar with and fond of, so the results are usually mutually fun and satisfying. It’s also a way for me to honor these people who have inspired me and communicate that to them. And it’s the kind of thing you can pull off without a big budget or any gear whatsoever, especially now. I recently did a Zoom interview with Linh Le from Bad Cop/Bad Cop and it turned out better than I hoped. The settings allow you to spotlight the speaker in such a way that the resulting interview is already edited, which is awesome.
I also love being interviewed because it’s an opportunity to connect with someone who probably “gets” what I’m doing or is at least interested enough to want to know more. Getting an interview request or opportunity is a huge honor and I have savored doing this one. Thank you Ryan! You did a great job with the questions and I can already tell we’ll remain in touch going forward. How about that, folks? The pop punk community is a wonderful thing. HAILS!
Grim Deeds’ newest pop punk record Grim Deeds Returns and his spoken word stories collection The Archives are both available now at the Grim Deeds Bandcamp page.
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
