Dreadful Selfish Crime

QUOTES FROM THE BAND:

“You can’t grow up in Bakersfield and not be influenced by Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. But we all come from pretty eclectic backgrounds musically – Marc has country leanings, Johnny’s always going to have some rockabilly in him, Brett brings a darker sound to the table, and my punk roots always come out… Put it all together it and it should be a mess, but somehow it just works. “ –Brandon Homme

“Our philosophy has been based around staying original, making a sound that’s our own that can’t be pigeonholed. Personally, I bring a specific style to whatever we’re doing… it’s not fancy or experimental, but I think it lays a nice foundation that ties it all together.” -Marc Lipco

“A lot of the music from Bakersfield is a product of the tough times you face growing up in 110 degree weather with entertainment that’s not very expansive, and a conservative contingent… Our music sort of captures that struggle of small town life.” -Brett Seaton

“I think in some ways, the covers kind of tell our story. We chose covers that fit in with what we are. All four of us are musical misfits. There aren’t and never have been any rules for us or what we do. If we followed the rules, we wouldn’t exist in the first place.” -Johnny Retsched -

TRACK BY TRACK OVERVIEW:

“Kill the DJ”
By Brandon Homme: In one of my punk bands, a friend of mine had a song that I wanted to steal; he didn’t like the riffs. He said I could have the song, because he hated it, but he wouldn’t give me the lyrics, so I wrote my own. It’s about what’s wrong with music today, Nashville, MTV and American Idol…. At one time a DJ was a person you heard on the air, who had an influence on music, but that’s not the case anymore. It’s an anti-radio song basically.


“I Have Become Keith Richards”
By Johnny Retsched: I was playing somewhere , what town I don’t remember. The original draft was written on a Courtyard By Marriot notepad. I couldn’t sleep, so I started scribbling. The way songwriting works for me is the melody comes with the words. I never write music or keys… the melody is in my head. I carried that song around for a year and a half, but never played it with my other bands. We gave it a try with this project and it worked, mostly because Lipco helped give it that twang it needed. It wasn’t about becoming Richards from doing heroin, more from drinking a lot, playing late nights, and then getting up early to farm. It puts lines on your face.
Basically, the song is about busting your ass, and not really getting anywhere, but still doing it and loving it.

“Black Sheep of the Family” (John Anderson cover)
Homme: This was sort of joke between me and my brother, who was the black sheep of the family. We both always loved the song. I thought it would translate well to a punk version, kind of like how Social D does the Johnny Cash stuff.

“Sing A Sad Song”
By Retsched: It’s a song about my relationship with the ghost of Hank Williams. From a songwriting standpoint, Hank is one of my heroes. He writes simple and succinct songs, but they’re not necessarily as simple as you might think, there’s more going on. I was walking thru an orchard, and the melody and the premise of tuning into the radio and hearing Hank and thinking about what he was singing, and how it related to my life… It all kind of came together.

“Little Bit of Whore” (Johnny Thunders cover)
Retsched: I always loved the Dolls …the attitude… the bite. I’ve never heard anyone cover this Johnny Thunders song. I never even heard a version by him where he seemed to really care about it. I thought it was a kick-ass song and I wanted a chance to take a shot at it and sing it like I mean it. I sang it with everything I have. Most people don’t know it and the few that do, say that’s so cool.

“Lukenbach, Texas” (Wayland Jennings cover)
Homme: It’s probably weird but if I had to pick my two favorite bands in the world it’d be Nirvana and Wayland Jennings. It’s a great song, everyone likes playing it, and we do it for no other reason than, purely, Wayland’s huge influence.

“The Breather”
By Homme: All my songs are pretty much about girls. The title has no reference to the song at all. It was a nickname I had for a certain girl. I did sound at a club and this girl worked at the bar there. I actually wrote it one night there. She inspired it but the overall emotion or feeling is more general, about experiences we all have. Ultimately, it’s just about a guy who has a crush on the female bartender.


“A Drinking Life”
By Retsched: I wrote this in the 90s when country radio had just gone to “hot country” or whatever. Nothing I cared for at the time. It just sucked. I wrote this thing- it has a honky tonk feel. It’s a simple 2 chord song but people always request it. It just won’t die. And maybe that’s not a bad thing.

“Five Nine”
By Homme- It’s probably my favorite song. It’s the closest we do to a traditional love song and it’s basically about a guy sitting there staring at the phone and it’s not ringing, thinking his relationship is all going to shit. I love the melody and I love what Mark does with it on guitar. I’m real proud of how this one came out.

“Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound” (Hank Williams, Jr. cover)
Retsched- I used to play it in a previous band, but I didn’t sing it then. We switched it to a different key to push my voice harder and we play it harder. I play first solo, Lipco plays second solo. Hank had it in G and it was truly a mid tempo song. I sing it in A and it’s now a more aggressive number.


“The Nerve”
By Homme: This is about a guy committing suicide or being in a very dark place. It’s not literal. It talks about writing the suicide note and what those thoughts are… Not to say most of us would actually do it, but more about thinking about doing it.

“Alcohol and Pills” – (Fred Eaglesmith cover)
Retsched: Todd Snider is a song-writing hero of mine. He covered this Eaglesmith song on East Nashville Skyline, which is a record I really love. We were looking for material to round out the record. I played it for the band, they said that’s great, and boom, we did it. Best part is when people say all our songs are about drinking, we can say, no, this one’s about pills too. We broadened our horizons on this one. -

On behalf of Music Resource Group and our distinguished judging panelists, it is our pleasure to congratulate Dreadful Selfish Crime on being nominated in the Alt. Country Song Category for Sing a Sad Song in The 14th Annual Independent Music Awards! - Independent Music Awards