When I first saw Right On Dynamite a few years ago, it was just another Brooklyn band struggling to find its sound and place in a very tough scene to crack. This is a band that’s not had the overnight success of MGMT or Vampire Weekend.
Right On Dynamite has played gig after gig in front of small crowds at pretty much every venue in town. Many bands can fall to the crippling nature of elusive success after putting in so much work, but overnight success would have done it no good. The struggle has made the band humble, and most importantly it's allowed it to really develop its sound. All of a sudden, Right on Dynamite has quietly become one of New York’s best bands, harnessing poppy '60s melodies and combining them post-pavement guitar-driven indie rock.
In 2008, people finally started to take notice when Right On Dynamite was selected to play opening dates for Frightened Rabbit, but that's only the tip of the iceberg because the band will soon have the honor of opening for four nights of the upcoming Hold Steady tour in June, after Friday's concert at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Love Is All. Such an opportunity will most certainly help the band reach a load of new fans.
Recently, Right On Dynamite has been very busy, recording a Daytrotter session during a trip to SXSW, helping celebrate the conclusion of 100 bands in 100 nights, and most recently spending a Sunday afternoon at Living to play a Kidrockers show, but I was able to get them to talk a little about kids, the past and, most importantly, the music.
Kids ask the darndest things, and at your recent Kidrockers show you fielded some questions from the tots. What are some of the questions the kids asked you guys, and can you answer them for us?
Dan: They asked us a bunch of different ways how we became a band. It was almost like a deposition or something, each kid has his own way of phrasing the question.
Nick: Yeah, I really like kids asking us questions. They were quite interesting. One very little one mustered up the courage to ask us when we would break up! Ha, I think I just laughed, stated that it was a very good question, and kicked a balloon.
Did you go to any cool shows when you were kids? Who's the first band you ever saw live?
D: Na, my childhood sucked for music, I was a late bloomer, probably the first show I saw was Ringo with Nicky when we were like 13.
N: And what a show it was! Jack Bruce on bass... yes, yes wonderful.
When and where was the first show you played as a band? Who else played?
R.o.D.: We played our first show in the basement of this Italian restaurant called L'asso on the Lower East Side. We played with Americans and Aloke. I remember the pizza was delicious.
How excited are you to be playing show with The Hold Steady?
R.o.D.: So fucking excited—they are such a great band, and one that we have really dug for a long time now.
You recently recorded a Daytrotter session with a bunch of new songs. Will we be seeing any more new recordings from you anytime soon?
D: Yes, the plan is we are going to record in the fall—a full album this time.
N: With 14 bonus tracks
How would you describe your sound? Who are your biggest influences?
D: I'd like it to be more jammy, experimental indie pop, it's getting there, it's what we do live and in practice, but we haven't got it down on a record just yet. My influences are probably Beatles, Kinks, Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, The Clash, Led Zeppelin. I like punk and indie but I like guitars—a lot.
N: Daniel pretty much nailed the first part of the question for me, as far as influences go, us three Dynamites are influences by nothing but the most brilliant shit out there.
>Right on Dynamite
June 5, with Love is All, Real Estate, Sean Bones; Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 North Six Street, Brooklyn; 8pm, $13a/15d
