The Larryville Chronicles: Our Chat With Denver's FaceMan: "We mostly play for my mom's bridge club."
Denver rock-trio FaceMan is just plain strange, and we love 'em for it. They are bringing their antics to LFK's Barnyard Beer this Thursday, Nov. 8, alongside locals Til Willis and Erratic Cowboy (re-read our recent political chat with Til over here prior to the election tomorrow!).
Enjoy this chat with the FaceMan himself (with brief interjections from bandmates Dean and David) in which we discuss the band's evolution from masked oddballs to general oddballs, recording with music legends, dead dogs, and the difficulty of building a sweet bike jump.
Check out FaceMan on Facebook (!) over here . Visit their website here . And listen to the new album Feeding Time via Bandcamp here .
Richard: As we researched the history of FaceMan, we stumbled across a lot of delightful weirdness, but mainly what I'm interested in is the crazy mask you used to wear! Can you tell us the origin story of your masked man persona? And these days you are no longer masked, right?
Faceman: Remember building a bike jump? Remember the feeling right before digging through the wood pile and stealing nails from your neighbors dog house? Pure boredom. We started out playing boring folk music and thought it would be less boring to build amazing amateur shit.
After about a year, the body suit, weighing over 60 pounds, was causing serious back pain that booze and sex couldn't heal. The fear of sucking also faded away and it became obvious our "bike jump" was attracting kids with helmets on. Fuck that.
David Thomas Bailey: Agree
Dean Hirschfield: Agree
Chip: You guys are prone to huge jam sessions with other Denver bands during your shows. And haven’t you also recorded with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band? Also, will you be inviting all of Larryville’s musicians on stage at the Barnyard? I play a mean ukulele.
Faceman: Yes, Heal the World was released in 1991. Michael Jackson knew it took a crew to build a jump. Heal the world, man. We like to do different arrangements for the songs live and are known to feature upstanding members of the community. However, the majority of our songs are under three minutes, vocal heavy, and lack a mandolin solo.
Yes, our album 'FeedingTime' features the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on the song 'Need' and the Rebirth Brass Band on the title track, 'FeedingTime'. Both bands were touring through Denver within about two weeks of each other and we reached out and arranged for them to join us in the recording studio. Got drunk with legends. It was sooo hippie.
What's a ukulele?
David Thomas Bailey: Strongly Agree
Dean Hirschfield: Agree to disagree?
Richard: I really dig the song “Drinking Time” on your new CD, which the notes describe succinctly as “a track about drinking…and anxiety.” The song itself has a nerve-wracking feel to it, where you’re almost shouting about “dead dogs” and such. Can you tell us more about that track and also about the other themes of the album, besides drinking and anxiety.
Faceman: 'DrinkingTime' is a track about drinking. . . .and anxiety. Next time you're drinking, look at your dog and maybe let him swallow half of the Hot Pocket. Fifer, you're going to die before me if everything goes as planned. That's sad as hell. He's a booze hound. Scared.
David Thomas Bailey: Hate dogs.
Dean Hirschfield: Dogs!
Chip: Speaking of drinking, tell us about the Denver club scene. Do you mostly play to apathetic scenesters or to stoned, dancing hippies swilling microbrews?
FaceMan: Bottle service! Lets bounce. We mostly play for my mom's bridge club and most of the older members are definitely stoned most shows. Never met an apathetic scenster so can't comment on that. We really like expensive beer.
David Thomas Bailey: Agree
Dean HIrschfield: What is bridge?
Richard: Your Barnyard show will be shortly after the election and you’re playing with our buddy Til Willis, who’s prone to singing about politics. Can we expect any political messages from Faceman? Or at least some between-song political chatter?
Faceman: If Romney wins, we're quitting and following Til Willis around. Living in a swing state is torture.
David Thomas Bailey: Agree
Dean Hirschfield: Agree
Chip: Leave our readers with a few sentences that convince them that they absolutely MUST attend this Barnyard gig. Will there be props and/or multimedia hijinks?
Faceman: Listen here you motherfu. . . . . Readers, please come to this Barnyard gig. It's time to make FINAL JUDGEMENT. Bring some nails.
David Thomas Bailey: Agree
Dean Hirschfield: Agree