To celebrate the coming of the first ever Lost City Music Festival, we decided it might be nice to sit down with some of the performers playing at the festival. Today, we got the chance to speak with Diaper Daniels of Madison band Cribshitter. Catch Cribshitter Friday, July 6th @ the High Noon Saloon.
MAM (Corey Murphy): Cribshitter is an interesting name for a band. What’s that all about? By ‘crib’ do you mean the bed of an infant or pimped house?
C (Diaper Daniels): First of all, before I say anything…..(long pause, 90 seconds at least). Definitely the bed of an infant since I don’t know what “pimped” means.
MAM: How did all of this begin? I once read an interview where you said something about trying to get boo’ed off of the stage at an open mic. Is this true? Have you changed your performance goals?
C: I was working a at a print shop bindery with Don Rubbish. One day the name Cribshitter popped into my head. I couldn’t let it go, so I decided to ask Don if he wanted to start a band with me called Cribshitter. We employed The Fucking Lion (who was in my other band at the time) as the drummer and we decided to see how horrible we could be at the open mic at the campus student union. The goal was to see how quickly we could get booed off the stage.
Over the years we’ve been torn on which direction to go. In fact, just last week at the Annual Shareholder’s Golf Outing in Cabo, Bill from Accounting voiced his concerns regarding expediting outgoing orders and other possible workflow management efficiencies. Unfortunately Wayne (VP of Operations) took Bill’s remark as a personal affront to his general management strategy. I found the remark harmless, and figured it was more indicative of Bill’s repeat trips to the course beverage cart and clubhouse bar. At any rate we played through it and let the two of them fight it out later that evening on the ropes course during team building exercises.
Here’s the rest of the story…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbNEUAS-HnA
MAM: I can’t help but think of Ween when I listen to Cribshitter. Would you say that they are an influence? Who (else) do you draw inspiration from?
C: We do enjoy Ween (RIP). My older brother played me some of their stuff back when my mind was wet clay and it definitely had an impact on me.
Other influences include: Michael Douglas from Falling Down, hymns, Fagan from Oliver!, Punisher War Journal, Greg Kite, Randy Breuer, my mom’s musical background, my dad’s taste in old country/western music, American mall culture, Paul Simon, Rusty Cottonmouth, Poison, Cinderella, Morphine, Pilgrim’s Point Bible Camp, Great Clips, 64-count crayon box w/built-in sharpener (mainly Burnt Sienna & Maize), Beastie Boys, Flaming Lips, 10cc, Nancy Wilson, the art of auctioneering, Mr. Seth.
MAM: Who does most of the writing? Is it a group effort or does the band learn parts to songs that you compose?
C: I typically do most of the writing and most of the time the band is learning the parts that I have recorded. Not all the time though. A few songs were collaborative lyrically. For instance one night instead of practicing, we all sat down and wrote the lyrics to “War-Torn Vaginer.”
Count Bassy and I have collaborated on a few tunes (“Derek Stold Cereal”, “Wedding Supply Truck Driver”) and Don Rubbish contributes a solo song every once in a while when he’s not jet-setting all over the world selling medical devices. Danika has also been known to turn some nice lines.
MAM: Explain Sound Silo? Is this where most of the magic happens?
C: Sound Silo is the formal name of my audio/sound design business. Anyone need any jingles? I charge cheap-time! The majick happens at my studio: The Orthtenson Ranch. It’s nestled among the crickets and rust-beetles that like to scuttle among the nettles of the sage thicket.
MAM: What is the bands relationship to Icarus Himself? Do members in the group come from other Madison bands as well?
C: The Fucking Lion and I are also in Icarus Himself. Nickarus Whetro sometimes plays cowbell & tamponrine with us. Danika plays tuba in a local city community band in the area.
MAM: A character named Jared seems to be a lightning rod for a lot of Cribshitter’s profanity. Who is Jared and why do you guys dislike him so?
C: Jared is a friend of a friend whom I briefly met once years ago at a party. I don’t remember much about him. Fast forward to a couple years ago. I attended my friend’s wedding and he thought it would be funny to seat me with Jared. So it was pretty awkward when people started telling him about Cribshitter and all the songs that were written about him. I think he thought it was somewhat funny, but at the same time kind of creepy. I gave him a compact disc at the end of the night and we parted ways. I think the first song for the next album will have to be “Jared has a Blonde Butt-cut.
The songs aren’t really about that guy. During the tender times of adolescence there are a wide range of learned behaviors that are learned at different times within any group of bonded males. One of those learned behaviors is breaking from the pack to pursue female attention. This break can cause rifts within the pack that can resonate for years.
MAM: Tell me about the latest Cribshitter release, “Mint Car“. What’s the idea behind it? It seems to be a strange mix or re-released tracks and dubstep.
C: Mint Car is a limited-release (40 qty) cassette containing 16 tracks of mostly new material with a few classic nuggets thrown in from our past two releases (Methlehem, Cry A Little Rainbow) based on what songs sounded best in our cassette testing facility: A white 1985 Pontiac Fiero. Among the new material you will hear anything from psych rock, pure country, dubstep, chill-blare, and even a few make out tunes. Until a few days ago I had no idea that The Cure released an album of the same. Had I known that I would have fallen back on my original album name: Countache.
MAM: What is your favorite snack food?
C: I like cashews. I like playing cards.
Mine All Mine Records 