{"id":11840,"date":"2012-09-13T14:38:46","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T04:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=11840"},"modified":"2012-09-13T15:03:28","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T05:03:28","slug":"dimitri-coats-of-off-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/09\/dimitri-coats-of-off-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Dimitri Coats of OFF!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything about this band screams underdog, I mean who could have predicted this crazy little accident could turn out to be so important to people who are fans of this racket.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The existence of OFF! may have been accidental \u2013 Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks) Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides frontman), Steven McDonald (Redd Kross) and Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket From the Crypt) is certainly an interesting colliding of musical worlds, but it\u2019s an accidental collision that has produced 4 EP\u2019s and now their first full length album.\u00a0 Track after track on OFF! is delivered at seriously breakneck speed, 16 songs in just as many minutes!<\/p>\n

For those who didn\u2019t catch OFF! in Australia the last time around, they will be heading back to OZ early next year for the Big Day Out and hopefully shall also play some of their own headline shows.<\/p>\n

We recently chatted to the always-effervescent Dimitri Coats, check it out\u2026<\/p>\n

So your new album was released here a few weeks ago in Australia, but I think it\u2019s been out and about in other parts for a little while now. \u00a0What has been the reaction to it so far from what you\u2019ve seen and heard?
\n<\/strong>You know what, it debuted at #86 on the Billboard charts, the regular charts.\u00a0 I couldn’t believe it.\u00a0 Everything about this band screams underdog, I mean who could have predicted this crazy little accident could turn out to be so important to people who are fans of this racket.<\/p>\n

But I guess whilst the origins of OFF! may have been accidental, the band has now become anything but accidental hasn\u2019t it, with what 4 EP releases and now your new album?
\n<\/strong>We just need to capitalise on all the momentum and opportunities that come our way and keep juggling all the balls in the air.\u00a0 For me anyway, I’m looking at when ideally a new record should come out.\u00a0 I don’t want to look back and say what would have happened if the record had of come out when the label really wanted it to.\u00a0 So I’m looking way in the future, I already know the new album will come out in Fall 2013 and Keith and I need to start writing in December and continue writing into early next year, then hand in the record around June.\u00a0 If we don’t have deadlines we just don’t do anything!\u00a0 We have families, we are older guys and we get distracted (laughs).<\/p>\n

So I take it then that this album was also strongly deadline driven?
\n<\/strong>Absolutely, yes it was.\u00a0 I manage the band, I produce the albums and I write the songs with Keith, we write the material together, songwriting partners.\u00a0 I just like to push the guy as much as I can and try and get away with as much as I can.\u00a0 It’s all stuff he brought up in the first place, it’s his own damn fault, with the urgency and intensity, which is what we are after.<\/p>\n

Intensity is something that the band has by the bucket load, when it comes to recording in the studio, how do you guys go about capturing that intensity onto recorded format?
\n<\/strong>I think it’s definitely from not knowing the material that well and throwing yourself in the moment.\u00a0 We definitely record everything live, all 4 guys at once and I’ll add a second guitar afterwards, but that’s about it.\u00a0 We literally give ourselves two days tops to record all the fucking songs.\u00a0 So we will go in and on the first day we will set up the sound and I’ll be like “that sounds like a pretty fucked up guitar sound” and Keith will be like “it sounds like a fucking guitar, let’s go!!” and I’ll be like, \u201cyou know what he’s right, why are we even worrying about this shit.\u201d\u00a0 Back in the day, in the Circle Jerks or Black Flag they would have friends who might run a shitty studio or maybe not even a studio, just a voice over studio and they would call up and say “so and so has cancelled, do you want up come and do some recording for a couple of hours”.\u00a0 So they would go in and record the whole damn record in that time, talk about fast!<\/p>\n

With your past musical background which was the Burning Brides, I\u2019m sure it may have taken you a little while to adjust to the different approach of OFF!, but it sure sounds like you are well and truly in the zone now?
\n<\/strong>It really gets me going every day when I wake up, I’ve got 60,000 people I can talk to on Facebook every day and there’s something to be said about that, we have fans you know, we don’t want to fuck this thing up.\u00a0 We’re going to challenge ourselves to stay bold and be as badass as we can be.\u00a0 Because we’ve been around the block before, chances are we’re not going to fuck this up to much!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ll throw a song at you \u2013 Wiped Out, what can you tell me about how that track was written and recorded?
\n<\/strong>Well let’s see, the first song Wiped Out…well this is how funny the whole thing is.\u00a0 We knew we needed 17 songs, 16 for the album and an extra one for iTunes.\u00a0\u00a0 So we probably had about 15 songs and there were literally 5 or 6 days left before we had to go into the studio to record the album and this whole time we are teaching the songs to the rhythm section and moving through what we had written, as we were still writing new songs and getting ready to go record.\u00a0 Mario pulled me aside after one of the rehearsals and was like “are there going to be any party songs on this album” and I was like “what the fuck are you talking about man?, the whole records full of party stuff\u201d and he’s like “no man, where’s the Upside Down<\/em> of this record, the Nervous Breakdown<\/em>” and I was like ok I get what you mean.\u00a0 So the next day I went into Keith’s living room and I told him what Mario said and he goes ok, I get it, party…. \u00a0So he goes over to his giant shelves where all his records are and starts pulling down like live Blue Oyster Cult and we start pounding coffee and having a tailgate party in his living room and Keith\u2019s telling me how many joints he smoked before going into The Forum to see Blue Oyster Cult and Black Sabbath and stuff like that and I just got really excited and picked up the guitar and started playing a riff.\u00a0 Much like Upside Down <\/em>was written, Wiped Out<\/em> was finished in like 2 hours.\u00a0 We took it into the studio the next time and go “hey Mario, here’s your fucking party song”.\u00a0 He’s like “now that’s what I’m fucking talking about dude…”<\/p>\n

You have a USA tour coming up that looks like it will take up the best part of the remainder of 2012\u2026
\n<\/strong>Yeah, you know 3 of us in the van are dads so we’ve got to break it up a bit and we can’t just head off in the van for 2 months at a time. We’re going to start going through the South and bring out with us Negative Approach and Double Negative and another band called Powertrip who will do some of it when Double Negative can’t be on the bill.\u00a0 We will fly home for a bit as I said, to spend some time with our families and then fly back and start in New York and we will have The Spits supporting us.\u00a0 We will then motor our way through the US and end up at a really cool festival called Fun Fun Fun in Austin.\u00a0 We will have to do the West Coast as another time as by then it’s time to nearly head over to Australia, so we will do the West Coast USA in February.\u00a0 That will then pretty much be the end of the album cycle and by then I’m sure Keith and I will have already started writing the new album.<\/p>\n

Next year as you mentioned just then you are headed back to Australia for the Big Day Out, which also has the Red Hot Chilli Peppers playing, a band you guys just recently played with?
\n<\/strong>Australia is a real highlight for any rock band, so it\u2019s great to be coming back. \u00a0Playing with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers last time was a lot of fun, we got to play The Staples Centre in our hometown of Los Angeles that was a real trip!<\/p>\n

Are you aware whether you will play your own headline shows whilst you are out here?
\n<\/strong>I’m not at liberty to say whether we are playing sideshows or not!\u00a0 Let’s just say there would be a lot of fans who would be disappointed if we didn’t, as those punk rockers they don’t really like spending a whole bunch of money on a festival just to see us you know.\u00a0 So we will do everything we can to make everyone happy…and that’s about all I can talk about on that (laughs).<\/p>\n

Check out our review of OFF! right here…<\/a><\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Los Angeles, USA<\/p>\n

Band members:
\n<\/strong>Keith Morris \u2013 vocals (Circle Jerks\/Black Flag\/Midget Handjob\/Buglamp)<\/p>\n

Dimitri Coats \u2013 guitar (Burning Brides)<\/p>\n

Steven McDonald \u2013 bass (Redd Kross\/Tourists\/Tater Totz\/Sparks\/Beck)<\/p>\n

Mario Rubalcaba \u2013 drums (Earthless\/RFTC\/Hot Snakes\/Clikitat Ikatowi & a few others)<\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> OFF! (27 July 2012, We Are Unified)<\/p>\n

Website:
\n<\/strong>www.offofficial.com
\n<\/a>www.facebook.com\/offband
\n<\/a>www.weareunified.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Big Day Out Dates
\n<\/strong>Friday 18 January \u2013 SYDNEY \u2013 Showgrounds
\nSunday 20 January \u2013 GOLD COAST \u2013 Parklands
\nFriday 25 January \u2013 ADELAIDE \u2013 Showground
\nSaturday 26 January \u2013 MELBOURNE \u2013 Flemington Racecourse
\nMonday 28 January \u2013 PERTH \u2013 Claremont<\/p>\n\n

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