The Dismemberment Plan: Punk or Prog?
By John Baccigaluppi
Photo by Jeff Gros.

Sadly, very few of the many CDs I listen to surprise me much, and even fewer pleasantly. The Dismemberment Plan’s Emergency & I was a definite exception from the very first song, as a vocal line that alternates between a falsetto and a high tenor weaves it’s way in and out of a funky offbeat rhythm and takes turn with an almost prog rock arpeggiated guitar line. The entire album is full of great songs and pleasant surprises, so when one of our writers and photog Jeff Gros simultaneously asked me if they could cover the band, I readily agreed. But then, the writer told me that the interview didn’t go so well, but that she would finish it anyway.
The same week that I got the interview and read it, The Dismemberment Plan stopped by our office with their tour-mates, Juno and their singer and Heckler Contributor Arlie Carstens. I decided to take the opportunity to get a fresh start and re-do the interview, so I sat down with the band in the control room of my studio and we talked about Led Zeppelin, recording techniques and how their J Robbins & Chad Clark produced CD was funded by Interscope Records. After recording, the DC based band was dropped from the label in the wake of the Seagrams merger and the band took the new CD to Kim Colletta’s (Jawbox) DeSoto label. “They’re right in our own backyard so when we need to work on things we just call them up or go to their living room or meet at a show or something. It’s a lot easier than having to go through a secretary to get an answer. It’s a lot nicer.”
I am fascinated by the bands songs and try to dissect their creative process, but like all good artists it’s slippery and elusive and no epiphany is reached. So, when they mention that the first album “Sounds like XTC on speed,” I opt for the easier ‘what are your influences?’ standby.
“We take a lot of cues from hip hop for sure, and I think at the most macro level, you can say hip hop and punk rock are probably our two biggest. As far as something we listen to, we were going growing up with different stuff like the Talking Heads, Allman Brothers, 7 Seconds, U2, Smashing Pumpkins.. But now, the new Flaming Lips, gets spun a lot in the van, the new Mos Def, the new Beck..”
Now I feel like I’m getting somewhere; very few bands from the ‘punk rock’ camp are claiming such disparate musical influences which begins to explain the band’s diverse sound.
Vocalist Travis begins to elaborate on singing and song writing, “I got the melodies all right, and that’s my main job. I think the best way to sound like a great singer is to sing the best songs. I almost learned by the end of the record that if I’m gonna improve as a singer then improving as a songwriter and lyric writer would be the quickest way to get that accomplished.”
“I think as a band, we’re starting to pay more attention to song writing, and zero in on the fact that it’s about the songs. What it comes down to is, beyond anything else, if the arrangements are good, and the melodies are good, if you play them tightly, then you’re there. I think that’s the thing for us. We’re starting to look in all the right places. People like Paul Simon. Stuff like Cole Porter, some of the classic American song writers. As long as we, outside of any genre or particular mode, look at people who wrote the great songs in American song writing, we’re set. That’s what you’ve got to do. For those people who say that Zeppelin record sounds so great, or that James Brown record sounds so great, how do you make it sound like that? Well, be the Famous Flames, and then you’ll sound like James Brown, and your records will sound that good.”
“Even the 80’s couldn’t kill the songs. It’s all about whistling a melody, and getting it stuck in people’s head, that should be the goal for everybody.”
I’m a really shitty whistler, but I often find myself humming melodies from Emergency & I, so if you expand the definition of good pop song writing to humming, these guys have totally nailed it.