Q&A with The Met-rocking Diablogato
Diablogato is a very peculiar band in many ways. They have roots in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island so their fan base crosses over between the two states. Their rock & roll sound can’t be pinned down, it’s a blend of punk, rockabilly, blues and country that purely stands on its own. They also have an affinity for art and design which is evident in their logo and their t-shirts. Coming off of the release of their latest album, Old Scratch, on Aug. 23, these hellraisers took the stage at The Met in Pawtucket Friday evening with Providence ska act The Copacetics.
I had a talk with drummer Jesse Mayer ahead of the show about how the band started, building hot rods, the making of the new album and maintaining a regional following.
ROB DUGUAY: Before Diablogato started, you, Drew Indignaro, Chuck MacSteven and Johnny Custom were all in different bands so how did you all come together to start this one?
JESSE MAYER: Drew and I had been in a band together for a few years called The New Alibi and that band got formed because before that Drew was in a band called The Lost City Angels and I was in a band called The Marvels and another one called The Pug Uglies. We did a lot of shows together and we’ve been friends going back to those days. We’ve toured together and those bands we’re all loud, fast and melodic punk bands. Drew and I were kicking around the idea of doing something with an upright bass that had more swing to it with a rockabilly feel, bands like The Amazing Royal Crowns and The Kings Of Nuthin’ were doing this at the time and we loved those bands.
We both put the idea on the back burner and after The New Alibi broke up, I was burnt out. I wasn’t playing music at all, I was just building hot rods. I was at this place where music had gotten to be a thing where I would be like “Oh, we’re going to do this again?” if someone approached me about joining a band. Building hot rods was more intriguing to me at the time and I hadn’t played in a couple years. I then got a call from Drew and he asked me if I knew Chuck from Wicked Whiskey and I didn’t but I played a show on a battleship with the band and I thought they were awesome.
Chuck and Drew had been talking and that idea Drew and I had been shooting around came up in the conversation. He knew that I was the kind of guy who could play that kind of style so he asked if I was interested in joining up and I was. He then asked if I was friends with Johnny, and obviously I am. Johnny is from Cranston and he’s kind of a legendary upright bass player in the Americana scene and he’s played with a ton of people. There’s only a few really good upright bassists around here, but Johnny and I became friends through the hot rod scene and we both build cars and he’s actually given me a motor for a ‘50 Chevy at one point.
I reached out to Johnny and he thought it was pretty cool. Off we went into a rehearsal space together, the four of us. We just started playing, we got a sound that we really liked and we started to make it happen. It’s not punk and it’s not rockabilly but it incorporates elements of both of those things. It sounded different and cool, Kim Kendricken ended up joining up a few months later and she was with us on our first record and 3½ years in total until she left a little over a year ago.
RD: That’s cool how it all came together like that. Along with the punk and rockabilly, there’s also hints of country and blues in Diablogato’s sound as well. Who came up with the logo for the band with the three-eyed cat?
JM: That was Chuck’s idea, he caught lightning in a bottle with it. I personally think it’s the best logo ever (laughs). Chuck does all of the graphic art for our merch, with the t-shirts and everything else. One of the things that we try to do that we’ve been very conscious of, and it’s also something that I’ve wanted to do my whole life with a band, is that everything we do whether it’s the logo, vinyl artwork, songs or what our stage set up looks like it represents what we are. Bands I love like The Clash, Devo and X have done that.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are also an influence on this as well. Whatever it is, it’s really about a setting. We like a lot of music, we like a lot of art and we like a lot of different kinds of design so we try to find something from these three and make it our own.
RD: It also helps with the band’s marketing as well. You can’t forget the falling angel with Led Zeppelin or the lips and tongue with The Rolling Stones. When it came to making Old Scratch, how was it like working with Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios in Allston, Mass. and what was the main goal you guys wanted to accomplish while in the studio?
JM: Benny is really awesome and I probably had a clearer idea of what to expect with Benny than the other guys did because I worked with him before. He’s a performer’s engineer, he’s a great musician and he’s also very funny and very efficient. Mad Oak is a great sounding room and it was different for us because it was our first time recording digitally, our past two albums were made with analog equipment. I love making a record the old school way, but we felt that it was time for a change. I think what you should always go for is an accurate representation of what the band is live, you want to get that energy.
A lot of that approach has to do with how comfortable you are in the studio with your spots. We were super comfortable and it was a very fun session with Benny. The reason we went to Mad Oak was that we’d just signed to State Line Records and Benny has done a bunch of great records in the past. State Line helped out with the cost and they’ve been nothing but great to us since we joined up with them. We’ve been on majors before and this label is small but they know how to treat the bands right.
RD: It’s always refreshing to hear when a label conducts their business fairly when it comes to the bands on their roster, especially when there are so many record label horror stories. When it came to incorporating the horns and getting the others involved, how did you guys go about it?
JM: Tommy Bellvue and Slick on sax came in and blew our minds. It was all done in one day, same with Sonny Jim Clifford on harmonica. They’re all really good players and they like what we do. With “All I’ve Lost,” which is a cover of a song by The Kings Of Nuthin,’ the only thing different on it is the drum roll. It’s around a three and a half or four beat drum roll that’s in there. To be honest, I haven’t practiced it enough to see if I can pull it off live.
RD: What can we expect from Diablogato in the future?
JM: The heart of the matter
that has always been with us is that we can’t be a full-time touring band. We’re not 22 years old anymore and we have jobs so if we left them, we’d each eventually have to get another job. The idea is to regularly perform regionally as much as possible. There’s a chance that we’ll go to Europe later in the winter and next spring and if we don’t do that then we’re aiming to head out to the Midwest. We’re trying to play cities like Montreal, we’ve never played there and we have a bit of a fan base there so it makes a lot of sense to us to head up there to do a show.
We also want to play in that bubble between Buffalo and New York City. We haven’t played the latter a lot, so it’s this regional way of traveling to play different cities if it’s financially viable to get out or we get lucky and get taken under someone’s wing. There’s already new material in the cooker but we won’t be able to start working on them until the buzz dies down with the album release.