You have to hand it to Devils Teeth: when it comes to new music, the Milwaukee garage/punk/surf outfit always goes the extra mile.
Back in 2021, the band released La Leggenda Di Chong Li, a self-described (and self-recorded) “spaghetti western garage rock operetta inspired by the character Chong Li from the martial arts film Bloodsport.” The record played like a fever-dream version of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack crossed with Ennio Morricone. It was one of our favorite Milwaukee releases of 2021.
The following year, Devils Teeth members Jon Hanusa, Eric Arsnow, Chuck Engel, and Caleb Westphal made a pilgrimage to Detroit to record the follow-up to Chong Li. Behind the scenes would be legendary producer Jim Diamond, who has recorded records for everyone from The White Stripes and The Dirtbombs to The Mistreaters and Temper Temper. Setting up shop in Diamond’s studio—an abandoned transmission shop—Devils Teeth proceeded to bash out an impressive 20 tracks. Seven of those tracks form the group’s upcoming album, The Key Of Dickie G.
You can listen to the record’s aptly titled opening track, “Getting Down, Getting Dirty,” now:
Ahead of Dickie G‘s digital and vinyl release via Triple Eye Industries on August 23—as well as a release show at Promises the same night—Milwaukee Record chatted with Devils Teeth via email about recording in Detroit, recording with Diamond, key lineup changes, and the real-life Dickie G.
Milwaukee Record: Your last record, La Leggenda Di Chong Li, was inspired (as so many records are) by a character from the Jean-Claude Van Damme film Bloodsport. But your new record, The Key Of Dickie G, takes its inspiration from a real-life character. Tell us about this mystery person.
Jon Hanusa: Long story short, Dickie G is an old friend. I’ve spent a number of years sitting on the phone with him on Friday nights listening to his stories. Stories of his life, lost loves, wild nights, some danger, some tragedy, but mostly the unrelenting pursuit of a good time. These are what inspired the songs and the voice of this album.
Here’s our official PR write up (lol)…
Who is Dickie G? Dickie is that lost moment of ecstasy. Dickie is a mouthful of bloody teeth. Dickie is a brush with death. A glance from across the room. An unrelenting rivalry. A fellow soldier in the trenches of trash and filth. A burning heartache. A gator down and a drop trou. A strut over the graves of bastards. A goddamn rabid bronco snorting lines of rocket fuel. Already inside of you, waiting to get out. Wild. Primitive. Beautiful. Dickie G.
That said, musically, there’s always a great stew of music that we pull from that helps us find new/different sounds. The years we were writing the songs for this album I was listening to a lot of Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, Roky Erickson (and the Explosions), The Ravagers, Cheap Freaks, Bantam Rooster, Zombi, and of course still heavy doses of garage comps like Garage Beat ’66, Born Bad, and Back From the Grave.
MR: There’s a pretty big name behind the recording of this album: Jim Diamond, who’s recorded albums for The White Stripes, Electric Six, The Dirtbombs, The Ponys, and many others. How did you hook up with Jim?
JH: From what I remember, that was a name Chuck threw out when we were having a discussion on how/where we’d do our next recording. I believe he sent off a quick text to the legendary Jim Hollywood, who then gave Chuck some contact info and we were off and running.
Chuck Engel: I was a fan of Jim’s before I knew it. I think the first thing I ever heard of his was “Deal Me In” by Bantam Rooster in 1997. Yeah, White Stripes, Dirtbombs, etc., etc. He’s also recorded a bunch of my friends (Mistreaters, Temper Temper, The Mystery Girls) and I found out through some friends that Jim was back in Detroit after years in Europe. He always struck me as the kind of guy that could plug in and capture our sound in a no-nonsense kind of way. We reached out, and it all fell into place.
MR: You and Jim recorded this album outside of Detroit, in River Rouge, Michigan. What was that experience like? I imagine it led to the raw, almost sleazy (in a good way!) sound and vibe of the record.
Caleb Westphal: The near-empty building we recorded in had recently been a transmission shop, and even as far back as the 1930s it was a parts and supply shop for automobiles. The smell of vehicle fluids was still in the air, almost to the point of being headache inducing. So when we were singing or blowing the horn, this is what we were exhaling onto tape. It felt so Detroit. The gritty, raw sleaziness that comes through in the record definitely was enhanced by where and how we recorded. Jim was at the controls in the basement, with the cords making their way to us on the main floor, where we tracked all the instruments live, together. Detroit inspired us beyond that too, from getting the chance to stand outside of the abandoned Grande Ballroom, where the MC5 and Stooges once reigned, to eating Detroit-style pizza at the original Buddy’s Pizza, where Detroit-style pizza was invented.
JH: In short, that whole recording experience was amazing. To put it in perspective, we came out of the pandemic (late summer 2021) and pretty much picked up where we left off in March 2020. We had a bunch of unreleased tunes we had been playing for years and then we also went right back into a flurry of songwriting. By the time we really sat down to make a plan for recording, in spring 2022, we had about 20 tunes we were looking to record. That’s a lot of tunes to get off your plate. We had some chats about a couple different ways to go about it, but when the thought of taking a road trip to the Greater Detroit area and working with Jim Diamond came up that, that pretty much sounded like the best middle-aged-garage-band summer camp most of us could think of (aka FUN!).
Fun it was. We spent three days in Jim’s space (an old auto shop). We’d get up in the morning, get our coffee, get to the studio around 10 a.m.-ish, “work” for a few hours, eat a brown bag lunch, get back to “work,” and wrap up around 6 p.m.-ish. Then we’d head into town for dinner (Buddy’s Pizza MF-ers!) and close the night out by drinking beers and listening to music on the front porch of the house we were at. We got to do that three days in a row. It was pretty much the best.
Jim was great to work with as well. Very workmanlike. We all played live in the same space, which allowed for great team energy, and was especially advantageous for Caleb to be able to sax along side of us instead of in a separate room. The only thing we did separately were vocal parts (at the end of each day), but Eric and I recorded our parts together (live) in the same space, so that was also cool. We’d do a take or two of a song in the garage space, then all scurry down to the unfinished basement where Jim was sitting to listen back and see how it went. He helped us keep it simple. We weren’t looking to “Pet Sounds” this recording at all. It didn’t need to be a perfect take. It just needed the right energy. Every once in a while he might give us a look and be like “Eh, I think you’ve got a better one in you,” but for the most part we blasted through our song list of the course of our time there. Twenty tracks total.
If you want to ask me about the mixing/finishing process, you’re going to need to buy me a beer. I fucking hate it. I’ve never had a good time doing it. Case in point, we recorded in 2022 and we’re just releasing something now. Recording with Jim though, I could do that everyday.
CE: The weed dispensaries in Detroit could literally kick the shit outta the ones in Illinois.
MR: Any plans for the rest of the songs you recorded with Jim?
JH: Unlikely. The point of this recording was to get stuff off of our plate and out the door to make room for the new stuff. It’s possible we take one or two other tracks we did for an EP or use them for comp fodder, or whatever. Who knows? Unfortunately, we took our sweet time again getting this out and I don’t want to spend more time mixing/releasing old things. I’m ready to focus on brand new tunes with our new bass player (Jeff Bruggeman!) and hopefully come back out with something people haven’t heard before as soon as we can.
MR: Speaking of which, there’s been a lineup change in the band since you recorded Dickie G. What’s the scoop?
CW: Eric Arsnow, one of the three original members of the band along with Jon and Chuck, is moving on to put his focus elsewhere. He was not only the bass player, but played a role in songwriting and arrangements, did some singing, designed the artwork for the albums, and recorded many of our projects. I can’t stress enough the amount of effort he put into Devils Teeth to make it what it is. He’s also on The Key Of Dickie G, mixed it, and did its artwork.
Serendipitously, one of the people we were thinking about asking to step in on bass, Jeff Brueggeman (WORK, Resurrectionists), was the person Eric suggested we ask. So it felt like fate. Jeff is a superb player and learned the new album as well as a number of songs from our catalog after just a few run throughs with us. I think he might actually know the songs better than the rest of us now. He’ll be making his debut at our release show at Promises on August 23.
JH: Yep, Eric left recently to pursue other creative projects. He’s a founding member and an integral part of what we’ve done over the last eight-plus years. We all wish him the very best.
Jeff has been a friend of the band since our first show with WORK at Circle-A. We’ve all had the utmost respect for him and his playing. When Eric mentioned he was leaving, Jeff was the first name that popped in my head. We’re excited to keep things moving with him and look forward to showing the listening public what we have cooking.
MR: Finally, like your previous two records, Dickie G is being released by Milwaukee’s Triple Eye Industries, which has quite the local catalog these days. What are the benefits of working with a label like Triple Eye?
JH: Triple Eye has treated us well over the years and we were only too happy to keep the train rolling. Not only are Marty and Fran top-shelf dudes and accomplished artists in their own right, but they’re great collaborators and run a tight ship. There’s a lot of work that goes into a record release, and these guys are pros.
CE: Marty and Fran are basically family. Universal Music unfortunately didn’t come calling this time around, so we were happy to work with friends. We’re fortunate to have Marty and Fran. I really can’t imagine doing it any other way.
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