The glorious, not-so-messy return of The Fatty Acids

Time, they say, is an illusion. The ’90s were 15 years ago, right? YouTube will be celebrating its 10th anniversary soon, and last summer was a Brat Summer to remember. Locally, The Fatty Acids have been continuing their dominance as one of Milwaukee’s best and busiest bands, playing show after show with the likes of Sat. Nite Duets and Dogs In Ecstasy. Right? Right?

Nope. None of those things are true. The ’90s are well into their 30s, YouTube is old enough to drink, and Brat Summer was two summers ago. And closer to home, The Fatty Acids [checks notes] haven’t played a show since 2017. An illusion, indeed.

But every once in a while time folds in on itself and blurs the line between illusion and reality. That phenomenon is set to happen this weekend at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, when The Fatty Acids will reunite for their first shows in nearly a decade.

Appropriately, they’re not just any shows: The show on Friday, September 18 will be bolstered by Dogs In Ecstasy, Mol Sullivan, and a solo set (and record release) from Fatty singer Josh Evert. The Saturday show will feature Sat. Nite Duets (playing their first show in ages), Mortgage Freeman (celebrating the release of its new record), and another set from Evert.

“We’ve been threatening to get back together for a while, and we haven’t really pulled the trigger,” Evert says, calling in from a recent rehearsal at Silver City Studios. “But I wanted to do some sort of a solo release show, so I asked the guys if we could get The Fatty Acids together for it, and it sort of escalated from there.”

“I think one of us was like, ‘Yeah, we’re down to do it, but we might as well do two nights,'” laughs guitarist Matt Pappas. “You know, really give the people what they want.”

And what the people want is a lot of The Fatty Acids. The once-and-forever “scramble-pop” band will perform two unique sets over the weekend. Those sets will span a wonderfully inventive and still-fresh catalog that began with 2010’s Stop Berries, Berries And Berries, Berries; crystalized with 2011’s Leftover Monsterface and 2013’s Boléro; and culminated with 2017’s Dogs Of Entertainment.

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it a series of dares,” Pappas says about the group agreeing to the super-sized reunion, “but more like a compounding of complexity. It’s kind of like we took a dive in a really deep pool. We don’t know how to swim, but we’re getting it figured out, though.”

“The setlist is intimidating,” Evert adds. “We were actually just panicking a little bit about it.”

Amidst that panic, Milwaukee Record recently chatted with Evert, Pappas, and bassist Derek DeVinney. Discussed: preparing for the shows, the significance of playing those shows at Linneman’s, the band’s new song “Radio Waves,” and what the future holds for the timeless Fatty Acids.

Milwaukee Record: How have practices been going? Has it been like riding a bike, or has it taken a while to get your sea legs back?

Matt Pappas: One thing I’ve noticed is that when we would start the songs, I would be like, “Oh yeah, I remember how to do this,” and then we would get to that weird middle part of basically all of our songs where it kind of just goes fucking nuts, and then I would realize that I had no idea what what I was doing. [laughs]

Josh Evert: Yeah, every song has a weird bridge. It’s because a lot of the songs are like “Franken-songs.”

Derek DeVinney: A lot of them are different ideas that we put together.

MP: For me, I could always play the chord parts, but then when it came to the lead lines, I couldn’t really remember where my fingers were supposed to go. But then my muscle memory kind of came back.

MR: Your last shows were around the time you released Dogs Of Entertainment in 2017. Did those shows feel like the end?

JE: No, they didn’t feel like the last shows. I think life just kind of barreled ahead, and we didn’t prioritize playing, really.

MP: I think part of that was I joined Platinum Boys. I feel like that kind of took a lot of my time, touring with them.

DD: We all had different creative projects that we were either fully focused on or beginning to focus on. [DeVinney and Evert formed the Dinner Set Gang in 2020. Evert co-founded Silver City Studios in 2017.]

MR: Ahead of these shows, you put out a new song, “Radio Waves.” Was this something that was sitting on the back burner, or was it cooked up fresh for this reunion?

JE: I had a crowdfunding campaign in 2022 for an artist-in-residence in the Arctic Circle, and [Fatty Acids drummer] Cole [Quamme] purchased one of my rewards, which was that I would produce a song. So Cole bought it and then he used it. [laughs] We all got together a few winters ago and we recorded that song. It was based on some demo that had been kicked around for probably 10 years prior to that. We did about 90% of it, and then it sat on my computer. But it was a pretty easy lift to polish it up. We got Treccy of Mortgage Freeman on it, and Mol Sullivan, and they really made it shine.

MR: Other than tricky bridges, have there been any surprises revisiting your old songs? Have there been moments where you’ve thought “What were we thinking?” Or have there been pleasant surprises, like, “Oh, shit! That was a really good idea!”

MP: Mostly the first one. [laughs]

JE: A lot of stuff goes on for longer than it needs to. [laughs]

DD: You can definitely feel a difference in the levels of energy that I have now versus back when I was coming up with those bass lines. It used to be very frantic and manic.

MR: How has it felt playing together again in general? You’re all 10 years older, and I assume a lot has changed in your personal lives.

JE: One nice thing—possibly the only nice thing—about being older is that I feel like I’m able to sing better. That could be because I’m not abusing alcohol and cigarettes and other drugs, but I feel like my voice is a lot better than it used to be. I used to lose my voice within the first couple nights of tour. It would be like, alright, let’s adjust the setlist so that I don’t have to sing certain songs. I feel like I’ll be in a good spot vocally for this. Whereas in the past it would have deeply stressed me out. Even this idea of doing a solo set and then a Fatty set, now I think I can handle that. But at any other point in my career I would have been terrified.

Also, I hope to never be back in a basement. [laughs] Now we’re in the studio, which is nice. I think you kind of reflect the space you’re in, and when we were in a disgusting basement, that was probably reflected in the music. That was probably reflected in the way I was singing.

MP: I feel like that was reflected in the way I treated my guitar and my pedals. I didn’t give a shit. Just sitting in a basement without a dehumidifier running, ruining ourselves and our equipment. Singing in a musty-ass basement can’t be good, inhaling God knows what. [laughs]

MR: Speaking of basements, you started as a Riverwest band, and playing these reunion shows at Linneman’s seems significant. Is this like coming back home?

MP: That’s exactly what it is. I feel like Jim and and Marty and everyone else there, they were the first ones to take a chance on us and give us a real stage. They were down to let us host shows and were always very accommodating to us and all of our insane 20-something friends.

JE: We have a lot of love for a lot of different venues in town. We love Cactus, we love Boone & Crockett, to name a couple. But Linneman’s really is like our home. It’s the most artist-friendly venue. Jim and Marty have given their entire lives to that venue, and I think that’s reflected in everything you feel walking in there.

MR: So I have to ask: Are these reunion shows one-off shows, or will there be more in the future?

JE: You know, if anyone has some money and they want to send us an email, they can do that!

DD: [email protected]!

MP: Back in the day, man, we were playing all the time. There was one year where I feel like we were playing three or four times a month. But now, with kids here and on the way, with full-time jobs, and with Josh and the studio…We’re having more fun with it now, and it’s less like we feel we have to grind.

JE: It really is a lot of work. Live music is a serious hustle. I’ve started performing a bit more in the past couple years, and even if I’m filling in on drums for someone’s project and there’s not a drum set backline, I don’t want to do it! [laughs] Tearing down a drum set, taking the mics off of it, putting it all in cases, getting it in your car, unloading…It ends up being like eight to 10 hours of your life, and that’s not even practicing. And now we’re sore the next day. So for me, I guess, anything in the future needs to be more intentional.

MP: Wait, we have to do all that? [laughs]

The Fatty Acids will play Linneman’s Riverwest Inn Friday, September 18; and Saturday, September 19. Advance tickets are $20 for one show, or $30 for both shows. Purchase them HERE. Individual tickets will be $25 at the door.