Cd - Round The Dial Magazine

loading and unloading gear sucks during
Minnesota winters.
6Tell us about the differences in
Dirty Neon and your 2005 eponymous
release- the band line-up (you've
replaced Gary Vogel with Cy Dodson,
no?), the writing/recording process (is
this all new material, or was some of
it written while Gary was still in the
band?) and the final outcome of the
album- are you totally satisfied with
DN or are there things you've learned
through trial-and-error that you may
do differently next time around?
(Keefe) While Karl is and always
has been the primary songwriting
force for Capital Sons, Dirty Neon
represents more of a group effort in
terms of how the songs were crafted
from the initial idea to the completed
song. On our debut, Karl had pretty
much fleshed out the structure and
feel of the tunes before sharing them
with the band (due in part to the fact
that the band was still forming). For
Dirty Neon, more of the songs were
introduced to the group in a raw
shape, which gave everyone the
opportunity to influence the evolution
into their final form. We feel like that
has helped us to expand our sound a
bit. There are always things a band
wishes they had the time and money
to keep tweaking on a project like
this, but we are all very happy with
the way the album turned out.
(Karl) Yeah, what he said. I would
add that next time around I would like
to record and mix the entire album in
one studio for cohesiveness. We made
it work on Dirty Neon, but we recorded
bits and pieces at 4 different studios
in the process and that can be
disheveling.
7What are your favorite tunes to
sing/play live from both albumswhich
tracks are the most satisfying
and FUN to do live for you personally?
(Keefe) Hotel Room is a lot of fun
because of the emotional range through
the song. As performers, it gives us a
lot of room to let the song breathe and
take on a new and unique life every
time we play it. Of course our favorite
song to play is whichever one connects
with that audience that day.
(Cy) I've never really played slide
guitar much in my previous bands.
I've always played on my own, just
never as part of a recording process.
But when I joined the Capital Sons,
a couple of the tunes really called for
it. There always seems to be a few
slide playing fans out there at our
shows, so it's cool that's it's appreciated.
Hotel Room off of the new album
16 ‘round the dial November 2, 2009
is THE slide song, it's fun. Miss
Understood is always fun to play, it
has tons of energy.
(Karl) This can change for me from
show to show or day to day, but currently
I would have to say I really
enjoy playing High-Heeled Boots and
Southwest Chief live.
8What are your main influences as
a songwriter these days?
(Cy) I have been listening to the
new Pearl Jam album. I think they're
in a better place as far as the song
writing goes. I don't like every track,
but their use of the organs and piano
really sings to me. This album came
out right after we finished recording
ours. I recorded the keyboard tracks
on Dirty Neon and think the use of
keys on a rock album can really add
to the overall texture of the sound.
Along with the keys, everything is
solid on that new Pearl Jam album.
Great guitar work, vocals and drums.
It's all there in my opinion. Plus
they use the Savage amps, which I
play through as well. Love the sound.
(Karl) These days I would have to
say Ryan Adams, Spoon, Jack White,
Stereophonics, Supergrass, Wilco and
of course, Paul Westerberg.
9What are the biggest differences
between playing and song-crafting
with Cy vs. Gary?
(Karl) Working with Cy has been an
absolute pleasure thus far and I don’t
see that changing any time soon. He’s
a super mellow dude, but he’s also
vehemently passionate about the
music that we are making and it
shows in the guitar parts he writes and
his execution of them on stage. In
many, many ways Cy is just a great
natural fit for Capital Sons.
What has you most excited
10 about the local scene for 2010?
(Cy) Our CD release show was
well received and we have some great
momentum for 2010. I hope it's a great
year for Capital Sons and the rest of
the local scene here in the cities.
(Karl) Finally releasing our second
album, and conquering the world of
course.
Check your local listings- we'll have
gig updates every few days here at the
'Dial over the next two weeks- for the
'Sons live near you! A not-to-miss
gig!! You can also learn more about
the band and hear and purchase their
music here:
www.garageband.com/artist/capitalsons
www.capitalsons.com
Capital Sons on iLike
‘round the dial November 2, 2009 17