PHOTOS
> "SKULLCAPACTION!" RECORDING SESSIONS AT BLUE STUDIO MUSIC - CHICAGO, 12/2013 - 3/2014
Photographs by Ed Stevenson (except where noted)
Photographs by Ed Stevenson (except where noted)
> THE IRRITANTS - LIVE AT THE HISTORIC SOUTHGATE HOUSE - NEWPORT, KY, 5/2004
At the farewell performance extravaganza of underground wunderkind band INSECT CLICKS, Dean performs live accompanied by a prerecorded cassette tape of the rest of THE IRRITANTS: John Carpender on drums, John Immonen on guitar, and Paul Czarnecki on bass. Photographs by nebulagirl.com
At the farewell performance extravaganza of underground wunderkind band INSECT CLICKS, Dean performs live accompanied by a prerecorded cassette tape of the rest of THE IRRITANTS: John Carpender on drums, John Immonen on guitar, and Paul Czarnecki on bass. Photographs by nebulagirl.com
> "BUTTERFLIES AND ALIENS" RECORDING SESSIONS AT EDGE STUDIOS - CHICAGO, 8/1999
Photographs by Carrie Carlson (except where noted)
Photographs by Carrie Carlson (except where noted)
> "SANTAPEDE" RECORDING SESSIONS IN DEAN’S BASEMENT - LAKE BLUFF, ILLINOIS, 8/1991
John, Dean and Jeff recording THE IRRITANTS' fourth album, "THE THREE HEMISPHERES OF SANTAPEDE’S VILLAGE" in the basement of Dean's house at 534 North Avenue, Lake Bluff, IL 8/1991.
John, Dean and Jeff recording THE IRRITANTS' fourth album, "THE THREE HEMISPHERES OF SANTAPEDE’S VILLAGE" in the basement of Dean's house at 534 North Avenue, Lake Bluff, IL 8/1991.
WRITINGS
> "Sweet Little Halliday" (e-mail correspondence to Dean)
John Carpender 5/2003
OK, so here's the deal with my little 2 year old girl Halliday. Today she said two totally excellent things and I just gotta tell you about it. First, this afternoon we were in the car and she told me she loves bats. I said "Halli, did you just say you love bats?" and she said "yup". Then we got out of the car at the ice cream place and she walked up to the people waiting in line kinda singing/shouting "I love bats, I love bats, I love bats!" So, as if that weren't enough, just like 2 hours later, we're in the car again, she's in the carseat next to me and she says "Daddy, I got to take your temperature" and I said "You've got to take my temperature? Why honey?" and she says "Cause you sick" and after a pause she added "And I want your heart" and I said "What? You want my heart?" and she said "Yup." and I said "Why do you want my heart honey?" and she said "'Cause I wanna eat it. "So there you have it. In only a few hours my darling 2 year old daughter declares both her love of bats and her desire to feast on human flesh. I must be doing something right.
John Carpender 5/2003
OK, so here's the deal with my little 2 year old girl Halliday. Today she said two totally excellent things and I just gotta tell you about it. First, this afternoon we were in the car and she told me she loves bats. I said "Halli, did you just say you love bats?" and she said "yup". Then we got out of the car at the ice cream place and she walked up to the people waiting in line kinda singing/shouting "I love bats, I love bats, I love bats!" So, as if that weren't enough, just like 2 hours later, we're in the car again, she's in the carseat next to me and she says "Daddy, I got to take your temperature" and I said "You've got to take my temperature? Why honey?" and she says "Cause you sick" and after a pause she added "And I want your heart" and I said "What? You want my heart?" and she said "Yup." and I said "Why do you want my heart honey?" and she said "'Cause I wanna eat it. "So there you have it. In only a few hours my darling 2 year old daughter declares both her love of bats and her desire to feast on human flesh. I must be doing something right.
> "Royal Fuzz Music Collective (now defunct) Interview with Dean", 2002
The Irritants are a prolific cross country studio band that creates the finest in "trench variety" rock. What this means to you, the listener, is a bunch of CD’s with so many different sounds and styles that you can throw away your other records. Replace your former collection with "Harsh," "Brick," and their latest, "Butterflies and Aliens". Repeat if necessary.
RF: What is your musical history?
DK: Wasn’t that a television game show of the 1950’s?
RF: What is the history of The Irritants? Your first record, "Brick," dates back to 1986.
DK: A bit of a faux-pez there… Our first recording was "Motion Discomfort" released in 1988. This was a negative-budget cassette offering that grew out of compositions and improvisations intended for the soundtrack to an animated clay film I was working on back in 1985. The prospect of further audio impertinence inspired us to continue laying down tracks on top of crude garage bops and improves to create the sans-musique sound of The Irritants.
RF: The band members all live in different cities (Chicago, Cincinnati). Does this make being a studio band difficult?
DK: John, Jeff, and myself all were Chicagoland based until late in 1996. That is when I moved to Cincinnati (don’t ask) and met up with several musical underground souls through a 4-track composers club. So, for "Butterflies and Aliens," we mostly recorded tracks singly onto ADAT so the tapes could be sent between Chicago and Cincinnati and layered as needed. We did have a blowout weekend of recording at Edge Studio Chicago with the Cinci freaks joining the Chitown freaks which proved to be both inspiring and impertinent. Was it difficult? It was plenty of work but we’re a studio band so rehearsing endlessly for live gigs never entered into it.
RF: "Butterflies and Aliens" is an ornate record. Songs have a variety of parts, and it all comes together as a carefully composed piece. How do you accomplish that, given that the band members live in different cities?
DK: "B+A" was studio born and raised in pieces. It all comes together with proper pacing in the editing. And of course, our music is the finest in Trench Variety so the end results tend to keep the listener entertained through it’s running time because, well, our initial philosophy was to keep each piece short so just as the listener begins to get bored or irritated with a tune, it’s over and moving on to something else that will grow with irritation. If two pieces transition too gratingly (even for us), a link of odd sounds or dialog was added to bridge the gap and keep the listener confused and nauseous.
RF: There are a lot of musical guests on "Butterflies and Aliens." Why did you choose to open the door for this record?
DK: Our music was getting all musty and smelly and we needed some fresh smog. I stumbled into the wealth of actual musical talent at these 4-track club meetings and selfishly engaged them to rotting-flesh-out some of my and John’s compositions. These new kids have also joined in co-composing some of the ditties as well as providing diverse instrumentations beyond what the original threesome could bluff through.
RF: The Irritants have a very unique sound, but surely there are musical influences that you can admit to. What or who are they?
DK: Frank Zappa. And Frank Zappa. Oh, and Frank Zappa. John (the actual musician of The Irritants original trio) has many influences having played drums for bands in scaddles of musical styles: rock, blues, reggae, jazz, blah blah… Jeff and I come from FM radio pop rock backgrounds with some classical and jazz thrown in, with the eggs on top, blah blah… but it was our necessary over-exploration of the career of Frank Zappa and all incarnations of his Mothers of Invention that tripped our brains up a treat. Some other noticeable influences have been Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, They Might Be Giants, Frank Zappa, Cab Calloway, Frank Zappa, Richard Thompson, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, George Gershwin, Frank Zappa, and Frank Zappa.
RF: If you could have your own pet cover band, whose songs would you cover?
DK: Hands down, the Singing Dogs Christmas Album.
RF: Any hope of an Irritants tour?
DK: Any hope of lifelong financial security?
RF: What’s next for The Irritants?
DK: We’re working on some new crap with our extended freaks family with hopes of living through the process of completing another plastic disc before Mr. Shit walks in. Oh, and we’re thinking of branching out with a new line of acne creams and salad dressings.
RF: You’ve reissued "Brick" on Royal Fuzz. What is the story behind the original "Brick" release, and the one that preceded it?
DK: Our first four albums were no-budget cassette releases that we spent far more time on producing than marketing. When "Brick" was completed, we were all insane and exhausted and did not even want to think Irritating thoughts for a while so it was put aside and never properly publicated until now. "Brick" was also a transitional period for accessible technical improvements to the mixing phase. All material was still being recorded on 4-track cassette recorders, but we began mixing down four tracks from one machine to two tracks on another machine soze to add a few more tracks, etc…. The final album mixdown was done to Hi-Fi SVHS video for maximum, pre-digital impertinence.
RF: Have we seen the last of Irritants reissues? What about the Irritants video? And future plans?
DK: I wouldn’t rule out reissues of our first four forays, but certainly not any time soon. A collection of crap from these was remixed for the "Harsh" cd. Our 25 minute video from 1991, "The Irritants Eye Wax," is on deck for digital remastering, but again, not soon. Currently we are trying to record more bits-o-noise for a new release, carrying on carrying on. The Irritants continues to evolve and it’s sharper to look at where we’re from than where we’re going. We all know where we’re going.
The Irritants are a prolific cross country studio band that creates the finest in "trench variety" rock. What this means to you, the listener, is a bunch of CD’s with so many different sounds and styles that you can throw away your other records. Replace your former collection with "Harsh," "Brick," and their latest, "Butterflies and Aliens". Repeat if necessary.
RF: What is your musical history?
DK: Wasn’t that a television game show of the 1950’s?
RF: What is the history of The Irritants? Your first record, "Brick," dates back to 1986.
DK: A bit of a faux-pez there… Our first recording was "Motion Discomfort" released in 1988. This was a negative-budget cassette offering that grew out of compositions and improvisations intended for the soundtrack to an animated clay film I was working on back in 1985. The prospect of further audio impertinence inspired us to continue laying down tracks on top of crude garage bops and improves to create the sans-musique sound of The Irritants.
RF: The band members all live in different cities (Chicago, Cincinnati). Does this make being a studio band difficult?
DK: John, Jeff, and myself all were Chicagoland based until late in 1996. That is when I moved to Cincinnati (don’t ask) and met up with several musical underground souls through a 4-track composers club. So, for "Butterflies and Aliens," we mostly recorded tracks singly onto ADAT so the tapes could be sent between Chicago and Cincinnati and layered as needed. We did have a blowout weekend of recording at Edge Studio Chicago with the Cinci freaks joining the Chitown freaks which proved to be both inspiring and impertinent. Was it difficult? It was plenty of work but we’re a studio band so rehearsing endlessly for live gigs never entered into it.
RF: "Butterflies and Aliens" is an ornate record. Songs have a variety of parts, and it all comes together as a carefully composed piece. How do you accomplish that, given that the band members live in different cities?
DK: "B+A" was studio born and raised in pieces. It all comes together with proper pacing in the editing. And of course, our music is the finest in Trench Variety so the end results tend to keep the listener entertained through it’s running time because, well, our initial philosophy was to keep each piece short so just as the listener begins to get bored or irritated with a tune, it’s over and moving on to something else that will grow with irritation. If two pieces transition too gratingly (even for us), a link of odd sounds or dialog was added to bridge the gap and keep the listener confused and nauseous.
RF: There are a lot of musical guests on "Butterflies and Aliens." Why did you choose to open the door for this record?
DK: Our music was getting all musty and smelly and we needed some fresh smog. I stumbled into the wealth of actual musical talent at these 4-track club meetings and selfishly engaged them to rotting-flesh-out some of my and John’s compositions. These new kids have also joined in co-composing some of the ditties as well as providing diverse instrumentations beyond what the original threesome could bluff through.
RF: The Irritants have a very unique sound, but surely there are musical influences that you can admit to. What or who are they?
DK: Frank Zappa. And Frank Zappa. Oh, and Frank Zappa. John (the actual musician of The Irritants original trio) has many influences having played drums for bands in scaddles of musical styles: rock, blues, reggae, jazz, blah blah… Jeff and I come from FM radio pop rock backgrounds with some classical and jazz thrown in, with the eggs on top, blah blah… but it was our necessary over-exploration of the career of Frank Zappa and all incarnations of his Mothers of Invention that tripped our brains up a treat. Some other noticeable influences have been Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, They Might Be Giants, Frank Zappa, Cab Calloway, Frank Zappa, Richard Thompson, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, George Gershwin, Frank Zappa, and Frank Zappa.
RF: If you could have your own pet cover band, whose songs would you cover?
DK: Hands down, the Singing Dogs Christmas Album.
RF: Any hope of an Irritants tour?
DK: Any hope of lifelong financial security?
RF: What’s next for The Irritants?
DK: We’re working on some new crap with our extended freaks family with hopes of living through the process of completing another plastic disc before Mr. Shit walks in. Oh, and we’re thinking of branching out with a new line of acne creams and salad dressings.
RF: You’ve reissued "Brick" on Royal Fuzz. What is the story behind the original "Brick" release, and the one that preceded it?
DK: Our first four albums were no-budget cassette releases that we spent far more time on producing than marketing. When "Brick" was completed, we were all insane and exhausted and did not even want to think Irritating thoughts for a while so it was put aside and never properly publicated until now. "Brick" was also a transitional period for accessible technical improvements to the mixing phase. All material was still being recorded on 4-track cassette recorders, but we began mixing down four tracks from one machine to two tracks on another machine soze to add a few more tracks, etc…. The final album mixdown was done to Hi-Fi SVHS video for maximum, pre-digital impertinence.
RF: Have we seen the last of Irritants reissues? What about the Irritants video? And future plans?
DK: I wouldn’t rule out reissues of our first four forays, but certainly not any time soon. A collection of crap from these was remixed for the "Harsh" cd. Our 25 minute video from 1991, "The Irritants Eye Wax," is on deck for digital remastering, but again, not soon. Currently we are trying to record more bits-o-noise for a new release, carrying on carrying on. The Irritants continues to evolve and it’s sharper to look at where we’re from than where we’re going. We all know where we’re going.
