Jason Gonzales, Chavo Fraser, and Dee Kesler

Fecal Face loves Thee More Shallows. Maybe you too will love this SF based band. Below is an email interview with Dee Kesler done May 23rd, 2006 before their most epic show Thursday May 25th at Bottom of the Hill with The Mall, Ral Partha and DJ Odd Nosdam
photos and interview by John Trippe

How did you guys get to together? What’s the band’s history?
Me (Dee to myself, David to everyone else) and a guy named Tadas started the band in 2001 after playing in a band called Shackleton together. Then he moved away and I got my two drummer friends (Chavo and Jason) to start playing with me. They were on the first record anyway.

How did you guys get hooked up with The Mall?
Through you guys. I had gone to a random show where they were playing, was really impressed, and found their interview on Fecal Face. After that Adam and I got to be friends.

How often do you eat McDonalds?
It ebbs and flows. Right now it's flowing, both figuratively and literally, through me, as I type this.

What can one expect at Thursday’s show?
There will be more suitcases than usual on stage for this show, as we're accumulating equipment. So for those who hate our big red one, I'd advise you to stay home. But on the other hand, we're well rehearsed, having been on tour for a lot of this year, so we'll be playing well... or at least playing louder.

How do you describe your sound to strangers?
Worry accompanied by toy orchestra in the meeting hall of a cyclops orphanage.

Favorite hiding spot?
I don't mean to be paranoid, but if I told you it would no longer be a hiding spot.

Favorite bar in the city?
I used to love Fulton St. when it was open. Now I like the Latin American Club, on weekdays.

You guys are more supported over there in Europe than you are here in the states. Why is that?
For our first record, we released it on a label run by our wonderful friend and horrible business man. It came out to no promotion. In England, it came out on a label that worked really hard to promote, and it caught on. For our second record, "More Deep Cuts," we did find a dedicated label here in the States, Turn, but it took a while. In a way, it feels like just now things are catching on.

What other local bands are you guys into right now?
Deerhoof of course, Why?, Gris Gris, and Matmos.

What were you like in high school?
I was a swimmer, the homecoming king, and I stayed in lifting weights and playing finger-tapping classical guitar fugues on the weekends. Also very religious, Christian-style (though I fancied myself non-dogmatic, non-"judgement"al). Also I didn't drink. Seriously.

You guys have a studio over there in Oakland where you record other bands. What bands come through to record? What are your rates? Are you guys selective of the bands who can record or is it an open door thing?
Our rates are pretty cheapo to rent the space -- $100 on weekends, $80 on weekdays -- and then the engineer

How do you guys make your rent? Besides music, what else keeps you guys busy?
I do some commercial music post-production, some recording, help my wife with her landscaping business, and sometimes carpentry. But really, I haven't figured out how to spend my time. If you know of any music jobs in post-production, please let me know.

If you had to fight in one of the major US wars which would you choose?
The Vietnam war, stationed in Munich, fighting Germans.

Just got home after a nice European tour. How did that go? Tell us a story from the tour. Did anyone buy you a beer?
People did buy us beers. A lot of beers. And the food in Italy was amazing. And you should check out our driver/friend's band, The Chap. Amazingly good music. Besides that, the stories we can tell are boring and the stories we can't tell we can't tell. Personally I just read tour bio books during the drives (The Dirt, Julian Cope's amazing autobiography) and live vicariously.

I played some of your music for friends and have been told that it’s a bit depressing. Personally I don’t think it’s depressing, more like a heavy sincere moody sound. Do you get told that often from people who first take a listen?
I think it's depressing too. Because generally I'm not an optimistic person. But I try really hard to put one or two moments in a song that suggest a silver lining. Though, since those moments tend to happen a bit later in some of the songs, a lot of people have already closed their Quicktime window and are back to compulsively checking their email. I envy them and their up-tempo, snappy lives.

Browsing the web I came across an interview that mentioned something about college in Ann Arbor? I’m from Toledo. Where are you guys from before ending up in SF and how long have you been here?
Toledo! I love Toledo! I used to go down there a lot to visit a friend. I went to college in Ann Arbor (grew up there too) then came out here to visit, signed a lease, and stayed. Brian's from North Carolina, where he attended UNC majoring in... uh, I don't remember... I don't think he does either. And Jason's from Stockton and went to school at UCLA.

That’s funny if you are from the Midwest because I kinda felt that there’s something to the music that reminds me of back home. It would be my soundtrack when I think of growing up there.
For the longest time, after I moved here, I could only relate to people from the Midwest. Growing up there really does shape you in a certain way.

and for question 18 tell us about the last nice thing someone did for you.
My wife gassed up my van today. And my in-laws bought me a ticket to Japan. Besides that, I just went to a chiropractor, and let me tell you, they are not quacks.

how did you, if ever before now, hear of Fecal Face?
The Fantastic John Groshong

Lastly, As of May 24th, 2006, what are your future plans as a group?
We'd like to finish our new record by August. It's being written entirely on a casio keyboard with beatbox and cardboard box accompaniment (really) and it sounds exciting to us. We'll record it starting next month.

For more info, check: theemoreshallows.com

MP3s:
I Can't Get Next To You
Freshman Thesis
2am
The Perfect Map {moscomment}