the dotmatrix project

Lyndon Street Artworks: Thursday, 8pm

Will Ridenour

photo by John Leonard

Possum Jenkins stirred up the crowd real nice last week, all the way to the point that going home wasn’t an option for some. The kids in the front row chanted “encore!” for a good 30 seconds while the fellas played it cool, huddling, visibly, about five feet away from the closest mic stand.

And then the crowd got what they asked for:

Nasty Nate’s Shotgun Blues (live @ DMP)

Workin’ Man Blues (live @ DMP)

If you missed them last week, you can catch Possum Jenkins at The Garage in Winston Salem tomorrow night.

Dudek and crew are the first DMP artists to have to deal with one of Last.fm’s major architectural shortcomings — multiple bands with the same name who share a single profile page.

It’s like the worst form of forced cohabitation you can imagine online.

Anyway, go check out the album for free. And if you get the urge to support the band directly, click the “buy” link to get the tracks from Amie Street for just over $1 (as of right now).

Modern day art by YouTube user, blimvisible:

They made a statue of us
And it put it on a mountain top
Now tourists come and stare at us
Blow bubbles with their gum
Take photographs for fun, for fun

They’ll name a city after us
And later say it’s all our fault
Then they’ll give us a talking to
Then they’ll give us a talking to
Because they’ve got years of experience
We’re living in a den of thieves
Rummaging for answers in the pages
We’re living in a den of thieves
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious

We wear our scarves just like a noose
But not ’cause we want eternal sleep
And though our parts are slightly used
New ones are slave labor you can keep

We’re living in a den of thieves
Rummaging for answers in the pages
We’re living in a den of thieves
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious

They made a statue of us
They made a statue of us
The tourists come and stare at us
The sculptor’s marble sends regards
They made a statue of us
They made a statue of us
Our noses have begun to rust
We’re living in a den of thieves
Rummaging for answers in the pages
Were living in a den of thieves

And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious
And it’s contagious

We’re documenting live shows, so along with the memorable moments, we’re bound to capture the hiccups, the warts and the brain farts each band produces. It’s part of the charm of a live show.

But what happens when the song that blows up also happens to be the song being recorded for a music video?

Overdub.

Andrew Dudek and Dan Bayer stopped by dotmatrix hq the other day to overdub the first verse of Oh Please:

He nailed it, even with me shooting a video (just playin’, Andrew).

Here’s the original, live track:

And here’s the overdubbed version:

Remember, you can pick up the album at Amie Street.

We just announced the album release over at our DMP Google Group (feel free to join), so download it while it’s still inexpensive over at Amie Street.

As always, we’ll release the full album, with free downloads, to Last.fm in the near future.

Possum Jenkins evoked some DBT at the show last night.

Still glowing.

photo by John Leonard

photo by John Leonard

photo by John Leonard

photo by John Leonard

Tom Beardslee wove together a beautiful, soulful solo set and then Possum Jenkins stepped up and absolutely tore the roof off. After two encores and a posse of fans throwing their PBR’s sky high, PJ left the room a buzz, wailing and wanting more. I’m going to post the encore tracks as soon as we mix them down.

Killer.

A huge thanks to the media crew who participated tonight — particularly Jason Pierce for stepping up last minute and filling in as the third filmmaker. And from the look of John Leonard’s shots above, I think we might have raised the quality bar once again.

And while it might not seem like a huge number elsewhere, I counted over sixty people in the back bar at one point during PJ’s set. It was a friggin’ sauna back there, but everyone seemed to be having a great time nonetheless.

Look for the albums soon.

Photo by Tanya Peterson

Josh Neas and I had a blast rapping about DMP, talking ConvergeSouth and listening to some of the live tracks by veterans of the project on his Wednesday night, 6pm to 8pm show on 90.9FM WQFS.

Check it out:

Poster by Justin Reich.