Track By Track: Diamond Rugs _Cosmetics_
The Diamond Rugs origin story begins back in 2011, when Deer Tick frontman John McCauley and Six Finger Satellite drummer Bryan Dufresne joined Black Lips guitarist Ian St. Pé in his hotel room to pound some celebratory post-show beers. When they eventually entered the studio to cut their 2012 self-titled debut, the three musicians also invited Dead Confederate’s T. Hardy Morris, longtime Los Lobos member Steve Berlin and McCauley’s Deer Tick bandmate Robbie Crowell.
The gang’s all back for a second time on Cosmetics, and St. Pé, who characterizes his role in Diamond Rugs as “the make-shit-happen guy,” says he hopes the group will put out a new record every two or three years. Here, he shares his thoughts on their sophomore release.
Voodoo Doll
In a day and age where everything is handed to you from social media, kids don’t have time to think on their own and everything is just laid out for them. “Voodoo Doll” is about feeling connected. If audience members feel connected to us through our music, I think that’s wonderful; but if they think we’re perfect in a kind of crazy person way, that’s a nada.
Thunk
I do believe that art, once it leaves an artist’s body, no longer belongs just to him; it’s the world’s. So my take on John and Hardy’s songs might be different than their takes, but my thoughts are just as important. “Thunk” is about a bad relationship—“I should’ve been smart and left you a long time ago and I thunk I just might.”
Couldn’t Help It
I had just come off a four- month tour with the Black Lips when we did our first record. I think our last shows were in Japan and when I flew home, we were supposed to record like two days later. I needed a couple of more days than that, so I ended up showing up the second or third day in. By then, Hardy and John had laid the groundwork to their songs and I came in to fill out the guitar lines and it worked. So for this record, I could’ve come in the first day, but I said, “Hey, it worked the first time. Why don’t y’all lay down some initial tracks and then I’ll come in, put my parts on your songs and you can put your parts on mine.” We made it basically the same exact way we did the first album. I didn’t change anything. I used the same producer, the same studio, the same horn section, the same amount of time.
The difference on this record, I suppose, is I got married, and John got married and now he has a kid. John and I were kind of the crazy guys in the band—always partying our balls off. I guess we slowed down a little bit, and maybe that’s the difference between the first record and the second. Maybe it shows in the songwriting, but I think we’ll always be good-time boys and that’s it.
“Couldn’t Help It?” Tough men cry, too.
Meant To Be
Women are like a cop’s radar gun. When we go over the limit, we get busted.
Live and Shout It
This one’s special to me. This is the one I sing on the record. First and foremost, you have to live the life you want to live, even when your peers are saying it’s not the best option. If you don’t believe in it, it ain’t gonna happen—that’s what this song’s about. I’m doing it for me and I hope everyone else likes it. I hope I can make a career out of this but if you have a fallback plan, you’re gonna fall back.
So What
I miss the time where you didn’t know everything about the bands. Now, you go on people’s Instagram page and find out what they’re doing on their time off. But I think that the people who like our music, I call them our crew—I don’t want to call them fans—can read between the lines.
“So What?” Simply put, I love you, I love you not—so what?
Ain’t Religion
John and Hardy are amazing songwriters. That’s obvious when you listen to the songs. But it’s more than that—music can be easy, but the hard part is actually getting up, getting out and getting something. I was drawn to these guys because they tour all year just like me and, musically, Steve is a force to be reckoned with. He’s got six Grammys and, even if he didn’t have any, he pulls his weight beyond belief with the horn arrangements. The horns are definitely the newest thing that I’m not used to. I’ve always played in rock and punk bands that never had horns, so I enjoy Steve bringing the horns to the table.
“Ain’t Religion”—it’s not all set in stone. But it is love that two people share and perhaps that does come from above.
Killin’ Time
“Killin’ Time” is about shooting the breeze, which according to the Urban Dictionary means: “Chilling with your boys, drinking, relaxing, fucking around instead of doing homework, listening to music, watching sports. Overall, just doing nothing except having “a good time.”
Blame
The story behind “Blame,” simply put, is: Be careful what you wish for.
Clean
I like “Clean” a lot. It’s one of my favorite songs on the record. It’s not how you got into this world, it’s what you do on your way out—because you’re born and every day is one more day toward your way out. So I’m going to leave my mark. I’m not going to make my exit clean.
Motel Room
With all the fancy hotel rooms today, where have all the good motels gone? Growing up, we used to rent rooms. We’d get a guy old enough who could rent the room for us, then we’d fill that bathtub up with ice cold beer and do the night up right.
