Dale Crover's new album, Rat-A-Tat-Tat!, arrives Jan. 15 via Joyful Noise Recordings! Pre-orders, including limited edition vinyl variants, are available now via Joyful Noise. The VIP version from Joyful Noise even includes a bonus flexi with a song not included on the album. Dale has also premiered the video for I Can't Help You There from the album via Flood Magazine. Dale had this to say about the video: “I enlisted Toshi Kasai and Alicia DiGiovanni to help direct, film and edit. I gave them the basic ideas I had and they ran with them,” Crover shares before citing a handful of other visual reference points. “Inspiration came from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, The Cramps’ 1978 performance at Napa State Mental Hospital, and the creepy face mask of LA Dodger Kiké Hernández.”

 

Rat-A-Tat-Tat! Is that the sound of the reaper knocking on your door to collect your soul -- or Dale Crover hammering out another distinctive drum fill?

There are pretty good odds it’s the latter; between 36 years (and about as many full-lengths and EPs) as drummer/bassist for the Melvins and his contributions to acts as varied as Altamont, Peeping Tom, Redd Kross, Shrinebuilder, and a little band called Nirvana, he’s built quite the body of work. In 2017, he added a proper solo album to his extensive catalog, The Fickle Finger of Fate. Now he’s followed that with Rat-A-Tat-Tat!

Crover takes the solo thing seriously: he wrote the album while on the road and provided vocals, drums, guitars, vibraphone, and miscellaneous percussion. Just like the last album, recording took place over at Toshi Kasai’s Sound of Sirens Studio in beautiful Sun Valley, CA. Kasai recorded and mixed it again, as well as co-producing it with Crover under the sobriquet Deaf Nephews. Celebrated graphic designer (and regular Melvins cover artist) Mackie Osborne created the striking album art, just as she did for The Fickle Finger of Fate.

So what’s different this time around? Crover assembled an actual band to help him out. Redd Kross bassist Steve McDonald asked Crover to open for Redd Kross, Crover asked McDonald to play bass for him, and the rest is history. It’d be difficult for even the multi-talented Crover to put on a live show by himself without one of those one-man-band contraptions. In addition to McDonald, Kasai (ex-Big Business, Plan D) helps with keyboards, synths, jawharp, and backing vocals. Mindee Jorgensen (Dangerously Sleazy) sits behind the kit live and contributes additional drumming and some sweet saxophone skills here. His former Altamont bandmate Dan Southwick plays bass on “Tougher,” a track Crover cowrote with Kasai.

Some pieces of the songs may sound familiar to the 127 completists who grabbed the limited-run lathe cut record Piso Mojado, a collection of experimental drum weirdness. Although insanity certainly abounds on Rat-a-Tat-Tat!, there are also some surprisingly poppy moments. Crover claims “Shark Like Overbite” may be the poppiest song he’s ever written. It’s also the puppiest: it was inspired by the three dogs he’s had over the years. A few tunes (“I Can’t Help You There,” “Kiss Proof World”) harken back to his Pacific Northwest lineage. That said, “Tougher,” “Supine is How I Found Him,” and “New Pharaoh” careen right off the dial. It’s an eclectic mix, one that draws on song fragments he’s had for years. It still feels cohesive and uniquely Dale Crover.

But then, who would expect anything other than the unexpected? The opportunity knocks to hear more Dale Crover jams; be sure to answer.

-Jeff Treppel

Rat-A-Tat-Tat! track listing:

  • Moclips
  • I Can't Help You There
  • Tougher
  • Stumbler
  • Shark Like Overbite
  • Supine Is How I Found Him
  • I'll Never Say
  • New Pharaoh
  • Untrue Crime
  • The Bowie Mix
  • Piso Mojado
  • Kiss Proof World

 

Dale and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden/Pearl Jam were recently featured in  Modern Drummer magazine if you're a subscriber check it out!

Dale was a guest on the New York venue Saint Vitus' podcast Age of Quarantine which was hosted by Christopher Enriquez of Spotlights.

Dale was also a guest on episode 155 of Conan Neutron's podcast Protonic Reversal.

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