As was the case with Diamond Rugs’ 2012 self-titled debut record, much of the band’s sophomore album, Cosmetics, formed and grew in the studio. That’s an impressive feat, considering that Diamond Rugs is something of a weekender project for members of no fewer than five bands, all of whom keep moderate-to-ridiculous recording and touring schedules anyway: John McCauley and Robbie Crowell (both Deer Tick), Ian St. Pé (Black Lips), T. Hardy Morris (Dead Confederate), Bryan Dufresne (Six Finger Satellite) and the legendary Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, Blasters and about six dozen other outfits). The boys in the band will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our recent feature on them.
Crowell: In addition to starting to wonder about the upper limits of age in rock, I also realized at one point that it had been a while since I heard many young rock bands that really kicked my ass. This was a bit of a drag, seeing as I generally think most of the best rock albums were made by bands under 30, if not under 25. Not that there haven’t been older bands that made great albums, but it’s the exception more than the rule. Rock is traditionally the bastion of the young for some pretty good reasons, among them the fact that, the older we get, the less risks we tend to take, musically or onstage. I’m comforted by the fact that, in Diamond Rugs, there’s a great thread of immaturity in the best ways, where the nastier or weirder it gets, the better. But, I digress. In the past year, I’ve found the Districts, through touring with them, and Scoop Outs, through my friend Charles Austin (king of the great and weird in Halifax, Super Friend(z), producer/engineer of wonderful madness). Rock’s not dead, and it doesn’t smell any worse than it ought to, either.
Video after the jump.
