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.
Morris: Many years ago, at a sushi karaoke party, a friend of mine gave me (what I thought was) a CD labeled, “Black Sabbath: Paris 1970.” I was excited and intrigued, but when I put it in my truck CD player, nothing happened, so it sat in my truck and I would pop it in every so often with the futile hope that it might play. Eventually, I tried putting it in a friend’s computer because I thought, “Maybe my CD player just sucks,” and whaddaya know!? Black Sabbath comes up on the screen in full 1970 force, ripping through tunes like rabid cats trapped in paper bags. It was a DVD (duh), and I had wasted almost two years not seeing the amazement my friend had so generously been trying to bestow upon me. So don’t waste your time. Watch it. Over and over. It’s the best thing on the ‘net, anyway.
