Dillinger Four - Gainesville

I've been on a bit of a Dillinger Four kick recently and in particular their latest release Civil War as it gets a lot of flack, which is undeserved in my opinion.

In many ways they are what modern "punk" bands wish they were. Their songs are structured like 80s straight-edge hardcore anthems, but the band is generally too drunk to play them. If they only abandon a couple songs midway through their live shows, that’s considered a success. They rarely tour, much less play outside of the Midwest USA; and, if they had their druthers, they’d probably never leave Minneapolis ever again. Any opportunity that's come along that might in some way further their career, they've taken off running in the opposite direction. They are music's underachiever laureates; either dumb geniuses or genius dummies. But despite their slacker approach, or perhaps because of it, while they may not be a household name like some of their peers, they somehow became what is quite possibly the most beloved, most influential punk band of their generation. The band ushered in a new era of plainclothes punk, putting the emphasis back on substance over style - still fast and abrasive, but with a wiseass edge to it. Their four albums are brilliant, but their productions are so distorted and odd that it's like they're deliberately trying to turn people off - an open challenge to discover the perfect songs buried underneath the mess. What you'd see is exactly what they are: four working class, often intoxicated, self-professed fat guys from Minneapolis. Everything about Dillinger Four comes off as one big shoulder shrug. Hell, their official website is still hosted on Angelfire! The members routinely pass up offers to play tours and festivals that their peers would kill for. Sometimes it's due to work obligations — they all own, manage, or work at bars in Minnesota, with the exception of drummer Lane Pederson who, somewhat miraculously, is a successful clinical psychologist with three books under his belt. Other times, they refuse to miss family obligations like their kids' or wives' birthdays. But most times, they just plain ol' don't feel like it. They could have made a ton of cash, but you have to respect them sticking to their values also. Most wouldn't. They got asked about a festival and replied with "Why would we play something we wouldn't dream of attending ourselves?" Fair point...

I am sharing Gainesville from Civil War which is my favourite on the record, if not one of my favourites of all time. Because of the lyrics "And It Feels Like Summer In October, And I Hope This Day Is Never Over" Gainesville has become the anthem for The Fest, a week end festival in erm Gainesville, which happens every year in late October. It's an uplifting song about not wasting your life waiting for things to happen and instead going out and getting them yourself. This is summed up perfectly in the bridge of the song "Time Was Wasted, We're Moving Way Too Slow, Lets Go Before We're Old, Time Doesn't Wait For Me". This is a fantastic sing-a-long, fist-in-the-air song that I have had stuck in my head all week!

Dillinger Four - doublewhiskeycokenoice

A song that Green Day liked so much they re-recorded it and called it American Idiot.... (allegedly). In 2004, Green Day released American Idiot, an album that would go on to sell an estimated 16 million records worldwide, revitalising their career in the process. The album opened with the title track, and the song’s main riff bared a striking resemblance to “Doublewhiskeycokenoice.” It could have been a coincidence, but given the fact that Green Day took Dillinger Four on tour in Japan in 2001, and Billie Joe Armstrong’s other band, Pinhead Gunpowder, released a split with Dillinger Four, the plausible deniability goes out the window. To this day, there are rumours abound about whether or not Dillinger Four made any money from this, but it showed their song writing prowess to the world, even if they never got the credit.

On paper, Dillinger Four doesn’t make a lot of sense. They’re a pop-punk band, but they look down on the genre, or at least that scene, with outright disdain. Their songs are structured like 80s straight-edge hardcore anthems, but the band is generally too drunk to play them. Now in their forties, the members routinely pass up offers to play tours and festivals that their peers would kill for. Sometimes it's due to work obligations as they all own, manage, or work at bars in Minnesota, with the exception of drummer Lane Pederson who, somewhat miraculously, is a successful clinical psychologist with three books under his belt. Other times, they refuse to miss family obligations like their kids or wives birthdays. But most times, they just plain old don't feel like it.

There was always joy poking through their songs, and in the case of “Doublewhiskeycokenoice,” there was a reason to celebrate. If every other song on Midwestern Songs captured the stress of trying to make ends meet, “Doublewhiskeycokenoice” was the relieved exhale after the pay check cleared. “I’ve got a basement full of booze and some blues to lose / I’ll ignore the whole world tonight / It will be alright,” sang Costello at the song’s end, holding out that final word in the hope that, maybe if he never stopped singing it, he could stave off Monday morning for a little while longer.