Cashmere Jungle Lords

The Many Phases of

Cashmere Jungle Lords

The Richmond-based Cashmere Jungle Lords have been a constant presence on this region’s music scene for almost 15 years, so it’s weird to be saying that the band’s new “Southern Barber Supply” CD, released on their own Little Abner label, is one of 1997′s finest regional debuts. Did it really take the surfy-swampy-poppy trio, led by lead vocalist / songwriter Dominic Carpin, this long to release a long-play album, eight years after one vinyl EP and an even earlier single, and after years of stop-start touring all over the region?

Weirder still– the disc itself is filled with Link Wray-ish instrumentals, tuneful pop songs, raucous garage grunge, cool cocktail jazz. . . even a few pieces of mid-tempo exotica (complete with sitar and cello). Some of these styles are perfectly realized, but is this really the Cashmere Jungle Lords I’m listening to? Not quite the raw party-rock of the band’s typical live show, it’s. . . something quite different; so scattershot that at times that it seems like a well-programmed multi-band compilation. There’s even a simplistic “hit single”-type number (appropriately titled “Radio On”) that I can easily picture being some “lite alternative” station’s number one add-on. I guess that’s a compliment. It’s got a simple, happy melody that is, damn it, hard to resist. “Slender Bed” is about four songs all rolled into one: a snazzy nightclub swing takes a turn into anthemic blues-rock which then turns into a British Invasion freakout fadeaway.

Too much. Drummer Jimmy Kaylis and new bassist John Deyton hold together a most impressive bottom for lead songwriter / singer Dominic Carpin’s hopped-up tales of old movie stars, freaky shamans, demanding wimmen, L.A. scenemakers and lost crescent rolls.

Grip Monthly talked to Dominic Carpin about the recording of “Southern Barber Supply” (which is named after a Richmond hairstyling landmark), his frustration in dealing with labels, the Lords’ serving as rockabilly singer Robert Gordon‘s backup band at a recent Richmond show, and the many faces and phases of a longtime live favorite that obviously still has a few tricks up its sleeves.

Grip Monthly: Southern Barber Supply sounds like it took a lot of work.

Dominic Carpin: It was a two year project. It involved three different studios.

Grip: When did you decide to do a CD?

Carpin: Really the original idea was to do a demo. We recorded six songs at (the now defunct) Glass Hand Studios in Richmond in February of 1995. Let’s see, we did “Paradise,” “Lost Crescent Rolls,” “Ziggamus (Rainbow Wizard)” “Fernando,” “Cactus Flower” and “Humphrey the Bogey Man.”

Grip: So you recorded a great deal of the CD right then and there?

Carpin: Well, we used five of six tracks. We didn’t use “Paradise” from that session. Then we shopped that 6-song demo for awhile and didn’t get that much response from labels so we just. . . continued on from there.

Grip: You did a lot of songs at Montana Studios.

Carpin: We recorded three at Montana in Richmond and then seven songs at Oz in Baltimore. We really recorded most everything that’s on the disc at Oz, but we thought many of those versions were inferior to the performances we captured at Glass Hand.

Grip: I think the disc is great. If anything, it doesn’t sound like one band. It’s more like a collection of singles from a bunch of different groups, all good.

Carpin: Yeah, that’s what Craig Nichol from Creative Loafing (an Atlanta-area magazine) said about it: ‘I would say it’s a compilation album except all the songs are by the same band.’ (Laughs) Then he compared it to. . . he said it was the greatest one-band compilation since the Turtles’ Battle of the Bands (from 1966). That’s pretty high praise.

Grip: Yeah. That is a great record. I see the connection.

Carpin: That’s what he said, anyway.

Grip: It does sound like you took the time to make each track a separate and different experience. Or did it just come out that way.

Carpin: Well, we hired a producer, Scott Wolfe (Gwar, Kepone). We have about a 100-song repertoire and he shifted through at least two 90-minute cassettes and pretty much selected the tunes. We actually thought that we’d have some sense of continuity with the thing. I don’t know. . .

Grip: The disc is different from your live show in many ways, with exotic instruments and interesting studio effects, although the more surf-oriented stuff that the Lords’ live fans know is to be found too.

Carpin: Yeah, like “The Sweeper.” That was recorded live in the studio as a matter of fact. I guess we always had this direction that we wanted to pursue as a trio live, but I always had an idea– I could hear all these other instruments with the music, and I went and got with Scott and he just pulled all of the players together. We decided to something a little extra with the arrangements. The disc is definitely a different experience than the live show in many ways. But we’re doing this really cool thing at Alley Katz (in Richmond) on May 9th. We’re performing the CD live, with all of the differing instruments. We’re going to have everything. Well, actually, I’ve nailed down everything but the sitar (for “Bedouin Caravan”) and timpani. We couldn’t physically get all the same players, like the cellist, who has sensitive ears– she’s from the Baltimore Symphony, you know– but Louis from Bucket is going to play the cello that night. We’re bringing a violinist up from Nags Head. The Burnley Brothers are going to open — they’ve got a kind of western swing thing with an upright bass so it’ll fit in with the mood real nice. One thing I’ve noticed that’s weird: some people who know us live are a little disappointed with the disc, because it’s not how we are live. And then some people who have heard the disc and come to see us live based on that are a little put-off because they miss all the instrumentation.

Grip: How would you say Southern Barber Supply differs from the two pieces of vinyl that the Cashmere Jungle Lords released in the ’80′s?

Carpin: Those earlier recordings were done on eight-track, half-inch. There’s really no comparison in terms of the difference in fidelity. Those discs got a lot of attention at the time, but they weren’t exactly how we sounded live either. Like, one song had a banjo. But those two records weren’t as successful in capturing an expression. I mean, I still feel that (Southern Barber Supply) isn’t everything I hoped for. . . but it’s closer. We just ran out of money on it. If I could’ve, I would’ve re-sung half of the material on the disc to make it better.

Grip: The Cashmere Jungle Lords have been around now for over a decade, playing this area in one incarnation or another. You probably have a pretty good perspective on Virginia’s music scene, then and now.

Carpin: I guess I do. I’m not quite a dinosaur. (Laughs)

Grip: I didn’t mean it that way. Would you say the Virginia music ‘scene’ is more open-minded now?

Carpin: There’s always been a lot of talent in this area. I think that David Lowery of Cracker moving here has helped get this area some attention. I guess the difference is that now some Richmond acts are finally getting looked at by the national media and some of the bigger record labels. The Seymores got signed. . . Shannon Worrell from Charlottesville. . . Kepone. . . Technical Jed. That’s a big difference I guess. But, on the other side, it seems to me that in the past there was more of a music ‘scene’ than there is now.

Grip: Like a togetherness? What do you mean?

Carpin: It just seemed like, when we were first starting out (in 1983), there was more of an audience for the music. Now, there may actually be more talent but there’s less of an audience out there, dedicated diehards who want to go out and hear it all the time. It also seems to me that the music business is more competitive than its ever been, too. It seems to me that our old vinyl, when it was released, got far more attention from radio and the media than our CD has gotten. Our press has been good, but I don’t understand the reaction since I think the compact disc is so much better.

Grip: As the sole original member, how would you say the band is different now than it went it first started out in the early ’80′s?

Carpin: Well, our original drummer (Sean Sumner) actually passed away a year ago. I think we’re stronger vocally because our new bass player (John Dacey) can sing really well, so we are able to do more harmonies. All in all, musically and vocally, I think we’re stronger. We might not be as raw as we once were but I think there are more dynamics in the way we present the songs now.

Grip: So, then as before, you manage the band?

Carpin: Yeah, we haven’t been able to get a manager or booking agent or label to stick by us. We like to joke and say that we have no visible means of industry support! We’re totally self-sufficient. We financed the recording of the CD ourselves, borrowing money. Scott (Wolfe) had said that sometimes labels will buy tracks that are “in the can,” so we took that approach at first. I mean, we know people. Mark Linkous, from Sparklehorse, called a guy from Capitol for us and told him to take our tape out of the pile and listen to it. He sent us a rejection letter. I look at that kind of stuff as sort of a message in a bottle thing. My whole attitude is that I like doing it and I’m going to keep doing it. All I want to do if Southern Barber Supply recoups or makes a little money is go right on out and make another record. If no one else wants to pay for it, we’ll pay for it.

Grip: Southern Culture on the Skids were plugging away for years in regional obscurity, playing pretty much the same circuit you guys are, for years before Geffen signed them. They got a deal in 1994 but they were just as good in 1989, so you’ve got to wonder what takes the labels so long to come around to certain groups.

Carpin: I think that the industry, in the past, would’ve classified them as a ‘regional band, a regional success’– hickabilly or whatever you want to call it– and maybe they loosened up a little after the so-called ‘alternative revolution.’ Started taking regional bands more seriously. . . But you never really know what they want on any particular day. I sent a tape to the guy who signed Garbage and he replied that we were ‘too all-over-the-place, musically.’ And he said that we had to have ‘a specific trip.’ (Laughs) Like we weren’t marketable because we were too eclectic or something.

Grip: Have you been playing out a lot in support of the disc, to try to win over the labels?

Carpin: Oh yeah. We’ve been playing out pretty aggressively since (recording the disc). Without a doubt. We’ve intensified even more than that since then– we do 12-15 shows a month now.

Grip: Where, besides Richmond, are you guys popular? Where have you played recently?

Carpin: Oh, Philadelphia. Nick’s Upstairs. The Tavern in Brunswick, New Jersey. . . the Mercury Lounge in New York City. We have a pretty good draw in New York City, people who come out to see us. Also Charlotte N.C., Baltimore, Wilmington. And Nags Head. And Atlanta, Chapel Hill. We’re also playing North by Northeast in Toronto in Mid-June and we’re planning to support that by also hitting Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Syracuse on the way. Ithaca and Buffalo too. . .

Grip: Has Southern Barber Supply helped you get bookings in unfamiliar places.

Carpin: Pretty much. It’s been very well-received in the press and also with promoters. A guy in Charlotte just called me, after I sent it to him. These guys just never call YOU, but he said, ‘I really liked your CD so I’m calling you to get you to play (at my club.)

Grip: You guys recently backed up rockabilly singer Robert Gordon at Alley Katz. What was he like to work with?

Carpin: He was pretty intense and very demanding. He knew what he wanted, the tone and the tempo and everything. And he definitely made it clear that he was the main event and wanted us to kind of hang back in the shadows. He made us ‘dress down.’ He asked us what we were going to wear and he told me what I had planned was too flashy (Laughs).

(The Cashmere Jungle Lords will headline the Red Eye showcase show at Cobblestone Brewery in Richmond on May 30th, as part of the Route One South Music Festival. You can purchase Southern Barber Supply in local stores, or from Little Abner at 4412 Forest Hill Ave., Richmond, Va. 23225).