Permanent Makeup’s last LP (this year’s I Don’t Like You Either) only existed on the internet, so we’re glad that the band’s own label — No Clear Records — has teamed up with friends (DeadTank Records, IFB Records) to press 300 vinyl copies of the St. Pete punks’ latest — Scrape — on which bassist Christopher Nadeau, guitarist James Bess and drummer Susan Dickson-Nadeau careen their way through bouncy, angry tracks like album opener “Currency” and the demonically woozy crunch of “Desperate Adults.”
Today, the band is sharing "Confounded," a track featuring guitarist front and center on vocals as he navigates his way across the space the Nadeaus create with bass and drums.
Nadeau took the time to talk to CL about the new album, Permanent Makeup's upcoming tour, whether or not Trump's tantrums tire him out and much more. Read our full Q&A, listen to the song, and get more info on the record release show below.
Call your local record store to see if it'll carry the release. See all of the band's fall 2017 tour dates at the bottom of the post.
"Confounded." Talk about what it’s like to come up with this music and then have James throw an angry vocal on it.
Our process of making music together is very collaborative and based in improvisation. The music itself is kind of a political conversation — listening, barking, taking space, giving space, seeing where the pieces fit and melding them together into a structure. That’s true in the case of "Confounded," but it's much more of an argument than a conversation. Susan (drums) and I (bass) are chasing each other with off rhythm spasms while James (guitar) scrapes down the middle. The vocals usually come as we pull the structure together and start trying different patterns until something sticks. James’ vocals on this one really bind the parts together - between the build up in intensity and lyrical content, I’m really happy with how the song came out.
When all this Trump bullshit started to unfold PM was one of the bands to immediately open up the Bandcamp coffers for activist causes. Be honest, has the time 45 has been in office worn you down at all?
Trump’s constant threats against human rights, emboldening bigots, racists, sexists to spew their hatred and enact violence in the open are all overwhelming for me. But what are we going to do? We are going to fight. If you are at the height of privilege like me, come out and actively support your friends who are women or transgender or people of color. We can also make space and listen to people who are actually marginalized (and don’t make them do all the work) and start conversations about systemic racism and what it means to be American. Don’t put up with bullshit from shitty dudes. By framing these thoughts locally, I am still overwhelmed but at least I can talk to my friends and attempt to show the best version of myself.
This was another self-recorded effort. Does that ever get cumbersome to the point that you’re curious what it might sound like with someone else on the reins?
James does most of the work recording so I don’t feel it would be fair for me to say, “Yeah it's no problem for us to keep recording.” I appreciate being able to record in [the home] Susan and [I live in] and having that comfort. We set tight deadlines for ourselves, so there is some internal pressure too. We also record the instruments live in the house together, which might give a lot of engineers heartburn. James does guitar overdubs and we do the vocals separate, but other than that it’s live. Economically, it cuts a lot of money out that allows us to keep our records cheap. That said, I’ve always dreamed of working with someone like Steve Albini or Bob Weston.
That said, this record is textbook PM. Talk about being able to maintain this band’s identity while you all work on your own side projects?
I like having a lot of outlets and getting to collaborate with different people. I think stepping outside of the structure Permanent Makeup has established over seven years allows me keep my perspectives fresh and learn from different peoples’ approaches to music and creativity. The sound of Permanent Makeup speaks to the focus on the relationship between us as musicians and our commitment to improvisation and listening to each as we all individually evolve and hear more music and learn new things.
Speaking of, what are those side projects? I feel like I’ve lost track.
Currently Susan plays drums in the amazing Piss Ghost and I play guitar in Plastisol, NMBRS, Flux Hymns and Funhater. Permanent Makeup is the only band I play bass in.
You also pressed 300 copies of it on vinyl, which is not cheap — does the commitment to physical product ever get scary?
We keep our costs really low and are able to sell our LPs for 10 dollars each. This time we are getting some help from DeadTank and IFB records who are co-releasing the vinyl with my record label No Clear Records. Through the community effort and help from friends, I do not worry about having too many records. That said, I still have a few copies of the last 2 LPs that we’ll be taking on the road with us so they don’t sit and rot in our house, so if anyone is behind please hit me up.
Do you regret not releasing the last album physically?
For our last album, I Don’t Like You Either, it was all about putting our money where our mouth was and actively supporting organizations like Planned Parenthood that defy the agenda of the current administration by providing healthcare to women. We made a proclamation that we would send our Bandcamp money, but we didn’t have any new music behind it. So we actually pushed back recording the songs for Scrape and recorded a “digital only” product that we sneak attack surprise released on the Fourth of July to help support our efforts. We do also have a friend in Georgia working on a tape release version of the album now that we’ve passed along some digital dough.
Your tour, I assume, was booked by you. Who’d you get help from this time as far as finding shows goes.
After a pretty tough booking experience attempting to book a European tour and failing, swapping our flights to the west coast USA and having a tough time booking shows over there with our good pals Vivian K who graciously let us tag along with them for the west coast leg of their tour, this tour came together like a breeze. Everyone was super down to have us come back or to town for the first time and it felt really good. We are geographically closer to the southeast U.S.A., so naturally have more homies who we have booked shows for down here in Florida.
Your sound is so outside of conventional listening. Let’s say a basic person like me wants to use your band to break into more outside-the-box sounds. Who should I listen to?
Here are some outside the box albums we love.
US Maple - Long Hair in Three Stages
Palberta - Bye Bye Berta
Trumans Water - Spasm Smash XXXOXOX Ox & Ass
The Ex - Pokkeherrie
Uzi Rash - Coreless Roll Can Liner
Brainiac - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture
Unwound - Repetition
Polvo - Celebrate the New Dark Age
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Strangers from the Universe
