A lot of bands that make it to the decade mark start to recycle ideas and hit some auto-pilot moments musically, falling into creative ruts and making some less-than-adventurous choices. San Francisco's The Dodos, however, are an exception to that rule. With their sixth album (Individ, released in January on Polyvinyl), The Dodos are continuing to climb to their creative peak; while the band has always relied on curveball rhythmic changes and deceptively technical guitar playing, Individ finds The Dodos writing more urgent, cohesive songs that balance beautifully between sprawling epics and concise blasts. 

I sat down with singer/guitarist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber in the basement of Neumos when the band was in Seattle recently and talked about their creative process, their gear, Jackie Chan and what it's like to watch the city you live in get taken over by development. 

The Royal Basement Podcast Episode #12  THE DODOS

I'm convinced Trapper Schoepp is lying about his age.  It's rare to see someone who hasn't even hit their thirties have such a knowledge and reverence for the cornerstones of classic American pop songwriting. Trapper is a man who cares about his craft and pays serious attention to the masters, and even as a grizzled old man myself, it's intimidating to meet someone who has such a vast well of musical knowledge to draw from. Hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trapper's music feels immediately familiar to me, like a sweet breeze of relief in the middle of an overbearing humid Midwestern summer. 

Trapper and his bassist/brother Tanner dropped by the Ol' Basement for a late night session to play a few songs and chat about sports, hometowns, the Wisconsin/Minnesota border, big boots, Tecmo Bowl, colorblindness and their upcoming record that they just recorded with Brendan Benson in Nashville, TN. 

The Royal Basement Podcast #11  Trapper Schoepp & The Shades

The Royal Basement is a musical and conversational podcast based out of Seattle, Washington. Newest two episodes are published here; the rest are archived on TheRoyalBasement.com. 

Episode Archive:
1. Robb MacLean (Limbeck/The Young Dudes)
2. John Cobb (my best friend)
3. Chris Murphy (Sloan)
4. John Nguyen (The Believe It Or Nots/The Times)
5. John Davis (Superdrag/The Lees of Memory)
6. Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals/Gorillaz/Neon Neon)
7. Chris Porterfield (Field Report/DeYarmond Edison)
8. Alex Robert (Black Whales)
9. Eric Slick (Dr. Dog)
10. Soft Sleep (Members of The Lonely Forest, Globes, Cumulus, Death Cab for Cutie)
11. Trapper & Tanner Schoepp (Trapper Schoepp & The Shades)
12. The Dodos
13. TBA

The Royal Basement is the squirmy little lovechild of Greg Franklin, designer/musician/writer/cat wrangler/raconteur. (Here's the part where I shift uncomfortably from third person to first person references.) I started creating zines when I was in high school. In the early/mid-90's in Olathe, Kansas, zines were the best outlet imaginable for a fidgety kid who loved music and art and was trying to figure out a way to express how my still-forming grey matter was reacting to the music I was getting exposed to through other zines and, eventually, the Internet in its infancy. Since those early days of late nights with scissors, glue sticks, and a limited Kinko's budget, I've taken that nervous energy and divided it as a freelance graphic designer (Kentucky Chrome), as a former college radio DJ for KJHK (Lawrence, KS), as a musician in a bunch of different projects, and as a freelance music writer for various publications (Seattle Weekly, The Pitch, The Village Voice).

The Royal Basement is an attempt to corral all of those interests into something a bit less sporadic and a bit more cohesive. I'm personally excited to share an unfiltered view of my musical discoveries/rediscoveries, as well as having conversations with folks about their musical experiences, the tools they create with, and hopefully showing off some sketches/progress of the songs I'm working on for my own material along the way. If you're interested in chatting, please drop me a line. 

This site is an open letter to music and the joy it has brought me in my life. I hope the words and thoughts contained herein bring you some of that same joy. Cheers. 