Convalescents Look Toward New Album, More Touring

Tim Wenger | September 1, 2013 | 0 Comments

by Tim Wenger

You may be familiar with Fort Collins pop-punkers Convalescents. They have brought their fun-loving brand of punk rock around the country and have made a decent name for themselves here in Colorado. They recently returned home from a tour with Stabbed in Back and took some time out of their busy schedules to let Colorado Music Buzz know what they are up to and why DB and the Catastrophe just wasn’t cutting it as a band name.

“Every four months we were changing band members,” says front man Dylan Busby. “But when we got into the studio, at least the three of us were locked down. There was DB and the Catastrophe because there was me and then there was people changing out all the time. But when you lock in and you find the right people and become like a band, it’s less about me doing something than this uniform thing happening.”

Three of the band’s four members, including Busby, bassist Eric Lehman and drummer Ben Duncan, have known each other since middle school, and are a tight-knit group when it comes to playing in a band together. “We started our first band in the summer of eighth grade,” says Lehman.

“While I was in DB and the Catastrophe, I met (guitarist) Gideon Priegel in school,” says Busby. “I only knew him for like a year, and he went out to Musicians Institute in LA and got a degree out there. When he came back we were just finishing up in the studio, and I called him up and said ‘Do you want to come practice with us.’”

The band recorded their album Armageddon at famous Fort Collins studio the Blasting Room with Bill Stevenson. The songs on the record are a mix between old DB songs that Busby has been playing for years, and new stuff that the solidified group has written together. The record is available on iTunes and at shows.

They hope to get in and record an EP of new stuff over the next couple of months. “We have some new songs in the works, two or three right now that are pretty good,” says Lehman. “We’re going to try and get a couple more songs so that we have something to choose from.”

“With Armageddon down, after leaving that experience, we’ve written a couple songs,” says Busby. “It’s all about getting those songs down because they are a refined sound of what the Convalescents are.”

Convalescents are becoming known for their live shows and frequent touring. The guys have played at the SXSW and NXBE festivals. Playing out of state festivals helped the guys figure out the process of booking and executing tours, having already a destination and turnaround point in place. “It’s worth your time to try and tour on the way to those festivals, so we started touring from there,” says Busby. “A long, long time ago, probably six years ago now, I was at the Blasting Room getting something mixed and the Teenage Bottlerocket guys were there. Ray (one of TBR’s vocal and guitarists) and I were outside smoking at the same time and he told me to get out, to go and do your thing. Once we started doing that, it seemed to be the best option for us. The way we do it is every band member has to save up money (to finance the tours), day jobs are fueling it.”

The guys hope to get back out on the road in the fall. “We get these two big tours a year,” says Lehman. “Just from saving up and getting the time off is kind of difficult, but two big ones at least a year.”

“It’s starting to get more frequent, also with regional stuff, it’s almost every chance we get to get out of town,” says Busby. Catch the guys at Surfside 7 with Calabrese September 23.

Online: convalescentsmusic.com