Nashville’s Diarrhea Planet On Riot Fest, Working with Vance Powell, Tour Life

by Tim Wenger

Nashville’s Diarrhea Planet has been squirting their way up the ranks of the US alt-rock scene since 2009. Their diverse sound and the ridiculous name shine a light into their world and offers a glimpse at the versatile success the band is seeing. Wide and diverse guitar sit under light-hearted, pop-driven vocals never short on irony or humor, hip enough for the trendiest South Broadway clubs. But with raucous power chord angst, stadium rock showmanship, and fury, a punk rock show is a more comfortable environment for the six guys. Perhaps that’s why they’ve landed gigs at both installments of Riot Fest- in Denver and Chicago- playing alongside The Misfits, Lagwagon, and Jane’s Addiction.

The guys look the part of bar stragglers, hanging round over a cocktail as a show draws to a close inquiring from passers-by about a possible after-party location. On stage, though, they assume the persona of seasoned rockers there to take care of business. They’ve become complete road warriors. Their current tour runs through mid-November. After a short break, the guys will be back on the road again. I caught up with the band inside the press tent at Denver’s Riot Fest & Rodeo, inquisitive about how Nashville keeps churning out world-class bands. Front man Jordan Smith did most of the talking, along with Emmett Miller and Brent Toler.

Did you ever find it overwhelming to come from a huge music town like Nashville or was it beneficial?

Emmett Miller: I think it’s awesome. The Nashville Craigslist is loaded with cool shit. And we forced ourselves upon everyone and played like three shows a week. Finally, we started opening up for bands like Fucked Up.

Jordan Smith: It was funny, we were kind of like the default Nashville opener for a really long time. We told people we don’t really care about sticking to this scene or that one, it’s bullshit, we want to play with everyone because we just want to play. We were the first ones that guys would call.

You played three shows a week in one town? Lots of bands try to space out their hometown shows, only do one per quarter or something like that.

EM: That’s what we do now (laughs).

How did working with Vance Powell (Jack White) change the recording process?

JS: A cool thing to point out is that was that working with Vance crept into our live sound. Vance brought is in and explained that the biggest sound you can ever get out of a guitar amp is through a single 12-inch speaker. We were killing ourselves hauling all these speakers on stage every night getting nauseas from the sound. He definitely taught us a lot about pulling together and working together to serve the song.

Tell me about the place you used to play that became known as Glen Danzig’s house. What’s that all about?

JS: It’s an old police precinct that was run by a website called Nashville’s Dead. They ran this house show venue that was really more like a tiny venue that was set up super weird. It kind of became the hub for every obscure punk rock act. A lot of bands that are huge now played there back then.

What steps did you guys take to get out on the road permanently? What was the catalyst?

Brent Toler: Getting a really cheap van. We got a van for like 600 bucks and it lasted us for a year and a half. Buying a van is crucial and then reaching out and playing any club you can.

JS: Make friends out of town. You’re not going to make any money at venues when you first start out so it’s really good to reach out to your friends who have friends in other DIY communities across the US and see if you can get some house shows. We used to do a lot of house show tours and it was kind of shocking how well we did. You could actually make money.

You guys bring a lot of stuff with you on the road?

BS: Lots of books. Lots of coats.

Anywhere you don’t want to go back to?

JS: Maybe Mobile, Alabama. We were in the green room and this guy busts in and he’s like ‘Oh my god I’ve been drinking all day! I had to do a shit ton of coke just to stay awake and make it to the show!’ were on tour with The So So Glos. This dude proceeds to go crazy and dumb a bunch of beers on their pedal boards. We were like, ‘alright dude let’s tone it down during our set, that’s not cool.

We start playing and this guy keeps jumping on stage and throwing shit everywhere. He rips the mic away during one of our songs. The bartenders were pushing all these shots on everyone and by the end of the night you could see all these people in the green room that knew each other, and they were getting fucked up to the point that they started fighting. A couple of them were fighting over a girl. One guy was in a headlock with the bartender. Then we leave and we got side swiped. It was a crazy night.

Wow. How about back home? How is all this touring affecting your personal lives?

JS: It’s weird, it’s a challenge. You take it for what it is. My dad gave me some great advice. He said to pick a couple relationships to keep up and just focus on those couple people so that you can keep some sort of thing going. It’s different.

Is he a musician too?

JS: (laughs) No, my dad was a pastor. He doesn’t do that anymore.

Right on. Well, that’s good advice. Last question- where’s the best place to check you out online?

EM: Diarrhea Planet Pandora station is pretty raw.

Online: diarrheaplanet.com

Category: Buzzworthy