Interview: Austin Reesman (Rex Tycoon)
The Guitarist/Vocalist Discusses The New EP, ‘What’s Good’
Rex Tycoon covers a lot of stylistic ground in 11 minutes on their excellent new EP.
The product of Pittsburgh’s vibrant hardcore scene, the band’s four songs on What’s Good feel less like straight-ahead punk rock and more reminiscent of Grant Hart’s songwriting for Hüsker Dü in the mid-‘80s and Pavement throughout the ‘90s—with a healthy dose of Velvet Underground art rock damage to keep things interesting.
“A lot of people give us the ‘slacker’ tag which I think comes from listening to bands like Pavement and bands that rip them off so much,” said guitarist/vocalist, Austin Reesman. “Of course, Lou Reed might be the biggest influence of all. His approach to songwriting, along with David Berman’s (from Silver Jews), really opened my eyes about how you can write a song.”
What’s Good is the latest in a series of impressive EPs from Rex Tycoon, but there are already plans to record a full-length album later this year. In the meantime, the band is playing shows in support of their latest release (tour dates below).
“We are hitting the studio in September to track our first LP. That will probably take a little while to see the light of day but we plan on releasing some more new music before the end of the year with some collaborations that we don’t want to say too much about yet. Stuff that is still in the works,” Reesman said.
I caught up with Reesman by email to discuss the new EP, their major influences, and what comes next for Rex Tycoon.
Austin Reesman Interview
Congrats on the new EP. Can you tell me about the writing and recording of it?
Austin Reesman: Thank you! We recorded this EP ourselves. Our bass player Keith did almost all of the mixing and mastering for it. He lives with Jared so they would record bass and drums, then Joey and I would send him guitar parts and I’d send over vocals.
A lot of our songs start out with just guitar chords and lyrics that I come up with at home and we flesh it out by jamming it at practice, like a lot of bands do. Sometimes I’ll send over a demo with scratch bass or drums but they always make it their own, which is great. I usually write all the lyrics, but Keith wrote the vocal melody for ‘Skin’ and we collaborated on the lyrics for the chorus this time which was really fun to do.
“We dig short songs and short releases a lot so we wanted to do a small little EP that was a little sampler of what we have to offer as a band.”
I recently described Rex Tycoon to a friend as "Grant Hart and Lou Reed teaming up on a Pavement record"? What do you think of that description?
Austin Reesman: I love that description, personally. All three names you mentioned are big influences on my songwriting so I’d say you pretty much hit the nail on the head. I’m a little bit more of a Replacements guy, but I still think Hüsker Dü is one of the greatest bands ever. Our buddy Ethan from Ex Pilots gives us the Grant Hart comparison all the time too. We love Pavement and specifically Silver Jews a lot too.
A sort of crazed looking old man once described us to me after a set as ‘if Mark E. Smith fronted Teenage Fanclub’ which I also thought was a great description.
This EP covers a lot of stylistic ground in 11 minutes, from punk to alternative rock to crunchy pop. Who are some of your biggest influences?
Austin Reesman: I was touching on this in my last reply too but definitely Lou Reed, John Prine, Silver Jews, Hüsker Dü, Paul Westerberg. Everyone in the band is a huge Beatles head.
As far as bands that are still going today, Angel Du$t—who are pushing the boundaries of the realms of music they play in—are pretty influential and inspiring. Big Bite, Young Guv, Militarie Gun, The Berries, we listen to stuff like that all the time and it’s a pretty big influence on us. Stuff that is somehow, in one way or another, rooted in hardcore punk but doesn’t really sound like that. That seems to be the good stuff these days.
“After seeing us play live someone can definitely tell that we’re into hardcore, but by just listening to the recorded material we have out now they might not pick up on it as much.”
Listening to your music, I get a strong sense of how you might sound live. What is the relationship between your recorded material and your live performances?
Austin Reesman: A lot of people tell us that we rock harder live than we do on the record. I don’t know if that’s a backhanded compliment or not! I think it’s at least somewhat true.
We definitely like to play the songs loud and we usually end up playing them a little faster. The live show is energetic and we like to keep things moving. I think after seeing us play live someone can definitely tell that we’re into hardcore, but by just listening to the recorded material we have out now they might not pick up on it as much.
It helps to have a drummer that hits hard too. We just love to rock.
You guys came out of the Pittsburgh punk scene. Who are a few other bands you recommend my readers check out?
Austin Reesman: Pittsburgh has so many good bands right now it’s kind of crazy. I’m gonna rattle off a bunch; Silver Car Crash, Ex Pilots, Illiterates, Speed Plans, Gaadge, Rave Ami, Gundy, Little Angels, Sleeping Witch & Saturn, Alamoans. There are too many to name them all, really.
Other than recording the new record, what’s next for Rex Tycoon?
Austin Reesman: The new record is mostly written so we plan to keep busy with some shows here and there over the summer. Here’s what we have announced for May and June. We’ll have more dates to announce for the rest of the summer soon.
5/14 - W/ Vacation, Sunbloc & Big Baby at The Government Center in Pittsburgh, PA
5/26 - W/ Angel Du$t, Jivebomb & Life’s Question at Preserving Underground in New Kensington, PA
6/23 - W/ Destructo Disk, Lobby Boy & Earthgirl at The Camel in Richmond, VA
6/25 - W/ Destructo Disk & Bedridden at TV Eye in Brooklyn, NY
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