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3/26/2017 Tom Price Not ‘Working Out Logarithms On The Blackboard’ For Desert Classic Songs « CBS Seattle Seattle SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS Log In Register Search 46° HOME SPORTS NEWS WEATHER TRAFFIC CBSN LIVE E.S.P. CONTEST MORE Tom Price Not ‘Working Out Logarithms On The Blackboard’ For Desert Classic Songs November 10, 2014 1:24 PM Filed Under: Cat Butt, DOA, Gas Huffer, Green River, grunge, Kings of Rock, Mudhoney, Neumos, Seattle, Sinister Six, Soundgarden, Sub Pop, The Monkeywrench, The Tom Price Desert Classic, Tom Price, U­Men LISTEN LIVE FOLLOW US ON Sign Up for Newsletters POPULAR Stankowski Backstops T­Birds To Game 1 Win http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/11/10/tom­price­not­working­out­logarithms­on­the­blackboard­for­desert­classic­songs/ Oregon Tops Kansas 74­60 To Advance To First 1/11 3/26/2017 Tom Price Not ‘Working Out Logarithms On The Blackboard’ For Desert Classic Songs « CBS Seattle Oregon Tops Kansas 74­60 To Advance To First Mudhoney, Seattle’s undisputed sons of slop­punk­psych, will be Final Four In 78 Years headlining what promises to be a rambunctious, fun and fuzz­filled night at Neumos on Friday. WATCH: Xavier Closes First Half Against Gonzaga With Wild 'Bounced In' B... One of the sold­out show’s opening acts will be the Tom Price Desert Classic. If for some reason you do not recognize the name “Tom Price,” LIKE THIS odds are you recognize one of the dozens of projects he’s been No, WWE Is Not Buying Ring associated with during the past three decades: the rowdy, matchless four­ Of Honor piece Gas Huffer; the sleazy, punk blues “supergroup” Monkeywrench, or the grimy, hardcore­rooted U­Men (who many declare planted the Gonzaga Trounces Xavier 83­ seeds of “grunge”). 59 To Advance To First Final Four In School H... Price’s guitar playing influenced a generation of noise­makers in the Rachel Dolezal: 'I Think Some Northwest — whether it be those who dug the heavy sludge of the U­Men Of The Treatment Was Pretty Cruel' or the hyperactive riffery of Gas Huffer. Though his acts have varied in sound, Price’s style is consistent: a jazzy guitar from the sewer that FOR YOU borrows the assault of hardcore punk. (I’m not entirely sure that makes 30 Players: Lewis Brinson May sense, but I’m going with it.) The unique blend has survived band Force His Way Onto Brewers In breakups, touring — and most importantly Parkinson’s disease, which 2017 Price was diagnosed with in the early 2000s. Keidel: Kaepernick Will Play In NFL This Season The Desert Classic released a debut LP Hell earlier this fall, and though health issues may have changed Price’s approach to its creation, its WATCH: Chris Chiozza Buries contents have refreshingly familiar guitar work. Wisconsin With Three In OT Price chatted about the new record, the state of Seattle music and more: Powered by CBS — http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/11/10/tom­price­not­working­out­logarithms­on­the­blackboard­for­desert­classic­songs/ 2/11 3/26/2017 Tom Price Not ‘Working Out Logarithms On The Blackboard’ For Desert Classic Songs « CBS Seattle The Tom Price Desert Classic (photo credit: Jim Tillman) The Tom Price Desert Classic was one of the first bands I saw after moving to Seattle at the beginning of 2008. I remember being excited at the prospect of owning an album soon after the show — nearly seven years later I got my wish! Boy, have we been together for that long? It was a very slow process. It’s not like the old days where there were tons of indie labels around and you could get signed by just about anybody. It was just a matter of getting the money together to record [Hell] and get it released. And also I guess we’re not a very goal­oriented band [laughs]. We’re not particularly hard­ working, so there was no real pressure to get the record out other than just whenever we felt it was good enough to be released. http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/11/10/tom­price­not­working­out­logarithms­on­the­blackboard­for­desert­classic­songs/ 3/11 3/26/2017 Tom Price Not ‘Working Out Logarithms On The Blackboard’ For Desert Classic Songs « CBS Seattle So with “no pressure” in that time frame, you got exactly what you wanted? Well, anytime you make a record you think things like, “next time we’ll do ‘something’ a little differently.” And also, some of the lyrics are maybe a little out of date now …. So to be perfectly honest, the album comes out and that’s exciting for us, but almost immediately you start thinking about the new material. But I think the album came out very well, particularly considering that it was recorded mostly on [recording equipment] that, Martin (Bland) our drummer, found at yard sales and thrift stores. What are some aspects that differentiate rehearsal sessions with the U­Men, Gas Huffer, Monkeywrench and The Desert Classic? The U­Men had a reputation of being a sloppy live band, but our songs were actually really complicated. There was a lot involved there and kind of a telepathy that had to be developed. We actually rehearsed very hard. U-Men - Dig it a Hole http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/11/10/tom­price­not­working­out­logarithms­on­the­blackboard­for­desert­classic­songs/ 4/11 3/26/2017 Tom Price Not ‘Working Out Logarithms On The Blackboard’ For Desert Classic Songs « CBS Seattle In Gas Huffer, we were playing fast music, much of it had lots of turns and tricks in it, so we rehearsed pretty hard. Gas Huffer "Hot Cakes" In Monkeywrench, we had limited time to work on a bunch of material so we rehearsed fairly hard. This current band, we definitely do not rehearse very hard at all [laughs]. One of my favorite things about it is, a lot of the time we’ll just play a song on stage not really knowing the song or how it goes or anything…and we’ll just kinda let the song take its own shape …. Part of it is the songs that I write nowadays tend to be simple in structure. And also, I don’t get stage fright anymore like I used to. I guess maybe it’s just part of the aging process or something…I just feel more confident. We just don’t worry about anything too much really. We always have to struggle to find some kind of excuse — a legitimate excuse — to cancel band practice every other Friday. We usually manage to come up with something. http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/11/10/tom­price­not­working­out­logarithms­on­the­blackboard­for­desert­classic­songs/ 5/11 3/26/2017 Tom Price Not ‘Working Out Logarithms On The Blackboard’ For Desert Classic Songs « CBS Seattle You said Desert Classic songs have a “simple structure,” but the song “It’s a Gas” has really weird timing. Yeah it’s in 5/4 time, which is a rhythm you don’t hear too often in rock music. It’s pretty common in jazz and stuff. [In writing “It’s a Gas”] I was sitting around at home playing the electric guitar and was playing the song “The Prisoner” by the band DOA, which is a total hardcore, high­ speed tune. And so it just kinda slowed down, and shifted into 5/4. It’s funny you mention that. A lot of time we’ll play that song and after the show a drummer in the audience will come up to me and say, “Dude, that one song that was in 5/4, that was so weird!” [Laughs]. It shifts between 5/4 and 4/4, but even then, we weren’t working out logarithms on the blackboard or anything. It just sorta felt natural. Tom Price Desert Classic performs at Reverb Fe... You’ve been a fixture in the regional music community for what many consider at least three different eras. Going back to what you said about indie labels not being as aggressive as they used http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/11/10/tom­price­not­working­out­logarithms­on­the­blackboard­for­desert­classic­songs/ 6/11 3/26/2017 Tom Price Not ‘Working Out Logarithms On The Blackboard’ For Desert Classic Songs « CBS Seattle to, what are some other “exterior” changes you’ve seen? When I first started playing music around here in the late 70s and early 80s, it was totally “do it yourself,” there wasn’t really any kind of a scene involving people you didn’t really know personally, there weren’t really any labels. Then later on …. I wouldn’t put it entirely up to the “grunge rock explosion,” but for a while there things were building up for a long time, and more and more labels and bigger crowds. And now I’d say it’s more back to the way it was in the earlier days when you had to do a lot of stuff yourself. I don’t know if that’s just a local phenomenon, but from what I can tell, it seems like that’s just the way music industry is these days. Do you think there is any correlation with Seattle’s rapid growth and the changing culture of the music scene? I’ve been really curious about that. I’ve definitely seen it in the night clubs and stuff — particularly in certain parts of town, downtown and up north in Ballard and Fremont.

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