Dear and Glorious Physician

WHAT: If you heard an unknown band described as "like the hardest parts of the
Pixies, but better," would you believe it? We didn't, until we caught up with
Gainesville's Dear & Glorious Physician at Will's Pub last month. Besides some
serious chops and songwriting ability, the quartet of young, blonde, white-clad
siblings (two boys, two girls) has a look that ABBA would have killed for.
- Orlando Sentinel

Also making a good case for Gainesville was Dear and Glorious Physician at BackBooth last Friday. The band's comprised of four siblings (two sisters, two brothers), which is sorta cool, sorta creepy. Clearly they've got good influences but they're a little hard to pin down, which is good for original artists. But they do have a great sort of headlong unpredictability strongly reminiscent of the Pixies, swinging suddenly from melodic to explosive, sauntering to urgent. To look at him, front man Charles Westfall is the most unlikely shredder but dude can rip it up on guitar. - Orlando City Beat

3. Dear and Glorious Physician – S/T: These guys could be the band with the most ground-level momentum in the whole Gainesville indie scene. This CD showcases their strengths as a band that draws from such influences as the Feelies, the Pixies, Big Star and others. - The Sattelite Magazine

Dear and Glorious Physician (feature article)
Published January 19, 2006. Tampa Bay Times
Julie Garisto
Dear and Glorious Physician
It's a family affair:
All four members are siblings: Chase Westfall, 25, on guitar and vocals; Jillian Westfall, 22, guitar and vocals; Andy Westfall, 20, drums; and Robin Westfall, 16, bass.
Hometown:
Gainesville, but they play in Tampa Bay often.
Influences:
Chase: "Fugazi, B-52's, maybe some Pavement. Lyrically, I steal a lot from non-musical sources, a lot of poets, and a lot of William Faulkner."
Andy: "Ayn Rand, yeah, and probably Faulkner."
On a scale of rocking-out-mess, with Bread at 0 and Iron Maiden at 100, they rank:
Jillian: "78." Andy: "No. Way higher! 83, between Whitesnake and Motley Crue." Robin: "Bread are good!" Chase: "I'd say, like, 90, right between Devo and Five-Eight." Andy: "100 should be AC/DC - seriously."
Day jobs, hobbies, etc: Jillian: "Rocking socks off." Andy: "Turtles - red-eared sliders. That's the kind of turtles I have." Chase: "I've got a night job. During the day I try to paint and hang out with my wife and kids." Robin: "I work at Kinko's."
Related matters:
They rattle off problems of being in a band with brothers and sisters. Robin: "Having to deal with Nazi big brother all the time." Chase: "You definitely tend to be more of a butt toward your own family. You don't worry about civilities so much. It's a trade-off; you fight more, but you have more fun." Jillian: "Having to deal with Nazi big brother." Chase: "I guess I'm too hard on 'em (smiles)."
Who do they take after? Andy: "Jill and Chase take after Dad; me and Robin are more like mom. They're mean and we're nice."
What sets them apart:
"Philosophical weight and range of style," Andy reads off dust jacket of The Sound and the Fury. Jillian: "A little bit more aggressive, not like angry, but just straightforward, blunt." Andy: "Our lyrics don't stink." Chase: "Our music is very simple, not without beauty, but bare-bones and straighforward. In that sense it's very masculine."
Heck of a moniker, eh?:
"Dear and Glorious Physician is a book by a lady named Taylor Caldwell," explains Chase. "It's about the life of the apostle Luke, who was a doctor, and the social/political collapse of the Roman empire. None of us have ever read it. I just thought it sounded like something pretty grand and pretty serious. It felt like a name that we could take on like a big coat we'd have to grow into. I guess I'm a romantic like that, like Don Quixote."
Check 'em out: At New World Brewery in Ybor City on Jan. 26 with The Living Blue.
- Tampa Bay Times

Dear and Glorious Physician might be a family band but don't mistake the band for the Partridge Family. The band describes themselves as The Talking Heads playing The Pixies' kind of music. Their sound is reminiscent of early nineties garage band - full of dissonance, feedback and simplicity.
Guitarist and vocalist Chase Westfall said this is due both to his musical preferences and the fact he just can't play the guitar that well. He said his siblings play much better.
"I'm good at what I do - simple kind of stuff," Chase said. "But I'm a Pete Townsend kind of player. I hit it hard. I shake it a lot. But I don't do anything fancy. It's very rock and roll."
Chase and his brother Andy Westfall were the core of the former Dear and Glorious Physician 3-member line-up, which also included a friend on bass. After the band's untimely split - right after playing their CD-release show at Common Grounds - Chase (guitar/vocals) and Andy (drums) were joined by sisters Robin Westfall (bass) and Jillian Westfall (guitar/vocals). Chase said Jillian and Robin just picked up instruments to join the band and they show a natural aptitude.
Chase said he is confident that the current line-up will be permanent.
"It's all siblings," Chase said. "You can't ask for much more than that."
The vocalist said that making music with his brother and sisters lets the band accomplish more by creating a more truthful and direct exchange of ideas.
The band is very serious about their music - primarily because Chase is so serious about the band. He said he only has fun when the show is flawless, and even then he said it is more a feeling of satisfaction than a feeling of having fun.
He said his family has more fun than he does.
"I have destroyed a lot of the fun for myself because I take it so seriously," Chase said.
Chase said he identifies with David Byrne of The Talking Heads because of the emotional, conceptual and intellectual aspects that Byrne brought to the music.
"I am very intellectual about things so music is mostly a response to life and my ideas and the way things are versus the way things potentially or should be," Chase said.
Grab a sibling or a friend and check out Dear and Glorious Physician Saturday at the Side Bar.
- The Independent Florida Alligator

Gainesville's Dear and Glorious Physician wowed a bunch of people with its catchy but substantial indie-rock the last time the band came to town. Local support comes courtesy of angular two-piece GreyMarket. (New World Brewery, Ybor City) - Weekly Planet

When seized by the terrible and often drunken desire to play air-guitar, most people choose to mime the lead electric kind. Rarely does one bust out the air-bass.

Why is that? Is there no love for bassists on karaoke night?

Let’s say that horrible song from the eighties is true, and this city was in fact 'built on rock and roll.' If so, it’s a safe bet that the lead guitarist erected the skyline, whereas the bassist got stuck tunneling the subway system.

Of course, every now and then a band emerges with a bassist as their franchise player, reversing the above comparison and elevating the faceless subway line into the spotlight.

Doff your hat to Dear and Glorious Physician.

Representing Gainesville, Florida, the group is comprised of two brothers and two sisters, all of whom are naturally blonde, and Mormon to boot.

The lineup includes Charles Arthur Westfall IV, who sings with spooky passion and plays with a pale blue guitar. Sister Jillian also wields an ax, and when she uses her lilting voice in tandem with that of her brother's, an inspired chemical reaction takes place.

Robin’s fluid bass lines are at the vanguard of the Dear and Glorious sound, and could be compared aesthetically to the canals of Venice, as both are the defining characteristic within their respective environment. Brother Andy pounds the drums with the ferocity of hail.

They opened up their family practice in Gainesville, Florida, back in 2002, and released an impressive, self-titled debut on Arkain Records in 2005. The album is characterized by sinuous bass grooves, upon which howitzer-like outbursts of guitar ride like lightning. Intense brother/sister duets add a level of personal intimacy, as if the most dire consequences await those who listen not. The lyrics they sing are well-written and have a dramatic, almost biblical scope. Some of the subject matter includes Kubla Khan, the Industrial Revolution, the ill-fated Donner Party, and of course, God.

They took the stage on March 4th at the Common Grounds in Gainesville, closing out a lineup that included Rahim and Team Mascott. All the Westfalls were clad in white, save for Jillian, who wore black. The brothers even boasted white-on-white ties, completing an outift identical to those worn by Cheesecake Factory servers.

It was surprising to see how engaging Charles was with the sound man as the band set up. With nothing but the album to go on (which is itself an experiment in stark black and white design) this unexpected joviality from such an angry-sounding singer was a shock to behold. He came off as a guy you'd want to have watch your kids, not like a preacher whose five seconds away from spontaneously combusting.

But that fervor was made manifest once the show began. Charles jolted about on stage, personified by the haywire of excess strings protruding from the tip of his guitar. They almost looked like a nest of hot filaments, especially when the stage lights and all that white cloth reflected it just right.

The temperature continued to rise, and during the third song, "Frenzy," Charles began to sweat, nearly tearing a lung whilst bellowing the declaration "WHITE LEATHER! GOLD RECORDS!"

Contrarywise, Robin appeared to be quite relaxed. She exuded an aura of iced tea, plucking her bass effortlessly and expertly. Jillian was much the same, in contrast to Andy, who was a blur head-down behind the drum kit.

It was a short and powerful performance, and the band seemed happy to be back in front of their hometown crowd. They played an equal amount of both new and old songs, including "Berlin" and "A Spooky Action."

Unfortunately, there was no encore. Charles dipped outside to the Common Grounds porch as soon as the show ended, where he said the band was hunting for the proper studio to record their next album in, as well as shopping for a new label.

He then turned to greet his fans with smiling enthusiasm, one of whom was his wife, who appeared happy and pregnant. Then he darted back inside, putting a grey hoodie on over his white shirt.

The Doctor was out, until next time.

You can catch Dear and Glorious Physician at this years MACKRoCK Festival in Harrisonburg, Pennsylvania, on April 7th. Until then, listen for them here at BTR, and @ www.myspace.com/dearandglorious

- Latola - BreakThruRadio.com