Right on Dynamite

It would be easy to write off Right on Dynamite as just another power pop Brooklyn band made up of boys that just wanna have fun. But while their recently released EP, produced by Tom Beaujour (Nada Surf, The Virgins), does showcase songs with a familiar Strokes-influenced foot-tapping and sing-along factor, the wistful tone of "Time" and layered vocals on "Changing of the Guard" create richer sound, worthy of more than just a cursory listen. And in a live show, Dan, Nick, and Jon put on an energetic performance that's more like a party with your friends (earlier this month at Bowery Ballroom, Nick got the entire audience to raise their beers in a collective toast which he deemed "beautiful"). The boys just came off a few sold-out shows opening for Frightened Rabbit, with another show this Friday at Pianos in New York, but first all three took some time out to answer our Pop Quiz.

When you were in elementary school, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Daniel: I wanted to be a basketball player and play for the Bulls.
Nicholas: A baseball player.
Jonathan: A magician.

First album you bought?
Daniel: MC Hammer - Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em.
Nicholas: Green Day - Dookie.
Jonathan: The soundtrack to Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze.

How many times a day on average do you think about sex?
Daniel: Probably 7 times or something, but maybe more, I think a lot in general
Nicholas: Two dozen, once every hour.
Jonathan- Hmm, I never thought of keeping track of something like that, I suppose quite often, maybe a little less on rainy days.

Have you ever been arrested?
Daniel: Nope, I never got the cuffs put on me, just stupid summonses for drinking.
Nicholas: Yeah. I tried going through a subway turnstile without paying for it. Some undercover guy grabbed me and cuffed me. Meh.
Jonathan: No, not yet.

What’s your guilty pleasure?
Daniel: Febreeze.
Nicholas: Before going on planes, I usually pick up one of those celebrity magazines.
Jonathan: Japanese comics. I crave the manga that comes out every week in the Shonen Jump magazine of Japan.

Ever been starstruck?
Daniel: I met Macho Man Randy Savage when I was like 7 or 8 at Kmart ... that shit blew my mind.
Nicholas: I freaked once seeing Kid ‘N Play at our local flea market.
Jonathan: I got kinda starstruck when I met Peter Greene at my man Tony’s 4th of July party.

What do you always watch if it’s on TV?
Daniel: I love the History Channel. Any program on there is awesome. I watched Armageddon Week nonstop.
Nicholas: Shark Week.
Jonathan: Robot Chicken.

Where’s the craziest place you’ve had sex?
Daniel: An elevator, just like that Aerosmith song.
Nicholas: My apartment with no roommates home.
Jonathan: On the floor of a bathroom in a bar.

What’s on your computer wallpaper?
Daniel: It’s some stock photo that came with my Macbook.
Nicholas: A picture I took in Miami during this past New Year’s.
Jonathan: I picture of Nicky’s disco ball, spinning and shining green

If you could be any literary character, who would you be?
Daniel: Henry Chinaski.
Nicholas: Harry Potter.
Jonathan: Ender Wiggins

Where do you really want to be right now?
Daniel: Watching Armageddon Week.
Nicholas: BK.
Jonathan: Jamaica.

What’s the first job you ever had?
Daniel: I worked as a stockboy for my cousin’s deli on Long Island.
Nicholas: I worked at a little magic booth ... the store was called Out of This World. It was pretty awesome. I remember Enigma would always be playing.
Jonathan: My first job was at a Wendy’s, 7 bucks an hour, and all the Frosty I could handle

What’s the best advice you ever got?
Daniel: I was recently told to relax and just count the colors around you. I do it all the time ... it chills me out.
Nicholas: Some dude just ran up to me after we played the University of Illinois and told me to never stop playing music. I shall listen to his advice. Thank you, man.
Jonathan: My grandma always says that the heights of great men were not reached and kept in sudden flight, but by he, while his companions slept, laboring through the night. - Blackbook Magazine

Suddenly, there's a part of me that's uneasy about how quickly the big and the little hands on the clocks go round and round. It's mostly because of Right On Dynamite that this is happening tonight. Sometimes, we all comment - with bewilderment and partially with scorn - that time sure has flown since something else in the past happened. Where did all of those years or months go since that one event happened? So and so has been married how long? How old is that kiddo of yours now? When was it that we ran into Steve Nash as a grocery store in Tempe at 2 a.m.? Wow, that long ago? Really? Are you absolutely sure? Yep, that all seems to make sense. You're right, damn it, you're right. The Brooklyn power trio has an explicit way of jabbing those unsettling thoughts of time getting completely out of control as it refuses to act sluggishly in the slightest, just taking off at a gallop and building it up to an intoxicatingly brisk pace that usually gets ignored because there are too many calls and precious e-mails to get to, too many deals and brokerings to let anything else get in the way. Lead singer Danny Murphy takes us very subtly and very persistently into the path of these gnawing thoughts of deconstructive life, of the abandonment of what's offered in boundless amounts until it's quickly recognized that nothing could be further from the truth. "I'll See You Yesterday," a brand new song taped for the first time for this particular session, Murphy sings, "I leave these mistakes, next to a pile of words that seem to have wasted away," and you can almost picture a body disappearing like Copperfield - straight up vanishing - and all that's left of the floor is a pair of shoes and rumpled clothing, maybe a dash of smoke or dust floating up from the combustion. And that's all that's left, the stray clothing, some unwanted mistakes that were never resolved or cracked and a spirit at-large. The person's just gone as quickly as the sound of the ticking, keeping that perfect time, never faltering because there's no future in that. Right On Dynamite allows the rolling on of the tumblers to happen as part of this sort of mostly energized, garage band sensation that gives it both a sleepier version of the great, scruffy New York band The Figgs and an homage to Chicago's lost great power pop group, Fig Dish (it just so works out that way when it comes to the names folks). It's just about the way everything proceeds - with those invaluable reflections, the spurts and drags, with the melodious phrases and smiles and those sinking realities all just fighting it out for the microphone. - Daytrotter.com

Keeping up with the current crop of zeitgeisty New York City bands sometimes feels like taking astronomy, a class you signed up for because it sounded fun before you learned it involves a lot of math. Brooklyn-based trio Right on Dynamite are the Human Sexual Behavior of New York rock, perfectly adolescent yet surprisingly deep.

The band just returned from a stint opening for Scottish rockers Frightened Rabbit and earlier this year put out a self-titled EP produced by Tom Beaujour (Nada Surf, the Virgins). The five tracks come across as sunny, pleasantly unhinged pop, but the lyrics reveal deep urban angst; Right on Dynamite sound like the Strokes would have if everyone was doing mushrooms and not cocaine back in 2001. On a recent arctic Friday night the band played a homecoming gig at Pianos on the Lower East Side. Until they actually stepped out of the crowd and took their positions—Daniel Murphy, 26, on guitar and vocals, Nicholas Cirillo, also 26, on bass and vocals, and Jonathan Molina, 25, on drums—it was impossible to know which of the many ski-cap-wearing, whiskey-flushed dudes in the bar were actually in the band. That sense of seamless intimacy between crowd and group was present throughout their set, a happy party consisting of every song the band can play and some they can’t but attempted anyway. After pausing to roll up the sleeves of his buffalo-plaid button-down, Murphy turned “Time” into a rollicking sing-along. “Pull the Wool” became a call-and-response jamboree, with the goofy but handsome Cirillo barely getting the mike in time for his harmonies. But the standout moment in the short set was “Mantra for the Madness,” a propulsive surf-rock track roughed up for the city with shambolic harmonizing and giddy drumming from the perpetually grinning Molina. As the band careened through the song, the crowd was no longer a little too drunk and sweaty with no cash for a cab home and crap jobs to return to on Monday—they were glamorous eternally young party kids with indestructible livers and brilliant careers ahead. - New York Magazine

Right On Dynamite is an unsigned trio crafting slap-happy garage pop in Greenpoint, and for that (and their name), we just have to smile a bit. And nothing makes us smile in December! They’ve also been gaining ground since stage-supporting in-house faves like The Hold Steady and The Soft Pack. Below, “Under Covers, Over Lovers” is seven minutes strong, scratchy with poppy-shined riffs and shooting rays of feedback rock. Full album will be out spring of next year, but those in need of a tide-over can purchase their joyful self-titled EP right here. - RCRD LBL

Right on Dynamite are a riot indie band from New York. Imagine Ash, The Stalkers and Weezer driving a flock of monster trucks through a Strokes gig at a school disco and you're heading in the right direction. These brilliant bastards are clocking up billions of votes on Breaking Bands and once you've checked out the flipping marvellous 'Who Invited You' it's kind of clear why - if we're all in a time machine flying back towards '93, then you've got to hope these wonderful dopes are at the wheel.
www.nme.com/newmusic/right-on-dynamite - NME

"They're all about fun,uptempo stuff, sort of like the Strokes...minus
the stern posturing."
-Time Out New York

- Time Out New York

"The name is new to the scene, but not the players of this relatively
new outfit - previously members of Pop Wheelies and The Regs. Their
infectous clap hands indie pop is the perfect entertainment."
-The Deli Magazine
- -The Deli Magazine

"Right On Dyanmite are a riot indie band from New York. Imagine Ash, The Stalkers and Weezer driving a flock of monster trucks through a Strokes gig at a school disco and you're heading in the right direction. These brilliant bastards are clocking up billions of votes on Breaking Bands and once you've checked out the flipping marvellous 'Who Invited You' its kind of clear why - if we're all in a time machine flying back towards '93, then you've got to hope these wonderful dopes are at the wheel.
www.nme.com/newmusic/right-on-dynamite - NME magazine

"promising rough-edged, sweet-centered local act Right On Dynamite."

"my favorite of the bunch (hence the picture) who distill everything
good about every bad band that's ever practiced in a suburban basement
that has a couch, rug, TV, and cement floor"

- L Magazine

Before becoming a wedded Harvard grad, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo banged out post-grunge, fuzzy pop bliss with playful naivety -- a tradition that Brooklyn trio Right On Dynamite are more than happy to maintain. Like 1994's Weezer (The Blue Album), "Won't Let It Go" is a welcome reprieve from brooding and over-serious rock, showcasing Right On Dynamite's poised and snappy manner. Delivering high spirits in handclaps and slight xylophone dings, the track's gleeful sound is effortless, while clear, crisp power chords are set to a low rumble. Eventually a section of undeniable oh oh ohs ignites into a squealing guitar freak-out only to be quickly smoothed by the reprise of the simple verse melody. Lyrically, the track addresses a short fuse and the testing of patience but the contagious chorus insists that "it's not your fault" if this Dynamite blows. The "Won't Let It Go" seven-inch, which also includes a spunky Ted Leo-tinged B-side titled "Wrong, Too Right," drops this week via the Standpipe label. - Spin Magazine

Right On Dynamite
Brooklyn threesome plays propulsive, bubbly rock.

Who? Longtime friends Daniel Murphy (vocals/guitar), Nicholas Cirillo (bass/vocals) and Jon Molina (drums) formed Right On Dynamite in late 2005 after playing in two previous bands with different lead singers. Their first seven-inch single -- produced by Matt Thornley (LCD Soundsystem) -- featuring "Won't Let It Go" and the "Wrong, Too Right" B-side was released on Standpipe Records a few months ago. The band is finishing a three-day residency at Piano's in New York City this month and then moving on to perform at SXSW in March.

What's the Deal? The guitar introduction to "Won't Let It Go" will have you thinking that Right On Dynamite is reigniting the Strokes' Room on Fire, but it lasts only three seconds and precedes some youthful American earnestness. "It's hard enough to never let you down," Murphy begins over a steady bass line and choked guitar strumming. He cites some "early '60s English rock" as a main influence, and the buoyant melodies on the tracks recorded so far reflect that. Lyrically, he looks back with regret and forward with hope without funneling cloying sentiments down the listener's ears. And the heart on Murphy's sleeve is always more important than the sleeve itself -- the band gets by more on raw emotion than style and flair, while also bringing the fun for all ages. You don't have to worry about that Casablancas guy singing, "We could go and get 40s / Fuck goin' to that party" in front of Mom.

Fun Fact: Guitarist Daniel Murphy's aunt's brother is legendary Marvel Comics artist John Romita, who is best known for designing art for The Amazing Spider-Man. In fact, Danny has an original Spider-Man drawing that Romita made for him when he was born. - Spin.com