The Desert Vest
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Music
Press
By the time “The Desert Vest” took the
stage, it was 1 a.m. – a time when the Friday
night bar crowd was mostly roaring drunk. The
band would have to be memorable, and they
delivered.
Throughout the set, tension quietly built
and was blown apart again and again. At the
end of a sparse and eerie verse, a bomb of
noise blasted from Lucas’ guitar, and Tom
and Mike followed suit. They waited until the
crowd’s guard was down. Then they lobbed
a holy hand grenade of rock and roll into the
room. “The Desert Vest’s” dynamics continued
to catch me by surprise.
The album is the same way. It almost
fools the listener into thinking it is just another
grunge album, but it’s catchier than that. The
band’s down- tempo, fuzzed-out songs strike
a familiar chord; but then there are songs
like “Butcher,” which jump out with piercing
dissonance and sonic savagery. “I Can’t Hear
the Birds” is quick and aggressive, bordering
on metal or hardcore. On the whole, the album
is only grunge in spirit. It has a primal quality
to it, and it seems like “The Desert Vest” arrive
at their sound honestly. They play what comes
naturally to them, and then make it their own.
Hey What is available online at
Bandcamp and Amazon, locally at The Electric
Fetus, Extreme Noise, and Cheapo, and
streaming on Spotify. - Organica Recording
The Desert Vest have a sound that harkens back to a period, say 1993, almost immediately upon pressing play. The guitars crunch, the vocals are warbly and pained (but high in the mix), and the drumsticks venture to the cymbals early and often. They aren’t afraid to call themselves “grunge” and take that mantle to the tilt, with all baggage that comes along with that label. With the “Minneapolis sound” skewing more towards hip hop and electronic tinged music, their new record Hey What, their second, stands out from the crowd as a record that mines a sound that isn’t referenced nearly as much as it once was in the Twin Cities. The term “alt rock” is kind like saying something is “indie”(i.e it means a million things to a million people), but if I had to define what I thought “Alt-Rock” sounded like, I could do worse than referencing The Desert Vest. The band are releasing a new record Hey What with a record release show tonight at Cause in Uptown. You can stream the album below and if you like it, buy a copy from their bandcamp page or grab one at the show.
- Reviler.org
Minneapolis’ the Desert Vest first contacted me about doing a review of their album You Can’t Push a Ghost after my review of their friends Death to Our Enemies and their self-titled LP and supposing I would similarly enjoy their offering.
Indeed, the two bands present a remarkably similar style of grungy garage rock, though the two-piece Desert Vest make far fewer attempts at pop appeal, apparently more concerned with crafting eerily textured sonic voyages than stringing together a chain of hooks. Singer Lucas Price’s dreary vocal deportment is the chief distinguishing characteristic of You Can’t Push a Ghost, as his mildly avant-garde lyrics are brought to life, or more appropriately, some zombie-like state. “For Jesus you cry / You cry your tears / His agency / The callous glue / Love ghost of youth / The nun she bought it / Broke of prophet” sings Price on opener “The Endless Agent.” The compositions are at their best when the unexcited vocals are juxtaposed with jarring dissonance and lively rhythms pounded out by drummer Nick Hauboldt, such as the Sonic Youth-influenced “Silverfish.” Most of the songs are a bit on the long side (between 3:30 and 5 minutes), and the duo indulges in quite a bit of tinkering towards the end of the album, but it closes out well with “At the Bottom.”
Fuzzy, experimental garage rock may not be at its peak right now, but don’t tell that to the Desert Vest. Their gloomy approach might sound more at home in Seattle than Minneapolis, but when it’s -4 degrees out in the middle of the day, Price’s despondent delivery makes perfect sense. - Punknews.org
A heady mix of fuzzed-out garage rock and shoegazey goodness, The Desert Vest formed in 2008 and self-released their debut, You Can't Push A Ghost, last year with a follow-up in the works for later this year. We dig the moody, buzzy, experimental nature of these guys quite a bit. Listen to and vote for The Desert Vest here. - l'etoile Magazine / Vita.MN
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
The heart of The Desert Vest began beating in 2008 in Milwaukee when Lucas Price (vocals/guitar) and Nick Hauboldt began working together. The focus being rock 'n roll, the sound reflected much of their exposure to DIY grunge music of the 90's.
In the Summer of 2010, The Desert Vest found a home in Minneapolis. After recording numerous demos, it was time to focus on playing shows around the twin cities. While scouring Craigslist Lucas Price connected with Tom Mooney (bass), and Mike Hanzelka (drums). As the band grew together, they composed and performed a mix of sloppy garage and loud pop-punk.
Through their tireless networking and gigging in the Minneapolis area, the band formed close relationships with venues and promoters including Cause Soundbar, Nick and Eddie, and The Hexagon. The Desert Vest quickly made bonds with well known and respected bands like Buildings, Bloodnstuff, and Zoo Animal.
As the band's following grew through shows, word-of-mouth, and help from radio stations like 89.3 The Current and 90.7 KFAI-FM.
Through a steady schedule of shows, they came into contact with Merritt Benton (Organica Recording, Atomic K, Sounds Of Blackness), who tracked their 2012 record, Hey What.
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