Earlier this month, The Bollweevils released their first studio album in over 25 years, titled Essential. We recently caught up with singer Dr. Daryl Wilson and talked about the extensive writing process for this record. We also discussed their time in the studio, what inspired some of the songs and their plans for the remainder of the year. By all accounts, Essential does a masterful job of capturing the energy, grit and enthusiasm of The Bollweevils’ live shows. It also blends their tried-and-true sound with influences from recent years, resulting in an album that truly represents the next chapter in their career. Be sure to catch The Bollweevils at their hometown record release show this Saturday, May 27th. They’re playing at Chop Shop with The Dopamines, The Reaganomics, Rad Payoff, and Butchered. Doors open at 7:00 PM and tickets can be purchased here.
Bill – The Bollweevils’ last studio album, Heavyweight, was released in 1995 and you guys subsequently broke up the following year. Around 2006, the band began playing fairly consistently again. At what point did you start to seriously focus on writing and recording the songs that would become Essential?
Daryl – I guess it would have to be back about eight or so years ago when we put out the Attack Scene 7-inch. I mean, those songs were being worked on before when Bob, (founding bassist Bob Skwerski) was still playing in the band, so that would go all the way back to 2006. We’ve been working on new songs since then and right after we recorded that 7-inch we were working on more new songs. We recorded again and I think we weren’t fully satisfied with what we had done. And it’s kind of like we got them together because we had to get them down. We basically forced ourselves to record something and that’s kind of the wrong way to go about it. So, I guess we kind of did that and not sometimes under our own volition. Then Bob left the band and we got Miguel Perez on bass. Miguel played on that Attack Scene 7-inch. But even with us working on those songs, they weren’t ever really done exactly how we thought they should be. And when we recorded, even Pete, (drummer Pete Mumford) was like, “You know, whenever we record, later on we think that we should’ve done something different. And now that they’re already recorded, we can’t change it.” And it’s like all this was just for the 7-inch and we had to still do an album. We had songs in the works, but they just didn’t seem to get fully fleshed out. There was a real, you know, crisis of conscience of whether or not we wanted to still play as a band.
Then Miguel left and we’re thinking, “Okay, we need to get a bass player if we’re going to keep doing this.” And we were trying some people out and all along Pete’s there, Pete Mittler. It was like, “Why didn’t we think about this from the very beginning?” We’ve known him forever and he’s a perfect fit. So, he joined and then the process of us being able to just be the band we’re supposed to be kind of evolved. And we kept growing and were like, “We’re getting better. We’re better than we were. Oh my God, we’re way better than we were!” And I didn’t think we were that bad, but now it’s like “God, we’re way better!” Then the ability to write songs became a much easier process with Pete involved. We’ve joked that everything’s better with Pete and it actually is. So, that was the big, inciting event that helped us to then start fleshing out things and reworking the songs that we already had done and making sure they’re better as we’re playing them live. There’d be little nuanced things that we’d play and as we’re rehearsing, you know, find that maybe we should be doing that instead. We decided to let the songs mature and I think partially because of that maturation process, this is like the best stuff we’ve put together. This record is really good and like I said, I told you I don’t say stuff like that regularly. It is truly, I stand behind it, it’s a really good record.
Bill – I completely agree with that sentiment. In terms of the recording, you recorded Essential with Jeff Dean at The Echo Mill. What were some of the highlights of working with him?
Daryl – We’ve worked with Jeff before and he knows us well. Jeff has really good insight and he plays in so many bands. He’s not only a friend, but he’s also a fan of the band and Jeff worked us. He could say things to us that a friend should say. He could say things like “That doesn’t sound right” or “Do that again.” In the past, we prided ourselves on going in and getting it done in one take and moving on to the next thing. I always used to try and get my vocals done right on the first try. With this, Jeff was all over me and everybody else too. He’d be like, “Daryl, do that take again.” I’m like “I just did it and it was really good.” He’s like, “Yeah it was good, but you know you can do better than that.” I’m like, “Seriously?” So, I’d do the take again and I thought I did great. Then he’s like, “Yeah there’s a little something. I don’t know what it is, but you gotta do it again.” I’m like, “Are you kidding me?!?” I would do some takes six or seven times and that was not typical. Jeff would be like, “Dude, I just want you to do it great. Don’t skimp on it, man.” And he’s right. We hadn’t done something in such a long time, why rush it? And that’s what we did, we took our time. Jeff really made us do things again and again and again until we got it right. He played a little bit on the record and he helped to produce things. I remember him being like “There’s something that you have to add to this. It’s a great song, but there’s something else that you’re missing.” We’d listen to it and be like, “Yeah, there’s something else we need to add to this song that would help.” Whether it was a lyrical change or an inflection point that’s different, it was those tiny things that take that kind of ear to hear. Sometimes we pushed back and he’d be like, “Okay, but I would suggest you do it.” And we listened. And with our maturity in this now, we can take that criticism and not take it to heart so much or take it so negatively.
Bill – It wasn’t a source of conflict or anything…
Daryl – No, no. And when we were younger, everything’s a conflict. If you say something about somebody’s part, they’re like “You don’t do this part, this is my part. How dare you? Don’t step in my lane.” So, that was a big thing with Jeff that was really, really good. He knows what we sound like and he knows what we do. He knows our tendencies and he also knows how to push us, and that was good.
Bill – That’s great. It definitely sounds like he was the right person for the job. Essential was mixed at the Blasting Room by Chris Beeble and mastered in Chicago by Jordan Collin. When you listen to the record now, what are some of the characteristics of the recording that you like best?
Daryl – I like the bass tone on it. The drums sound so good. The way that Chris was able to mix-in the vocals and the harmonies to make them sound the way we wanted them to sound. And the guitar, the overarching thing with the guitar being that lead instrument that kind of hits throughout the whole record. He took everything and really made everyone sound their best. I keep saying this in every interview, but I would not have anybody else other than Chris Beeble mix our stuff ever again. I will stand behind that. He’s amazing. It was through the push by Joe Principe, (Rise Against bassist). I sent him some of the rough mixes and he listened to it and he goes, “Have you ever considered mixing at The Blasting Room?” I said, “Why would I do that? I don’t have any money to do that.” He’s like, “No, you should consider that.” I said, “I’ll consider it Joe, but we don’t have Rise Against money. He mixes you guys and he mixes the Descendents. We don’t have that kind of money.” He’s like, “No, no, you should consider it.” I’m like, “How much would it cost?” He told me and I thought about it. The guys in the band were like, “No dude, we don’t have to do that.” I’m like, “We should consider it.”
Then Toby and Brendan, (Red Scare Industries founders Toby Jeg and Brendan Kelly) were like, “Yeah, you guys gotta try a different mix.” Brendan was adamant about it. He was like, “That’s not how you sound. I’ve listened to you guys for the longest time. This is not how you’re supposed to sound.” I said, “Let’s just take the chance and do it.” The guys in the band were a little against it at first. So, we sent it out, paid for it and had a couple songs mixed. Then it came back and suddenly our text string was blowing up. Everyone was like, “Oh my god! Night and day difference.” It was fantastic. And Chris is so easy to work with. He’s dialing-in everything, like with little nuances he’d hear what we were hearing. He’d take it and make it happen. I’m saying “It should sound like this” and he would make it sound exactly that way. It was an amazing process to go through. I’m so glad we chose to work with him. It made the album come out polished and beyond our expectations.
Bill – For sure. It sounds like you guys made a good decision to work with him. What inspired the album’s title?
Daryl – That kind of came out of going through the pandemic and looking at the whole thing of the essential workers that are out there. Me being one of them, Ken, (guitarist Ken Fitzner) being a teacher, Pete Mittler being a lineman and Pete Mumford working with students as well. It was this thing with all of us being essential workers and it was a play on that, but then it was also the larger idea of all of us as human beings are essential to each other. We all make this whole universe keep spinning around in circles. We’re all a part of it. We all have our part to play. Even when you look at the cover of the album, the tattoo artist Ben Wahhh did the art. We told him the title of the album and explained the theme. He incorporated the Chicago star and the skyline is there, but the spokes of the wheel are these different arms, all holding the wheel together and allowing it to go. It shows that we’re all unique, but together we’re holding this wheel in place and allowing it to go. So, we’re all essential to our own survival and to our moving forward as a species. That’s kind of where it comes from.
We had all kinds of other names too, but “Essential” came up and we pondering it and thought about it. Guys were chiming-in like, “Hey, do you think people are gonna think it’s our ‘best of’ record or something like that?” I’m like, “No. It’s essential. This is essential. We’re all essential. The word is just what it is.” And boom, it all came together and we all eased in and decided this is what we were doing. All of us are essential to us making it and we were all essential to each other to make it happen and make it the way that it came out, the product that we’re so happy with.
Bill – When you explain it that way it’s hard to imagine the record being titled anything else.
Daryl – Right, right. And I think about that too. We had all these other ideas, but it just hits every time I think about it. That’s what it is. And the meaning behind it is so all-encompassing. It was essential for us to do this, to make this record. It was essential that we were around through the pandemic. It’s essential that art is there. It hits on so many different levels.
Bill – I couldn’t agree more. The album’s first song, “Predisposition,” charges out of the gate at a breakneck pace and is over in less than two minutes. What do you recall about how that song came together?
Daryl – I remember Ken bringing the riff and it’s kind of got this angry, driving thing going on. It’s like a smack in the face kind of thing. I just started thinking about things that had been going on around us during the pandemic and during the summer of 2020. It was almost like a tectonic shift in how people were thinking about things. It made me think about all the anger that was present and why do we have it? Is this what we are meant to be? Is this in our DNA and are we built this way? I was having a conversation with a buddy of mine. We were talking during the protests that were going on and I kept saying, “It’s not that we’re predestined to do this. It’s not our disposition.” And I don’t think it’s true, but I think we are unfortunately inundated with so much stuff that it kind of makes us look like we’re already ready to hate. And I was just saying that you gotta look at it differently though. It’s like everybody has got some ingrained biases and you have to learn how to look at things in a different way. So, I started writing and these lyrics starting coming out of my mind. I’m writing down stuff about this predisposition to hate and is it in our DNA and are we made this way? And can you look differently at it and try and figure out that maybe you don’t have to do this if you look at it differently? So, that’s how that song kind of came out. It came out of the anger and upheaval of that summer. The music itself had that same feeling, that hot, angry drive. And it kind of fits our cadence of how we do things, kind of this hit you in the face, jump and go, but having a message behind it. I always try to put something in the songs that has some semblance of redemption, of learning from the obstacle and growing from it. And it’s not this “Woe is me. We’re doomed.” I don’t believe that. That’s not how we’re built. So that’s kind of how that song comes out. It sounds like doom, but in the end, it’s trying to say “Look at this and figure it out, man, because we’re smarter than this.”
Bill – I feel a lot of people don’t sometimes do enough evaluating, whether it’s of their own life or of their own beliefs. And they kind of just get stuck in these patterns, whether it’s habits or thought patterns or make their mind up about something. And never go back and revisit it or never say, “Hey, maybe I wasn’t right about that.”
Daryl – Right. It’s like if somebody feels if they have to admit to changing something that it suddenly invalidates everything about them, which is not true.
Bill – It’s called growing.
Daryl – Right. Exactly. It’s like, “Does growth invalidate everything you did before?” No. It’s like all that stuff was the soil and fertilizer that helped you grow to where you are. You’re going to keep growing beyond these things. At least you should. If you stunt your growth and kind of stay asleep at the wheel then you die. Creatures that don’t continue to evolve or don’t continue to adapt to their environments, they die out. That’s what happens. They cannot survive. And this kind of concrete, binary way of being only this or only that, it’s like that’s not the way things work. Things are very, very fluid and the ability for an intelligent thought comes from understanding that two diametrically opposing viewpoints can have validity. And that’s where people have to sometimes go, “You know, you’re kind of right here and you’re also kind of right there.” Versus, “I can only be right and you can’t be.” And it’s not trying to say there’s both sides. There are definitely evil and vile things that happen. But when people try to have the mind to hear something and go, “Wow, you know I never thought of it that way.” Versus, “I’m never going to think of it that way.” That’s a totally different mindset. And people are taught now to dig their heels in, never give up, never relent and that’s not how things progress. That’s not how things progress at all.
Bill – No and unfortunately that’s where we’re at right now as a country.
Daryl – Well, I really think that we’re in a spot where there’s a very vocal portion of people. And it’s not that it’s everybody. I think a lot of people stay silent because they just don’t know what to do. They don’t know to speak up and just say “stop.” It’s a vocal minority of individuals that continue to spout and spout, yet somebody has to be realistic and go “Just stop.”
Bill – Right. No, you’re right.
Daryl – And nobody wants to do that because they’re so fatigued by the constant chirping. Somebody logically just has to say “stop.” Because nobody is ever told to stop. You’re told to keep arguing whatever you want. And people believe that and it emboldens people to do things that they typically wouldn’t do in the public eye. The thing that people don’t realize is that when you do that it opens yourself up to being not only criticized, but attacked back. You can’t sit there and violate somebody else’s space for a long period of time. If you poke the bear enough the bear will eat you. That’s just the way that it goes. And then you can’t complain about it. That’s not what happens. You can’t keep having individuals constantly picking away at the freedom of an individual to make a decision.
Bill – I agree. We could easily keep going, but on a totally different note, the song “Our Glass” is one of my favorite songs on the record and one that’s kind of uniquely structured around the guitar lead. What can you tell me about the writing process for this song?
Daryl – I love that song. You’re the second person today to tell me that “Our Glass” is one of their favorite songs. Usually it’s “Galt’s Gulch” that people are pointing to, but “Our Glass” is probably one of the last ones written for this LP. Ken came with this guitar part and it took me a while to figure out the vocalization for the song. In terms of the lyrics, for the past four or five years I’ve really delved into Stoicism. I’ve always kind of held that belief, but didn’t know what it was that I was actually practicing. I’ve really delved into it and I think about how time is so arbitrary. It’s like we think we have all the time in the world, but we don’t. You have to contemplate that you’re going to die and it’s going to happen at some point, so you have to really live. There was a passage I read somewhere that said the glass you have is already broken when you get it handed to you. You have all these material things that are basically going to undergo decay and break down. And we hold on to all these things that are so worthless. You think you have all the time to put things off when the most valuable thing you have is time.
I kind of thought this is like an hour glass with the sand going through, but it’s “our glass” itself, the play on the words. It’s us that’s just as fragile too. And that guitar lead that Ken’s playing, it almost sounds like glass breaking. That’s what it sounds like to me. The song grew out of Ken’s guitar and the feel of it was just the idea of time and its fleeting nature. And how every material thing you have is so not worth it. You have to really figure out what’s important and focus on that, because your time is a lie. You don’t have any time. So, when you say “I’ll do it later” that means you’re never going to do it. Just do it. If you have important things, make sure you focus on those priorities that are truly important, like family and your health and relationships with people. Because those are going to break too, but you have to make those things matter because in the end that’s all that matters.
Bill – Absolutely. I feel like I could say a lot of things in response, but we’d go off on another tangent so I’ll leave it at that. From a lyrical standpoint, is there a song that’s most meaningful to you?
Daryl – That’s a really good question. “Our Glass” is one of them. “Galt’s Gulch” is one too. That one is inspired by the John Galt character in Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged. You read that and go “What a great work of fiction!” But it’s just a bunch of craziness. I just found it to be foley and I found that I could write about it in such a way to make it seem that the people who are walking around and going “Who’s John Galt?” are basically ignoring problems that they know they can help solve. You can’t go around shrugging your shoulders, going “I’m indifferent to this.” It’s like, “No, turn around and look at what’s behind you and pick it up.” So, I like the lyrics to that. I like the lyrics to “Resistance.” I like them all. Even going back and revisiting the songs that we rerecorded, like “Bottomless Pit” and “Disrespected Peggy Sue.” “Bottomless Pit” is one of my favorite songs. When I read the lyrics to that song, I can’t believe that I wrote those. The way the song comes together with this metaphoric thing of how falling in love is this bottomless pit. I love it and the lyrics just flow in this crazy way. I love them all. I can’t pick just one. I really can’t.
Bill – I’m not demanding an answer here. That’s perfectly fine, (laughs).
Daryl – It’s like having ten different children and being asked which one I love the most. I love them all. I just love them all.
Bill – That’s totally fair. What are you looking forward to about your upcoming record release show at Chop Shop?
Daryl – I guess just playing. I hope that it’s well attended. It’s during Punk Rock Bowling, so people might be out of town. Chop Shop is a huge venue, but we hope to get a good showing of people. I’m looking forward to playing with The Dopamines. They’re good friends of ours and we’ve played with them before and they were really good. And we have The Reaganomics playing, as well as Rad Payoff and Butchered. It’ll be a fun show no matter what. Actually, our first show, post record release, is gonna be in Montreal. Our record release show is truly in Canada, but our hometown record release show in Chicago is in late May. I’m looking forward to getting that kind of done and then going on to have shows after that and supporting the record. People will have heard it and they’ll be able to sing along, because our songs are meant to be sung along to. That’s what I’m looking forward to, having that done and then moving on to the shows after that too, which are going to be just as fun because we’re supporting this new record.
Bill – What else do The Bollweevils have planned this year?
Daryl – We have a show in August and it’s out in California. It’s going to be a Dr. Strange show, which is going to be really, really cool. I can’t share the details as far as who’s involved in the show, but it’s going to be really cool. It’s old school Dr. Strange Records stuff. It’s going to be us out there in California in our home away from home. We’re also doing Fest in Gainesville in October. We’re playing two sets there, which I’m looking forward to. We might do some other things in October, but it’s not put together yet. There will probably be some other things that pop up, but those are the things so far that are on the docket.
