Duane Beer – Thanks for Asking!

Thanks for Asking with Duane Beer of Blasé DeBris and the Trauma School Dropouts

By Liam Sweeny.

RRX: What’s your favorite song, today’s and for all time?

DB: Newest favorite song would be “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter” by Jeff Tweedy. All-time favorite tune is “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?” by the Ramones. Fav Blasé DeBris tune is “TV, Tea & Thyme.” Fav Trauma School tune is “Late Nite Television.”  Hey, a theme. Television, the retina of the mind’s eye. 

RRX: Songwriters are poets. Maybe. People who consider themselves poets might not see song lyrics as poetry proper. What do you think? Are song lyrics poetry even if they don’t match accepted poetic structures?

DB: “Poetry proper”… an oxymoron of sorts. Songwriting and poetry are easily intertwined. May I present to you the first verse and chorus of the Blasé DeBris song “Up in Smoke.” 

“Of yin and of yang, with the neck of a snake. Don’t get carried away on tombs and on graves. Red hot is the heat, that fans itself with the flames. Don’t get ash in your eye, there is no escape. And so I call on this flesh of mine. If I’m to burn with celestial rays. Let’s go up in smoke. This ain’t no joke. Immortality is worth the wait.” 

That sounds poetic to me. That being said, not all songs contain poetry. Some songwriters are storytellers, some are minimalists. Some may not care at all. 

RRX: Spend an hour in the woods listening to birds and you realize that music is a natural force. Tell us one time when you listened to something you felt was music that didn’t come from a musician or band?

DB: Walking through the antique farm machinery museum area at the Altamont fair. While everything is up and running. To hear the rhythmic sounds of belts turning, and the pops and bangs of engines firing. Accented by random odd noises. The smell of gasoline adds to the experience. I like it. 

RRX: Would you expect your significant other to have listened to all your songs? Are there any you would rather they not listen to, or have it explained to them first? 

DB: Significant Other = Dianne. We have known each other from my early songwriting days with PLAID and prior. I reckon she has heard every song that has been recorded and released. And I will generally play for her everything I’m working on (for the most part), unless I myself think it’s garbage. Sometimes I can’t tell until I hear it back. She gets to see early version lyric sheets that tend to get scribbled on and crossed out. For me, syllables come to mind, forming melodies along with random words. Then those random words get swapped out for words with meaning. I think the only time I will explain a song or lyric is when asked. Unless I was inspired by a particular movie; I love to get lost in movies. Artistic flicks like “Strawberry Mansion” or “Black Moon.” I would then more than likely tell my bandmates, “I saw this really cool movie and was inspired to write this song.” Then, if possible, I will play the movie during rehearsal. There are times when I put a lot of thought into lyrics, but hardly ever does anyone ask about them. I am really just a vehicle for my subconscious mind. 

RRX: Some people are desperately searching for an exact sound, and they’ll go broke trying to find the right equipment. Other people will play on junk and somehow make it sound good. Which one are you? Or are you a little of both?

DB: Certainly, a little of both. I do hear a guitar sound in my head. I have chased that sound. I like simplicity. I want a one-channel tube amp and one guitar to do everything! From a quiet tickle of the eardrum to a raucous roar. And I want headroom to spare. A lot of this depends on right-hand dynamics. I have found happiness in both a Marshall JMP and JCM 800. I tend to prefer 6550 tubes over EL34s. My go-to guitar pickup would be a late ‘70s, early ‘80s DiMarzio Super Distortion (2-wire version) pickup with a 13-14 ohm impedance. Guitars and amps are like Levis; they may appear to be the same, but they all fit a little different. 

RRX: Band names are like babies, except without the endless Pampers budget. Do you think your band’s name choice is more important than your baby’s name choice? Why or why not?

DB: Choice of a band name is certainly more important. A baby’s name says more about the parents than it does the child. Blasé DeBris is a great band name. I love how it sounds, and it doesn’t pigeonhole you into any particular genre of music. Only couple drawbacks is it’s easily mispronounced and misspelled. Trauma School Dropouts is a good name. It sounds like it would be a punk rock group. I am certain I was not thinking we would still be recording and performing three-plus decades later. Well, we are! Drama School Dropouts would have been a better choice. One providing us with all the longevity in the world. Oh well, Rock N Roll is full of regrets. We wear it well.