We will be highlighting some of the artists playing The Deli KC’s showcase for Middle of the Map Fest next Thursday, April 3 on the Seen Merch Stage at The Riot Room patio. Today’s Artist on Trial is one of the newest rock bands in Kansas City, Loose Park.
This three-piece project is something of a supergroup, with members from well-known KC bands such as Doris Henson, Soft Reeds, and In The Pines. We talk with frontman/guitarist Matthew Dunehoo, who recently moved back to KC from New York, starting the band less than a year ago.
The Deli: Down and dirty: 1 sentence to describe your music. What is it?
Dunehoo: Friendship-based dreamtrashcore, a manic racket made in a panicked earth basement.
The Deli: All of you have come from successful local (and otherwise) bands. Do you think all of your previous projects contribute to the overall sound of Loose Park?
Dunehoo: We consider the band to be a working tribute to the living memory of Ben Grimes.
The Deli: What do you have coming up?
Dunehoo: We recorded with Joel Nanos (Element Recording) in January and have been mixing the record at home, juicing limited means to the best of our abilities and hope to have a full-length album out this spring/summer called Monstrous. In the meantime we’re writing the next record and staving off responsibilities galore.
As far as shows, the Loose Park KC Summer Tour 2014 is something we’re all very stoked about! The cake icing would be an actual concert in THE Loose Park:
May 2 at Czar: First Friday/Nanci Rush’s birthday party with Rohypnol Rangers and Voodoo Stew – 11/12pm (headliners)
May 31 at The Union outdoor stage with Poison and Skid Row (tentative)
June 6: Crossroads Summer Block Party sponsored by Golden Sound Records
July 18 at Czar with Kangaroo Knife Fight and Molehill (Chicago) (tentative)
The Deli: Who are you most looking forward to seeing at Middle of the Map this year?
Dunehoo: I hope to see Loaded Goat and Shy Boys, all locals and some friends I haven’t seen yet!
The Deli: What does supporting local music mean to you?
Dunehoo: Personally I’m just beginning to get a feel for how I can contribute musically to KC in 2014. I still think some of the basics are the same: Try to do something great, try to get people excited about it, try to make the time to get excited about what great things other people are trying to get others excited about. I think it means getting your butt out the door sometimes even when it feels "inconvenient." From what I’ve seen so far, there’s a lot of interest in having bands factor into the community’s identity and the "draw" to the urban core, with events such as the Crossroads block party and even that honking stage in Power & Light. How could we hijack that deal?
The Deli: Who are your favorite local musicians right now?
Dunehoo: I think the Golden Sound Records kids and their friends are sickly talented and prolific and I love that they’ve created a label. Ross Brown’s Fullbloods and Mat Shoare’s work at the top. David Bennett as Akkilles writes music that blew me away with its beauty on his debut album. And I’ve always been an Anna Cole fan, hoping to work with her somehow still. Megan Birdsall is so talented and her MBird project is great but they can’t play much because she’s so sick, which is terrible. Dominique Sanders (bass) and the groups I’ve seen him play with at Green Lady Lounge—including drummer Ryan Lee—kill me every time.
The Deli: Who are your favorite not-so-local musicians right now?
Dunehoo: NYC-based artist Lillie Jane Grey of Cellular Chaos and a project we have together called Ecstatics is someone who I adore and respect, musically and by her writing for theater. I lean on a ton of electronic music to keep me in good spirits, including Thomas Fehlmann, Loscil and Markus Guentner. Love the new Boards of Canada album. Beach House taps the blissful/melancholy vein like nobody’s beeswax. And Matther McConnaughey’s smoking voice in True Detective is a whole new genre of music to my ears.
The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy concert bill to play on?
Dunehoo: Bill Ning.
The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there and why?
Dunehoo: Joe Raposo and Jim Henson get a siamese head for putting some of the first songs in my green life. Then another siamese head for Anne Murray and John Denver, who, via album cover artwork, I had crushes on when I was 2 years old. I guess it could just be four heads then, leave well enough alone.
The Deli: What other goals does Loose Park have for 2014, and beyond?
Dunehoo: Ooooooohhhhhhh mmmmmmmmmm…… I imagine there will have to be a "punk Broadway musical" better than American Idiot penned at some point. Maybe during Loose Park’s ride I’ll finally "find myself’ as a song and dance man. I’d settle for getting [Beckie] Trost to sing with me more. And it would be good to get some music licensed and finally be able to own than rent something.
The Deli: Where can we find you on the web?
Dunehoo: Felchbook is where it’s at for now. Sorry about that. http://www.facebook.com/loosepark
The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for the Deli audience?
Dunehoo: I had a dream recently that’s really stuck with me and if I think about it too much, I get tearful. I was looking down on this river valley from some suspended middle of the air position, and the sunlight was reflecting off of the surface of the river, brilliantly. In the water stood this hippopotamus, but it was only half of a hippopotamus, as someone or something had sliced it in half, horizontally, so that the top half of it was missing. It was like a hippopotamus bowl full of glistening intestines and organs. Slowly, I began to see other full-bodied hippopotami enter the river from the forest at the river fringes, cautiously approaching the body of their friend who was now only half there. They knew, and I knew that he had been left there like that, flayed and glistening, as a warning.
Loose Park is:
Matthew Dunehoo – guitar, vocals
Beckie Trost – bass
Mike Myers – drums
Don’t forget to check out Loose Park at The Deli KC’s showcase at Middle of the Map Fest next Thursday, April 3. They will take the Seen Merch stage on The Riot Room patio at 11:00 p.m. Facebook event page.
–Michelle Bacon
Michelle Bacon is editor of The Deli KC and plays bass in The Philistines and Dolls on Fire, and drums in Drew Black & Dirty Electric.