You most likely recall Jack Dishel as the guitarist for the Moldy Peaches. Presently he’s Only Son whose debut release Searchlight lands on your local store shelves on January 20. And he’s your First Date today.
“The first record I ever owned was Purple Rain, a present for my 8th birthday. I took “Let’s Go Crazy” literally and went wild whenever it came on. By the time “Baby I’m A Star” came blasting in, my socks were falling – shredding – off my feet from dancing. When I finally got tired I’d collapse on the floor and just stare at Prince on the album cover, sitting there on his purple motorcycle. There was a girl in the doorway behind him and he was surrounded by steam. He was in a ruffled shirt, looking right into the camera with eyes that made me feel like he was keeping a secret.
What was it? Who was this mysterious man and why did he do all these things? Who was the girl? What the hell was going on in that alley? I was too young to understand what he meant most of the time (and still don’t, I guess) but was mesmerized by the world he created. I loved all the songs and liked counting the 2’s and 4’s and U’s written in big script all over the lyrics sleeve. When I would hang out with my friends who had it on cassette I felt sorry for them. It seemed like they were listening to Prince’s miniature little brother. You could barely even see what was going on in the picture. Suckers.
After feeling positive that I was on the right side of the issue, I raged forward into an ecstatic era of saving every dollar I had for records. When Guns N Roses released Appetite For Destruction, music officially became my religion. It was unimaginable to me that any one person, never mind an entire group of them, could be this fucking cool. My copy of that record (which is now half-destroyed from endless use) feels to me the way that a priest must feel abut his first bible; it is the original text, the thing that set him on his path. Like anyone looking for a better high, I started chasing the dragon. And catching it. Soon came Metallica. Than Anthrax and Megadeth. Then Slayer.
The album cover of Reign In Blood is still one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. And even scarier when it’s BIG. On vinyl it was right in my face, taking up my entire field of vision, dominating my field of thought. It practically challenged me to a fight. It’s very difficult to ignore an image of hell that’s physically bigger than your own head. You can toss cassettes and CD’s aside like bugs. Point and laugh at them. Records are life size. They hang out with you. I played them backwards searching for secret messages; the “Hell Awaits” record has horrifying, disfigured voices repeating ‘JOIN US’ throughout the intro. So I joined. And I loved being in the club. What kind of club was not that easy to explain. Ghouls? Demons? Young rebels? It didn’t really matter.
Only Son | Magic
Again, I didn’t fully understand what or why they were screaming at me but I was very happy to receive the message. Even though I only had a vague sense of what they were talking about, their energy somehow mirrored mine and I felt like a member of the same gang. And the membership felt even more exclusive because it was written on vinyl. It made scratching noises. You could actually hurt your records by playing them. Even kill them. Badass.
As I got older and hit the ceiling of musical heaviness with thrash metal, hip hop came charging in. On cassette. I was fourteen by then and they somehow felt cooler, despite MC’s constantly bragging to me about being “on wax”. We were outside more, hanging out in the street instead of our bedrooms and tapes were portable. My vinyl collection became a dust collection almost overnight. And that’s the way it’s stayed for a great many years. Tapes led to CD’s (and now iPods.) And my record player stayed at my parents house. Until…
I started making music myself. After ten years of releasing CD’s, the power of LP’s has recently come rushing back to me in a mighty gust. There’s a tremendous joy in holding a new copy of your own CD after spending endless time working on it. But for me, this does not – cannot – compare to holding a giant, shiny, new-smelling record. And after making four full length albums, it pains me to say that I have not yet had this experience. It’s always hard to pull money together if you don’t have a label; even raising enough to press a short run of CD’s can be rough and take a while. But at this moment, pressing vinyl feels very important to me. It’s time.
Sometimes I think that the past is in orbit, circling our minds….Every so often an era of life comes back around to be dealt with and examined with older eyes. Almost as if the memories come calling, asking to be experienced again. When I look back on the time I spent alone in my early years listening to music, my most romantic feelings are always attached to my vinyl records. And please don’t misunderstand me – I absolutely did not have sex with albums – but I did love them. And I can’t wait to add my own to my collection.
—Jack Dishel / Only Son
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Purchase tickets right here for Only Son’s Record Release Show, January 20 in NYC at the Studio at Webster Hall.
