“My childhood was filled with pop and R&B music. The radio was tuned to the popular in my house—at any time my mom might listen to Paula Abdul, and my dad might be playing Bobby Brown in the car. As children, we are pretty much captives of the musical proclivities of our parents. But I remember enjoying the ’80s and early ’90s radio that we listened to—Madonna’s “Material Girl” and “Borderline” stick out, but so too does Johnny Gill’s “Rub You The Right Way,” or Heavy D’s “Now That We’ve Found Love.”
“I remember when Prince’s “Cream” came out, and my friend asked me, “You know what that means, don’t you?” Yes, I guess that pop and R&B can be oversexed at times, but that’s something I definitely keep in the back of my mind when writing lyrics for Dead Fame. The pop and R&B of the ’80s and early ’90s definitely helped mold me, and that’s probably why, in the back of my mind, I see myself as a would-be pop star more than anything else. I didn’t really start making my own musical choices until about seventh grade—12 or 13 years old, I guess.
The first CDI bought was The Sign by Ace of Base. This album is a classic, Swedish pop songcraft at its best. I really enjoy tracks like “Happy Nation” or “Wheel of Fortune” because they offer a darker pop sensibility. And I completely feel in love with the voice of Linn, the blond sister in the act. As a singer, I am all about distinct and unique voices, and there is something about Linn’s voice that I find hurt, powerful, sorrowful, knowing, and even coquettish all at the same time.
In college, I bought my first vinyl record. It was War by U2. Still a band that I knew from listening to them in childhood, but unlike “Mysterious Ways,” the songs on War impacted me due to their being much more raw, stripped down. Of course, as far as influence for me, it’s all about Bono’s super big voice; he’s not afraid to belt.”
—Michael Means, vocals
“I cannot remember a life without music. One of my first memories is of my mom teaching me, at age 3 or 4, how to use our record player, as she was tired of me asking her to put on Bowie’s “Suffragette City” from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. This happened every 3 minutes and 24 seconds.”
“Our household was replete with music, from my mom’s love of ’70s glam, R&B, Motown, singer-songwriters, a la Joni Mitchell and Harry Chapin and QUEEN to my dad’s collection of jazz and classical, and while their tastes leaned toward the more popular echelons of their preferred genres, they undoubtedly laid the groundwork for the music I would later consider ‘home.’
Every now and then, you hear something that changes how you see the world, and it’s so jarring that you will always remember exactly where you were at that moment, that moment when your heart skipped a beat, and the Earth stopped for just a moment, and maybe, just maybe, you didn’t feel so alone. This. This. Everyone remembers where they were when they fell in love, just as I remember the first time I played an upright bass at age 10, just as I remember the first time I heard these records. I cannot imagine what my life would be like had I not.”
—Sadie Powers, bass
“Reagan Youth’s Youth Anthems For the New Order is why I am in a band today.”
“I just loved that raw buzzing guitar sound and the screaming vocals. The whole thing was just so simple and powerful. I was hooked, I had to start my own punk band. Fortunately, I already had a guitar and amp my dad bought for me, but being 14 and living in the country pre-internet, I just could not figure out how to make my guitar sound like Regan Youth. But then the breakthrough came when I met a metalhead guy at school, and he told me it was just distortion and barre chords. Simple as that!
So, for years I really only played that straight forward kind of punk. As I got older and my taste in music started changing, I got completely into Sandinista by The Clash, and that really showed me how music should be approached. That album has so many styles and sounds and layers. I find it kind of ironic it was a punk band that got me to open up to music that is not punk.
From there I just started really trying to approach the guitar in a different way. I still don’t really know how to play an f minor or even a proper g chord, for that matter, but I hope when people hear Dead Fame, they can pick out the simplicity of those early Reagan Youth recordings and some of the calculated sophistication of Sandanista.
—KCX, guitar
“The Cure’s Disintegration was the first album I ever tried to emulate from beginning to end. I was drawn to the simplicity in its structure, which yields beautiful arrangements of intertwining single-picking instruments. It’s an album that sounds deep and lush without being over complicated and taught me that space within a song is just as important as the notes, that sometimes what isn’t being played contributes to the overall mood of the music.”
“The Cure do the minimal approach well and Disintegration is by far their crown jewel. I feel it is perfect for the beginning musician for its simplicity and deep beauty. It is a dark yet romantic body of work that drips with emotion, appealing to my younger self, whose heart has been broken more than a few times, yet always hopeful of what is next to come.
Another influential album for me as a musician as well as a human being is Depeche Mode’s Violator. It is a dark, sexy album that was masterfully recorded by the now-famous producer Flood. It’s a tasteful mixture of pop hits and slow-churning synth art. I learned later that all of the instruments on the album were run through valve compressors, which gave it a certain quality that people really noticed. Violator influenced my wanting to learn the whole recording and producing process and got me into layering sounds to create whole new landscapes in which to help better translate the mood of my music.
It’s an album that turned me from the limiting sounds of the guitar to the limitless possibilities of the synth. My only regret is that I definitely don’t look as cool onstage standing behind a synth as I would if I had a manly guitar strapped to my chest.”
—Christopher DeNitto, synth
