For three years, the rowdy, bearded guys that make up the band Dharma Bombs have brought RVA feet-stompin’, booty-shakin’, whiskey-drinking party tunes with their fusion of blues, folk, and swing, a genre they refer to as Appalachian Dixieland.
But the group has been toiling away on their latest effort, Old Time Romance, their first full length album and it’s one that is a bit different from what fans have come to expect at their wild, loud and boisterous live shows.
Trey Hall, lead vocalist/guitarist for the band said they wanted to be known for more than just being a party band.
“We do some slower songs which for us we never did,” he said. “It’s a nice mix of really sentimental songs, but really rowdy songs as well, but having that mix of rowdy and sincere and emotional kind of pulls the veil back a little bit. It was a departure from the Basement tape.”
Hall is referring to their previous five-song EP, Bird Dog Basement Tapes, which they released last May through Crystal Pistol Records. The local indie label, run by Saw Black and Pete Curry, will put out Old Time Romance as well.
Black, who just released his own album Azalea Days in February, produced the album for Dharma Bombs and the band sought out the talents of Adrian Olsen at Montrose Recording Studios to track and mix the record.
Starting in December, the six-piece band which now includes Hall, Stephen Moser (Trumpet), Drew Brunson (Upright Bass), Josh Smith (Clarinet), Chris Gatens (Mandolin Banjo) and Clay Trinkle (saxophone, Mandolin), began recording, and had the 12-track album wrapped up two months later.
“We recorded the whole album in three days, but spaced out…we thought we would be able to bang it out in one weekend in December and we were so wrong,” Hall said laughing. “We gave ourselves two months to prep and prepare because last fall we were touring and playing all over and really pushing ourselves instead of preparing for the album.”
But that extra time allowed for a more refined and put together album, according to Hall.
“We really hammered practicing and getting the arrangements really tight,” he said. “Adrian is incredible, we really wanted to go up a step {with the new album}. Adrian really fostered that.”
Dharma Bombs have released two singles off the album, “Pack Your Bags”, an acoustic folky piece with warm shining vocals from Allie Smith and “Ballad of Big Sandy River”, released today, a song about two feuding families during the Civil War that has become so legendary it’s been made into movies, cartoons and literature.
“That’s a song about the Hatfields and the McCoys, it’s really a southern Shakespearean fable,” Hall said. “That’s where southern folklore has a big part in our music.”
Next week, they will release “Apocalypse Now”, a tongue-in-cheek “barn-burning song” written by Hall, David Brunson, and Rudwan Bakhsh after they watched the 1979 epic war film.
Personally, the title track, “Old Time Romance” is a song I fell in love with right away. It gives you this old-school bluesy/folk, heartfelt vibe that made me picture a couple in love dancing freely in their living room to a record together. Call me corny, but give it a listen and see what you think.
This is a good time, feel-good album, with some old-school soulful, folky ballads and some love songs thrown in, I shall be kicking my heels, whiskey in hand, as I jam to it at their release party.
And since the band was going for a sort of timeless, old school vibe, and a sound that differed a little from their previous EP, Hall said they wanted to capture that in the recording process.
“It’s kind of a time piece, that’s why we wanted it to be called Old Time Romance, not just songs about love, but its all kind of a romantic aesthetic, we used this old RCA microphone…we just all circled around the big mic the way they used to record,” Hall said. “We created kind of a nostalgic piece in a nostalgic way, but with modern technology.”
And according to Hall, the songs can be appreciated by the young and young at heart alike.
“A lot of the songs on the record are very personal, but the lyrics are meant to be where most people can relate,” said Hall. “Somebody who thinks back to when they were our age in the ’70s will have that same nostalgia that somebody who’s 25 will feel the nostalgia of last weekend.”
But fans of the band’s rabble-rousing and high energy party jams needn’t worry, tracks like “Rollin” a fast-paced, upbeat tune, “Virginia Swing” and “Apoclypse Now” keep that same Dharma Bombs sound you know and love so be sure to check those out.
Rounding out the album, Dharma Bombs brought in Allie Smith, Garen Dorsey, (Saxophonist for Groam and Joan Son of Groam, Erin & The WildFire), & Marissa Resmini (Mckinley Dixon) to sing or play on several tracks.
Dharma Bombs will throw an album release show party for Old Time Romance May 11 at The Camel with performances by Angelica Garcia, Lobo Marino, and Blush Face. $5 adv // $7 at the door. Doors 8PM, music 9 PM. They will play the album in its entirely with all guest musicians and the album will officially drop May 12 on Bandcamp, Spotify and other online platforms.
The band is set to hit the road in June so keep an eye on their Facebook page for tour details soon.
Photo credit: Joey Wharton Photography
