Diplo and Dark Meat

Together on Record and Onstage

originally published July 9, 2008

Just back in town from its most significant tour to date, Dark Meat is enjoying a strong surge in forward motion unknown to most bands stuck on the Athens treadmill. As reported in this paper previously, the band has signed a deal with hipster sweetheart label Vice Records, a complementary pairing between the label’s hedonistic nihilism and the band’s sincere belief in the crossover potential between punk energies and hippie vibes.

Ever since forming in late 2005, the group’s been a love-‘em-or-hate-‘em one for many Athenians, with some digging the fried-out psychedelic punk explosion, and others shrugging their shoulders or getting even more enervated in their response. When frontman Jim McHugh chronicled the band’s two-month outing on a tour diary for Flagpole.com, a couple of online comments (anonymous, naturally) tended towards the “Dark Meat are a bunch of pussies!” end of the spectrum.

McHugh says he's happy that the partnership with Vice has been bringing the band more attention. "That's their job. I give them tons of credit for giving us complete room that we need, y'know, like 'do what the fuck you want,'" he says. "The advantage of Vice is how visible they are… They realize that concrete recorded music is basically worthless, so what people want to invest themselves in is the experience and the culture and personalities of the band. And we had that, with our personality and our show, and our history with Athens and all. I think that's why they dug us so much."

Later this fall, Vice will release a single for the Dark Meat song "Last of the Frontiersman" which will serve as a preview of the band's sophomore album, now set for a release in the spring of 2009. The single will have that song along with some remixes by hipster fave deejay/producer Diplo (born Wesley Pentz) out of Baltimore, who will also appear at the 40 Watt this Friday with Dark Meat.

The band hooked up with Diplo at this year’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, TX. Diplo first gained national attention by helping popularize Brazilian baile funk, organizing the Hollertronix dance club/collective and by collaborating with M.I.A. on the mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1 and introducing her to the rabid Internet hordes before she became the dance superstar she is now. Dark Meat played a set at Vice’s party at SXSW, and so impressed Diplo that he asked the band if he could rework some of their material. His initial impression of the band? “Weird,” he says. And as for a collaboration, Diplo says he approached the band and “just said I want to come to Athens to play, ‘cause I never been, and you guys are nuts and we can all have a party.”

The first fruit of the Diplo/ Dark Meat collaboration comes in the form of a 7” vinyl release; one side will include Dark Meat’s version of the Iggy Pop tune “Success,” recorded while on tour in a Portland studio, and the flip-side features Diplo’s remixing of the track.

“Diplo is a very cool motherfucker, a real enthusiastic cat, and I think his take on restructuring sound is amazing,” says Dark Meat's McHugh. “For all of his dance floor gravity, he's extremely artful, and he rendered our bar band punk-strut on ‘Success’ almost beautifully unrecognizable. He's coming into the studio after the [40 Watt] show to do some crazy shit on the album sessions, and we're envisioning a 12” single, a dance-jam kinda thing where he takes the psychedelic skronk middle section of one our songs and does his thing with it. But you never know what he's gonna do, and that's what we like about him.” McHugh says Dark Meat sent the tracks to Diplo while he was in India, and he’d email back the remixes, and the results are apparently very “oblique and abstract,” according to McHugh.

Dark Meat went into the Downtown Athens Recording Studio last week to start work on the upcoming sophomore album. It’s the same studio where the band recorded the debut Universal Indians a few years back, though the studio’s relocated since those initial sessions. “There's some new shit I want to work on to come out on the record,” says McHugh, “and that might take a bit longer than originally planned. Optimally, we'll be done recording by the time we hit the road again in September.” As for what Diplo plans to pull out of the band, he’s keeping tight-lipped, though he does say “I guess I’m gonna milk them for some horns, right?”

Also up in the air are specifics for this weekend’s 40 Watt show. “In typical Dark Meat/ Diplo fashion, I'm sure it'll be unplanned and odd. Can't wait,” says McHugh. Diplo offers a few more details: “Man, total madness and lots of bass.”

Chris Hassiotis

WHO: Future Ape Tapes, Dark Meat, Diplo
WHERE: The 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Friday, July 11
HOW MUCH: $8 (advance), $10 (door)