Interview: T-Shirt Weather Talk ‘Dinner and a Show’
Posted: by The Editor
If you haven’t had T-Shirt Weather on your radar, there’s no better time like now. They just released
Dinner and a Show, a fantastic punk rock album about getting drunk and regretting it. Here, we interviewed members Andrew and Tom about the iconic Grease soundtrack, un-romanticized dreams, and toilet recording, among other things.
Check it:
How important to you was it that you created strong links between your last record and this one?
Andrew: It’s something that has always been in the back of my mind when writing the songs that are
going on the albums and it’s something that when other bands do it, I really enjoy. Kind of building up a
mythology around your own band by mentioning the same places, things and stories. I want them to
feel all parts of the same over-arching story. Basically, I’m trying to build my own Marvel universe about
getting drunk and regretting it.
Tom: i think it partly fell into place without too much thought. it was a little inevitable, and I think we’ll
do it again next time. Call it a trilogy before we do our inevitable concept album.
We all love an inevitable concept album. I’ll be looking forward to the finale. So, you write a lot of
songs about your (dad’s) car, and I tend to write a lot of things about inanimate objects as well. What do you think is the significance about the connection we feel tied to nouns and the need to write about it?
A: That comes from listening to a great deal of Bruce Springsteen and country music. I really liked the
idea that instead of it being a Cadillac or a Chevy, it’s the car that I inherited off my Dad and has a lot of
problems under the hood. At the end of the day though, it’s my car and I wouldn’t change it for the
world. I recently had to pay a lot of money to get it fixed which made me feel a lot less romantic about
the situation but I’m back to believing I will drive that car forever now.
T: We used to listen to “Little Deuce Coup” by The Beach Boys a lot which probably inspired it as well.
May the car live on forever! This album doesn’t take life too seriously—am I correct in this
assumption? And what inspired this notion?
A: You are correct with that assumption. As people, the three of us rarely take anything too seriously.
Also, I think that humour is a great coping mechanism when things go wrong in your life, which is the
theme at the core of all our songs: laughing through the pain.
T: We hope they don’t come across as comedy songs like Weird Al or his mates. They’re all very sincere.
The song “Valentine’s Day 2015.” Let’s talk about it. Tell me anything you want about it.
A: Wow! Thanks so much! That song is meant to be like Paul McCartney song on a Beatles album like ‘I
Will’ or ‘And I Love Her’. It’s sort of too sweet for its own good in some respects but I’m happy with how
it came out. We recorded it in a tiny toilet at the studio we use. Tom had to convince me to include it on
the record because I thought it was total garbage.
T: I think it’s lovely. just a good pop song. We wanted to do it in the toilet because Trust Fund had
previously recorded in the kitchen at the same studio.
I want to take It back to your bar days—what is the weirdest thing that happened to you when you
were closing?
A: One night, we cleared everything up and were having a beer in the smoking area when we noticed
that the barbecue that had been used that day for food had dents and knocks all over it. Clearly,
someone who had been absolutely wrecked had been hitting it, quite forcefully, repeatedly. We must
have been delirious from exhaustion because we laughed at it for about a full hour.
T: It’s astonishing that we didn’t hear it because it had been really laid into with, I think, a plank of
wood? Not something you can do surreptitiously.
Not something I think I’d do at all, but to each their own, y’know? If you could have any setting for
your album to be played in, what would it be?
A: I like to think you could play it in a saloon in the old west, a jumping 50s diner or a smoky 70s rock
club and it would go down well.
T: Under the sea. Coral reef.
Can you explain for me the inspiration behind the album title?
A: We had a long list of completely unusable titles and landed on Dinner and a Show at the last minute.
Other names included: ‘Sweaty’, ‘Laughed But Felt Bad’, ‘Impressively Drinkable’.
I like Dinner and a Show best, however Laughed But Felt Bad is my runner up. A lot of songs sound like they could turn up in 1964 after you put a dime in the jukebox. Was this intentional, and the
mood you envisioned while creating the record?
A: It’s a product of the music we listen to together like old rock n’ roll, 60s pop and the Grease
soundtrack. I’m happy it’s come across like that.
Lyrically, what’s your favorite song on the album? My personal lyrical favorite is “Ill”, I love the line
about worrying so much that I decided it was the best.
A: My favourite line on the record is from “Beak of a Bird” where it says, ‘My hurricane heart was
clattering/like a wheelie bin kicked downstairs’ at the beginning.” Overall, my favourite lyrics are from
the last song because there’s hardly any and they’re straight to the point. It’s also my favourite song on
the album.
T: ‘I left my bag on the train, the day before’
What/who’s worth running every red light trying to get to? I’d do it for a vegan bistro here in
Massachusetts.
A: When we play in Nottingham, we also go to a certain takeaway that sells the most delicious chip
wraps. It’s literally just chips in a wrap but I would run every red light for one of those chip wraps. Chip
wraps, no regrets.
T: I like mine with extra garlic.
—
Kayla Carmichael | @kaylacarmicheal
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