VEE DEE PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM (CRIMINALIQ)
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Vee Dee’s only other full-length, Furthur, came out five long years ago, and in that time the group has been beset with a series of troubles no less frustrating for how banal they are in underground rock‘n’ roll. Myers and bassist Dan Lang have had problems holding on to a drummer (Ryan Murphy, who also tours as a lighting technician for Leonard Cohen and Wilco, is number four), they’ve had members tied up by stints in other bands (Myers played for a spell with venerable locals Plastic Crimewave Sound), and they’ve struggled with a nonexistent studio budget (they recorded Public Mental Health System for free during a month of weekends in the basement studio of Mark “Ears” Freitas, from Vee Dee’s Criminal IQ labelmates the Rotten Fruits). Things didn’t get much easier once the songs were in the can: a double LP with a gatefold sleeve is an expensive project for a small label like Criminal IQ to handle, and Myers says he and Murphy chipped in to help out with pressing and mastering costs.
Vee Dee is one of very few surviving bands from the local scene of the late 90s and early 00s that was catalyzed by the infamous titty-punk fanzine Horizontal Action and the guys behind it. But they’ve done more than merely persevere—they’ve evolved, to the general befuddlement of that scene’s more doctrinaire members. Myers attributes the group’s willingness to take risks in time, tempo, song structure, and instrumentation in part to a fundamental change in process. Previously Vee Dee had used rehearsals mostly to work up songs one of them had already written, but Myers actively encouraged them to “jam” (that most hated of words in the punk-rock lexicon). “It was difficult at first, coming from more of a punk-rock scene, to come into practice with a wah pedal and suggest we try jamming,” he says. “But over time, especially with Dan, we realized that the freedom you have in jamming and trying longer songs was refreshing and something we enjoyed. It gave us more chances to do more with our songs.” This led to experiments with new instruments—Lang even bought a sitar and a mandolin. Neither one made it out of the practice space and onto the new record, but he does play flute, prayer bells, or 12-string acoustic guitar on a few tracks.
It’s been a long time coming, but Public Mental Health System could be the album that earns Vee Dee the wider audience they deserve. And the Empty Bottle seems to agree—though Vee Dee have been a perennial support act, usually playing second or third on four-band bills, the club gave them a headlining slot this Saturday for their release party. Myers doesn’t have any great statement to make about Vee Dee’s longevity, though—when I asked him why he thought they’d outlasted all the bands they used to play with back when Furthur was new, he just laughed.
Sat 3/21, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $8.
