Following the release of their superb new single Cilice, we were blessed with the chance to interview new alt rock outfit Local Man Dies to find out more about the music, the song, and their hopes for the future. Here’s the conversation in full.
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Hi guys, thanks for the interview! For those who don’t know – who’s in the band, and how long have you been playing together?
A: Hi! We have Spencer Hamilton on guitar and lead vocals, John Wasson on drums and harmony vocals, Jonny Muhl on guitar and harmony vocals, and Jamie Stafford on bass. We’ve been playing together since about June of this year. Spencer started the project back in 2017 just as a recording experiment with John on drums, but now it’s taken on new life as a fully fledged live outfit.
How did the band name come about?
A: Local Man Dies is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek headline more than anything, but the idea came from the notion of making something memorable to pass on when we’re gone from the world and for future generations to look back on as a musical heirloom of sorts.
What can you tell us about Cilice – why the title, why this theme, and what was the songwriting process like?
A: Cilice was written by Spencer about a year ago and it was initially intended to be released around Halloween of 2018 but just never made that deadline. Once the rest of the guys joined the band, we redid the song and got it released in time for the Halloween 2019. It’s a song about a man who becomes a werewolf and the struggle between his loss of inhibitions and the consequences that come with that upon his transformation. A cilice is a hair-shirt meant to be worn in penitence, the idea being that the wolf’s hide is a punishment that the central character must wear during the full moon, a sort of debt to his naivete (y).
What can we look forward to from the longer project that you’re working on?
A: We’ve got some demos worked out for a new EP, the theme being movies. The first EP, Annotations, is written all about characters from various books and Spencer likes to write thematic lyrics so our next release will start being recorded when we’ve hashed out the music together and worked on the arrangements for everything.
Will you be shooting a video for the single, and if so – do you already have an idea of how that will look?
A: We’d love to do a music video at some point for Cilice, something spooky would work really well. If we find someone willing to do it on our budget that idea could very well come to life.
What are the main values you want to bring to the music world right now?
A: Maybe just that music can be inspired by anything and that not everything has been done already. There are a lot of really creative artists out there and the music world is very, very competitive and becomes more so every day, but we have a few unique tricks up our sleeve still to come and we hope to be uniquely creative as we leave our mark.
If you could perform at any event or venue next year, which would you choose, and why?
A: We’d love to play some festivals! S X SW, any local festival, you name it. It would also be great to play some of the local Dallas/Denton bigger stages like House of Blues or Southside Ballroom. Playing on some of the stages we grew up seeing our musical heroes play on would be surreal in the best way.
What’s something about the band that most people don’t know?
Everyone who is married in the band is married to a teacher and all of those teachers are around 5’ tall.
Also that all the songs on Annotations are numbered titles that correspond to when that particular book takes place or was written.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
We are actively seeking sponsorship from Modelo beer. It’s become a band staple and we have all grown 2” taller from the nutrients contained in its rich, robust waves of gold.
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Download the single via Bandcamp. Find & follow Local Man Dies on Spotify, Facebook & Instagram.
