7 1/2 Questions with Bubba Kadane of the New Year (By Defensive Listening)

Thursday night in Dallas marks a very significant event for the city. An occurrence that the storied streets of the Metroplex have never experienced. Downright historical, some would say. People will be arriving from all over just to see it. You know what I'm talking about... that's right! Shellac is playing Sons of Herman Hall in Deep Ellum. This is unprecedented in Shellac's thirteen or so years as a group. And to top off this Dallas first, they will be joined by the greatest existing band to claim roots here: The New Year. This show will feature two bands who are almost entire genres unto themselves.

For those who might not know, The New Year continued where Dallas legends Bedhead left off. Bedhead is considered by many to be one of the most important bands of the last decade, and The New Year continues to carry on in their tradition without being overshadowed by or repititious of their own past. The New Year is a dynamically different outfit than Bedhead, which is evident on both their debut "Newness Ends," and the followup"The End is Near". The tempos are increased, the guitars are crunchier, and yet for all the added rocking, they can still pull off gorgeous open passages like no other band. Bubba Kadane, along with brother Matt, are the principle songwriters of The New Year, and Bubba was an integral part of putting tonight's show together since he is the only official member of The New Year who still lives in Dallas. Some of you bands might also know him as one of the owners of Acme CD, who's client list includes many local and national acts. He was kind enough to answer 7 1/2 questions for We Shot JR:

Since you are maybe the only Dallas area resident that can answer this question, how does being on Touch & Go for the better part of a decade compare to being on Trance Syndicate in the Nineties? And do you miss Trance or maybe the era it existed in?

Touch and Go always did all manufacturing and distribution for Trance. I kind of feel like we have always been on Touch and Go in a way.

You run a compact disc duplication company called Acme CD in Exposition Park. Acme is widely known as having really high (internationally recognized) standards. I've heard that some bands have balked at your strict requirements such as images having to be 300 d.p.i. and up etc. Most of the work that comes out of Acme seems to avoid what I refer to as the "local look". What do you think makes Acme different from other CD duplicators around town?

Our customers definitely appreciate the care that we take to make sure that everything looks its best on a CD package. I would feel negligent if I didn't let people know everything that I have learned over the years. High resolution images are certainly not a"requirement" to place an order with us. We are just trying to be helpful when we let someone know that their print might not look how they hope that it will if they use low resolution files. Any time I have anyone do any work for me I certainly hope that they are looking for red flags on my behalf and that they let me know about any problems that they find.

I was surprised to see that The New Year had a track featured on "The O.C.". I know this has been a boost to other bands, but it seems like no matter how many great records you've put out or how much both of your bands have accomplished, you still seem to exist in this grey area of mild popularity. Do you feel that having a track featured on the show helped raise the band's profile, and would you recommend it to other bands if they were presented with such an oppurtunity?

The only thing it really helped raise was our bank account balance.We went over budget making "The End is Near" and the check from The OC paid for the excess amount that we spent almost to the penny. It was a rare lucky break for us.

One of the last Bedhead Releases was a split with Macha. I remember hearing that you and your brother Matt traded tapes back and forth by mail with Macha to write the record. Are you and Matt forced to work this way with each other now that he lives in the Northeast?

Matt and I have worked that way since 1994 when he first moved from Texas to NY. We always get together at various points throughout the year to make demos together, though.

I'm assuming the nature of running Acme as well being in a band keeps you very busy. It seems as if Matt was all over the place in the past few years playing with not only The New Year, but Consonant and the late and lamented Silkworm. Do you ever yearn to start other musical endeavors or are you opposed to side projects?

I am not opposed to other musical projects. Matt and I have done some soundtrack work and we may do some more later this year. In August we are planning to go into the studio with Josh and Misch McKay from Macha, who we have been friends with, and played music with, since we were kids. I have no idea what will come of that, if anything, but we have been working on music for it.

"The End is Near" was recorded and mixed partly at Electrical Audio in Chicago and partly at the EchoLab in Argyle, TX. Will the next record be done completely in Texas or will you split the process again?

I have never been more satisfied with the productionof a record of ours than I am with "The End is Near." First of all, you can't beat tracking with Steve [Albini] at Electrical. It is the ultimate. Secondly, I liked the freedom of mixing each song over the course of a few days, which was possible because the Echo Lab is local. I have no idea how we will do the next record, though.

Getting Shellac to play Texas might be the most shocking result of a negotiation since Jesse Jackson convinced Slobodan Miloševic to release U.S. Prisoners of War. Can you give me any insight on how you managed this?

About 4-5 years ago Steve asked Matt and I if we thought that Shellac would have good shows in Texas and said that he wanted to come here. It just grew naturally from there.

Pick the more dubious term: "Shoegaze", "Slowcore" or ...Beardcore