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Arts & Music

Gimme Five! Cantwell and Gomez of Cantwell, Gomez and Jordan

Bull City’s Dave Cantwell, Ann Gomez, and David Jordan have ripped, broken, and re-imagined their fair share of musical conventions, but how might they handle these five hard-hitting questions?  Keep reading to find out.

1. If your band were a comic character, who/what would it be? (why?)
Krazy Kat, because we will blissfully mistake an audience’s hostility (i.e, Ignatz’s “brick”) for affection and are often oblivious to our true fans’ (Offica Pup) enthusiasm…but we do appreciate their kindness. Our songs have a sort of playfully absurd element, like the surreal desert backdrops of Coconino County. Mainly, though, we have a carefree attitude toward punk rock and really enjoy sitting under a tree singing a “heppy” song.

2. When was the moment you first thought music was something you might like to try?
CANTWELL: When I was in the seventh grade, I got really into Talking Heads. The music seemed sophisticated but simple. It was easy for me to hear the individual instruments–and I thought that maybe I could learn to do that, too. But this was a very private notion–and I had no real way of knowing what to do. Later, in tenth grade or so, my two best friends and I listened to Big Black and Joy Division almost exclusively–and decided that now we should learn to play (or at least buy) some instruments and start a band. I took a few drum lessons, but mostly learned to play in my parents’ basement, playing with my friends. I highly recommend this method.

GOMEZ: I moved to Durham in 1987 to go to graduate school and became a DJ at WXDU in 1988, met lots of punk rockers, and started going to punk rock shows. In early 1989, I was watching the bass player in a band and thought, “That guy’s not even trying very hard and what he’s playing is pretty boring – I bet I could do better” even though I had never played a stringed instrument before (I was a mediocre flute player in high school). Chris Eubank’s radio show was before mine and I asked him if he would give me bass lessons. He took me to a pawn shop and helped me find a bass. We brought the bass back to my house and he said, “You understand that the strings in fourths, right? E, A, D, G?” I gave him a very blank stare. He said, “I guess we’ll have to start at the beginning.” He gave me a few lessons, mostly teaching me how to hold the bass and put my hands in the right configuration (which I now know was invaluable). Soon after, Todd Goss asked me to be in a band with him (Blue-Green Gods). That’s how I started playing bass guitar in bands.

3. Describe your typical high school dance experience.
GOMEZ: I never went to a high school dance, not even a prom. I remember when I was a senior, me and my friend Mark were invited to a pre-prom party, even though we weren’t going to the prom. As we walked closer and closer to the party, which was outdoors, we could see all the girls in their fancy long dresses and the boys in their tuxedos and people were waving to us. We started walking slower and slower and one of us said, “I don’t really want to go to this, do you?” and the other said, “No, let’s leave” and we turned around and walked away.

CANTWELL: I actually went to a couple of those. They were no more unpleasant than any other part of high school. Often there were snacks.

4. Who/what might be a few inspirations or influences that would really surprise people?As a group, we all really love late ’60s and ’70s soft rock and easy listening. Many a CGJ road trip has been dominated by super-mellow jams: England Dan & John Ford Coley, The “Time-Life Singers and Songwriters of the ’70s” box set, various folk-rock compilations, The Fifth Dimensions, Enoch Light, Burt Bacharach / Dionne Warwick, Simon & Garfunkel, The Association, Harry Nillson, and this amazingly weird compilation Rhino put out called “A Whole Lot of Rainbows–Soft Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults.” That last one is pretty esoteric, but we highly recommend it if you are a fan of the genre.

5. What did you dream of being when you were a kid? (how ’d that turn out?)
GOMEZ: I’ve always been kind of egg-heady so I guess I thought I would do something intellectual like be a scientist, college professor, etc. I ended up dropping out of grad school because it was a bit too egg-heady – lots of thinking and talking, not much practicality. Then I bummed around a while then went to law school. I took trial advocacy in my second summer (where you actually represent people at trials in District Court) and quickly determining that I didn’t have the constitution for litigation because I always felt like throwing up. But luckily I eventually landed a job involving lots of reading and writing and thinking where I actually help a few people (I represent poor people on appeal of their criminal convictions). So I ended up close to where I thought I’d be.

CANTWELL: I really wanted to design cars. I used to spend hours drawing elaborate pictures of cars, complete with thorough explanations of their various moronic features. In hindsight, my cars really were a lot like “The Homer” from that episode of The Simpsons where Homer bankrupts his brother. And I’m sure my cars were as practical. I guess the key point is that now I do not design cars.

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Skip on down to The Nightlight this Friday, January 21th rock out with Cantwell, Gomez and Jordan.  And by all means, give them a high five when you see them!