Big news for fans of Seattle, Austin, independent radio, or the convergence of all of these things: Austin’s favorite goofballs Being Dead performed on the tastemaking Seattle radio station KEXP back in April, and the video of their appearance is now live.
The surf-rock/psych-pop trio ran through When Horses Would Run cuts “Muriel’s Big Day Off,” “The Great American Picnic,” and “Treeland” for the studio session, and previewed upcoming LP EELS – due out on bassist Nicole Roman-Johnston’s September 27 birthday, she pointed out – via “Nightvision” and “Problems.”
Vocalists Falcon Bitch and Cody Dosier are just as playful in person as they are in their music, which usually makes for funny – if not very illuminating – interviews. (Revisit the Chronicle’s 2021 feature on the band, in which poor Kevin Curtin could barely get one piece of factual information out of the duo.) The artists kept up their schtick on KEXP, recreating the eclipse with Roman-Johnston (as their session fell on April 8) for DJ Cheryl Waters by drawing the sun, moon, and earth on their stomachs.
Switching gears to discuss EELS, the band told the host that they actually have a tank of eels in their basement.
“You just get some water down there, and you can let it sit stagnant for a while, and then if you throw in the right food, they’ll just show up,” Dosier said. Keller added, “So maybe we can host you in Austin, Texas, and you can see our eels…”
Repping their hometown throughout the interview, Dosier shouted out The Stacks/Good Looks guitarist Jake Ames when discussing dreams and “Nightvision,” while the trio agreed that Austin would easily take Seattle in a wrestling match.
“Seattle’s a bigger place, but Austin has a lot of heart. Not to say that Seattle doesn’t have a lot of heart. But I think we just get a little more wily in the ring,” Dosier said.
Keller added, “Maybe we’re a little more wiry and a little sun tanned. Like, kind of unhinged.”
Perhaps knowing they were in the presence of radio royalty, the band did answer some of Waters’ questions more earnestly. When she asked if producer John Congleton (Sleater-Kinney, Alvvays) helped the artists capture their live sound on EELS, Dosier said, “I think he did, yeah. This one definitely sounds a little more live, for sure.”
Watch Being Dead’s KEXP takeover below.
This article appears in July 12 • 2024.
