Rising from the ashes of various projects, this meticulously assembled group is ready to make moves on Richmond and beyond ...

33: How did Dead Fame evolve from the original duo into a full band?
Christopher DeNitto: We wanted to get away from having pre-recorded tracks and have more of a live band feel.
K.C. Byrnes: Chris and I stuck it out trying to find a drummer.  After Eric was secure, I really wanted to get Sadie to play bass, because we wrote some stuff a few years ago, and I knew she would be perfect for our sound.  After practice one night we ran into her at No Richmond [post-punk dance night], and she was at the very next rehearsal.
Sadie Powers: It’s funny, because there was a period of about a month or so a couple of years ago, where I felt like I kept running into K.C. everywhere: the grocery store, the thrift store, the Lowe’s parking lot.  Every time, we mentioned that we needed to do another project together, but I guess the timing never worked out.  I didn’t see him for a while, then I randomly ran into him, Chris, and Eric at No Richmond.  I was playing in another band at the time, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play with K.C. again.  And they said “post-punk,” which is kind of my mating call.
KB: We went about six months auditioning singers, and NOBODY had what we were looking for.  Then Eric gave his friend Michael a few rough recordings, and Michael put some vocals over the demos.  We all just loved what he did with the songs.

33: Do you feel there is a void in the Richmond music scene that Dead  Fame could potentially fill?
KB: I think music in Richmond is great right now.  We have always had great bands, but now seems really good, so rather than filling a void I hope we can just add to the scene and help it expand.
CD: Yes, while there are a lot of really good indie bands starting to come out of the woodwork lately, I don't feel anybody is doing what we are doing.
Eric Klemen: Indeed. We'd like to think Dead Fame is something different to other styles Richmond has to offer.
Michael Means: I think that we offer Richmond music that is somewhat more widely approachable.  The city seems to be known for more of the "hardcore" scene and music.  We represent an expansion and diversification of the Richmond music scene, which could also correlate with an overall transitioning for Richmond as a city and growing creative community.  There is so much more going on with Richmond music right now, other than the "metal" influenced stuff.
SP: The music scene isn’t something that really enters my mind during the writing process.  As a musician, I’m more concerned with creating something with which I resonate, emotionally and technically, and to work with other musicians who have that same need.  I think it’s pretty remarkable that we - or any band, for that matter – can write songs that satiate our individual urges to create something great.  People can see that when we perform, and I think that people are drawn to something that’s honest, regardless of the genre.

33: I've read that Michael has never sung in a band before.  How did he come to fill the role of frontman, and how does he feel about this new venture?
CD: He was a friend of Eric's and after hearing what we were writing, he was really proactive about letting us know he wanted to try out.  He even went so far as to take it upon himself to record vocals over a practice recording we had made, and after hearing it we HAD to try him out.  I feel he is very excited but very professional about the whole thing, like he's been doing it all along.
MM: Eric was always talking about his new band - he was excited about what they were doing.  But they had yet to find a singer.  It seemed as if he was always mentioning some awful audition they had sat through, and that things with interested singers just weren't clicking with what the group was about and looking for.  I always sang and wrote, and I always knew I wanted to take it further.  A lot of the influences Eric said the band had were some I shared, so I thought I might be able to offer the missing piece to the band's structure.  I convinced Eric to let me audition; he was worried about damage to the friendship if things didn't go well.  I wrote to a couple of songs, sent those over, and then came to sing live - everyone seemed to like it, and that was that.  After a couple practices, it seemed very natural.  I've always known I wanted to perform on a larger scale but was just waiting for the right opportunity to do it.  Being a part of a group helps to take you to places, artistically, that you may not have gone to on your own.  For me, it has been very fulfilling to give a part of myself, find new aspects of myself, expand upon aspects - within the frame of Dead Fame.
SP: It’s interesting, because it’s also Eric’s first band.  They both offer diverse textures to the band that I don’t think we would have achieved otherwise.  They’re both so polished and willing to take risks, and it’s hard for me to believe that they’d never played in bands before.

33: Aside from the more obvious new wave influences, are there any other musical angles that you want to incorporate into your sound?  (Personally, I can't help but be reminded of Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music and Dave Vanian/The Damned.)
CD: Even though we have a retro sound, I like to try to keep it modern sounding.  I listen to a lot of new dance remixes and go to underground dance nights and raves.  That being said, I'm also an old goth/post-punker, and that’s the way I write.
KB: I just love glam, no wave, 70s punk, and think it’s great people are hearing those influences in our music.  But we always try to push ourselves when we write, so hopefully we can expand on that stuff.  Personally, I can see us incorporating some more electro elements.
MM: As a singer, I am always looking for ways to expand my vocal performances - finding new places to take my voice while keeping with what is happening musically in any given song.  Every new song we write is an opportunity to expand what it is that we do.
EK: My influences include post-hardcore, indie rock, jazz rock, post-rock, noise-pop, math rock, dance-punk.  Since joining Dead Fame, I’ve grown more interested in new wave and have started introducing electronic percussion.  Chris turned me onto These New Puritans, and I can't get enough of them.
SP: I really connected with post-rock music in late high school, especially Tortoise and Stereolab.  Doug McCombs and Simon Johns were probably my first bass guitar teachers, figuratively speaking.  In the future, I’d love to add other rhythmic elements and focus on more counterpoints.  I think that would be an interesting exercise on top of the electro elements we’re toying with.  I’d also like to add more percussive elements a la Einsturzende Neubauten.

33: I'm intrigued by the lyrics to "Glass Jacket".  Care to elaborate on where that song came from?
MM: As far as lyrics go, it is usually several "pictures" or contexts that feed into the lyrics.  It seems to be that several ideas always go spinning around, interacting with each other, leading to the lyrical fabric for each song, with the music helping to spark or trigger many of those ideas and pictures.  So for instance, "Glass Jacket" isn't about one thing - it’s more contextual, with various themes working off the other to create an overall effect.  Part of what went into the lyrics to "Glass Jacket" were ideas of self-protection, self-mutilation, shared responsibility, ideological structures, pictures of front line trenches of war, and perseverance - it's about finding where all those ideas converge and/or diverge, and helping to bring that forward - feelings those interactions create, questions raised, answers offered - just like any good literature.  Contradiction and irony is the spice of life.
SP: In terms of music, Eric had this tribal-sounding drum beat that we really liked and wanted to use.  I happened to be playing around with my fuzz and reverb pedals, and my amp started making this feedback that sounded like a bowed upright bass.  Eric added his drum beat over it, and that was it.  The song came together very quickly and organically, really over the course of a couple of hours.  And then Michael wrote vocals for it and took it to that next level [pause] ... That sounds really trite compared to Michael’s explanation.

By Editor-In-Chief and Correspondent: Andrew Lutwin

Andrew is originally from Boston, but has spent equal time in Richmond and considers both home.  He graduated VCU with a B.A. in English and looks forward to seeing if his degree will be worth a damn.  While attending Northeastern University, Andrew began covering music for the Zig-Zag Live website and tour campaign, which won him the undying affection of Bostonians because of his access to free rolling papers.  He is fortunate enough to have parents with great taste in music and owes much of his musical sensibilities to them.  Some of his favorites include the Beatles, the Clash, My Morning Jacket, Mastodon, Mission of Burma, all 70s R&B, and anything that can be considered "outlaw."  Other hobbies include food, guitar, whiskey, hiking, Boston sports, and maintaining his beginner-level fish tank.

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