Every Friday after 2:45 p.m., when workday decorum is thrown out, Weekly Volcano publisher Pappi Swarner pops open a local brew, tilts back in his rickety office chair and cranks his Frazier Model Seven speakers. And as interns inappropriately learn from Pappi during their orientation, nothing tastes better than pairing local music with local beer. Pappi picks one song and repeats it until he can see the bottom of his glass. When the music stops, we know he has left the building.
Today, Pappi has paired SweetKiss Momma's "Dirty Uncle Deezer" with 7 Seas Brewing's Ballz Deep Double IPA.
"The song was inspired by a buddy of mine named Deezer Hooch, who is the front-man for the band Martha Dumptruck out of Seattle," explains Jeff Hamel, lead singer and guitarist with SweetKiss Momma, the rebel country-fried rock band from Puyallup. "He is a great performer, and I wanted to try and convey the swagger and sheer badass-ness that he emits on stage. It is somewhat biographical, in that he really is "half a gangster, half a pimp, three-fourths lover and all band news" and his wife's name really is Hannah, but I'm not certain if she was ever into Roller Derby, as the song suggests. She really is a sweetheart, completely the opposite of her portrayal in the song."
Musically, it started with a great riff from guitarist Aaron Arnold that initially sounded like a "Master of Puppets"-era Metallica rip-off until drummer Jimmy Hughs and bassist Jeremy Hamel helped slow it down and move it a bit more to the pocket.
"Really, the song is a warning about making room for love in your life, because you're going to need it when things get difficult, and it's going to find you whether you like it or not, so you may as well make a place for it," says Jeff Hamel.
"As we were recording the solo at the end, our producer Ken Coomer (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo) kept asking Aaron to make it more "rough" and "sloppy" - terms not oft associated with Arnold's near virtuosic playing," continues Jeff Hamel, and since those are two extremely accurate descriptions of MY guitar playing, I got the ‘opportunity' to jump in and lay that sucker down. My first, and probably last, recorded guitar solo - though it was pretty awesome to use a POG pedal on it that once belonged to Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls."
SweetKiss Momma will tour Europe early next year.
Saturday, June 21, you can hear the band's dirty guitars, down-home lyrics and whiskey-licks for free at Doyle's Public House, beginning at 9:30 p.m.
Since Jeff Hamel is a fan of 7 Seas Brewing, Pappi is pairing "Dirty Uncle Deezer" with the Gig Harbor brewery's delicous Balls Deep IPA, a massive double version with resiny Yakima Valley hops, hard-hitting malt, leafy bitterness and caramel flavor. It rings in at 8.4 percent, right in Pappi's wheelhouse.