Bass Drum of Death is a garage rock band from Oxford, Mississippi. Its latest album will be available Oct. 7, and the band currently is touring the South with a stop in Baton Rouge tonight.
The Daily Reveille: So what is Bass Drum of Death and how did it get started?
John Barrett: Well, after playing in high school band, I just started writing and recording my own material, and when I started playing shows it just started growing to what it is now. It started as just me playing bass drum and guitar at the same time in Oxford, Mississippi. It was called “John Barrett’s Bass Drum of Death.” When two other musicians joined the band, I decided to drop my name from the band and just stick with “Bass Drum of Death.”
TDR: What’s the Oxford music scene like?
JB: It’s actually pretty big for the size of the town. There are always good shows, and there are a lot of good bands there, like Tyler Keys and the Black and Whites.
TDR: You have a new album coming out soon, don’t you?
JB: Yeah man. We spend a few weeks out in Cali recording this new album, “Rip This.” It’s coming out on Oct. 7.
TDR: Do you play songs from the new album live?
JB: Yep, we’ve been playing mostly new songs at our shows but with plenty of old stuff in the mix. Our shows are about having a good time.
TDR: How’s the tour been going so far?
JB: It’s been great! this has been a much smaller tour than what we’ve done before. We’ve been playing a lot of new places and a lot of places we haven’t played at in a long time.
TDR: Like Baton Rouge?
JB: Yeah, we actually haven’t played in Baton Rouge in
something like six years. I think it’s going to be a really good show though.
TDR: What does a “really good show” look like to you? What do you look for in a crowd?
JB: Well, as long as everyone’s having a good time that’s what we’re looking for. It doesn’t always have to be people moshing and throwing drinks at each other and all of that, but it’s definitely cool when it happens.
TDR: So, you made an appearance with Mellow Hype (from Odd Future) on Fuel TV last year. How was that?
JB: It was tight. We were the band behind Mellow Hype for the song “64”. It was awesome being on TV.
Bass Drum of Death is playing at the Spanish Moon tonight at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $12 at the door.
You can reach Tyler Fontenot on Twitter @TylerFontenot83.