Photo: Fred Fischer
Deadfinger
Deadfinger
Like other living organisms, bands tend to have lifespans. If they are lucky and dogged to play for decades, it is not unusual for musicians to recombine in different configurations. Keep at it long enough and the yin returns as the yang.
Dwain Flowers and Daniel Kubinski have been around the block more than a few times, rather loudly, with bands like Fuckface, Die Kreuzen, GoGoSlow and Boy Dirt Car. With DeadFinger the duo begin a new chapter
DeadFinger plays Friday at Club Garibaldi with Primitive Broadcast Service in a show celebrating the release of PBS’s vinyl LP Colors for Chameleons. shepherdexpress.com/music/album-reviews/colors-for-chameleons-by-primitive-broadcast-service/
DeadFinger’s debut album is a 10-song mission statement paying homage to the likes of The Walker Brothers, David Bowie, Patti Smith, The Ramones and the Sex Pistols. The twist being this music is acoustic based. In fact, the bluegrass standard “I Am Weary” fits nicely.
“For a handful of years, I have been playing my acoustic and singing, not to anyone, just for myself,” Kubinski says, “I had used my acoustic guitar to write riffs for my old band GoGoSlow.”
He says the duo’s name comes from working on songs with a friend who was having trouble with her guitar playing. “She noticed that her ring finger was a little slow on the draw and she remarked that she ‘had a dead finger.’”
Life During Pandemic Times
In the fall of 2020, Kubinski ran into drummer Flowers in a grocery store. They wanted to form a band during a pandemic. That would be a challenge. That would be the start of the F/K Project.
“So that Dwain and I could be in the same room together we strung a sheet of clear plastic across the room, dividing it in half. I sealed all the edges and installed a zipper in the middle of the plastic. On a rehearsal night Dwain would call and tell me he was on his way,” Kubinski recalls. “He lives just a few blocks away from me; I would go and zip myself in on the far side of the plastic where all my guitar gear and PA was and Dwain would come in and have his half of the room to himself.”
|
|
They continued that way for months writing and rehearsing for the two bands, the F/K Project, and what would turn out to be DeadFinger.
DeadFinger Rising
While the duo worked on F/K, a friend contacted them and asked about playing a birthday party. “It would be outside on Halloween and would only be attended by two other people. We could all be distanced and safe and could I please put together a ‘pop-up band’ to come and play the birthday party?”
The duo agreed to play it. “Aahhhh, live music!” Kubinski rejoiced. He showed Flowers the cache of tunes he had previously been playing with the ex-partner who came up with the DeadFinger name. “We started to learn those cover songs David Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream,’ ‘Skulls’ by the Misfits seemed to be good picks for a Halloween birthday party as was ‘Monster Mash.’”
Challenges of Recording
Recorded by Shane Hochstetler, DeadFinger’s album retains the immediacy and energy of live performances with no distractions. The performances stand on their own.
“It’s different trying to work in a recording studio during a pandemic,” Kubinski notes. “I had worked with Shane and his Howl Street Studios before with GoGoSlow and really liked his easy going, but ‘let’s get some killer tracks down work ethic.’”
The duo recorded in the main room together to keep things safe for Hochstetler. “As soon as Dwain had completed his drum tracks, we moved him out of the studio and I worked on my guitar tracks and finally finished up with vocal tracks,” Kubinski continues.
Conscious of the virus, even after Kubinski finished and loaded out, Hochstetler let the room stand and air out for three days until his next project would start. Thanks to a gap in between the recording and mixing, both Hochstetler and Kubinski had been vaccinated, “so we were actually able to sit in the same room together and mix the recording together, which was fantastic after having a year plus of keeping others at a distance. I think we had a really good time enjoying each other’s company and mixing the record down together.”
