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SUNBENDR: Up from the tunnels
North County band records album in Tom DeLonge's studio
“He did ask that we record the album naked, which was a strange request,” says Chris Cote, regarding the recent sessions with his band SUNBENDR at Tom DeLonge’s home studio. This reporter took “naked” to mean nitty-gritty one-take honesty, something like the Beatles’ Let It Be…Naked. But nope. Naked in this case means four men letting it all dangle.
“We did a few tracks nude to thank him for letting us use his studio,” Cote continues. “There are probably some great images of those particular sessions floating around somewhere.”
Aside from feeling drafts in certain surprising places, the sessions went smashingly, according to the SUNBENDR bassist. “Tom has a killer home studio, and since he was between Blink-182 albums, he offered us the space for a week. We had an English producer, George Perks, come in and do the recording. Tom was there, just in the other room while we made the record, so every once in a while he would come into the studio with an idea, and we were all ears. He helped with some of the melodies and arrangements, and added some synth lines to a couple songs that really helped take them to the next level. And he bought us burritos on most of the days, which was cool.”
In addition, “we recorded drums with one of our musical heroes, Chris Prescott [Pinback, Montelban Quintet]; he let us keep our clothes on for the whole session, and we got a killer drum sound at his spot.” The four men in SUNBENDR have several bands in their respective backgrounds, but they’re longtime hometown fellows. Cote grew up and still lives in Leucadia. Drummer Frank Dixon grew up in La Jolla and now lives in Scripps Ranch, while guitarist Brandon Parkhurst grew up in Del Mar and now lives in La Costa.
“Chris and Brandon were half of the band Kut U Up for decades. Chris played drums in Years Around The Sun for a while. Brandon played in Calabash Case, as well as with Frank in Sister Juanita and Yovee. Frank played guitar and sang in bands including Nancy and 3 Minute Miracle.”
Their influences mostly date back to adolescence. “I think we all got into music from our parents, classic rock and stuff like that. High School is probably where the three of us individually developed our own musical tastes. San Diego in the ‘90s was a great time to be a teenager who loved music. Rocket From The Crypt, Three Mile Pilot, Boilermaker, Drive Like Jehu, were all huge for us. If you listen to SUNBENDR you will definitely hear a Fugazi influence, but with a bit of a psychedelic dimension.”
As for the practice pad, well, Cote lives the closest, but he’s cagey on deets. “The band rehearses in a secret location in Leucadia. We study under the tutelage of Wally World, so we try to practice as close to them as possible. The band practice scene in Leucadia is tight, and we can’t really talk about it much, let’s just say there are damp and dark tunnels around the town that have great acoustics and you don’t have to pay rent. You do have to deal with rats and the occasional flash flood, but other than that, it’s pretty chill.”
Video:
SUNBENDR: Stick Up
“Stick Up,” the first song to come out of these sessions, can be, according to Cote, about “whatever the listener wants it to be about, but for me it’s a love song, written about meeting the love of my life during a SUNBENDR set at Belly Up. I was playing bass, looking out into the crowd, and there she was, ‘standing next to Frank’s wife’ as the lyrics go. It’s about seeing someone, love at first sight, perusing them, and eventually falling in love, and having that feeling like you’re living a permanent weekend with that person.”
“Stick Up” is also notable for its video, shot in overlapping superimpositions, with the most cheerful disregard for lip-synching since Mick Jagger said fuck it to the concept back in 1981 for any/all of those Tattoo You vids. The Stones had their old friend Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet, behind the camera for their devil-may-care doings. SUNBENDR had Cote himself shooting the whole video on his phone “’cause no one else would do it, and the band has no money to pay for an actual person to make a video. It took about five minutes to make, but will probably win an MTV Music Video Award.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
SUNBENDR: Up from the tunnels
North County band records album in Tom DeLonge's studio
SUNBENDR: Up from the tunnels
North County band records album in Tom DeLonge's studio
“He did ask that we record the album naked, which was a strange request,” says Chris Cote, regarding the recent sessions with his band SUNBENDR at Tom DeLonge’s home studio. This reporter took “naked” to mean nitty-gritty one-take honesty, something like the Beatles’ Let It Be…Naked. But nope. Naked in this case means four men letting it all dangle.
“We did a few tracks nude to thank him for letting us use his studio,” Cote continues. “There are probably some great images of those particular sessions floating around somewhere.”
Aside from feeling drafts in certain surprising places, the sessions went smashingly, according to the SUNBENDR bassist. “Tom has a killer home studio, and since he was between Blink-182 albums, he offered us the space for a week. We had an English producer, George Perks, come in and do the recording. Tom was there, just in the other room while we made the record, so every once in a while he would come into the studio with an idea, and we were all ears. He helped with some of the melodies and arrangements, and added some synth lines to a couple songs that really helped take them to the next level. And he bought us burritos on most of the days, which was cool.”
In addition, “we recorded drums with one of our musical heroes, Chris Prescott [Pinback, Montelban Quintet]; he let us keep our clothes on for the whole session, and we got a killer drum sound at his spot.” The four men in SUNBENDR have several bands in their respective backgrounds, but they’re longtime hometown fellows. Cote grew up and still lives in Leucadia. Drummer Frank Dixon grew up in La Jolla and now lives in Scripps Ranch, while guitarist Brandon Parkhurst grew up in Del Mar and now lives in La Costa.
“Chris and Brandon were half of the band Kut U Up for decades. Chris played drums in Years Around The Sun for a while. Brandon played in Calabash Case, as well as with Frank in Sister Juanita and Yovee. Frank played guitar and sang in bands including Nancy and 3 Minute Miracle.”
Their influences mostly date back to adolescence. “I think we all got into music from our parents, classic rock and stuff like that. High School is probably where the three of us individually developed our own musical tastes. San Diego in the ‘90s was a great time to be a teenager who loved music. Rocket From The Crypt, Three Mile Pilot, Boilermaker, Drive Like Jehu, were all huge for us. If you listen to SUNBENDR you will definitely hear a Fugazi influence, but with a bit of a psychedelic dimension.”
As for the practice pad, well, Cote lives the closest, but he’s cagey on deets. “The band rehearses in a secret location in Leucadia. We study under the tutelage of Wally World, so we try to practice as close to them as possible. The band practice scene in Leucadia is tight, and we can’t really talk about it much, let’s just say there are damp and dark tunnels around the town that have great acoustics and you don’t have to pay rent. You do have to deal with rats and the occasional flash flood, but other than that, it’s pretty chill.”
Video:
SUNBENDR: Stick Up
“Stick Up,” the first song to come out of these sessions, can be, according to Cote, about “whatever the listener wants it to be about, but for me it’s a love song, written about meeting the love of my life during a SUNBENDR set at Belly Up. I was playing bass, looking out into the crowd, and there she was, ‘standing next to Frank’s wife’ as the lyrics go. It’s about seeing someone, love at first sight, perusing them, and eventually falling in love, and having that feeling like you’re living a permanent weekend with that person.”
“Stick Up” is also notable for its video, shot in overlapping superimpositions, with the most cheerful disregard for lip-synching since Mick Jagger said fuck it to the concept back in 1981 for any/all of those Tattoo You vids. The Stones had their old friend Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet, behind the camera for their devil-may-care doings. SUNBENDR had Cote himself shooting the whole video on his phone “’cause no one else would do it, and the band has no money to pay for an actual person to make a video. It took about five minutes to make, but will probably win an MTV Music Video Award.”
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