Lobsterfest 2014: Dust From 1000 Yrs
By Garrett Bower, Staff Writer
Dust From 1000 Yrs is a spacey and eclectic rock band from Indiana. The band is a vehicle solely driven as a means of expression for the members, leading to constant shifts in dynamics and style that vary as much as the people themselves. The gang can be seen at Casa Cantina alongside Kal Marks, Hermit Thrushes and Ghost Stories on the opening Thursday of Lobsterfest.
You’ve had a lot of releases, mostly through Bandcamp on the label So Hard Young Boy. Do you guys run that yourselves?
Ben Rector: Yeah, it’s pretty much my own shitty little label, and it’s just to put my name on. We don’t really do much. It’s just something to put on the CDs [laughs].
You seem to have a joking attitude with elements surrounding your music. Why is that?
Well, the music is so dark, I kinda want to show that we’re not really that serious. I just want to show that I’m not, like, one-dimensional, you know?
Does the humor stem from a lot of inside jokes or just stuff that’s totally nonsensical?
I dunno, I’m really into absurd things. A lot of it just ends up being funny, but it’s more about the absurdity and the randomness.
Have you ever played in Athens before?
We’ve played there quite a few times actually. I think the first time was in 2006 or 2007. We played a couple house shows and a bar on Dad’s Weekend?
Have you ever been to a Lobsterfest?
No, I actually heard about it, I think two years ago, when Fat History Month played there, and they said that we should try to play that. Then we got to know Shane [Riley of Frankie Teardrop] and he set us up.
Are you excited to see any of the other acts on the bill?
Yeah! We’re real big fans of Deerhoof. I really like Deerhoof a lot and it’s real crazy to think that we’re playing the same festival as them. We’ve played a few shows with Kal Marks and I think we played with Hermit Thrushes a long, long time ago.
What’s the usual stomping grounds for Dust From 1000 Yrs? Does the band play a lot of bars or more house shows?
I think, really, house shows have always been the most fun. We went through a long time where we refused to play at bars. That lasted for about three or four years. It was mainly because we used to play pretty much acoustic and something like that doesn’t work too well in an atmosphere where people are just there to talk to their friends and drink beer and whatnot, you know? It’s always a lot cooler to play house shows where the only reason people are there is to see a band. I feel like people are more enthusiastic and it’s a more homey atmosphere. You get to actually hang out and talk to people.
How did the band make the switch from acoustic to a full lineup?
We’ve gone through like a million different phases. There’s been 15 different people in the band throughout the years. We started off playing really loud, noisy rock. Then a couple guys left the band--the bass player and drummer--so I just tried to go with the flow and try to fit the band to those [new] people so they can be the best musicians they can be in that setting and not have it be unnatural for anybody. So it changes quite a bit. I’m kind of fickle about it, too. I can get bored of a certain lineup or way that we play so I’ll just change things up entirely.
So Dust From 1000 Yrs just becomes those different ventures then, as opposed to having side projects?
I do. I kind of feel like Dust From 1000 Yrs has gotten to a place where I combine everything I do and I just call it that. We’ve got a tape that’s gonna be coming out sometime this summer. It’s a split with Fat History Month and it’s all me on this one. I just sat down and started recording and out popped an album, you know?
Is Moon a separate album from that summer split?
That’s a different thing. Hopefully it’ll come out pretty soon in the month of May. It’s gonna be a full length album a little more on the rock and roll side of things. It’s different. When we were recording that album, there was a guy playing bass for us and he’s been in and out of the band through the years but he was the guy who got me to start playing music. He was the one I always played in punk bands with, and so I got him on board and it kind of just came out that way. I tend to write music or take music that I’ve already written and transform it into something that will fit the people that are involved. I got kind of bored doing the atmospheric kind of stuff and it was kind of cool to get a little more direct.
