After an extensive tour spanning two continents as an opening act for Tenacious D, Dean Tartaglia’s newest project is to front two bands — Mind Fish and Silent Lions.
Mind Fish released its newest album Watchout! almost a year ago, finding a good deal of popularity in Athens for its catchy alternative-rock lines and criticism of the indie music industry.
However, Tartaglia had some extra songs that just didn’t fit into the Mind Fish scope of song writing, so he decided to start a new band by the name of Silent Lions.
“Instead of trying to mold (those songs) into something that worked for a Mind Fish song, I just saved them for later,” Tartaglia said. “I really wanted to try something completely different. It’s more like an artistic pursuit.”
The two-man group comprises Tartaglia on bass and Matt Klein on drums, a combination that makes for a challenge when it comes to filling space.
“Dean uses a lot of pedals to expand the sound live,” Klein said. “That’s the kind of challenge we wanted … capturing that energy on the record and live.”
The band’s first album, the upcoming The Parliaments, is named to describe people in the music scene who get caught up in fitting into a certain mold instead of doing what they want to do. As Tartaglia explains on his Tumblr, some people obviously wear the same clothes, have the same hair and smoke the same cigarettes: Parliaments.
The album explains Tartaglia’s ups and downs of playing music and some of the betrayal he has experienced along the way. In the first song, “Never Gonna See You Again,” he puts himself in the character of “ole’ Johnny Ray,” who can be too optimistic for his own good.
“The character I made in my head, Johnny Ray, was naïve,” Tartaglia said. “He is a little too optimistic. … People are trying to put him down and he shouldn’t be so foolish.”
Tartaglia added that he purposely made the lyrics a little vague so that the meanings would be up for interpretation. The song, however, certainly speaks to betrayal as ole’ Johnny is stabbed in the back.
“It’s not meant to be super dramatic,” Tartaglia said. “But I think everyone’s felt that way about whatever they do; your career is a hard struggle and you’re going to feel betrayed sometimes.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
