Omaha trio Dim Light has been playing around town for over three years, and is just now getting around to releasing their first physical product. The band will be releasing a 7” record featuring two songs from the band this Saturday, August 20 at Brothers Lounge.
The band will be performing with Private Dancer from Minneapolis and Solid Goldberg. The band features the throaty deep dark vocals of Cooper Moon who also plays guitar for the trio. Two veteran Omaha players round out the band in drummer Boz Hicks (Her Flyaway Manner, Polecat) and bassist Tom Barrett (Blue Rosa, co-owner of Sleepy House Audio Productions). Dim Light projects a dark sound and their shows can be intense musically and vocally and build up to a swell before finally letting loose. Immediate comparisons of Nick Cave and the Birthday Party come to mind. Dim Light is trying to do something unique and original and during my long conversation with front-man Cooper Moon he threw out some musical ideas that seemed like they are achieving or will achieve those goals. Our conversation happened this past weekend at Jake’s Cigar Bar.
Shout – How did this project get started?
Cooper – “I was in Lawrence and learning how to play guitar. I was thinking about moving to L.A. with some friends. I was living back here again and was playing with Roadie (bass player) and figured that if I had people to play with here it is cheaper to live here. We went through many lineup changes for different reasons. I was keeping the name going as a solo act. I was playing Slowdown, and Boz (Hicks) was bartending. He was putting together drum tracks to the songs in his head as I was playing. He asked what my drummer situation was, I was like ‘umm…you?’ We were recording with Tom (Barrett) and he noticed the flakey bass player situation. So he joined the band and has been a big part of what our sound has become.
Cooper – I played in a hardcore band when I was 17. We were horrible, but we meant well. At that time I got into grind core music, and that is where we were heading. I then joined a band with Bob Thornton and Matt Baum called Body by Heroin. We never split up, and when we see each other we bring that up. I then joined Filthy Gem in Lawrence Kansas. They needed a bass player. That band actually recorded and toured. I played South By Southwest with them twice and recorded with them on their last record. That was the first time I sang on record as well.
Shout – What inspired you to start singing and playing guitar and starting this project?
Cooper - Just starting out with Dim Light, because that is the first time I was the only songwriter. I thought I should probably really work on playing guitar. I bought a chord book, and I still don’t know any of the names of the chords. I picked out all of the dark and evil chords. I picked out the folk chords as I hurt my broke my wrist in high-school skateboarding and it still bows a bit so it is always a strain to have that index finger up there playing a power chord. Filthy Gem was breaking up and they had been around for ten years. I had moved to Omaha and Steve the guitar player had moved to Albuquerque. We had gotten back together that New Year’s Eve to do the 10-year show. I had some friends moving to LA and I figured I would buy a guitar as it is easier to start a band with guitar. I also wanted to learn guitar.
Shout – What is the composition of the band and songwriting process?
Cooper – Basically, when we write new songs I bring a song idea to the table, and then Boz and Tom help round it out. That is why we have gone through so many members. I like to try things out. But this is the band and it’s not just me as the songwriter. It has always been fun having a lot of different members in the band and it’s always me trying to keep up with how good they are. It is nice to have that situation, because I always feel like I have to step it up.
Shout – You mentioned some ethnic folk music earlier. What are some of the influences on your music?
Cooper – I love Eastern European gypsy and folk music. There is just an honesty about it and there is this undertone of sinister. I have always liked sad and evil shit. I like some happy songs. I like a song that is going to make me mad and cry. Obviously the Nick Cave influence shows through and the Birthday Party and Crime & the City Solution. I don’t want to just be ripping off my favorite guitar players. I didn’t want this band to sound like any other band, even though I know it does sound like a lot of bands, I know we are trying to be original. This is different for us. We had always been in a scene or sounded like a scene. In Omaha we played with all of the indie rock bands and all of the Hotel Frank bands that came out at the same time. So this has been a great outlet.
Shout – It feels like, even though this project has been around longer, that there is this new group of bands coming out that are making an impact.
Cooper – They have all been around for so long. I have known Jenna (Morrison-singer from Conduits) since we were three. I love that I have friends my age that are starting new bands that are great and that are fun. Its great that we are still doing something and still doing something creative. I’m a lifer and it is great to have all of these lifers. Everyone loves each other’s bands and it is a new scene but it’s still the same old scene. You can put another name on it, but I can remember being at Hotel Frank and someone going man we will never have another summer like that. I was like ‘I have had ten summers like that.’ That was the great thing about working at the Cog Factory. You would see ten shitty bands in a row and then see that one band that blows your mind. Or there would be a string of many great bands in a row. That is what excites me about the music scene, especially the hardcore scene, is the camaraderie.
Shout – Do the songs on this 7” have any particular meanings to them?
Cooper – All of those songs are pretty much me explaining myself. I call it as I see it. No song is about one particular person or event. It’s more storyteller-ish. Dim Light is me putting myself out there. Good stories…bad stories…mostly bad stories, I am not saying more bad things happen to me than anyone, but that is what I write about. Like I have had about ten friends pass away in a year while I was in Lawrence for many different reasons. That influenced a lot of the early stuff for me. Some of it is about expectations not being met, or questioning if I am I doing the right thing, am I in the right place? “For You” is definitely a heartache song about love. Yup I right about love. “Maggas” is a song about addiction in a way. It’s kind of a ‘We’re not telling you a secret’ song. We are hiding something and we are not going to let you know. Which is a good thing, you have to hide some stuff from children.
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