Talking Trash with Direct Hit’s Nick Woods

Irreverent, energetic, and just fucking fun, Direct Hit started out as a side project for Nick Woods while he was playing lead guitar in power pop band The Box Social. When the band broke up in 2008, however, Nick turned Direct Hit into a full time gig. Over the next year and a half or so, the band went through three different bass players, four different drummers, and a keyboard player, putting out five EPs and a couple of splits along the way. Eventually they settled into a steady lineup, and started work on what would be their first full length record, a debut LP crafted of rerecorded and reimagined songs from EPs #1-#5. That album is Domesplitter, and it is a solid collection of the band’s best tunes, picked by their biggest fans, and due out later this summer.

A couple of weeks ago, Alt Press started streaming the record’s first single, “Monster In The Closet,” a fantastically dark tune transformed into a pop punk masterpiece with a giant wall of guitar, big drums, and infectious, driving vocals all designed to make you want to rage. A few days ago a video emerged, featuring the band eating a whole lot of meat really fast, which we entirely approve of:

On my way out of town for Bonnaroo last week, I cornered Nick Woods and forced him to talk to me about the band, their record, and various other things like misogyny in pop music, getting hammered, Troma flicks, and having your dick grabbed while you’re trying to rock the mic. This is the result of that, and it is genuinely one of the best interviews we’ve ever featured on this blog. All other bands have a new standard to live up to, and that standard is Nick Woods:

One of the best things about you guys as a band is that you don’t seem to take yourselves too seriously – “fuck you, get pumped” says it all. Do you have a philosophy or mission statement at all?

We’ve never really had a philosophy or mission statement as a band. We’ve never been into the whole “music with a purpose” thing, because none of us have ever listened to the bands we like because of political, moral or religious leanings, or anything like that. For us, music is about forgetting all of that shit. Personally, I go to a show or put on a record or turn on Netflix to help forget about the stuff that pisses me off or makes me depressed. Our band exists with a similar motive…we just don’t really give a fuck.

Who came up with the name Direct Hit? Is there a story there?

My friend Brian, the band’s very first drummer, came up with it while we were getting fucked up one night, probably just based on me telling him I wanted to play in a band that played 2-minute, loud, and fast songs. The name “Direct Hit” kind of logically followed, I think. It describes our sound well.

Do you remember the first record you ever bought?

The first record I ever bought with my own money was Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette when I was in third grade. Taylor Hawkins drummed on it I’ve heard, but that doesn’t take away from how terrible it was and still is. Also, it sounds like they replaced his shit with a drum machine, which sucks. The first record I ever OWNED was Dangerous by Michael Jackson, but my Mom bought that for me so I don’t think that counts. There are at least a few songs on that album that are pretty good, and none of them are about the dude from Full House who wasn’t Uncle Jessie or Bob Saget.

What have you been listening to lately?

I always end up listening either to Top 40 radio or hardcore, so lately it’s been Fucked Up’s new album, Goblin by Tyler, The Creator, Harvest Of The Carcass by New Lows, and that Chris Brown single that’s starting to get played out where Busta and Lil Wayne make him look like the neanderthal, dipshit woman-beater he is. Fuck Chris Brown, dude’s been on Good Morning America. But that song is awesome, just because the two guests on it slaughter all betrayers.

It’s interesting that you mention Tyler, The Creator and Chris Brown in the same sentence, since there has been some discussion in the punk community lately about the perceived misogyny in his lyrics.

I don’t think Tyler, The Creator is a misogynist. Dude has made it pretty clear that part of his deal is provoking people. And especially in a left-leaning community, which Odd Future has clearly been marketed to, calling girls bitches and making jokes about rape pretty much accomplishes that goal. So on the surface, yeah, his lyrics are pretty fucking misogynistic. No shit.

But I don’t see anyone in the punk community calling for the boycott of “I’m Gonna Rape You” by GG Allin, or “Slutman City” by GWAR. Most people think that shit’s hilarious. And they think it’s hilarious because they know GG Allin and GWAR are just doing it to get a rise out of people. Tyler’s doing the same thing. The difference is that he’s making accessible music that people actually want to listen to, and I think it makes people uncomfortable when something they actually like, even just on the surface, espouses an opinion that they abhor. That’s a challenging-ass mental puzzle.

I think it comes down, in a lot of cases, to whether you honestly believe the dude thinks men are superior to women. If you do, then you probably have good reason to hate Tyler, The Creator. I don’t. Dude’s on “Funny Or Die” (made up of mostly left-leaning personalities), he has a lesbian in his group, and I haven’t read any interviews that would indicate he actually believes anything he raps about. Chris Brown smacked the shit out of his girlfriend in the back of a limo, and then went on Good Morning America saying he “doesn’t want to talk about that.” Who do you think is more of a misogynist? The dude rapping about Cristal and Lamborghinis? Or the skinny-ass 19-year-old that wears a ski mask onstage?

In the end, I think Tyler, The Creator has written and recorded some pretty awesome tunes. You can’t fuck with that. And most people never would have heard them if not for the controversy he’s brought with his lyrical content. If he’s pissed a few people off, then whatever – I’ll let those folks talk shit on their blogs. I’m gonna learn every word to “Yonkers” in the meantime because dude rhymed “paradox” with “triceratops” and that shit is awesome.

Okay, well said. So on a lighter note, what is the least punk thing about you?

I work in a suit and write about computer software from 8-5, Monday through Friday, and use terms like “reach out” and “touch base” and “synergy” on a regular basis. Over-ear headphones keep everyone in my office from hearing all of the Trash Talk I listen to though, and they’re cool people, so it’s alright.

What are we most likely to find you doing at 3:00am on a Saturday?

Eating shitty meat out of a corn tortilla at Jalisco’s on the East Side of Milwaukee while hammered, or sitting cross-legged on the floor of my apartment, eating gyros while hammered. Or screaming into the toilet after getting hammered and wishing I hadn’t gotten hammered. Or sleeping. One of those four.

Does anyone in the band have any hidden talents?

It’s not really hidden anymore, but Robbie can high-kick over his own head, and he’s 6’4″ tall. Get on his good side while you still can. Dude doesn’t fuck around.

Are there any songs that you particularly enjoy performing live?

Whatever the first song is in our set, that’s the one I like playing the most, which is usually “Snickers Or Reese’s” or “Satan Says.” Sometimes when we’re bored we’ll open with “In Orbit.” Watching the way people react off the bat is always the most interesting part of a show for me, either because people still have energy and get the most nuts, or because we’re playing to five dudes at the bar with “Git ‘Er Done” hats on, and it’s funny to see how quick we can piss them off and/or get them to tell us to turn it down.

What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened at a gig?

We played at our friend Jake’s parents’ ranch last year, and had an incredible time… I’m pretty sure between all of the bands, and all of the people hanging out we went through 15 kegs and probably 20 liters of liquor. Not responsible. Anyway, Direct Hit didn’t get on stage until around 2:30AM, and there were still another couple bands to go on after us. Some leathery, skinny, wasted woman in the crowd with a neon-painted sand volleyball-themed tank top kept grabbing at my dick while we were playing, which I wasn’t that into. And then she got her hand under my belt buckle, and I REALLY wasn’t enthused. So we had to play the rest of “Monster In The Closet” while she undid my belt, and got my pants around my ankles, and when we finished she just ran away with my jeans, and I didn’t see her again. That was cool.

What was the process of making Domesplitter like? What made you decide to rerecord your previously released material instead of writing new songs?

Every Direct Hit EP has had a different lineup playing on it – Danny joined the band right before we released #2, Robbie joined a few months after we released #3. We had a keyboard player at one point, Devon just joined our band on guitar… We just felt like we needed a release that was “definitive,” I suppose, or at least one that everyone in the band was happy with. Robbie obviously wished the bass parts on DH#1-#3 sounded different, since he was playing parts live that were way cooler and different. We did DH#3 super-fast, and we had another dude drumming on it that wasn’t Danny, because around then we weren’t sure if we were gonna be a band for much longer… For one reason or another, we didn’t get to do any of the EP’s the way we wanted to, and the songs all suffered as a result. We really wanted a release that was “official,” that we could all get behind, and that actually sounded completely like the band we’d been for the past year. DOMESPLITTER is that record. We’re all really happy with how it turned out, especially since it sounds better and different than all of the previous versions of these songs.

The whole recording process was awesome, but took a lot longer than we expected. Our friend Shane has recorded pretty much all of our stuff, including the EPs that led up to Domesplitter, so it was super laid-back… He’d already heard all of the stuff and knew what he was getting into, so we didn’t have to fuck around “getting sounds” and shit. We knew how to make it sound good, and got to spend a lot more time trying new stuff, and working to make the songs sound better than before, rather than trying to make new material sound like we knew what we were doing.

How did you decide which tracks would go the record?

We didn’t have to pick the tracks – when we released our cassettes last year, we included a mail-in card with each one asking people to name their 10 favorite Direct Hit songs. We tallied all of the ones that got mailed backed, and used those to pick which tunes would end up on the album.

What is “Monster In The Closet” about? Any chance it has anything to do with the 80’s Troma flick?

The only Troma movie I’ve seen is “Revenge of the Toxic Avenger” to be honest, but people have asked me that before… So now I need to see it. My friend Andrew is in one of Troma’s new movies, “Blood Junkie”, which I haven’t seen yet either. I need to get up to snuff.

So no, it’s not a reference to that movie. It’s a pretty surface level song actually, just a dumb story written from the perspective of someone trying to get away from the thing in his/her room. A lot of our songs tend to deal with hopelessness in a kind of dumb, juvenile, ham-fisted way, but “Monster” is kind of interesting I think because there’s no escapist fantasy behind it… The lyrics would be depressing if we weren’t talking about something that’s referenced by a group like Troma.

Are you planning a tour to support the record? Speaking of touring, what’s on your rider?

We’ll definitely be out East in August, and we’re working to make it out West and over to Europe in the next year. Still figuring it out though… $4 gas definitely doesn’t help. Neither does having a rider that includes “one midget that tells dead baby jokes while dressed like (mini) Austin Powers” or “one unwrapped pallet of purple drank.”

Direct Hit! is Nick Woods, Danny Walkowiak, Robbie Schroeder, and Devon Kay. Domesplitter is due out on August 2nd through Kind Of Like Records. We highly recommend following them on Facebook and checking out their Bandcamp page if you like free music, midgets that tell dead baby jokes, or purple drank (who doesn’t?).