by Ned Braden Sat Jan 06, 2024 5:14 pm
This old bandcamp article sorta sheds light on Greg's point of view lately.
“Because now all I really love is to collaborate,” he continues. “I love writing with other people, I love playing with other people. I love just playing guitar on somebody else’s song or suggesting a bridge, or whatever. Now, I crave collaboration, but that was a time in my life when, for whatever reason, I had had poor experiences with collaboration. There was also a lot of trauma in my youth that I hadn’t quite worked out yet. I was using music as a platform to work out that trauma, sometimes in a positive way and sometimes in a not so positive way.”
Of course, the retiring of the moniker doesn’t mean Cartwright will never step on stage again. He will be reuniting for a one-off performance with The Compulsive Gamblers at this year’s Goner Fest. He also shared some details on an unnamed project he has started with Dr. Dog’s Scott McMicken. “He just moved to Asheville a couple months ago, and we put a band together with a couple of friends of ours,” Cartwright says. “It’s a four-piece with guitars, bass, drums, and occasionally some keyboards. It’s been super fun writing songs with him and writing for that dynamic and not being the bandleader having another person who seems to lead sometimes. We’ve done some recording, but we’re not quite done with it.”
Another project he’ll hopefully be getting to work on is the long-awaited follow-up to The Parting Gift’s 2010 album Strychnine Dandelions, the group that he co-founded with Coco Hames of The Ettes.
That last part is the first I've heard about a potential Parting Gifts reunion. Really dug that album and hope that they actually do release another.
The rest of the article paints a pretty clear picture of RS being on its last legs since around 2011 when he re-started the band with new players. Sorta makes sense given how much his prolificacy has dropped off since then. Makes me pretty excited for this next phase, hopeful that he'll rediscover his passion, expiriment a bit more, and start releasing things more regularly.
Anyway, this Hypos record with Greg and the Dr. Dog dude is pretty cool. Mellow stuff. Super throw-backy, think 50s and 60s. Doesn't seem like it's deliberately trying to be some revivalist thing, but it seems completely detached from anything that's been popular in the last 30 years.
Didn't immediately come up and grab me, but it's gotten better with every listen since it dropped yesterday. Settles into a groove that I've really been enjoying on repeat during this rainy crappy saturday.
My Kind of Party fucking wails.
Rock Guitars
Home