Beat your heart out; Murdock dishes

Michelle Chang

This week, Michelle Chang sat down with seniors Peter Lutkoski and Todd Rowen, better known as Murdock, Oberlin's beloved bass and drum duo of 2 years. They're not a household name yet, but their unique sound and mmediately recognizeable skill and talent during live sets make them a band worth looking into.

Michelle: To start, for the people that don't know you yet, how would you describe yourselves?

Todd: Up until this point, we've pretty much been a bass and drum duo with vocals, although we're highly rhythmic...we don't sound like Primus, we try to be a lot more melodic.

Pete: We do an INXS cover!

T: Yeah! And we play a cover of "Eye of the Tiger" too.

P: Yup. And that pretty much sums it up.

M: Playing without a guitarist is a bold move, why just bass and drum?

P: Well, we had a guitar player for a half a year and then he left and then the whole next year we couldn't find a guitar player to match, so we gave up and stuck to bass and drum. And now we've just recently found a keyboard player.

T: His name is Rob Reich.

P: Yeah, and next we're adding a fog machine.

T: ...and WIGS.

M: You mentioned your covers, but most of your songs are orignals. Do you write them together?

P: Well, it's weird. We don't really - we just sort of jam and try stuff.

T: Basically, we just jam on the superbowl theme song and try to go on whatever direction it leads us, and sometimes we get something out of it and sometimes we just play the superbowl theme song. But yeah, I suppose that basically we play originals, I mean, I don't think we sound like any other band I've heard, but I still think we sound pretty...

P: Devo.

T: ...compelling and challenging.

P: ...like Devo!

M: You guys have good stage energy, but are also both pretty consumate musicians. Tell me about the importance of quality.

T: In terms of what we eat?

M: No, in playing, as opposed to just putting on a show.

P: We don't really think about putting on a good show. We've never planned it all out or anything. We just have set lists and we decide when we get there.

T: Well, I mean in terms of quality, we try to play the songs as well as possible, because what we are doing is so rhythmic there's a lot of locking up or intentionally not locking up...a lot of what we play is dense so we try to make it sound as clear as possible without sacrificing energy...does this make sense?

P: I don't understand. I just think we don't plan things out - we just practice and then focus on the playing.

M: What are some musical heroes for you guys from the past?

T: We both agree that we like the Police a lot.

P: They're one of my all time favorites. They're really tight and they're catchy, they're 100% catchy! Fugazi was also my favorite band for a while.

T: I also like the Royal Crown Revue a lot, and Jane's Addiction.

M: So, does being in a hot bass and drum duo get you a lot of chicks?

P: Nope.

M: Why not?

P: Because the bass player never gets anyone.

T: Yeah, it's always singer first, then guitarist, the bassist and then the drummer.

P: But there's got to be someone else before the bassist, because the bass player never gets anyone.

M: Why is that?

P: Because he's always the fat, dumb guy. He wanted to be the guitarist but he couldn't, but he wanted to be in the band so they let him do something.

T: Maybe the second guitartist comes before the bassist. But the drummer is always last.

M: Why is that?

T: Because we sit in the back...

P: And because they always have to load all that stuff after a gig.

T: And then between breaks you're always shooting up.

M: Why should people come to a Murdock show?

T: Our music is not drastically different, but our format is different. We're presenting something new and exciting without being different just for its own sake.

P: We have a whole bunch of new songs that we wrote during Winter Term because we didn't have anything else to do.

T: I write monologues but Pete won't let me say them.

P: Yeah, Todd used say these monologues - and people liked 'em, but then I wouldn't let him have a microphone anymore.

M: What is the worst part about being a campus band?

P: Well, we've only played campus parties, so there's not a lot of room for growth. It's like those entry level jobs, you know, "mailroom clerk" where it's kind of fun and you get a good paycheck but you're not going anywhere.

T: You never get help in finding gigs ever and you're never getting paid. And while people do come up to you and tell you that they appreciate what you're doing, you're still putting a tremendous amount of work into it.

M: Do you feel like your efforts are lost upon drunken college students?

P: No, because it's still a challenge for us to get it to sound the way we want it to, I mean there's no gig where we play everything perfect.

T: And this is also Oberlin, so there's always people in the audience who know what's up.

If you hadn't had a chance to experience the sounds of Murdock, you're in luck. Be sure to catch them at 77 E. Lorain tonight (Friday the 6th).

Rollin': Murdock's Peter Lutkoski and Todd Rowen on the road to campus stardom as Oberlin's notorious drum and bass duo that doesn't engage in theatrics, but still blows you away. (photo by Michelle Chang)