By Derek Scancarelli
Tomorrow Dowsing will release their new full-length on Asian Man Records. When I first found out about the album, I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to write about it. But for whatever reason, it wasn’t something I was interested in doing unless I’d meet them in person. Maybe it was because I saw the Facebook event that explained they’d be touring 800 miles between New Jersey and Illinois so frontman Erik Czaja could pick up a mattress. I’m not kidding.
From the start- it made no sense for me to drive from Queens, NY to Flemington, NJ to meet the band. Flemington is not a notable city. If we’re being completely transparent, at first I didn’t realize it was nearly two hours away from where I live. But I jumped in impulsively, as I always do, and decided I would make the best day out of it as humanly possible. It ended up far exceeding my expectations. The odd and refreshing series of events proved far too intricate to detail in an 800-word print article. For a lighter perspective and to celebrate the release of the nameless new album, here’s my day with Dowsing. We visited an Ivy-League School, a record shop, and almost ran over a deer. We looked at some big ass stained glass and they even played a gig in a closed-down bank.
As I drove down the Jersey Turnpike, I decided to listen to the entire available Dowsing catalogue before giving their new record a spin. I wasn’t too familiar with the band, but I knew that I dug what Czaja had done in the past with bands like Pet Symmetry and Kittyhawk, which he also plays in. By the time I got to listen to the new album, I felt like I’d listened to four or five different bands. The sound of Dowsing has changed dramatically over the years, and it was relieving for me that the band’s latest incarnation was by far the best one I heard.
I met the band on Nassau Street, the main street of the town of Princeton, NJ, where the Ivy-League Princeton University is located. We sat for a few minutes in an overcrowded Starbucks and got to know each other before going on a walk through the campus. There was no reasoning behind the location really, but it was a good middle-point between singer/guitarist Erik Czaja’s family home and the venue they’d be playing in that night.
No one has ever written a screenplay about a romantic February walk in New Jersey, and the experience wasn’t very kind. We spent some time roaming through the courtyards of Princeton, admiring the architecture and pretending like the cold wind wasn’t miserable. Dowsing explained the timeline of their new record and tried fitting together the puzzle pieces of the current lineup. While none of the guys are the snobby-sweater-vest type, it was interesting to learn about their varied backgrounds and interests. Czaja has a M.A. in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois and bassist/vocalist Mike Politowicz studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. The guys are surprisingly well traveled too. As for culture, we got some snide looks as we approached the entrance to the art museum at Princeton. We opted for keeping our coffee and fooling around in the gift shop; we were asked to leave.
Seeking refuge from the elements, the band and I popped into Princeton Record Exchange around the block. Want to talk about kids in a candy shop? Throw Dowsing into some crates of vinyl after being badgered with questions in the cold for an hour.
Czaja picked up a copy of Tullycraft’s 1996 album Old Traditions, New Standards. One of the guys found a radio-promo version of the Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney crossover track “Say, Say, Say,” and graciously allowed me to purchase it. Best $4.00 I’ve ever spent.
It was officially dark outside and the time came to head over to the show. The drive should’ve been quick, but I made a wrong turn and ended up going down some ridiculously dark back roads. Politowicz riding shotgun, we talked about his touring with Pity Sex (all these guys are in a hundred bands), the new album, and how Dowsing has evolved. We had a good talk, but it was dark as hell, and at one point we came within inches of plowing through a deer in the headlights. It was by far the closest call either of us had ever had. Eventually, we arrived in Flemington, a city that should be completely unrecognizable, but somehow Czaja had once done a school project on. Go figure.
The band’s mini-school bus pulled in behind us shortly after we arrived. The following day, it would become home to the mattress that started the day to begin with. I still didn’t really have any details on what the hell was going on with that, though. We went inside the venue, Flemington DIY, a community art space inside a shutdown bank. It was really weird watching band load gear behind counters for bank tellers. It was a stupid idea, but we had to go play inside the vault. FOR REAL, THIS VENUE HAD A VAULT! Unluckily, none of the guys in JANK could find any weed in the safety deposit boxes.
Between playing in the vault and Dowsing’s set, we spent some time in the back of their bus. It’s an efficient system they have, with a table, two benches and a loft inside. Over some La Croix sparkling water, the band explained the story of Czaja’s quest to pick up a new-old mattress, one that uncomfortably seemed to coincide with his development as the founding member and primary songwriter of Dowsing. We jumped back and forth from silly conversation to deep analysis of social consciousness and the music community in Chicago, a lot of which has to do with the tone of the newest record, which they refuse to call untitled, only nameless. For the record, I was totally bummed I wouldn’t be there to watch them try to squeeze a mattress in there, so I made the guys text me some photos of the process.
When I watched Dowsing perform inside that DIY-bank, I felt good about where they stood as a band and as people. They were genuine. Their newest music is their heaviest and most honest yet. Sonically, it’s a huge step from their previous recordings. But that wasn’t what made me swoon over the band the most. I think, at the heart of it, Dowsing is made up of people who are anxious, silly and well mannered. Perhaps most importantly, they are good-intentioned, humble guys, just doing what they love.
For the full story about Dowsing’s new record, pick up a copy of New Noise Issue 24. Follow Derek Scancarelli on Twitter.
