I usually don't take pride in the fact that the birth of NASCAR occurred in my home state of North Carolina, but was still humored when I first heard that a band from Detroit was named Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr, and even more delighted by the reference to my Tarheel state after falling in love with their lush single "Nothing But Our Love" off of last year's Horse Power EP. During a brief post-show interview, bandmates Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein joked, "Hopefully the name is just so absurd that it makes people look twice and really listen to us."
Seeing them play live at Local 506 in Chapel Hill helped me to understand why there is an extra "Jr" in the band's name. Dressed up in modern three piece suits with trucker hats, the duo has a youthful silliness about them - joyfully jumping around during songs on a stage draped in American flags, and making jokes about accidental sexual experiences with naked men on Chat Roulette. The playful irony came from seeing these men pretend to be boys pretending to be men.
The most impressive aspect of their performance was the perfection and depth of pitch in their enveloping harmonies. Some of the more jangly pop songs could easily be used in intros to indie teen flicks, with contagious 'na na na's accentuated by highly animated and simply choreographed hand motions during songs like "Single Girl". The upbeat pop songs are both nostalgically familiar and refreshingly polished, and when Epstein closes his eyes and leans into the microphone with an emphatic head shake, he could be mistaken for any New Wave icon.
But Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr are at their best during down tempo ballads, where layers of synth textures and lullaby melodies melt around confessional lyrics.
"I think we excel at writing 'sad bastard' songs," Epstein laughed
"They make it easier to feature the vocals," Zott expanded, "you can hear all the tenderness and crackling in the voices at the end of the lyrics. It also makes it more about the song and enhances the melody. We really try to emphasize the melody part with the textures. You can have these really interesting lush songs, but what makes the song work is a good melody."
During the show, the duo played to these strengths (and to the origin of their audience) when they slid into a rich rendition of "Carolina in My Mind" after their own ballad "If It Wasn't You Then Who Was It" which mixes swirling tenor harmonies with lightly brooding falsetto.
The highlight of the show was the "love encore" when giant "J" and "R" marquee letters flashed during a jubilant cover of Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" (which even included a brief saxophone solo). The bouncy vigor of the song then swayed into an emotional performance of "Nothing But Our Love" as a curtain of bubbles fell onto the audience.
The upcoming album, It's A Corporate World, was recorded at the same time as Horse Power, and fans of "Nothing But Our Love" can look forward to "Skeletons".
"I'm equally as proud of that song," said Zott breaking into a smile, "It's stripped down, but had exactly what it needed."
It's A Corporate World will be released on June 7th. Female fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr can appreciate knowing about the band's support for women in music. They were the only male band to play at an event for women in arts and music in Detroit, having changed their name to Danica Patrick Jr Jr for the day.
