(guitar tuning) - It's like we all suck in our own way.

(everyone laughing) - [Travis] Yeah, some more than others.

(horn playing scales) ♪ Broken like the night ♪ In the shadows hide from burning ♪ (horn playing) - I was also thinking you can just position yourself behind the keyboard (symbol clanging) (tuning instruments) Okay do we think, do you need this monitor?

Do you think?

Or can we give it to these guys?

- [Jon] Some snare.

(drums beating) (bass joining drums) (electric guitar playing) ♪ Sonic trigger envy it's the slaughter of the Earth ♪ ♪ Frontal lobes corrupted by the hides ancestral thirst ♪ ♪ Then Alien Summer came and it woke in us ♪ - We are the Dust City Opera.

This is our sound on tap.

One, two, three, four.

♪ Wasted in the weeds just like another fallen star ♪ ♪ Broken like the night who's shadows hide ♪ ♪ from burning cars ♪ Warm embracing for the end to take me from the Earth ♪ ♪ I heard them rise up from the ground ♪ ♪ and felt their wicked thirst ♪ And the dawning of this curse ♪ ♪ All of the fruit that you'll find it ain't right ♪ ♪ All of the neighbors they lock up at night ♪ ♪ All of the children they're frozen in fright ♪ ♪ It's a return of the unkind ♪ No one is gonna be coming for us ♪ ♪ No one is gonna be standing at dusk ♪ ♪ All of the roses are coming up dust ♪ ♪ It's a return of the unkind (electric guitar solo) ♪ Branch like fingers tore through walls ♪ ♪ the roots strung cross the lawns ♪ ♪ Nowhere safe to hide one's self ♪ ♪ that scarlet bloody dawn ♪ Told me to disguise as one, I tasted bitter fruit ♪ ♪ Shooken horror as my eyes perceive the tennis shoes ♪ ♪ But it started from my blues ♪ All of the fruit that you'll find, it ain't right ♪ ♪ All of the neighbors, they lock up at night ♪ ♪ All of the children are frozen in fright ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ No one is gonna be coming for us ♪ ♪ No one is gonna be standing at dusk ♪ ♪ All of the roses are coming up dust ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ You better find somewhere to hide ♪ ♪ And not look to the sky ♪ Black rains are gonna come ♪ And the strongest will succumb ♪ (Instrumental breakdown) ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ ♪ It's the return of the unkind ♪ - I had another, earlier band called the Dust City Opera and they agreed to relinquish any claims to the name and I didn't want to think of a new one because I thought it was already pretty good, so I was like, you mind if I, if you guys aren't using it, I'm just going to call my band Dust City Opera.

They were like, yeah, that's good, it's fine, take it, you can have it, there it is.

But, when we came up with it, it was like, we were trying to come up with it, it was like, Dirt County Jug Band and Sand City Street Band.

- That would've been better.

- It was all this and we honed in on Dust City Opera and there it was.

- So, Chris is the most recently joined member because you came on, what, a couple of months ago?

- Yeah, I joined in July, actually, after Jared left.

- Yeah, and then other than that, so this group has been playing together for a while.

We've had a few other members over the years.

- Were you there originally?

- No.

I wasn't originally there, but almost immediately after the album came out I joined because I remember Justin, who was the original bass player, had a gig the same night as the album release party.

And so, I learned his other band's tunes so that I could sub for him, so he could play the release party and that was his last show with you guys.

- Yeah, yeah yeah.

- And, I think you guys had been a band maybe about a year by that time, so I joined about a year in.

("Bring Me Back Home") ♪ The streets are awash with the blood of the angels ♪ ♪ Somewhere a voice is calling to me ♪ ♪ And a pale horse will meet me at the scene of my falling ♪ ♪ If my feet don't stop and take me back home ♪ ♪ There's a tear in a river for each breath I lose ♪ ♪ I can feel the light fading in this tunnel of doom ♪ ♪ Staggering in one boot I cried out to you ♪ ♪ Put down the phone and bring me back home ♪ (instrumental) ♪ A foreign text is clouding my vision ♪ ♪ Patterning the faces that are fading from view ♪ ♪ I'd reach for your hand if I could just find my own ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ I'm so far from home ♪ As the tears fill the river of life that I lose ♪ ♪ I can feel the light turn colder in this tunnel of doom ♪ ♪ Staggering in one boot I cried out to you ♪ ♪ Put down the phone and bring me back home ♪ ♪ Put down the phone and bring me back home ♪ ♪ Put down the phone and bring me back home ♪ - One, two ("Twenty Years") ♪ Spent twenty years sharpening this knife ♪ ♪ She's gonna see that I'm still alive ♪ ♪ And when the cold wind creeps into my room ♪ ♪ I'll be there soon ♪ Her little house looks so lonely by the lake ♪ ♪ Where she prays the Lord her soul to take ♪ ♪ Billy Bly won't see you anymore ♪ ♪ When I'm at your door ♪ Spent twenty years sharpening this knife ♪ ♪ She's gonna see that I'm still alive ♪ ♪ And when the cold wind creeps into my room ♪ ♪ I'll be there soon (instrumental) (Trombone solo) (Paul maniacally laughing) ♪ She whispered to me sweetly and said please ♪ ♪ She could always get me on my knees ♪ ♪ And when she asked a favor to be done ♪ ♪ I was the one ♪ Spent twenty years sharpening this knife ♪ ♪ She's gonna see that I'm still alive ♪ ♪ When the cold wind creeps into my room ♪ ♪ I'll be there ♪ I'll be there ♪ I'll be there ♪ Soon - Three, four... ♪ Angie ♪ What's happening ♪ The walls are bare in the hallways of my memory ♪ ♪ Where you should be ♪ Angie, the tapestry's are gone ♪ ♪ There are flies where you used to be ♪ ♪ And dust where I should see ♪ My Angie (instrumental) ♪ Lately the ghosts have gotten bad ♪ ♪ They come right up from the lake ♪ ♪ Leaving puddles in their wake ♪ ♪ And it's too late ♪ To save them ♪ Oooh ♪ Angie ♪ Was I ever here ♪ I felt an arm reach out but I fell down ♪ ♪ And hung around ♪ Angie the stars are coming out ♪ ♪ And those wings eclipse the sky ♪ ♪ I think this is goodbye ♪ My Angie ♪ Ooooh (instrumental) ♪ Lately the ghosts have gotten bad ♪ ♪ They come right into the house ♪ ♪ The dogs keep getting out ♪ And it's too late ♪ to save them (psychedelic rock music) ♪ When the light angles into the leaves ♪ ♪ You can't place the scent or the breeze ♪ ♪ A million tiny lives are hidden in the trees ♪ ♪ Soft voices whispering extraordinary things ♪ ♪ A neon shift replaces the faces that you knew ♪ ♪ The lizard brain is racing for the change inside of you ♪ ♪ Alien Summer came and it woke in us ♪ ♪ We shed our human skin to find her fingers reachin' up ♪ ♪ From creation chrysallize beneath the August moon ♪ ♪ Travelers with conscious the world to consume ♪ ♪ Well the nightingales chitter and chant ♪ ♪ They feed in the forest of man ♪ ♪ With praying propesity's paralyzing sting ♪ ♪ An army of witch mans is hunting everything ♪ ♪ The sonic trigger instigates the slaughter of the Earth ♪ ♪ Frontal lobes corrupted ♪ By the hides ancestral thirst ♪ ♪ Alien Summer came and it woke in us ♪ ♪ We shed our human skin to find her fingers reachin up ♪ ♪ From creation chrysallize beneath the August Moon ♪ ♪ Travelers with conscious the world to consume ♪ ♪ Glory on receding from the beaches of my dreaming ♪ ♪ Into this exoskeleton ♪ The man you knew is gone ♪ Like the memory of a song ♪ I knew you once but that was long ago ♪ ♪ Alien Summer came and it awoke in us ♪ ♪ Shed our human skin to find her fingers reachin up ♪ ♪ From creation chrysallize beneath the August Moon ♪ ♪ Travelers with conscious the world to consume ♪ (Instrumental) - Yeah, I mean I write the songs and deliver them and sometimes I have arrangement ideas and sometimes I don't.

So yeah.

We'll collectively build arrangements and that can vary how we do that but as far as the words and the music and the melodies and the chords and stuff that's something I bring and then we attack together.

- We were really fortunate, because Paul had a collection of songs before we became a band.

And so, he brought in a lot of that and we already had some material to work with.

We really hit the ground running.

I mean, we had our first gig, we played on tour.

We rehearsed twice and then played.

I remember Clare and I talking about this a lot.

We both come from a really classical background and so, walking into the first rehearsal not knowing what we were gonna get, getting handed chord charts and going "here play something".

So, at the very beginning of when the band started, we didn't know how to talk to each other.

We didn't know how to speak each other's languages, and so we had to learn that over time and its been cool to see how we sort of fit together now versus how we were then.

But yeah, that first gig was a little scary.

- They were a little frustrated with me for a while 'cause I didn't give em like, here's notes that you could play that would sound nice.

I was just like, I'm gonna play a C major and then I'm gonna play an E major.

- It was pretty deceiving.

I had never met Paul until I walked into their house for that first rehearsal and his first message to me was something about putting together a folk ensemble of sorts.

And, I also played like folk dance music so I was like, okay, I know he's got this bluegrass band maybe he's really starting some dance band or something.

(group chuckles) This is is a rock band.

And so, I didn't know what I was signing up for, but.

- No square dancing.

- No.

- We have different ideas of what folk and I guess, I'm pretty wrong in my, I might have said folk rock?

- Uh, no.

I went back and found it.

- We found the first email.

- I remember -- - Sue me.

- Those first few months, it was like, here's a chord chart, here are chords that you know.

I knew the notes that were supposed to, you know, and then I would play them and he said, 'no, no, no, don't play that, play something better.'

And so, that was a lot of the frustration in the beginning.

- Come on - Come on Pete, just be better.

- It's gotten louder and heavier and a little bit more adventurous as we've gone, and some of the first songs were more folksie, repetitive, simple chords.

- Yeah, the stuff on the show and the stuff on the new album is completely different from the material on the first album.

So, it's been a cool conversion.

- It's growing weirder as we go here.

(slow rock music) ♪ Sing me a song and know you're beautiful ♪ ♪ If I quit or carry on ♪ It's because of you ♪ Cause you knocked me down or you tried to ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ Glass cuts deep and brings me back to you ♪ ♪ Why shouldn't there be blood ♪ If our love is true ♪ But where are you now ♪ Where have you gone to ♪ So soon ♪ I awake to stars ♪ Too bright for my eyes ♪ That steal from me the light ♪ I once thought was mine ♪ And they give it all to you (instrumental) ♪ Sing me a song and know you're beautiful ♪ ♪ If I quit or carry on ♪ It's because of you ♪ Cause you knocked me down ♪ or you tried to ♪ Whoa ♪ I awake to stars ♪ too bright for my eyes ♪ That steal from me the light ♪ I once thought was mine ♪ And then give it all to you ♪ Someone said our lives ♪ Would surly pass us by ♪ Until the same sky (instrumental) (instrumental folk rock music)