The Devil Makes Three has been spoiled by good audiences. As in crazy good.
That’s the same adjective guitarist and lead singer Pete Bernhard uses to describe the vibe at some of the band’s current West Coast tour dates. In Portland, where he’s calling from, they sold out the 800-seat Wonder Ballroom, and two nights before that, fans were bum rushing the stage when they played to 1,000 people in Humboldt County.
“It was complete mayhem,” says Bernhard. “Like, Santa Cruz insane.”
Indeed, it was Santa Cruz where the band got its first taste of unhinged audiences. After forming here eight years ago, they quickly developed a rabid following with little time for petty issues like personal space.
“Now when we get a quiet, normal audience, we’re like ‘Don’t you like us?’” says Bernhard with a laugh.
Of course, their audiences’ raw energy is merely a reflection of the Devil Makes Three’s music itself. The band has always made acoustic music for the adrenaline junkie, a timeless brand of Americana that on the one hand sounds more punk than half of the latter-day punk bands, but on the other hand recalls a time when “punks” lived in the mountains, bootlegged whiskey and didn’t have a lot of teeth.
The same quality that has helped them to connect with audiences for years is now getting them noticed on a larger stage. In 2010, they got their first national TV exposure when they were invited onto IFC’s Dinner With the Band. They played the Bonaroo and Outside Lands festivals last summer, and will play the Newport Folk Festival in July.
For better or for worse, chaos is an integral part of the band’s process; especially now that they tend to break most of their time into short, sharp bursts. Bernhard, bassist Lucia Turino and banjo player Cooper McBean will often take several months off (five, before this current tour) during which time they’ll write independently. Then two weeks or so before a tour they’ll come together to practice and work up the new material before hitting the road.
“It’s a little bit hectic,” admits Bernhard. “When we tour, it’s pretty intense.”
The band is changing things up a bit this time, he says, by bringing the new material out on the road with them.
“On this tour we’re playing new songs every night. That’s sort of a new thing for us,” he says.
Among the new songs the DM3 are playing on this tour is “He Calls That Religion,” a song originally done by the Mississippi Sheiks in the 1920s.
“It’s sort of a cover song, except I re-wrote all the lyrics,” says Bernhard. He believes the time is ripe for the sly assault on religious hypocrisy, in which (in the original, at least) the local preacher hits on the singer’s wife, among other indulgences, before the immortal line “Well, he called that religion/But I know he goin’ to hell when he dies.”
“There’s so many great preacher scandals right now,” he says.
Another, untitled new song sees the band branching into yet another genre: Sam Cooke-type soul. And a third, “This Life,” is a classic our-life-as-a-band tale.
“It’s all about how what we do is somewhat insane, but we all love it a lot.,” says Bernhard.
There’s that element of psychosis again. On this tour, the craziness will be documented for a live album by Carl Derfler, best known for his work with Tom Waits, Talking Heads and the Who.
It’s got Bernhard thinking about going back into the studio, and how he’d like to make a record that goes beyond capturing the energy of their shows—the as-yet-elusive Devil Makes Three record that he’d want to see stand as their legacy.
“I really think the Devil Makes Three has not made their best album yet,” he says. “We’re ready to make that record now.”
THE DEVIL MAKES THREE
Brown Bird opens
Friday, 9pm
Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz
$17 advance/$20 door
