NEPA SCENE PODCAST: New Scranton doom/sludge metal band Dour
Recorded and produced every week by Internet marketing company Coal Creative in their production studio in downtown Wilkes-Barre, the NEPA Scene Podcast presents honest, uncensored interviews and in-depth discussions about local arts, entertainment, and the issues that matter to Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The live, multi-camera show streams in high definition on NEPA Scene’s Facebook page on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. and is hosted by Rich Howells, editor and founder of NEPA Scene; Brittany Boote, owner of Boote Photography Studio in Forty Fort; and Johnny Popko, the senior marketing consultant at local radio stations Alt 92.1, Rock 107, and ESPN Radio. Viewers are encouraged to tune in during each hour-long episode and interact during the Facebook Live stream so that the hosts can address comments and answer questions as they come in.
After the live webcast, the show is available the following Friday as an audio podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, and Stitcher, while the video version can be seen on Facebook and YouTube.
The NEPA Scene Podcast is made possible by local sponsors Beer Boys, The Keys, and the F.M. Kirby Center, Coal Creative, and viewers who tune in every week.
In Episode 22, we sit down with four of the five members of the new Scranton doom/sludge metal band Dour, who were first featured in our column NEPA Music Notes.
Beer Boys in Wilkes-Barre is hosting a Founders Brewing Company tap takeover next Wednesday, Aug. 23, so we drink some crowlers of three of the beers they’ll have on tap – Green Zebra, a gose-style ale brewed with watermelon and sea salt; All Day IPA, a complex but balanced session beer; and Sumatra Mountain, a strong imperial brown ale with caramel and chocolate malt. Each has a distinct flavor and style that we discuss before and during the interview.
We talk about the origins of Dour; what doom and sludge metal are and what attracted them to these styles; the appeal of metal; their new demo copied to cassette tapes by hand; what songs like “Satanic Root Beer,” “Black Cat Amphetamines,” and “Upside Down Sinner” are about and whether or not they should be taken seriously based on their titles; how comedian and filmmaker Bobby Keller became their singer and showing people that his involvement is no joke; Bobby’s past musical history and funny stories from previous projects, including ruining a sweet 16 party; crazy band stories from each member; playing their debut show in a Curry Donuts parking lot in Wilkes-Barre; bands they’ve been influenced by locally and nationally; future goals of the band; and more. We also answer some questions and comments from live viewers.
In The Last Word segment, we discuss the white supremacy march in Charlottesville, Virginia that turned deadly and ask if the same thing can happen here in Pennsylvania, where we also have a large number of hate groups. We address President Donald Trump’s inadequate and disturbing response, the Confederate statue controversy, and condemn the one side that needs to be unequivocally condemned – the Nazis, white nationalists, and other racists – just a week after celebrating diversity in our previous episode.
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