Chicago natives Dead On TV are a new, fun band with a distinct sound taking elements from punk and industrial music. Their debut EP, Fuck You, I'm Famous, is a ferocious five-song attack of those elements. I had a chance to sit down with frontman Dan Evans to talk about the band, the record, and all things in between.

How did the band form?

Chris [Smits, guitarist] and I, we played in a bunch of bands. We played in a band before this. An industrial band, and then that kind of fell apart. So, we wanted to keep doing stuff, and I was like, "Hey I got some ideas. You're a way better guitar player than I am." Originally it was just me and him in my friend's basement, just programming everything on the drum machine and stuff, and then my friend Vince [McAley, drummer], who I played with in some other bands before this, too… It just kinda worked real naturally.

Were they local groups?

Yeah.

You have an EP out. Is this your first release?

Yep.

How's it doing for you so far?

Good, I think. I don't know any numbers, but we're getting a lot of college radio play, we got picked up by, like, a hundred college radio stations. So, that's awesome.

The label on the EP is WTII. Is that in reference to Wax Trax?

Yeah.

I had heard Chris used to be in some of their bands like Sister Machine Gun.

Yeah, that's where I met him. We used to play in this band called Die Warzau that were on Wax Trax. I've known the guy that runs WTII for a long time. He's seen us before, so then I threw him the record and I was like, "This is something you might want to do. I don't know." It's a bit more rock and roll than most of the things they do. He was into it though. It was cool, 'cause I didn't want to have the label be some stranger in New York or whatever. He's my friend, he lives down the street, and we can hang out and stuff.

Is there going to be a full album?

Yeah, we're gonna do a full-length for them, probably. We have a bunch of songs written, but we're still gonna work on a few more, so I'm hoping early next year there will be a full length.

There's a video out now, too. Which song is the video for?

It's for 'Fuck You, I'm Famous.' I think we're gonna throw it out on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to that.

How'd you guys film it and where was it filmed?

Chris used to work at this place called Lake Shore Audio, and they were moving out a bunch of stuff. They were expanding their company, so they just had this giant, empty warehouse, and we're like, "This is perfect," and my friend John was like, "They're gonna paint it in two days, so just go in there and do it real quick." They had all the equipment there already for the lighting, so it was just real easy.

Are the pictures in the CD from that warehouse?

That was from somewhere different. I work at a rehearsal space, and we had a bunch of rooms that were just white. I was like, "We could do something really cool with this." So, yeah, there's no blood in the video. We were trying to keep it real simple. The next one will be more extravagant, I'm sure.

There's a song on the EP called 'Dead On TV.' Did that stem from the band name or did that song appear first and you decided that should be the name of the group?

I wrote that song first. I was looking for a name, and then I was like, "That kind of sums it all up real nice." It's what we're about. So, the band came from the song.

Is the writing process pretty collaborative?

Initially, I pretty much did Dead On TV by myself. Then I played it for Chris, and then he got more into playing a lot of the guitar after that. Once we had a bunch of demos and found a live drummer… I mean, for the most part, we all have ideas or a riff or whatever, and then we can just kind of go from there. It's pretty collaborative I would say.

Who are some of your big influences?

In an ideal world, we'd be Devo, 'cause we're just a punk band that has some keyboards. I mean, we like The Stooges, The Damned, Fear… Then there's definitely a lot of new wave influence like The Cars and Devo and stuff like that.

Are those some of the bands that, in sort of a dream world, you would like to see yourself playing with or are there other bands that may not have influenced you that you would still like to play some shows with?

I mean, it'd be awesome to play a show with Devo, and The Damned too, but I'm not sure how we would gel. I always think we sound like if Motörhead played keyboards or something. Like, if Lemmy played a synthesizer instead of a bass. So, even bands like that. Hard rock bands like Motörhead and The Damned, and I guess The Damned even had keyboards eventually, too.

What are the best and worst shows you've ever had to play?

That's a good question. The best was probably when we played this last December at the Cobra Lounge. I work there, too. It was just family, and it was a packed house. The other bands we were playing with were friends - it was awesome. I mean, we've played some bad shows. We played at this goth bar in Milwaukee not too long ago. They did not know what to do with us. Literally, even the bartender left, 'cause we were playing with bands that sounded like The Sisters Of Mercy and stuff, and that's cool, but they don't really like us.

We were talking before the interview about how Chris was moving out to California. Is that something that has affected recording or rehearsing? How has that affected future plans?

He still wants to be involved as much as he can. Obviously, he can't come out to play every little show around here, so I have a friend that's gonna fill in on guitar if Chris can't make a show. He's definitely involved in the writing, though. He's a big part of the personality of the band, 'cause he's really grumpy. So I don't know. I'm kind of waiting to see how it plays out. I don't think it'll be to affective, especially with digital technology, I can send him a demo and he can play the guitar on it and send it back and it's real easy.

Once you get your album out and there's a bit more buzz, do you see yourselves touring with some people and going across the country? Have you been anywhere so far?

We've just been doing regional and local stuff. Anywhere within five or six hours. We're trying to get out to the east coast this fall, 'cause if we're charting college radio, that means we can try and get in the CMJ thing out there in October. So, that's the plan right now.

What inspired the writing for some of the topics in the songs on Fuck You, I'm Famous?

I used to date this girl when I first moved out here. I used to get really upset 'cause I wanted to write these big, meaningful, heady songs, and I was like "It's a crappy punk rock song. It's not Robert Frost or whatever." She was like, "Write what you know," and I was like, "I feel like I don't know very much." So, once I got down to it, I watch a lot of shitty TV, I'm growing up in middle class America, there was always columbine and stuff like that going on, and we were all into the industrial scene - the kids in trenchcoats that listen to punk rock and dance music. It's kind of like a feeling of worthlessness. What are you gonna do? There's so many other people trying to make it. Chris summed it up pretty good when I was talking to him the other day. He was like, "You have a lot of freedom when you think no one's listening." It was like, I can say whatever I want and no one will hear it anyway, so I might as well… I guess I'm kind of an extreme person as it is. I always used to go to shows and it was all about getting all the energy out. There was a certain amount of violence to it, and that was always really liberating. That's kind of what inspired all of that, and this fact that the media and pop culture use its people up so quick. Even songs on the radio aren't even there for two months anymore. It was just kind of interesting to see how you could twist that into something. It is, at the same time, a totally ridiculous joke, but if you think about it more than once, you could be like, "Okay, he's not a complete ass."

Is there anything super experimental or something very outside of your musical realm that you'd like to incorporate in a song or a piece?

Right now, all we play is fast songs. I always wanted to try something where it sounded like the Melvins, but with keyboards, where it was just a giant ball of noise. Even inspiration from bands like Black Flag. When they first came out, it was all real direct, real short, trying to be as hard and as to the point as possible. Then, they kind of turned into jazz.

Is there anything else you would like to say, promote, speak out, or anything you feel like you want to say about anything?

That's like a freewill prison right there. I'm trying to see what happens. It's hard to ride this line that we have 'cause people don't really know what to do with us, so we're just trying to figure out where we fit. That's the challenging part, 'cause we're not an industrial band, and we're not like the Ramones either, so I'm kind of curious to see where the cards are gonna all fall now that they're kind of up in the air, and there's a record and to see who latches onto it where. We'll just try to play some more shows and have some fun.

Fuck You, I'm Famous is available now on WTII records. Visit Dead On TV at deadontv.org.