Grunge brothers

Music | January 23rd, 2014

The Edith Massey plays tag team

Sharing is caring according to the Fargo rock band The Edith Massey. Guitarist/drummer/singer Dane Marcusen and Guitarist/drummer/singer Matthew Buettner share guitar, drum and singing duties.

With a mix of longtime-friendship trust and a shared desire to “explore the stage,” Buettner and Marcusen, western North Dakota natives, make a great pair.

Both musicians are expressive, grungy rock-n-roll songwriters and with coordinated enough feet to play drum kit as well. Sure, many musicians are multi-instrumentals. It’s just that not every musician pursues his multi-talents in one act.

“It’s like a tag team wrestling match. It’s just like, ‘well, you’re in on guitar now,’” Marcusen said.

The musicians did some instrument switching in their former 4-piece band, The Daleks (voted as North Dakota’s Best Band of 2010 by the Boston Phoenix). Though after losing a two of its members, Marcusen and Buettner figured they’d continue under a different name, The Edith Massey.

While it’s certainly easier to switch instruments with only two members in the band, the guys also say improvisation and experimentation is more effortless during live performances.

“The way that we want to make music is kind of just as it comes to you,” Marcusen said. “You’re still following a theme but that’s all there is to it. That’s the only thing that is set in stone.”

It’s also refreshing for the audience to hear a new vocalist mid set. Marcusen and Buettner complement each other well as band mates, and they sound somewhat similar as guitarist and drummers – though they sing very, very differently. Listeners can especially hear this in The Edith Massey self-titled album.

Marcusen has a warm and welcoming, though easily excitable singing voice. The songs “Muse” and “Out Of Order,” track 4 and 5 off the album, beautifully showcase his smooth, classic and ride-able singing/songwriting style.

Buettner, other the other hand, sings like a hardcore shoegazer one moment and then jacked up Jack White the next. The song “2:51 a.m.,” track 2, is especially listener-attractive with is psych-infused dreamlike drama. In “I Like What I See,” track 3, Buettner sounds a lot more playful, though no less weird and intriguing.

“We do a lot with a little,” Buettner said. “Even in studio production, we don’t want to over-track … it’s like ‘how would it be at a live show?’ We want it to be raw, live and in your face.”

As far as not having a bass player, the guys prefer to keep it as it is, mainly because it’s not easy finding a bassist with the work schedule they have. Besides, they feel as if the listener has the ability to imply the bass line themselves.

“We want to you to think of it, rather than it actually happening – we want to subliminally message you into thinking it,” Buettner said.

“We do that a lot with kind of teasing a guitar part that goes with the rest of the song and that just kind of being an implied carry over, hoping that it’s catchy enough so someone is just repeating that line until the chord progression changes,” Marcusen said. “The listener is almost the third instrument in away.”

*Catch The Edith Massy perform local bands Egypt and SOTOS this Friday, Jan. 24. The Edith Massey will perform first starting at 10 p.m.

The Edith Massey plays tag team

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