Our interview with DTW
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A different kind of sound is coming to Monmouth and its Main Street Park stage on Wednesday.
DTW is a horn band that blends funk, jazz, rhythm and blues, and swing into one live experience. That experience begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Donations are accepted.
“We’re excited to offer a different sound and music genre to add to the diversity and mix of musical talent featured at Music in the Park,” said Suzanne Dufner, the city’s economic development director.
Expectations are another large crowd will present itself for the performance.
“The crowds have been great this summer,” Dufner said. “We've been able to market to some WOU visitors that are in town. In addition, I think pulling folks in from surrounding communities - Salem, Independence and Dallas - has shown us that folks are liking what they are hearing.”
DTW last appeared in Monmouth in 2018 when they opened for Mel Brown. This was the last year for the jazz camp at Western Oregon.
DTW’s roots are in the Mid-Willamette Valley. Two members, Ed Propst and Justin Schepige, are rooted in Polk County. Probst, a trombonist, is band director at Central High School; Schepige is a 2009 Dallas High School graduate. Though he lives in north Benton County, his parents still call the Dallas area home.
For more on the band, we turn to Schepige and this week’s interview:
Is playing for DTW a full-time gig?
DTW is a full time gig for some of us, but not all of us. Some work in unrelated fields, while some are music educators. One of our members is a musical director at a church while another runs a yoga studio. It takes all types.
It’s said your band’s name is fluid enough to fit any occasion. So what does DTW mean for your Monmouth show?
DTW acronym for Monmouth? Dancing This Wednesday? Since the summer series is Wednesday evenings. Often we crowdsource some name ideas. I’m sure we will find some good ones at the show.
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DTW, founded in 2013, is now entering its second decade. In that time, you’ve grown from five to 10 musicians, sometimes more. Why has the band been so successful, and how does a larger ensemble influence your musical choices?
Yes, we've grown since 2013. More people is more fun. I love making music with other great musicians. So at a base level, having more people in the mix is a fun time.
We have more technical reasons too. From a business perspective, we went with the uniqueness theorem: there aren't many large horn bands left and the ones that are around are not doing the variety of music that we do.
Since we bring a unique experience, we've been able to book shows and determine prices that work for us free of competition. Right now our minimum configuration is nine people, and we optionally add tuba and vocalists.
The 5-horn basic lineup we have has been the minimum needed to play the material we want to perform, and this has been determined over years of trial and error. At one point we had seven horns and for certain special shows we still use that many.
Describe your setlist, especially the balance between original songs and classic covers.
We have a great mix set up for the 21st. First off, expect to hear some signature original tunes written and arranged by us. But also expect to hear some classics that are jazz, funk, RnB/Soul, and rock classics that are either typical of a horn band, like Tower of Power or James Brown, or a re-imagination of how a horn band might approach a tune, like Creedence Clearwater Revival or Dire Straits.
But wait, that's not all.
Since we have our tuba player, expect some New Orleans style horn band/trad jazz music, (along with) iconic movie and video game themes mixed in as well. Themes from movies or games like Harry Potter and Mario are fun for the whole family.
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Who are the band’s influences?
One of the cool things about having a large band is that every member is influenced differently, and I think the band's sound represents a blending of all the individuals and their contributions. So the influences are seemingly infinite. Each band member is going to have a very different answer to this question and I'd say that's one of our biggest strengths.
Will the DTW Street Band make an appearance?
Yes, we are planning to do a little bit with the DTW Street Band.
What can you tell us about your latest record? According to your website it’s in the works.
We are part way through creating the new record. It's been awesome so far. Not sure what to say other than it'll be great when it's finished. Certainly we feel it will be the best thing we've ever put out into the world.
This album is even more special because we are doing most of it in-house. Some of us have spent years working and learning the production side of the business, and this album will reflect that. I'm going to try and sum it up by giving my base recording philosophy: we have figured out how to capture the sound of OUR band. This album is not a creation, but rather a documentation.
Everything is live players and full takes, like they used to do back in the day, and everything is recorded in such a way that it authentically sounds like what you might experience at a live show. When you hear our new album of original music, it'll feel like you are sitting right there, listening to us perform it for you personally.
Your tagline is Craft Music. What is that exactly?
It's just about keeping it fresh, local, and sustainable. It’s a local community focus. It’s a big joke, but it's also not.
I've traveled a lot playing music in the past few years (not with DTW) and the PNW is a cool place to be for a lot of reasons. One thing that really resonates in this region is this farm-to-table style branding everyone has picked up. I un-ironically support it. But when you apply the concepts to a band, it just has a level of absurdity to it for some reason.
Maybe in 10 years it won't seem so crazy. Maybe we are just on the cutting edge of a counterculture movement against the large corporate streaming services and production houses that have the industry all bound up and inaccessible to folks that want to make real, authentic art that speaks to their communities.
