Lawrence.com

Dead Girls Ruin Everything is the sound of four guys who love to rock - fists pumping, tongue protruding, spread-eagle-stance style. Split 50/50 between former members of Ultimate Fakebook (Nick Colby on bass, Eric Melin on drums) and Podstar (guitarists/vocalists Cameron Hawk and JoJo Longbottom), the band packs a power-pop punch that's showy like Cheap Trick and smart like Superchunk. The band's electrifying debut album "What A Perfect Ending" is getting a proper release this week on Reignition Recordings, a New York label with worldwide distribution. We invited Hawk and Longbottom into our podcast booth to preview tracks from the album and wreak havoc with our otherwise stable VU meters.

› Get the podcast
› Listen to the mp3 of the podcast
› Preview the debut album, "What A Perfect Ending"

Interview highlights (sans music) long-hand-style:

lawrence.com: Do tell a little bit about how you constructed this album.

Hawk: It was basically something that took about two years to do : We started in 2003, technically, when we went to Norman, OK and recorded with Trent Bell at Bell Labs. We did three songs there and finished them up in April (2004). From then on we recorded with Stephen Egerton of The Descendents, who has a studio in Tulsa. We did bass and drums there and then we came back to Lawrence and did guitars and vocals and all the extra stuff at our friend Steve Squier's house.

Longbottom: And then Chris Cosgrove (at Black Lodge) in Eudora recorded a couple songs.

Do you guys ever worry that Ultimate Fakebook is going to get back together and you'll just be up shit creek?

Hawk: No, man I hope that they get back together at some point. I'd love to see them again.

Longbottom: I'm going to beat the crap out of JD (Warnock) so they have to replace him with me.

Hawk: That's just wrong, dude. You can't do that to JD. JD is a rock soldier.

Album Mp3s

What A Perfect Ending

• "Never Too Late"
• "Short Fuse"
• "Hometown Hide and Seek" (featuring Ryan Magnuson)
• "This Amp Goes To Zero"
• "What a Perfect Ending"

More

Longbottom: I think Bill (McShane of Ultimate Fakebook) is kicking it pretty well doing movie editing in LA.

Hawk: He also edited the special features section for the "National Treasure" DVD.

And the Lawrence record release show?

Hawk: The first Lawrence CD release party is March 4 at The Replay. Conner is going to be playing and also Andrew Conner from Ghosty is going to play some power pop tunes with us just for fun : some Badfinger and maybe some Big Star.

You're playing with two members of a band you used to be fans of. I'm curious how this band formed exactly.

Longbottom: We've been rocking in Manhattan since 1997, so we were friends with Fakebook when Eric (Melin) first joined the band. We kind of both broke up at the same time.

So I'm going to put you guys to a challenge here. Since one of the things that your band is best at is the dual guitar leads, tell me some of your favorite all-time bands as far as two lead guitarists.

Longbottom: Thin Lizzy is number one. Iron Maiden. Judas Priest. Titanic Love Affair.

Hawk: I think Uriah Heep : They were the band that supposedly Spinal Tap is based on.

I was talking with you guys a bit earlier about the comedian-on-CD format.

Longbottom: Bill Hicks is a god : I just want to know what Bill Hicks thinks, because whatever he thinks is so perfectly correct and hilarious at the same time.

So what are you going to do next?

Hawk: We're just going to tour for awhile and have fun with it promote the hell out of the record. We still all have jobs and three of us are in school, so there are a lot of things we're doing right now. Rocking is really important to all of us.