Tennessee rockers Diarrhea Planet will be making their third Charlottesville appearance this year Friday at the Southern Cafe & Music Hall. Known for its heavy four-guitar sound, catchy riffs and explosive live shows, the Nashville-based band garnered critical praise with its latest EP, “Aliens in the Outfield.” Arts & Entertainment chatted with one of the band’s often-unsung heroes, bassist Mike Boyle, about his work and the upcoming concert.
Arts & Entertainment: This is Diarrhea Planet’s third time in Charlottesville in less than nine months. What keeps you guys coming back here?
Mike Boyle: I think it’s just always a solid show there. We always have a good time ... The band we’re on tour with this time, Left & Right, they all went to school [here], some of their family’s originally from [here]. So yeah, we have some friends [in Charlottesville], always a good show, good stuff!
A&E: When you’re not performing, what are you favorite things to do in Charlottesville?
MB: I always like going to Tea Bazaar. We used to play there ... Now I think it’s nice because you can just go there, get a pot of tea before the show, hang out, chill out before we play, and walk back being all jazzed-up on some Golden Monkey tea. It’s great!
A&E: Do you face any challenges as the bassist in a band with four guitarists? How does that impact your playing style?
MB: I think it’s really fun because all I think about … is just locking with the drummer and being as consistent as possible. And I think that ninety percent of the time for me in this band — it just sounds better if it’s simple. So just getting it, holding it down — it’s just really fun. Some other bands, you have a little more space to do some other stuff, but here it’s fun to just try to make it sound really heavy! That’s the main goal for me.
A&E: Who are some of your biggest influences as a player?
MB: The Ramones — that’s probably the way I play bass in [Diarrhea Planet]. The idea is to be pretty driving, simple, not trying to overcomplicate things. I like some other wacky jazz bass stuff like Jaco Pastorius and stuff, but I can’t play like that at all. I just think that stuff is fun to listen to in a way that’s like, “Oh, yeah, this is totally different from what I do, I don’t even think of my instrument in that way.”
A&E: What’s your favorite song to play live?
MB: Probably “Hammer of the Gods,” this tour. We didn’t play that song for a long time, and then we just started doing it again a lot this tour. It’s been really fun. It has high energy, lots of guitars!
A&E: Your band started when a lot of you were still finishing up school. Do you have any advice for kids in college maybe considering pursuing music but aren’t sure?
MB: Just try to have as much fun with it as you can. If other people see that you’re having fun, they’re gonna have fun, and that’s the only thing that’s going to keep you doing it. I think that ... the means to tour and take it to the next level present themselves if you just keep doing it, keep having fun with it. But yeah, go for it! Do it!
A&E: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen happen at one of your shows, or that you’ve done on stage?
MB: I think the funniest thing I’ve ever seen while we were playing was years ago while we were playing a Halloween party in someone’s house. There was no stage, I was kind of behind one of the PA speakers so I was fine, but the rest of the band was just getting demolished by the crowd. At the end of one song, I saw Brent, one of the guitar players, stand up on the other side of the room with his guitar in one hand, [without the strap], and his cellphone in the other hand with the flashlight on. I don’t really know how he got there or why that was the situation, but that was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen during one of our shows. As far as the craziest things any of us have done, I think there’s a pretty good picture, I believe it’s from Hangout, where Emmett [Miller] is crowdsurfing playing guitar, and Evan [Bird] had climbed up the lighting rig. And there’s a picture where you can see, they’re kind of pointing at each other and laughing.
A&E: Does it get challenging when the crowd is so in your face at smaller shows?
MB: We haven’t really done stuff like in a little while now because it gets a little bit difficult on the gear [when] everyone’s pedals are just getting stomped on by the crowd. I don’t know, it’s really fun and I think that it has a place, but that’s not something that is practical to try to be doing and recreating every night.
A&E: If this Friday is someone’s first time seeing the band live, what would you tell them to expect?
MB: I think it’s gonna probably be loud! It’s gonna be loud and there’s gonna be a lot of guitars, and hopefully just a lot of people having fun and getting into it. I think that’s the goal!
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