Dodge Dart's Facebook page describes the Orange County quartet as a “very (sic) Handsome” group that writes “excellent songs!” While the former is subjective, the latter is evident on the 17 songs that comprise Lock Your Medicine Cabinet: It's Dodge Dart.
The record displays many traits of classic OC punk, which is to say it's filled with harmonies, three-chord tunes and songs that clock in at less than two minutes. There's even a cover of Simpletones' “Wanna Be Dead” that blends so effortlessly into the track listing you might think it's a Dodge Dart original.
Dodge Dart began in 1994 and has gone through more than 20 members with singer/guitarist Nicky Fidget as the only constant. The group's current lineup includes Fidget, drummer Tanner Parrott, bassist Chuk Dee and singer/guitarist Ef Davis. Lest anyone think Lock might suffer from a hodgepodge of musicians, think again. The foursome sounds so well-rehearsed you'd never know they weren't the original lineup. We caught up with Fidget recently to chat about the band's new record with a few tangents thrown in.
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On the large gap between records:
“It's been 15 years since So American came out. I guess I wasn't really inspired to write new songs until recently. I only write love songs now. I've mellowed out a lot in the last six or seven months.”
On being punk as fuck:
“When you're my age, you've pretty much been to all of the cool old clubs. More impressively than opening for the original Flipper lineup is that we've played with Social Distortion when they were still on heroin. People tend to over label stuff as punk, but a lot of my favorite bands growing up — Buzzcocks, The Dils and The Undertones — were more or less pop bands.”
On the name Dodge Dart:
“We've already received the cease and desist order from Daimler Chrysler. But I have a really good lawyer, so we're not worried.”
On the cover of the Descendents' “She Loves Me” that appears on Lock:
“I think it's one of the best songs they've ever written. Everything Sucks is my favorite Descendents album. We originally recorded it for the Descendents tribute album that Anthony Guarino and Dave from Factory Records are putting out later this year.”
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