In a glut of high-profile 2007 reunions, bands are caving into pleas from resolute fans, shrinking pocketbooks and (sometimes) hungry egos to announce mass tours and public appearances. In contrast, local favorites – and to some fans, legends – The Dismemberment Plan will be reuniting for two nights at the Black Cat in Washington to benefit Callum Robbins, the son of producer J. Robbins and Janet Morgan.
Cal Robbins suffers from type I spinal muscular atrophy, an often fatal genetic motor neuron disease that impairs the brain’s ability to communicate with muscles used for crawling, walking, breathing and swallowing. Because type I currently has no cure, most children do not survive the disease, and the alternative treatments the Robbins wishes to pursue are not covered by their health insurance.
But when the former members of The Plan heard that their previous label, DeSoto Records, was organizing donations for the Robbins family, they thought of another way to raise money for the family, said Plan bassist Eric Axelson.
“The day that DeSoto announced their Callum Robbins donation page, we received about five e-mails from friends and associates suggesting that we do a reunion benefit show,” Axelson said in an e-mail. “We talked about it as a band, and this was exactly the kind of show that we had discussed reforming for when we disbanded a few years back.”
For April 27 and 28 only, The Plan will reunite at the Black Cat in Washington. All proceeds from the shows will benefit the Callum Robbins Family Fund, and the shows have sold out minutes after tickets went on sale a few weeks ago.
During The Plan’s decade of blurring the distinction between genres, it released five albums, won the hearts of indie fans around the world, had a fling with a major record label – and survived relatively unscathed – and left a definite impression on the Washington music scene.
J. Robbins co-produced The Plan’s last two albums, the visceral Emergency & I and the lush, melodic Change, which are deemed by fans as indie rock staples.
“We’ve tortured [Robbins] so much in the studio. I remember there have been times when someone would be sitting behind him and flicking his ear, while he’s trying to fix our record, make it sound good,” said drummer Joe Easley, a senior aerospace engineering major at the university. “He’s just awesome, and he’s done a lot for the punk rock community. He’s recorded gazillions of bands, and he’s done it for very little money.”
To prepare for the two shows, Axelson compiled a list of 20 to 25 songs based on the most popular requests on their final tour for the band to practice. The band has modified the list as rehearsals have brought out suggestions, and the members expect to have about 23 songs prepared by showtime, Axelson said.
“This is the first time we’ve practiced [the songs] since the last 9:30 show,” Easley said. “Everyone’s listening to the records and trying to remember their parts. The good news is, it’s coming back pretty fast.”
“I think we definitely sound better than we did in 2003,” vocalist and guitarist Travis Morrison said. “For the last three-and-a-half years, none of us were at home watching Desperate Housewives. We’re all in music still.”
Morrison, equipped with only a pencil instead of a guitar, now performs in the National Cathedral Choir. And while he enjoys singing the ancient hymns, he’s “not inspired to write lyrics on the glory of God,” he said.
“[The experience] has made me love playing in a rock band and appreciate it a lot more. I still like to scream and yell,” Morrison added. “The writing of the music itself is so beautifully structured.”
But Morrison hasn’t stopped creating music aside from the choir, as Barsuk Records will soon release All Y’all, his much-anticipated follow-up album to what he refers to as his “whimsical” and “very strange” first solo work, Travistan. Since recording Travistan, Morrison has assembled a band called the Hellfighters, with members Saadat Awan, David Brown and Brandon Kalber.
“Each thing I’ve done in life is a departure. Travistan was much more of a studio thing,” Morrison said. “This album is more focused on the band. We wrote it collectively. It kind of sounds like Led Zeppelin, but it’s not heavy metal. It sounds like a groovier and dancier Led Zeppelin.”
The Plan guitarist and keyboard player Jason Caddell produced All Y’all and is currently playing in a band with Brown of the Hellfighters. While the band does not yet have a name, members are experimenting with different styles of music including “’70s funk and ’70s radio rock with a good bit of Beatles-esque leanings,” Caddell said.
Caddell is also working with Axelson’s and Easley’s current band, Statehood, for an upcoming release that is being recorded in Easley’s basement. But due to the band members’ busy schedules, recording time keeps getting pushed back.
Aside from recording music and reuniting for the Black Cat shows, the former members of The Plan are keeping busy in a variety of other ways. After the last Maritime – Axelson’s band before The Statehood – tour, he combined his love of working with children and the community by signing up for a new teacher’s program he read about in The Washington Post. He is currently an 11th grade English teacher at a Washington public high school.
“The most rewarding part is seeing progress with the students,” Axelson said. “Some of my kids who were barely passing the first semester are turning in some great work now.”
In contrast, Easley is in his final semester at the university with a mass of homework assignments and projects, practices with two bands, and a co-op with Swales Aerospace, an aerospace engineering company where he does finite element analysis for satellites. He is looking forward to graduation and his summer internship with NASA.
“When you’re like 10, you want to work at NASA more than anything. It’s the coolest thing ever,” says Easley of his internship. “They only hire Ph.D.s, but I’m psyched about it, and who knows? Maybe something magical could happen.”
For fans of The Plan, “magical” is the right word, reunion-wise. And even though the Black Cat shows are completely sold-out, donations to the Robbins family can still be sent to the Callum Robbins Family Fund through DeSoto Records’ website (www.desotorecords.com).
Contact reporter Nancy Chow at diversions@dbk.umd.edu.
