Das Llamas
By Chris Sabbath
Photo by Tricia Law

Has Gwen Stefani's electro-hued club-pop left the old adrenaline gaskets in need of emergency repair? Or has Dreamgirls mania consumed life like a seemingly unshakable summer cold? If the answer is yes, you're not alone. Take it from Das Llamas' Kerry Zettel - the singer/bassist/keyboardist affirmed over the phone from his native Seattle that even pop radio bears an influence on his post-punkish brood.
"It just depends upon who's driving the van or how late it is. Sometimes we'll end up listening to really bad dance music just for kicks, and I think that leaks into our influences sometimes on accident," he reveals before adding, "but we still listen to The Cramps or The Misfits or stuff like that."

Listening to the detuned guitars and fervent drum noise on the quartet's debut full-length, World War, one can assume Das Llamas heavily favors the latter. In addition to Zettel, the group - guitarist/keyboardist Shawn Kock, drummer Thomas Burke and guitarist Rusty Everett - channels the angular guitar urgency of bands like Wire and Interpol, while Burke's meandering bass fuzz gives it a danceable, gothic twist. Zettel's vocal chops recall singers like Echo and the Bunnymen's Ian McColloch and The Teardrop Explodes' Julian Cope - an endowment that helps songs such as "The Legacy" and "Wood On Bone" sound monolithic in amplitude.

"It's pretty cool how we can get it to drop down to one wiry guitar or have it be an entire wall of fucked up sounds," says Zettel. "It's a sound that nobody's really doing right now...That sounds totally redundant...but I really feel like we're actually achieving what no one else is really doing just because we have so many different influences. It's definitely edgy and grimy, but it's got a little bit of heart and soul to it too."

Kock couldn't agree more, and states that Das Llamas' philosophy isn't just about looking flashy, but also having the balls to back it up: "I think our music has fangs and a lot of music is lacking that right now."

One component of Kock's claim has to do with the addition of Everett back in March. Zettel discloses that while the band was recording World War, they would double up the amplifiers to give it a "big, fuller sound," and felt they could only pull it off live if they added a second guitarist. There might be only four members, but according to Zettel, it sounds like eight instruments all blaring at once.

Though Das Llamas might still be in its infant stages, Zettel's partnership with Kock is almost a decade old. Having met in 1999, the pair formed the short-lived Beehive Vaults with Nick Dewitt and Nathen Johnson of Pretty Girls Make Graves shortly thereafter. After breaking up and then reconvening in 2003, Kock and Zettel formed stabmasterarson - a spoof on Chris Rock's character from the movie CB4. With the loss of their drummer in early 2006, the two enlisted Burke to man the kit and adopted its current alias.

"We kept getting booked with rap-metal bands, or weird fashion-punk nights, so we ended up changing the name," explains Zettel in reference to stabmasterarson's connotation. "None of us really liked it either; it was a joke that none us ever really thought was funny."

What isn't funny is Das Llamas' impact on Seattle's music scene. With two EPs and a full-length to its name, the band plans to record a follow-up EP that it will sell on future tours. In addition to playing at Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party this month, Zettel has confirmed that the band will return to the East Coast later this year and is in the planning stages of an international tour.

"I would definitely say that Seattle's music scene is a huge part of our inspiration and drives us to get in there and put our heads in it," says Zettel.

It might have been an uphill battle to get there, but with the band's newfound buildup, it looks like these Llamas will stop at nothing to get their name out.

www.dasllamas.com