Photos and artwork courtesy of The Hang Lows
Who is answering the questions?
DOMINIC or Dom the Impaler of the Pittsburgh Pens Clan if you play Clash of Clans on iPad 🙂 also guitar, vocals, programmed drums, keys, and all recording/ production stuff.
What’s the name of your band? What’s the origin of that name? Have
you changed the band’s name before?
The Hang Lows.
We were all using the urinal at Excuses Bar one night, you know like guys do, and this guy walks up to us, and i shit you not, he says “you guys should call yourselves the Hang Lows” so we did. We are all actually veteran Pittsburgh musicians who played with each others bands for years. we teamed up like Voltron into a super group of delinquents and drunks.
Please list the name and respective instrument of each band
member.
Dominic Bartolomucci – see above
Tim Nelson – bass vocals
Justin Banks – drums
Greg “Rufus” Sloan – tenor and alto sax
Dan Rusnak – bari sax
What are your day jobs? If any.
Dom – systems engineer at Carnegie Mellon University
Tim – man nurse
Greg – drives boats and wrecks 4 wheel drive vehicles
Dan – i don’t know what dan does. i think he does something ironic like drug counseling, but ya we all have day jobs because playing music aint cheap.
Banks – freelance wise guy
What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your
major influences?
We are currently progressing from ska/reggae/punk into our own little genre that sounds like tom waits finger-banged portishead, but you know, with horns and upbeats.
(listen to Spooky)
How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?
Years and years. we played in bands with each other in bars before we were all 21. We are all old now. Tim is like 40!
Who writes your song lyrics? What is your inspiration?
Me (Dom) Tim or Dan usually. We sing about the important stuff; sex, drugs, AND rock n roll.
When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Our first show was a roller derby in 2010 i think. I always wanted to put a lineup like this together, after seeing the other guys play with other bands while i was playing with other bands too.
Where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite
venues?
We’ve been all over the US. Locally we prefer the smaller venues / dive bars
What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each
week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?
We get together at least once a week and I’m always writing and recording. I’ll usually put some stuff down and whoever shows up to practice will write and record a part, then the horns will tell me it sucks, etc. and we kind of put it together like that. That’s how its been lately.
What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame
and fortune?
I’d like to write and produce music for a living. Work my way out of my day job. We are too old and road-wise to have dreams of a big label deal (nor do we want the soul crushing strings that come attached) but personally, I’d love to write for film tv and stuff like that. The Hang Lows stay pure and we don’t have to play political games because we fund it ourselves. Once you rely on someone paying you for something, you have to make compromises, often terrible ones. We’d like to keep the Hang Lows as our happy place, but we would all love to make music for 8 hours a day.
How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website
with sample songs or a demo CD?
Dude our latest album is FREE here:
http://thehanglows420.bandcamp.com
for a limited time! 🙂 we are also here at facebook and if you google us we are all over the internets.
Is there any thing else you would like to add?
Keep your tvs tuned to the Cartoon Network for the Squidbillies next season and you just may hear our version of the theme song! (we will post it on our Facebook page once we hit 2000 likes too)
That and remember kids, its hard out there for musicians. Support the arts and go see live music! If you like us, tell a friend, post about it on social media, send us pics of your boobs, anything helps. 🙂
-Dom and the Hang Lows
