Mom and Fops: The Troubling World of 'Yeth Yeth Yeth' Explained

Chadwick Donald Bidwell, Dee Kessler, and small infant human

​In addition to their titles as frontmen of two of the Bay Area's best underhyped bands, Dee Kessler (Thee More Shallows) and Chadwick Donald Bidwell (Ral Partha Vogelbacher) -- known together as Fops -- can both claim the decidedly un-rock-and-roll mantles of Lamaze partner, diaper changer, spelling bee coach, scout leader, that kind of thing. Fatherhood hasn't made them give up the music scene, though, nor has it turned them into Wilco-caliber dad-rockers: it's made their sounds a little more focused and their weirds a little weirder, and we should all be thankful. They've already sired two albums' worth of material, one of which came out in October on London's Monotreme Records. The second is slated for release early next year.

The first, Yeth Yeth Yeth, has the vaguely hallucinatory qualities of Thee More Shallows and the mischievous churn of Ral Partha: it's missing the dimension of a live band, but the songs are still diabolically inviting, rickety castles piled high with troubling details and insidiously catchy melodies. As Bidwell (with a little help from Kessler) explains below, it also sounds like the work of two dangerously creative minds confined to a basement recording studio while the confusing California seasons transmogrify. Monotreme's press release sums it up pretty well: "Prepare to dance whilst scratching your head."

What connection does this project have to fatherhood?
Fatherhood was the impetus for Fops. Dee had his first kid a few years ago, and because he couldn't really leave his house as much he invited me to venture over to his house to kick it in his basement and maybe record some sweet tunes. It was fortunate that he happened to have a makeshift recording studio in his basement. Then about four months ago, my wife had a daughter. And then two days ago, Dee's wife had their second son. So, fatherhood has been a huge part of both our lives while we've been writing and recording. We end up talking about similar experiences, give each other bad advice, discuss unexpected places our minds end up going as parents. So, while Fops was probably initially an escape from parenthood for us a few hours a week, it actually is becoming about parenthood because it was an escape from parenthood for a few hours a week. See what I just did there?

What's the division of labor in the creation of Fops songs?
I (Chad) write most of the lyrics, but sometimes Dee will add a passage or change words that don't work. Early on, I would become very angry with Dee when he would change the lyrics. Now I don't care if he does. We usually write songs by recording a bass line or repeating keyboard figure over a drum machine. Then we add a few layers of instruments. Dee does much of the playing of instruments, while I try to push him out of they way so I can play at least one instrument on each song. Actually, we probably played an equal amount of the instruments on the first album. Dee handles all the recording. Dee also does most of the singing. Sometimes I'll add improvised backing vocals while we're recording, and sometimes I handle front guy singing duties. Then after we record something pretty fast, we start pulling things out and adding other things. Occasionally, we'll rewrite a song several times and end up with three or four versions of the same song.

Are these songs all material you've had around for a while?
The songs are anywhere in age from two years to two weeks old. Most of the songs on the first album were from the first year of recording. "Maple Mountain" and "Solid Copper Huntress" were both written more recently and sound more like what we've been writing in the last year or so. When Dee originally invited me over to record, I don't think either of us could foresee that we would actually continue meeting most weekends for two years to work on this stuff.