I first saw Diet Lite a couple of years ago at — say it with me! — the Rusty Nail. They were on a bill BEES! that night, and both bands were on fire, as if they were feeding off each other’s energy. Part of me was actually concerned that bassist Kelson Kuzdas was going to crash through the wall, he was bouncing around so much. Plus they were playing “Jump To It/Jump Through It,” which is in 5/4 time, thus making the whole endeavor all the more challenging. The show left such an indelible mark on my memory that I was surprise and a little embarrassed to realize recently that I’ve never interviewed Diet Lit on this blog… Until now!
When I first heard the name Diet Lite, I immediately thought it was a reference to a low-calorie beverage I remember being advertised in my youth, but it turns out that the beverage was actually called Diet Rite. Or was it? Did you guys arrange for some kind of Mandela effect to occur in order to avoid litigation?
i’d be careful, friend… some stones are better left unturned…
I love your last album Into the Pudding. What does that phrase mean to you, and how does it reflect the content of the album?
The term “Into The Pudding” originates from Tom Wolfe’s “The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test.” If you’re “into the pudding,” it means you’re “in on it”…. this could apply to an inside joke, perhaps a ponzi scheme, but more commonly it implies you’re simply tuned in, aware of what’s going on around you… in the context of the book, this might mean you were drinking experimental LSD laced Kool-aid on an RV with Ken Kesey… in the context of Diet Lite, it might mean you lost your sunglasses in a mosh pit in a basement. To frame Milwaukee as the pudding, the music scene here post-covid turned into a huge melting pot where a lot of advocacy and momentum built behind small bands in the DIY circuit, and that persists today… there new bands playing out every night of the week, giving unbelievable performances,being activists, organizing, etc.
I feel like Into the Pudding puts a lot of your influences on display. The “Into the Pudding” tracks (parts I through V) make me think of Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (parts I through V), the track “Tom Tom Club” evokes the band of the same name, and “Jump To It/Jump Through It” calls to mind Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.” Is that a fair assessment? Who are some of your influences?
Spot on! When we first started playing together, we all were big into bands like Parquet Courts, Courtney Barnett, Twin Peaks, Post Animal, The Chats, Minutemen, Nirvana, Pavement, The Clash, Talking Heads, Wilco, Pixies, Oasis, The Who. More recently, there’s been Fugazi, Pardoner, Fake Fruit, Pat and the Pissers, Totally Cashed, Babe Haven, Kangaroo Court, Oh Well Ok, Mannequin Pussy, Geese, Black Midi, Osees, MJ Lenderman, Dusk, Dead Kennedys, Uranium Club, Ween, CharliXCX, Chappell Roan, (Sabrina Carpenter to a lesser degree) Thelonious Monk, Stravinsky, The Las .. just whatever… then we all write songs, so different tunes will have their different flavors depending on who cooked em’ up and whatever they were dipping their ears in at the time.
Last year, you released a three-song EP of covers titled Diet Lite Plays the Hits. How did you decide which songs to cover, and how would you describe your interpretations of those songs?
Going to organize this by song:
1. Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues
WHY: Max is a big Bob Dylan guy… huge even… to the point of concern…
WHAT WE DID DIFFERENT: the original is a tad mellow for our taste… we set out to play that one faster, louder and with general disdain towards the listener. Let’s call it “Psych-Drone-Trance-Dylan-Core”
2. David Bowie’s Queen Bitch
WHY: Hunky Dory is the best Bowie Album… Queen Bitch in particular is the one singular Bowie song that Kelso could sort yelp along non offensively
WHAT WE DID DIFFERENT: As for the general vibe, the original is actually a bit relaxed in pace for our taste, so we fixed to play faster, louder and with general disdain towards the listener. Let’s call it “Power- Bitch-Pop”
3. Violent Femmes’ Add It Up –
WHY: Violent femmes are from Milwaukee, and so are we… We’ll play it as an encore for a lot of the bigger shows we play here in town… I don’t think they’ve covered any of our songs though :(.
WHAT WE DID DIFFERENT: faster, louder, general disdain towards listener. TBH, it’s just punk.
In January of this year, you released a fifteen-minute jam titled “GUNS!” I noticed that you do a bit of Rick-rolling on the Bandcamp page for that song by including the lyrics for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” I love the juxtaposition of those lyrics with the title of your track. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Well, I could say it’s intentional… and I could say that it’s a clever satire on the dialogue surrounding second amendment rights and gun violence in America… yeah… let’s go with that
You’ve done a decent amount of touring. How do you keep going?
Blood, sweat, tears, counselling, self-medication, and the lowest possible effort required by a 9-5 job. Aside from that, it helps to be deliberate and strategic to make sure we get bang for buck on those days we have to take off.
I know you guys have played with BEES! when you’ve come through Philadelphia. How did you discover them?
We were connected with them through Mic1Park, who is a music blogger based in MKE. He’s got a vast knowledge of the indie scene across the country and has been a huge help in connecting us with bands like them. BEES! are sick and they were gracious hosts… the city of brotherly love indeed!
I understand that your latest single, “Pack It Up,” is loosely inspired by the story of St. Lawrence. How so?
Max wrote the lyrics for that one. They start “turn me over when I’m done…” In 258 A.D, emperor Valerian had sentenced Lawrence to death by grilling him alive. Legend goes that whilst on the iron, Lawrence told the emperor “turn me over, I’m done on this side.” That’s basically all there is to it; absurd defiance in the face of impending demise
How did you learn about St. Lawrence?
wikipedia
And you have a new album, Double Wide Yukon, coming out in November. You’ve described it angrier and more punchmouth than anything you’ve released before. I probably don’t need to ask, but what accounts for the anger?
We started listening to a lot of Fugazi, and also just a lot to be angry about these days… SOCIETY, man…
What’s next for Diet Lite?
We’ve got an album coming out November 14th! Double Wide Yukon… it’s 13 songs, 30 minutes long. We’ve got a hell of banger lined up for the Album Release Show – November 21st at Vivarium in Milwaukee, with Pat and the Pissers and Fellow Kinsman. This’ll be our first album printed to vinyl. Doing a preorder too where it’ll ship RIGHT TO YOUR HOUSE. Outside of that, we’ll be playing shows through the midwest through the rest of the year. Then next year, WHO KNOWS? West coast tour? East Coast? Both? AT THE SAME TIME??? …and I’ll bet you’re asking your self “OH BUT HOW COULD SOMEONE POSSIBLY BE IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE????” to which I’ll answer, it isn’t a question of “HOW” but “WHEN”