Tucker Rountree’s Total Slacker project has origins so closely tied to bands like DIIV and Beach Fossils that around 2009, both Cole from DIIV and Dustin from Beach Fossils did brief stints as live members of Total Slacker, and Rountree was also the original drummer in Beach Fossils. Previous versions of the band have had a more traditional rock band structure, with Rountree as the sole permanent band member, but on his fourth LP,\u00a0\u2018Extra Life,\u2019 due May 27, Rountree plays every instrument himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of staying in Brooklyn and making a living via touring like the path his friends took, when the Brooklyn DIY scene started to die down a bit, Rountree instead moved to Utah to work with his father, painting houses. With his father not being able to retire, Tucker felt a responsibility to help his father, who is also a musician, having played in a band called The Western Reflections in the 70s & 80s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somehow the experience of working manual labor for four years, a different kind of songwriting started to emerge, and slowly Tucker crafted\u00a0\u2018Extra Life\u2019\u00a0during this time. The lyrics reflect this; in Dried Up Well<\/em> he sings “this city’s like a dried up well, looks like this time its gonna hurt,”<\/em> which describes Utah and other small town settings that have suffered economically and have lost sense of prosperity, with their main streets looking like ghost towns. Watch the video for Dried Up Well <\/em>via YouTube below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n