WHO: Tuffy with the Yusge and Shana David
WHEN: Wednesday, November 1st
WHERE: Moon Colony Razorblade
“We’re always sleepy and tuff.”
When Sean Madgett and Howie Winkler were in Goalie five years ago, they wrote a lot of songs on the side. When Goalie split up, Madgett and Winkler kept getting together and writing songs. Proud of their lo-fi, four track recordings, they spent countless hours creating music that included various assortments of instrumentation.
“We’d need 30 people to duplicate our recordings live. Someone to bang on pots and pans, someone to play the cheese shredder.”
Eventually the Jacksonville musicians and friends they hung out and drank beer with would join them in the band room; there these friends would consummate their friendships in a musical realm. “It’s about hanging out and drinking beers. We’re all musicians, so the relationship turns into music. Meeting people through playing together just makes it something.”
Tuffy was born. They never meant to become a live band, according to Madgett, and he is worried about it turning into that now that an actual band has formed. “We really just enjoy making the music, but lately we’ve been playing three times a month.”
Many Jacksonville musicians have played with Tuffy over the past few years, but Madgett and Winkler were happy to have found Mikael Schewee and Earol Aguilar. “When there’s no drink deals, Earol has whisky in his car. A $10 flask helps ease the anxiety. Club Earol.”
I caught up with them at Earol’s home where they practice late into the night. The neighbors don’t complain about late night practices in the quiet Murray Hill neighborhood.
“I think one doesn’t want cops around, and the others are just too nice to say anything,” remarked Earol.
I joined them in front of Adult Swim and we watched Metalocalypse. We all had a beer together and talked. Tuffy just answered as Tuffy. Each in their own way and often simultaneously while I scratched away on my notepad, feverishly trying to keep up. The band intermingles their conversation, each launching off the other with humorous side-notes and stories about friends, so each quote can’t be attributed to who said it.
“Do you know shorthand?” I do know Howie asked me that.
“Or you could use a recorder?” Sean added.
“Jacksonville’s always happened in waves. It seems like nothing is going on for a while, but really it’s bubbling under the surface. It’s like we’re on the crest of something, a great wave, and it’s about to hit.” Tuffy attributes being lucky and falling in with the right friends to much of their recent success.
“It’s easier on this side of town where there’s a lot of artistic things going on.” Although they all agree that they miss The Pit, a warehouse in the Brooklyn area of Riverside that hosted local and national shows until recently, Sean’s brother and former Goalie band mate, Scott Madgett, has plans to put a new studio into that space for area musicians. Also the Pit’s owner, Tim Massett, has recently started Shrug Records. Members of Tuffy are appearing on an upcoming release with Shana David, and they intend to put out a split seven inch with Cerberus Shoal. “I just want to put out a physical record. Get on wax. I can hang it on my wall when I’m seventy.”
In addition to their recording schedule and heavy load of shows, they also play in other projects, and none of this is mentioning their full time jobs. Sean, Howie, and one-time Tuffy member, Chris Stowe make up Slow Code, an instrumental rock project about which the members are excited.
“We’re happy just recording songs. Getting to go to other towns and appearing on other artists’ recordings is all a plus. To be able to travel or just wake up and make music for a living, I can’t even imagine it. Thinking about people that get go to Europe to just play music, that’d be it.”
Tuffy’s laid back and lo-fi songs remind me at first of Eric’s Trip or maybe early Slint, but Tuffy on the recordings is a different band than Tuffy on stage, but the only way to come by a recording right now is to catch them at a live show and get one of their homemade CDs. So if you’re one of the lucky ones, you can get both Tuffy’s by going to a single show. “It’s heavy, boy. Drunken, heavy, campfire songs. Friendcore.”
In spite of enjoying an occasional show in Gainesville or Saint Augustine, they always prefer home where they play to their friends and try to take part in all the big things that are bubbling up in this town. You can catch them downtown at Moon Colony Razorblade with the Yusge and Shana David at ArtWalk on November 1st. If you miss that one, catch them at Yesterdays on November 11th with Helios Eye and Steel Oatmeal.
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