A brief chat with toyGuitar

Yellow Scene: When did the band tour, and what was the mission?

Jack Dalrymple: We’ve been active since about 2012. I’ve had so many songs. I’m playing with Spike and Re-Volts, and I had songs from there. I just have so many, and I needed an outlet. This is before I was writing a lot of those Swingin’ Utters records. I was really careful not to mess that band up too much with my dumb songs.

YS: How do you balance all of your bands?

JD: Yeah, I’m in hot water all the time. I balance it barely. It’s hard for me to do the big tours that they do. The Swingin’ Utters are all of a sudden a monster touring band, after not touring for so long. They’re on tour all the time, and I can’t do all of those. It’s manageable. They let me do the ones that I can do. I’m not going to get time off work, and being away from the wife and kid is a juggle. There’s so much stuff going on. I’m keeping it together, barely. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. It’s so brutal when I say to my wife that I’m with another band.

YS: Do you like playing Colorado?

JD: I haven’t been there in a little bit, but I’ve historically liked a lot of the shows in Colorado. Super-fun shows. I remember Denver being really awesome. We’ve had a couple of good shows at the Bluebird.

YS: What can we expect from the toyGuitar set on this tour?

JD: Lots of sloppiness, and that’s pretty much it. I feel like, in the grand scheme of things, toyGuitar is a weird sounding band on Fat Wreck, given the canon that’s over there. I just hope people are into it. It’s not so fast and punk like a lot of the Fat stuff is, but I hope people like it. It’s definitely going to be different for sure. I think I’m doing two sets a night. This time, there’s a break between the bands, another band or two between toyGuitar and Swingin’ Utters. I’m doing double-duty, but there’s enough room where I can catch my breath for a sec.

YS: What’s next for toyGuitar after this tour?

JD: After that, I know there’s a small run in September. We’re playing Awesome Fest with a bunch of bands. I’m the worst guy to ask these questions – I never know s*#t. There’s a Japan tour coming up in October/November. I’m going to be insanely busy, and insanely in trouble. Just trying to keep it afloat.