For James Dewees, this 2008 summer tour is his last ride as Reggie And The Full Effect. The former drummer for hardcore outfit Coalesce, keyboardist for indie rockers The Get Up Kids, and touring keyboardist for My Chemical Romance and New Found Glory struck a catchy balance of rock, synth pop, hardcore and ridiculous humor with his solo project, Reggie And The Full Effect, and its multiple personalities (British techno sensation Fluxuation and Finnish death metal lords Common Denominator). After 10 years, however, multi-instrumentalist Dewees feels it’s time to lay Reggie to rest.
His fifth and last album, Last Stop: Crappy Town, released June 17, is markedly different from his previous records. Dewees’ life derailed when he became heavily involved in drugs, but he took responsibility for his actions and got his life back on track. The album, which presents a darker and heavier hardcore sound, beautiful piano interludes and an absence of the goofy humor fans came to expect, chronicles that journey in both a physical and emotional sense.
After a 300 dollar shopping spree at Wal-Mart, Dewees spoke to The Aquarian from his tour bus on the way to Orlando, FL, to talk about the new album, his alter-egos, the end of Reggie And The Full Effect and his future plans.
Let’s talk about your last album, Last Stop: Crappy Town.
Okay.
Can you talk about it a little? What was it about?
It was all about me moving to New York after the divorce and Kansas City and stuff because it was written and recorded over two years from now. It was about me changing my life; I went to rehab in Brooklyn and just trying to get my life back together because it had become such a mess. Last Stop: Crappy Town records all the trains that I took to rehab and the subway stations where I did transfers and things like that.
You write pretty directly about what you’re going through. I know some other artists would kind of veil the situation, but you’re pretty straight-forward about it.
I feel like I’m the one that fucked up. I was embarrassed about it, how it got to be that bad, how I let it get that bad and how out of control I was. Not that I’m trying to be redeemed for anything, but the first step towards at least accepting everything would be to just go ahead, fucking say what happened and just admit what it was. Instead of having a ton of kids talk about it on a blog or some crap, I’d much rather just say this is the truth, it’s from the horse’s mouth, here’s what happened. I’m sorry to everybody, I’m sorry to the people that love me, I’m sorry to all the people that care about me for letting them down. I won’t let it happen again.
