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From The Desk Of The Damnwells’ Alex Dezen: Parlor Guitars

The Damnwells’ latest album is self-titled for a good reason: It’s the first to include the original quartet since 2006. That was the year Epic dropped the band after a hellish 18 months of two-faced A&R nonsense, endless remixes and postponed release dates. On The Damnwells, the chemistry remains fully charged between frontman Alex Dezen, guitarist David Chernis, bassist Ted Hudson and drummer Steve Terry. Recorded at Texas Treefort Studio in Austin with producer Salim Nourallah (Old 97’s), its 11 tracks ooze a relentless swagger born of perseverance. Dezen will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on the band.

ParlorGuitar

Dezen: A few years ago, a friend of mine got this old, tiny parlor guitar from the late 1800s. It had such a unique sound: warm, sharp, kind and quiet. Every string rang like an individual bell. It was such a great, pure sound. A sound that required attention to hear the subtly of its beauty. I love old things. They always come with a story. And I love stories. I got my own parlor last Christmas. It took a good while to find one that I liked. It needed a bit of work, so I sent it to my guy in Santa Monica who restores old guitars. He’s been getting it up to speed (these guitars usually need a good bit of restoration). I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Oh, and because they’re super old and undesirable, they’re usually super cheap! Old, undesirable and cheap are all my favorite qualities in an acoustic guitar.

Video after the jump.