Interview The Kissing Party is no love affair

You might be tempted to think that the guy behind The Kissing Party’s extravagantly jangly indie-pop record, The Hate Album, would be as soft-spoken and amicable as his music—but you’d be wrong. Gregg Dolan, the band’s guitarist-vocalist is anything but reserved. He’s an outspoken and opinionated rocker at heart, and he’s not about to let scene etiquette stand in the way of expressing his mind. In advance of the band’s album release tomorrow night at the Hi-Dive, Dolan spoke with The A.V. Club about, of course, all the things he hates (including the local music scene).

The A.V. Club: The Hate Album is your fourth recording, and after shopping it to a few labels, you’re self-releasing it. How’s the industry hustle treating you?

Gregg Dolan: I can’t stand any of that stuff. That’s half the reason that I don’t think we have that many fans. [Laughs.] Everybody in our band’s lazy. None of us are business-minded, so it’s really hard to do stuff like that. If you know any Colonel Parker types who are looking forward to exploiting us, let me know.

AVC: In interviews you’ve said that you hate your last album, Rediscover Lovers.

GD: [Laughs.] I don’t hate it. I just wish all the songs on the record, sound quality-wise, were better. I think all the songs are good. They just sound like that basement type of indie bullshit. That’s what I do not want to do. I think that record just turned out like that. A lot of people liked it, and they liked it for the exact reason I hated it.

AVC: Do you feel less hateful about The Hate Album?

GD: I’d like to say that it’s way fucking better than the last one. My best friend says that, but most people are like, “It’s really good. I really like it.” It’s different than the last one. People inevitably say it’s twee or it sounds like Belle And Sebastian. Fuck! It’s not supposed to.

AVC: The Kissing Party is pretty polarizing, and you seem to have a lot of people who hate you. Why is that?

GD: I guess it’s because we don’t have a violin in our band. We don’t have acoustic guitars and we’re not crying about anything. [Laughs.] If I saw some of our early shows, I’d probably hate us, too. We’ve had a lot of awful shows. We’ve had a lot of good shows. We’re not consistent. We have critics who seem to like our band, but then the shows are still just our friends coming. I think a lot of times, it’s just people’s opinions you can’t change. If people are going to like certain bands—that are going to remain nameless—you wouldn’t want them liking you anyway. It’s like the Aesop’s fable: People often applaud imitation, but when the real thing comes along, they don’t give a shit.

AVC: Beyond Aesop, do you have any other advice for Denver audiences?

GD: I could probably talk shit about the Denver scene for hours. I just hate that it’s a very small scene, and it’s very incestuous. There’s a lot of people patting each other on the back and bullshit. When you see the [Denver Post’s] UMS list, it’s almost better not to be in that top 20. What’s actually weird to me is, are people actually buying these albums or listening to them? Do they genuinely like these bands? The scene in Denver, I gave up on it. I personally don’t want to go see some sad-bastard shit.

AVC: Denver’s music scene is often pretty self-congratulatory, but you’re obviously not afraid to be seen as a hater.

GD: I talk shit to people—it shouldn’t be taken that seriously. I just hate on shit.