Dewey Mahood and “Chill Wave”

By Jason Baxter on February 8, 2011

EDIBLES PROJECT TINGED WITH HUMOR >>>

Prolific Portland guitarist Dewey Mahood plays in the psych-rock group Eternal Tapestry, as well as a number of other acts, including solo projects Plankton Wat and Edibles. Being a fan of Edibles' split tape with Duck Dive for Stunned Records, I've wondered before about the intentions behind his drippy, riddim-y track "Chill Wave." Was it a bit of pique on his part, jibing at the oft-maligned, vaguely-defined and controversial subgenre? When I called him up to interview him in anticipation of Eternal Tapestry's Feb. 23 show at the Northern, I finally had the chance to find out for sure.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Your Edibles song, "Chill Wave"-to what degree is that title satirical? I could see another blogger taking the name at face value and mis-labeling it chillwave.

DEWEY MAHOOD: I didn't even know what chillwave was when I recorded that song, and it kind of became this huge deal this past summer. I'd heard the term, and my [Eternal Tapestry] bandmate Jed and I, we thought it was a funny term and we were kind of applying it to everything on a tour about a year ago. We'd go out for food and say, "Oh, yeah this is really chillwave."  We just thought it was a funny expression. I take everything I do seriously, and I'm proud of everything I do-being a musician is my life-but at the same time, especially with Edibles, there's a lot of humor there. When you're a white person doing somewhat dub-esque stuff or at least [are] influenced by it, you can't take yourself too seriously. I feel like the whole project is tinged with humor.