The Grain Hoppers, a project led by the vocalist and rhythm guitarist of The Silent Boys, Wallace Dietz, recently released their second album, ‘Fireflies Trapped in a Jar’.

Wallace Dietz initially picked up the guitar in his college dormitory, tracing chords from a Neil Young playbook. Since those formative days, Dietz has been at the forefront of his indie guitar pop ensemble, drawing inspiration from the likes of Feelies. Recently, the Silent Boys inked a deal with Too Good to Be True Records, marking a new chapter in their musical journey. Returning to his folk-rock origins, Dietz embarked on a new project in 2022, forming The Grain Hoppers.

During a Grain Hoppers recording session at Sound Of Music studios, Dietz crossed paths with George Laks, esteemed keyboardist for Lenny Kravitz. Their encounter, facilitated by a layover between shows, led to a lasting friendship. Eventually, Dietz invited Laks to contribute his keyboard prowess to ‘Butter Churn,’ a track infused with the rich tones of a Hammond B3, imbuing the song with a gospel-inspired depth that elevates it to celestial heights. Fortunately, Laks’s involvement extended beyond this single track, enriching the entirety of the album.

Each track on the album possesses a distinct allure, making it difficult to single out any particular standout. As such, listeners are encouraged to immerse themselves in the collection of vibrant and captivating tunes, appreciating the cohesive tapestry of sound crafted by The Grain Hoppers.

“I was fantasizing about being in an alt-country band like Wilco”

It’s great to have you. Tell us about your latest release which featured George Laks of Lenny Kravitz Band. How did that come about?

Wallace Dietz: It’s so cool to be part of an interview with It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine!

I met George Laks in April of 2022 when he was touring with Amanda Shires. On a layover between shows, Amanda got the itch to record some new songs and booked an impromptu recording session at Sound Of Music Studios in Richmond, Virginia where I’m a partner. I helped the engineer, Dan-O Deckelman, with the session (even made salsa and brought the beer!), so I was right there with all of Amanda’s touring band members including her keyboardist, George Laks. Watching Amanda at work was a sight to behold- a hummingbird of creative energy, she flitted about non-stop well past midnight, engaging everyone in the band, bringing several songs to life.

I got a good vibe from George as he never tired or wavered in his enthusiasm for Amanda’s songs. And importantly, he was wearing a 9:30 Club T-shirt, so I thought he might dig the alternative sound of the Grain Hoppers. I gave him a CD copy of our debut album ‘Driving Evil Spirits Crazy’ on his way out the door. Half a year later, I connected with George through Facebook. Worrying that he wouldn’t remember me, I asked if he’d consider adding a keyboard part to ‘Butter Churn’. He took a listen, said he could come up with something, and sent back ‘Butter Churn’ with a soulful gospel organ track that lifted the song into the heavens (my wife says it even makes the song sound sexy). Thankfully, George liked what we were doing and stayed aboard for the whole album, adding a welcome dose of mood and atmosphere.

What led to the formation of The Grain Hoppers? The band got together only recently, if I’m not mistaken?

I was fantasizing about being in an alt-country band like Wilco, and a song popped out. What if the Devil had a son who wasn’t exactly the brightest flame in the hellfire? Why are evil spirits allowed to have all the fun spooking us? That’s how I conceived ‘Driving Evil Spirits Crazy,’ the title track of our debut album. I’ve always been a Neil Young acolyte, and I loved it when the Replacements would downshift into a folky mode, so I decided to veer closer to my folk-rock roots for The Grain Hoppers.

The new batch of Americana songs needed a sturdy backbone, so the first thing I did was reel in a power-packed rhythm section of multi-band drummer Blee Child and bassist Michael Click from The Silent Boys. New tunes require new tones, so I began searching for a lead guitarist with a background including indie rock, punk, and country but excluding jam bands. When told these requirements, Blee blurted, “Grant.” Grant Oliver fits the “versatility” bill, having played in an indie rock group, a country ensemble, and an “X” cover band. Furthermore, he could spin a web of melody and deftly shift gears from chaotic to angelic. With Grant in the mix, the “perfect storm” for brewing ear-bending folky garage rock music with a country & western tint was now in place.

You’re originally known as the indie rockers The Silent Boys. Would love to hear the story of how that band got together.

When I hear the first Feelies album, ‘Crazy Rhythms,’ I’m hooked by the frantic strumming and the quirky New Wave rhythms. It makes me think that despite my limitations as a guitarist, I can write songs and even play in a band. The Silent Boys are born in a fraternity house at Hampden-Sydney College when I strum bits and pieces of Feelies songs, and close friend Tom Bowling plays drums on metal Kool-Aid cans with plastic tops.

Future co-partner of The Silent Boys, John Suchocki, is rooming with a high school buddy of mine and shows great interest when I play him a cassette tape of our early studio recordings. I’m mildly shocked by his enthusiasm and fascination, so we meet up later to play guitar. I play John some New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen songs so that he can capture the feel for what I’m looking for to add to The Silent Boys mix. John immediately absorbs the post-punk guitar licks, adding his own sometimes caffeinated style and twist. He’s in the band! John eventually develops a knack for creating memorable surf-jazz-pop guitar lines, the hallmark of the Silent Boys sound. John has a PhD in Chemistry and lives in a cocoon of science, not popular music. I forever refuse to make him mix tapes because I want to keep his guitar sound pure and original.

Tom leaves town to pursue a proper career and marriage. Exit Tom and enter Wallace Huff who has a real adult-sized drum kit and prior band experience. With the addition of Bruce Smith on bass, we officially become The Silent Boys and a constant part of the Richmond alternative music scene, opening for bands such as Dumptruck in the mid to late ‘80s. I reformed the group in 1999 after the release of several Silent Boys songs on various indie record labels (Firestation/Kindercore/Tweenet). Since then, we’ve released eight albums and continue to write songs with a nod to the guitar pop greats of the 80s—R.E.M., Felt, The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, and others. Once I write the next ‘This Charming Man,’ I’m mothballing my guitar.

The Silent Boys also secretly released two albums (‘Noise Annoys’ and ‘Who Made The Mess’) as The Shattered Hopes, using pseudonyms (Johnny Trainwreck, Johnny Ka-Boom, Johnny Jagged, Johnny Del Sol). My older brother, who was in the Army Reserves, was called into duty in Baghdad, Iraq at the height of the conflict during the Bush years, so this band became the vehicle for my angry political songs and not-so-serious songs about Mountain Dew, Hollywood monsters who fall in love, Halloween, and nagging spouses among other things. The music runs the gamut from punk-pop to surf to lounge and is heavily influenced by The Buzzcocks and The Violent Femmes. The Grain Hoppers actually cover the ‘Mountain Dew Song’ on our first album ‘Driving Evil Spirits Crazy,’ ditching the carnival organ and substituting demented guitar work to great effect. It’s always a crowd pleaser!

Special note: I will not listen to any of my bands’ releases until at least 10 years down the road and maybe not even then, but every Halloween I set up a boombox and blast ‘Noise Annoys’ out over and over and over again until the last trick-or-treater knocks at my door for a fistful of sweets. I get so close to the songs that all I start to notice is the flaws, and then it becomes unbearable to listen, so I don’t. But ‘Noise Annoys’ is the exception. It’s a 5-bottle album on my music-to-beer rating scale.

How much time and preparation went into recording ‘Fireflies In A Jar’?

We started recording ‘Fireflies In A Jar’ at Sound Of Music Studios with Dan-O at the engineer helm in August 2022. The first 4 songs, ‘Butter Churn,’ ‘Brisketti Western,’ ‘Three-Card Monte,’ and ‘I’m Not In My Right Mind’ were fully developed as we had been rehearsing and performing them live. We whizzed through the drum and bass tracking with great ease, giving Grant time to dial in some lead guitar. All good! I added vocals, and Grant fine-tuned his parts over the next couple of weeks. Shortly after, Michael announced that his hand required surgery, and he’d be out of commission for several months.

<a href="https://thegrainhoppers.bandcamp.com/album/fireflies-trapped-in-a-jar">Fireflies Trapped in a Jar by The Grain Hoppers</a>

To keep everyone focused, I booked a recording session way down the road in Feb 2023 with the lofty goal of recording 5 more brand new songs – songs that we never ended up practicing as a unit. Ready or not, here we go!

Of course, the date snuck up on us. Michael, extra busy with his job and still getting back into bass-playing shape, wasn’t able to devote time to learning the new songs, so Grant, who plays bass for a couple of local bands in town, put aside learning his guitar parts to focus on creating the bass lines. To complicate matters, I had heart ablation surgery and developed lung inflammation. Then spring pollen hit, making my brain foggy and all I wanted to do was sleep, then sleep some more.

I didn’t want the album to slip away from us even if we were totally unprepared and I was in a weakened state, so I appointed Dan-O to be our producer and take an active role in orchestrating the album. Dan-O took his new position quite seriously, constantly directing, suggesting different approaches, and demanding more takes, resulting in a greater variety of textures and sounds from the bass lines and drum fills. At some point, we all wanted to knock that producer cap off his Dan-O’s head, but looking back, we’re really grateful that he brought out the best in us.

With all this adversity facing us, Blee and Grant probably wanted to give me a hard slap across my face when I announced that we were going to begin the session with a song I had written just 2 days before that they’d never heard – ‘Billye Sings,’ inspired by my nonverbal autistic daughter who is constantly communicating to the world in her own language.

Thanks to painkillers and beer, I endured the 10-hour session, and we knocked out drum/bass and my rhythm guitar tracking for 6 songs. Whew! George later turned ‘Billy Sings’ into a gorgeous lullaby.

How pleased were you with the sound of the album?

I had a hell of a time mixing/mastering these tracks. I love high end and brightness. Andy Gill (RIP) of Gang of Four always turned up the treble to 11 on his guitar. The Silent Boys drummer is always yelling at me, “You’re leaving me on an effin’ island!” because I prefer the bass to be played in the higher register like New Order, creating another layer of melody, not always locking in with the drums. With ‘Fireflies In A Jar,’ the songs are more bass-heavy than what I typically allow. I guess I’m being dragged reluctantly into the modern world of upfront bass and vocals. Dan-O says I have to rid myself of the post-punk mindset as the Grain Hoppers are a totally different genre and a beefier backline is the norm. I’m still not used to it….

Do you often play live? Who are some of your personal favorite bands that you’ve had a chance to play with over the past few years?

Booking shows has been tricky for us because up until ‘Fireflies In A Jar’ we have only had one set of songs. We double as a Joy Division tribute band calling ourselves Unknown Pleasures, so to get over that hurdle, we started playing shows where we open with a set of Grain Hoppers songs, switch clothes, then perform a set of Joy Division.

That’s why ‘Fireflies Trapped In A Jar’ is so important to us- we now have enough songs for 2 sets, though that certainly won’t keep us from busting out into ‘Transmission’ from time to time.

Unknown Pleasures has become a popular draw and, surprisingly, brings in a younger crowd. We play the songs faithfully, note for note, same metronome drumbeat with me as the twitching and flailing Ian Curtis.

What are some future plans?

Hopefully, the new album brings us some attention, and we schedule some shows at larger venues in Richmond. After the high intensity of tracking, mixing, and mastering, we’re all eager to rehearse and incorporate the ‘Fireflies In A Jar’ songs into our setlist and play some live shows. We’d love to hit the road for some mini-tours as we really enjoy each other’s company.

With two albums under our belt, the vision for our sound is starting to coalesce – I imagine us as a still kicking-up-sparks Neil Young, collaborating with a ‘Driver 8’-period R.E.M. With that in mind, I’ve already written the next two Grain Hopper albums.

What else occupies your life?

I’m a partner at Sound Of Music Studios with Silent Boys drummer (since the reformation) and engineer, John Morand, who has produced albums by Cracker, Sparklehorse, Steve Wynne, Daniel Johnston, and The Saints.

In addition to The Silent Boys, The Shattered Hopes, The Grain Hoppers, and Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division tribute), there are two other bands:

Steam Train Hearts
The Silent Boys is a studio band because lead guitarist John Suchocki left Richmond in 1991 and currently resides in Colorado. I started Steam Train Hearts so that I could play shows in Richmond again. Swamp/punk/noir-a-billy guitarist, recording studio partner, and one-time Silent Boys bassist, Bruce Smith, said he would start this new project with me if I would agree to lose the guitar. And furthermore, he would not put up with anything resembling the romantic jangle pop of The Silent Boys.

I wrote all the songs on the debut album ‘Smoke & Cinder,’ mining a different vein of music, and Bruce replayed all of my rhythm guitar parts to give it a more rocking sound. There is a strong folk rock Neil Young influence with elements of power pop, mod, and 80s indie rock (Dinosaur Jr., Psychedelic Furs, Dream Syndicate) sprinkled here and there. The name Steam Train Hearts comes from the title of a Silent Boys song off the ‘By The Light Of The Moon’ album. While I did, as Bruce requested, “lose the guitar” for the studio recording of this album, I maintained my position as rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist for all our live shows, and Bruce begrudgingly admitted I’m not as useless as initially declared.

There is an unreleased second album, but Bruce lost interest, and it didn’t help that both of his thumbs required surgery due to his ferocious guitar playing style (he’d be happy that I said that!)

The lyrics of the title track of the album go, “I ride the rails to prove I am too wild to be tamed.” When I was in college, I chased down and hopped freight trains for thousands of miles around the country, but my love for adventure was soon overtaken by my affection for a girl I had met at a Halloween party. I turned up the rhythm guitar extra loud on this track so that I could feel the rumbling of trains. I still love trains and that girl. She painted the covers of Smoke & Cinder and Fireflies.

The Melody Chamber
The Melody Chamber is the merging of two pop enthusiasts – me and Dan-O. Even though Dan-O has a long history of playing in punk and action rock bands, he has always dreamed of playing post-punk music in the vein of Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure, The Smiths, REM, and New Order. We’ve recorded the first 4 songs of the album, and Dan-O’s Johnny Marr Jazzmaster slices through these songs like a butter knife, the drums snap and the bass percolates. Cool stuff to my ears.

Here’s a handy guide for my bands:

Sarcastic, humorous garage pop-punk songs = The Shattered Hopes

Introspective, somber, romantic jangle pop-rock = The Silent Boys

Melodically charged indie rock = Steam Train Hearts

Alt-country/folk rock = The Grain Hoppers

80’s New Wave post-punk = The Melody Chamber

Joy Division tribute band = Unknown Pleasures

Let’s end this interview with some of your favorite albums.

I have hundreds of favorite albums, but here are some that were especially emotionally impactful on me:

The Jam – ‘Sound Affects’

I lasted just long enough as a college radio DJ to flip through the station’s collection and discover the Jam’s ‘Sound Affects,’ alternatively titled “How I learned to hate the Who.” Not the Jam’s first LP but the first one I heard. Paul Weller injected a punk rock attitude into sharp mod pop rock songs with passionate singing, clever songwriting, and gripping guitar breaks. You get all that plus harmonies, an agile bass, and nifty, super-tight drums. Hard to believe that this band was a 3-piece.

I would go on to love all things mod – especially scooters and Austin Powers. Please note that my disdain for arena rock Who has its limits as they did provide the blueprint for the Jam with classic songs like ‘So Sad About Us’. The Jam finished what the Who started!

Tracy Thorn – ‘A Distant Shore’

Forlorn, melancholic, plaintive – just Tracey Thorn and her guitar, but I can hear the whole orchestra. It’s folk. It’s jazz. It’s pop sung with a husky voice by someone who’s obviously been wounded more than once. The disturbed side of me wants to thank the jerks that caused her so much pain and grief (is that wrong?) because this is pure 100% authentic blues – spellbinding heartache! Best listened to by yourself, sipping wine on a deck overlooking a deserted beach at dusk.

Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens – ‘Thokozile’ LP + Bhundu Boys – ‘Shabini’ LP

Bypass Paul Simon’s woefully generic take on African music (no rubbernecking!), and go straight to the heart and soul of Zulu Jive music with Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens and the Bhundu Boys. How do I describe this wonderful music? Itchy guitar work and the bass is trying to scratch the itch. There, that’s the best I can do. The Bhundu Boys add an extra guitar to make for an even more jittery affair. Some of the most joyful music on this blue marble, surprisingly coming from a place of unimaginable poverty and hardship.

The Smiths – Self-Titled LP

I’m a religious guy – after all, for years I religiously played basketball and read three British weekly music tabloids (Sounds, NME, and Melody Maker) to suss out all the latest happenings in the UK pop music world. I will never forget the mega-huge buzz that greeted the Smiths with the release of their debut single, ‘Hand In Glove’. And it was warranted. Johnny Marr’s guitar work was manna from heaven, and since the Smiths disbanded, even he has not been able to recapture those magical moments of guitar splendor.

I not only love the Smiths, I love the hundreds of bands from small towns in England who, inspired by ‘This Charming Man,’ recorded a jaunty and jangly P!O!P! single, then disappeared back into the woodwork. I gobble this stuff up like a bag of Skittles.

Dirty Looks – Self-Titled LP

“Rock n’ Roll is still the best drug!”

I didn’t go to the Halloween show at the Mosque that fateful night in 1981 to see Iggy Pop’s jockstrap – I went to see Dirty Looks, the opening act, a New Wave power-pop trio from New York.

Another 3 piece. You think you would get less but you get more. Every song snaps and pops with such high-voltage electricity that I swear I smell bumper cars every time I drop the needle on this vinyl. Melodically supercharged guitar lines and an in-your-face bass that forcefully pull you in and don’t let you go. Every song is A-side 7” caliber!

Thank you. Last word is yours.

When I kick back late afternoon on my front porch, beer in hand, and listen to ‘Fireflies In A Jar’ beginning to end, I sometimes have what I call an out-of-band experience. Is that really me singing? Am I really in this band? It’s hard to believe that a guy who struggles with naming chords and identifying the key of a song he’s written is associated with this coolness. I am so lucky to be surrounded by competent, talented, and creative musicians who put their egos aside to serve the songs.

With ‘Fireflies In A Jar,’ we’ve taken a giant step forward sonically – the same killer guitar licks, dynamo drumming, and bouncy bass as before, but now, with more serious songwriting, tighter bonds between members, and the added depth and melodies of George Laks’ keys. Someone so technically gifted could have overshadowed what we were doing, but George found the sweet spot of each song, blended in, and created an atmosphere that lifts the album to greater heights. When I told George that it was a sad day for me when he finished ‘Dose Of Slow Motion,’ the last song, he remarked, “This doesn’t have to be the end, you never know what tomorrow will bring!” Stay tuned!

Klemen Breznikar

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