DFI-9 will bring its Volcanic Moon Rock to hometown fans May 6 at Big Beach

DFI-9 will bring its Volcanic Moon Rock to hometown fans May 6 at Big Beach
“We play a dangerous combination of Garage-Pop-Psycho-Bounce-Space-Intensity-Rock.”

By Fran Thompson
If you were of drinking age, and that doesn’t necessarily mean 21, on Pleasure Island in the 1990’s, then you probably rocked to Whispering Zen and its reincarnation as Fear Igor, bands that combined the talents of three Gulf Shores musicians and eventually morphed into DFI-9.
And if you do remember, you may want to make your way to Big Beach Brewery in Gulf Shores for DFI-9’s homecoming May 6 show that starts around 6 p.m. and ends when owner Ryan Shamburger pulls the plug.
The band’s lead guitarist, Longer (Lance Long) spins the DFI-9 yarn this way: “At the peak of our powers, we were abducted by aliens, escaped, went on galactic musical adventures, got caught, escaped again, performed many underworld concerts, even released an alien cookbook, (surprisingly, most dishes taste like chicken) and eventually made our way back to Earth on our junk planet ship DFI-9. Thus, our band name.
“We play a dangerous combination of Garage-Pop-Psycho-Bounce-Space-Intensity-Rock, sometimes referred to as Transcendentally Chaotic Psychedelic Pop Aggro with a Lemon Twist. We call it Volcanic Moon Rock, and say it with a sexy accent,’’ Longer added.
In addition to Longer, also the band’s songwriter who lives in Atlanta, DFI-9 includes Flip (Todd Faehnrich)
on drums and Sulu (Karl Parnell) on guitar. All three members sing and also play “weaponry.’’
“We also have an invisible bassist named Lux, but we never know if he’s there until we start playing,’’ Longer said. “We are still wanted for space crimes we most certainly committed.’’
The band only plays about six gigs a year these days and they last played around here at Pensacola’s Vinyl.
“We are playing our hometown, so we are excited. It should be a fun show,’’ Longer said, “and we’ll bring two alien hostages to make sure nothing crazy goes down.’’
Longer said the band prides itself on being local legends, which is kind of true, as they used to draw up to 200 fans to most of their shows in the 1990’s.
DFI-9 recorded “All Systems Go” in 2019, and are currently working on a follow-up that will be released when it is ready.
“We made the mistake of pushing a release date last time, and then ran into mastering delays. So we learned not to push until it’s in our hands,’’ Longer said. “We also like to release CD’s,. While kind of outdated, we like having something physical that you can hold on to. Plus, creating all the artwork and packaging is fun. We are still debating the name.”
“We are focused on truly expanding our reach with our next EP,’’ Longer said. “The first was quite the learning curve. While it’s cool, we feel this next one will crush.’’
With Longer living in Hotlanta, Flip in Robertsdale and Sulu in Pensacola, DFI-9 the band does not practice often, but they are of the same mindset when they do.
“Typically, we get a kick out of doing what other bands don’t,’’ Longer said. “Being obnoxious with big amps, alien hostages, lights stuffed in foam heads, having our own genre, and DFI-9 game cards created for special shows that go to a game that doesn’t exist. This is supposed to be fun, so we enjoy having fun. Our back story fits into this vibe, plus all of this makes us giggle, and what’s better than that.”
Longer said he and Sulu were part of the late 1980’s Pleasure Island surfer circle.
“We were a wild group of friends led by characters with names like Iron Rod and Mr. Energy. They were crazy days,’’ he said. “Sulu was already a respected guitarist in this circle and we hit it off immediately. We started jamming together, and quickly started writing songs, eventually starting bands.’’
Whispering Zen played mostly house parties that were mostly shut down in Gulf Shores and anywhere that allowed original bands all over Mobile, Fairhope and Pensacola. They eventually found residencies at Culture Shock and Poor Richards in Mobile. Their local heros were their friends in Loppybogymi, a Mobile based punk funk band.
“Our biggest show in Gulf Shores was at the Pink Pony, where afterwards they told us we were amazing and you’ll never play here again,’’ Longer said. “We actually have a few places where we were permanently banned. Shows got out of hand at times.’’
Whispering Zen, in preparation for an East Coast Tour that was eventually cancelled, quit their day jobs.
“When the tour fell apart at the last minute, we moved to Atlanta, because, you know, we already played a huge farewell show in town and couldn’t stick around,’’ Longer said with a laugh. “We thought Atlanta was the next logical step.’’
The Whispering Zen boys lived with another band, Vagrant Justice, and every show was leading to two more. But being broke in Atlanta, and getting the band house condemned led to a return to Gulf Shores and the formation of Fear Igor, a more angry, grungy, punky band than Whispering Zen.
That led to Death of Fear Igor for a few shows, but nothing is fun about death. So, it was DFI for a few more shows. Turns out that was a produce company in Texas. Thus DFI-9, and the creation of a paralell universe to explain their prolonged absences from live performance (also a slight nod to Plan 9 from Outer Space).
As only Longer could phrase it: “After being exiled to a junk yard planet for corrupting the youth of every alien race that heard our music, we started salvaging parts to cobble together a ship to escape. With help from our alien amp tech (who now has his own game card), we invented sonic propulsion drive, which is not only powerful, but extremely loud. Our first eight ships were spectacular disasters, but number nine worked well enough to get us out of there. It is constantly being modified. Spends half its time on blocks, but it’s our baby.’’
Alternative universes aside, the strength of the band and the reason they are still get together, albeit more rarely these days, is because they play songs they wrote.
“I have never been in a cover band, and refuse to,’’ Longer said. “Playing your own music, being different from what’s out there, has always been the appeal. It’s what gave us our reputation and still drives us.’’
DFI-9 rehearses and records together only a few times a year, and that seems to work for them.
“Having spent so much time together, we are musical brothers, playing together just fits and never feels forced,’’ Longer said. “Plus, being under rehearsed makes live shows exciting for us. People typically don’t believe we hardly practice together.’’
As for the future of the band Longer knows only that it will be different, if only because his band is always pushing to create something new.
“So there is no telling where that leads. We never feel trapped into having to sound like DFI-9, because no matter what we do, we will be and sound like DFI-9,’’ Longer said. “For us, that is key, because everyone is an individual, so if you are totally yourselves, you can’t be like anyone else or sound like anyone else.
“When you get to have fun, create art you love, make music you love, and do it with those you love, with your true brothers, there is nothing like it. We would still play shows to only three people if we had to, just to turn them on to what turns us on. If your in this for the money, your in the wrong business. Be in it because you love it, then see what happens.’’
Does that include quitting your day jobs and touring th East Coast? “Stranger things have happene,’’ Langer answerd. “Especially to us.”
Pictured: (top) DFI-9 (1999-present), (left) Fear Igor