Masters of puppets.

In the video for the title track of their new album, Where I’ll Be, local pop-punk power trio Dangercat plays live to a roomful of puppets.

Singer-guitarist Keith Dueck had access to over 100 puppets his parents used when they put on puppet shows in churches.

“Filming it was the funnest thing; (it was) super laid back,” Dueck says over coffee at the Fyxx with Dangercat bassist Ryan Roemer. “It took a few hours, we just did it. We drank a lot of beer.”

“We’d shoot, break, shoot, break,” Roemer adds. “Played a lot of dice in between.”

The song is fast, fun and a good introduction to the album, which the band - rounded out by drummer Dylan James - released in May as a follow-up to their four-song demo EP, 2010’s Head in the Clouds.

“ Until people have had enough of Dangercat, we’re gonna keep givin’ ‘er.

Ryan Roemer, bassist, Dangercat

Where I’ll Be has a working-class theme that Dueck says is more honest than anything the band has previously recorded.

“It’s just every day stuff. It’s who we are,” says Dueck, who formed the band in 2007 under the name Making Waves. “This album sounds real. It sounds more like what we sound live than the last recordings, for sure. It represents us a lot better. It’s just from the heart, I think.

“A lot of people are saying we’re bringing back the ‘90s melodic punk vibe and I think that’s pretty cool. That’s what I grew up on and that’s what I love. It’s very nice to hear.”

It may just be simple, three-chord punk, but Roemer says Dangercat’s sound is different from any other band - at least, he hopes it is.

“We wanted to put our jam space sound on an album,” he says. “We want to sound the same at the Lo Pub as the way we sound on our album.”

The band recorded the disc at two different studios in January, and although the process took longer than anticipated, they’re looking forward to recording more in the future.

“We want to just hit the road and keep givin’ ‘er,” Roemer says. “Just record, tour, record, tour, until nobody wants us to play at their bar anymore.

“Until they’ve had enough of Dangercat, we’re gonna keep givin’ ‘er.”

Dangercat’s “Where I’ll Be” music video.

Published in Volume 66, Number 28 of The Uniter (June 27, 2012)