Coffees were all around this first Sunday morning in June. The order was for one black (guitarist Dan Hinz, formerly of Milwaukee’s finest drinking band The Benjamins) and three white coffees (bassist Justin Klug, drummer Dan Didier and guitarist/vocalist Davey von Bohlen). Most of the sleep had yet to be thumbed out of the eyes and the weekend had been a real bitch with little rest and much driving. To this point, and possibly for a good long while into the future, Maritime holds the distinction of making the greatest sacrifice to record their Daytrotter session, humbling us and making us slaves to their every diva-ish whim. Not really. The coffee was difficult to find at 10 a.m. on the Sabbath, but it was necessary for four guys – two with newborn children (just weeks old) back home – who awoke at the cruel hour of 6 a.m. to make it here. This is after a show the previous night an hour north of Milwaukee and Klug going in to work at the bar of his employ until 3:30 in the morning. Let Maritime be a lesson to all future Daytrotter bands. These boys are model citizens and when they got here, they took no prisoners. The playful and hilarious between song chatter was there and as entertaining as it is on stage during a live show. When Pat didn’t hear von Bohlen’s expl anation of “Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts” being about ska, the former Promise Ring lead singer said, “You know, ska…plaid pants and lots of jumping around.” The room was toasty hot – B.A.C. (before air-conditioning) – and it made for some pitting out. But it was all rewarded with enchiladas, burritos, tacos and one Corona (for Hinz, who never doesn’t want a beer, warm or cold). – Sean Moeller
 
First song
Tearing Up the Oxygen (Maritime) [3.40MB] [5810 downloads]


– original version found on “We, The Vehicles”
Davey von Bohlen—“Sometimes there is a moment, while making a record, when you wish you could quickly write a song that sort of brings all the songs toward a logical point and makes it all make sense. This is that happy accident.”

Second Song
Calm (Maritime) [3.06MB] [5073 downloads]


– original version found on “We, The Vehicles”
”’Calm’ was leading off the record even when we had three or four songs finished. It is sort of the thesis statement, which we hope to prove throughout the rest of the essay.”
 
Third song
Parade of Punk Rock T-shirts (Maritime) [2.98MB] [5293 downloads]


– original version found on “We, The Vehicles”
“There is also always some polarizing moment in recording where half the camp believes all the way left, and the others right…this song was that Civil War-igniter, though in the end I think we’ll all agree that ska can have dignity and it’s (God forbid) fun.”

Fourth song
German Engineering (Maritime) [3.51MB] [5392 downloads]


– original version found on “We, The Vehicles”
“My personal favorite. This song is just soooo much better to play live than record that it’s always good to get to in the set. We lost the harmony a bit here, but let’s remember we recorded this at 10 a.m., and we were in the van at 6:30…plus, I am not always the best singer. So there.”

Purchase Maritime music at: Insound