FOOT FOOT!

Download: Foot Foot - Demo

(youtube link at the bottom of the page)

The core of Foot Foot was sisters Robin and Carrie Dietz, heiresses to the Manhattan Beach Dietz Brothers Music dynasty.  I talked to Carrie to get their story.

Foot Foot started in 2002.  By the end of that year they had recorded the seven songs that make up their first demo in the back room of their parents' house.
Carrie:

"I was a freshmen in high school and Robin was finishing up college. Our charming cousin Pat [Fleck] played on the demo along with some other friends.
Some of the best foot foot songs are on the demo. I remember that you (Frank) took a liking to Shasta Heavy! Since then that songs has always reminded us of you. Robin wrote Shasta Heavy about Geek Love. I really love All Heat and No Light. I played slide with this weird pipe that was cut down the middle. Pat played a bunch of different instruments throughout the demo including this ratchet contraption built out of a fish washboard, copper bells, and a hi-hat stand."

I had supposed all these years that the name Foot Foot was a reference to the song "My Pal Foot Foot" by The Shaggs, a much more unusual and infinitely less competent, though charmingly so, all-sister group from the sixties.  Turns out I was wrong.
Carrie:

"Foot Foot is named after this cat of Patrick's, who was named after Gummo.  Pat's cat had these janky paws that each had ten toes.  RIP you mangled little buddy."

One of my favorite aspects of Foot Foot was the loving arts-and-craftsy way they approached the packaging on their CDR demo and early merch.

Carrie:

"Rob and I sewed all of the paper demo jackets and block printed the song titles on the back.We broke two sewing machines along the way and a computer from burning all the discs, none of which belonged to us. I tea-dyed a bunch of our band shirts and did some real shitty embroidery on them."

Recording the demo was just the beginning of Foot Foot's long on-and-off history, which may be due for a revival.
Carrie:

"We practiced all the time in our backyard and started playing shows during the summer of 2003. We figured we needed eleven songs and once we got them we started playing shows. Our first shows ranged from The Smell to our cousin's grad party.
Foot Foot morphed into many different combinations over the years to follow, all of which were fucking great. There are rumors flying around promising a resurgence of Foot Foot mania Summer 2015." 

So there you have it! Keep an eye out for upcoming Foot Foot shows! Special thanks to Joey DeStefano for saving and scanning the cover art for me.  Enjoy!