Our intrepid contributor Brian Johannesen sat down with Dominic Rabalais to talk about his act, Coyote Slingshot and other assorted odds and ends as part of our continuing previews of the 2010 Mission Creek Festival.

Coyote Slingshot is a name that has been thrown around the Iowa City music scene for a while now. The band is the brainchild of Utopia Park (formerly Porno Galactica) member Dominic Rabalais. For this preview I thought it would be fun to conduct a little interview with Dominic. After all, who better to describe what the band is all about than the main man himself?

Dominic on the name Coyote Slingshot:
“The name is a combination of my favorite animal in the whole wide world, and a childish weapon, so I suppose it somehow maybe reflects on the feeling of the music.”

Dominic on his break from Utopia Park:
“The music that I help make in Utopia Park all has a certain feeling and loudness. I listen to lots and lots of punk, nearly exclusively. It’s not as if I don’t like other music, it’s just the stuff that I always find myself preferring to listen to. Coyote Slingshot is basically my excuse for making punk. At the time I started making the songs, there was nobody to play the songs with me, so I made tracks with my computer and played them with my iPod.”

Dominic on the type of food Coyote Slingshot would be:
“Torino’s Pizza [ed. in Fairfield, IA], of course.”

Dominic on his favorite tour moment(s):
“Freestyling in the van. Just to let you know I can freestyle over anything. Some greatest hits include: Neutral Milk Hotel, Netherfriends, Emily Poole, HEALTH and the more obvious DJ Shadow and Flying Lotus. Keep your eyes peeled for the mixtape. Also this:

Dominic on his biggest musical influences:
“1) Titus Andronicus. It’s like someone invaded my soul and gathered massive amounts of data and formulated the perfect band for me, and then formed that band.
2) Neutral Milk Hotel. I don’t think I may ever be able to make music as amazing as them.
3) Close and personal friends of mine: the members of Mumford’s. I’m in love with every member of this band. Some of the greatest performers of all time, plus Nate (who sings, played guitar and trumpet and some piano) runs a fucking awesome venue in Ames called the Ames Progressive which is an amazing place to play.
4) Christopher the Conquered, shares some members with Mumford’s. Nate moves from singing to full time trumpet, and Kate from Mumford’s plays sax. Chris Ford has a fucking great voice and his songwriting style is highly inspiring, the things he does with structure and the way he sings has had a deep effect on me.

Dominic on his band in terms of pop-culture (an intentionally vague question):
“With 2012 knocking on our door, we live in uncertain and scary times. I try to make songs about hope and at the same time about welcoming the apocalypse. If we all go in a fiery fury of explosive horror, so be it. Let us hope for as much joy and sweatpower times as we can before we leave our planet.”

Well, there you have it. Coyote Slingshot is all about “sweatpower.” Having seen him play multiple times, I cannot disagree. Dom puts on a very high-energy show and promises a good time. Never has there been more love on an Iowa City stage than when Dominic Rabalais is at the mic.

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Download: Coyote Slingshot – I Should Have Killed You When I Had the Chance, If I Had the Chance

Who: Coyote Slingshot w. Xiu Xiu, tUnE-yArDs, and Talk Normal
Where: Gabe’s (The Picador)
When: Wednesday, March 31
Doors: 8 pm
Cover: $8

Read more festival coverage here.