The rockers Josh Clement, Colton Clement and Chauncey Sutphen are planning a combination album release party and Halloween party at The Rusty Nail at 7 p.m. on Friday.

“This is going to be, by far, the biggest thing we’ve ever done,” Sutphen said.

The Darkside Skinny Dippers play at the Nail every Halloween. It’s their “home base” where they play major holidays.

The album, “Getting Nailed,” will release on streaming services the same day. The vinyl will be available at Ampersound in Saranac Lake.

The Darkside Skinny Dippers’ singer and guitar player Josh Clement rocks out at The Rusty Nail on New Year’s Eve heading from 2023 into 2024. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

“Getting Nailed,” an album two-years in the making, features eight songs — four originals and four covers. Three songs have already been released as singles.

On one side, there’s five studio-recorded songs. On the other, there are three live songs from DSkinnyD’s New Year’s Eve show at the Rusty Nail in 2022, heading into 2023.

The group, featuring father and son Josh and Colton with their friend Sutphen, have a palpable sense of humor to them. While talking about their big accomplishment as a band they consistently were joking and laughing, making each other crack up and riffing on what the other said.

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Revival

The Darkside Skinny Dippers rock out at The Rusty Nail on New Year’s Eve heading from 2023 into 2024. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

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The band’s been together for almost four years and have their 50th show scheduled on the coming New Year’s Eve, but this is their first album. Josh has released three CDs with other bands — Anonymous (1997), Cloning Cooper (2008) and Professor Chaos (2010).

He said things have come full circle. When he started putting out CDs, records were “dead, dead.” He remembers when he got his first CD thinking “I guess we’re done with records.”

“I probably would’ve laughed back then had you told me one day I’ll be putting out a vinyl album,” Josh said. “The medium has had quite the renaissance in recent years.”

Each of the band members had different reasons for wanting to press a vinyl.

The album cover for the 12” vinyl the Darkside Skinny Dippers are releasing on Nov. 1. (Provided photo)

“When you’re my age, you’re looking for things you’ve never done before,” Josh said.

“It’s just the most logical thing to do if you buy stuff now,” Colton said. “Half the things is — it’s just bigger. You know, if you’re actually going to buy a thing, why not have it be a giant 12-inch photo?”

They made the best of the size, hiding Easter eggs all over the album case. On the vinyl, instead of an “A” and “B” side, the halves of the album are split into “This Side” and “That Side.”

“I think vinyl is kind of sexier than a CD,” Sutphen said.

To him, there’s nothing like the sound of needle hitting vinyl.

And there’s not much money in digital streaming. In his lifetime, Josh has cashed a handful of $25 checks from digital royalties.

“And you’ve got to pay to get it on there,” he said.

The album was pressed by Gotta Groove Records in Ohio, which specializes in pressing vinyl for unsigned bands. They have 100 numbered copies of the album, but Josh said they plan to outsell Taylor Swift.

He said they saved money from two years worth of shows to pay for the project. It’s not about the money, though. Josh said they’ll be happy if they break even.

“We’re in it for the love,” he said.

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Studio, islands and a Rav4

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Josh said the album represents everything they can be — from country rock to heavy metal. They cover Kenny Loggins, Billy Joel, Neil Young and Black Sabbath.

“If you don’t like all of us, you’ll like some of us,” Colton said.

Sutphen said they have a casual songwriting process for originals. They sit down, Colton starts a bass riff, he comes in on drums and Josh joins with a riff.

The album is a culmination of all the songs they’ve been farting around with, he said.

They’re a live band first, so studio recording was a change of pace for them.

While they went old-school on the album’s format, they took advantage of modern technology in the recording process, laying down vocal and drum tracks in Rav4’s and Sutphen’s mom’s basement and guitar tracks on local islands.

“A lot of agreement,” Colton said sarcastically of the recording process. “A lot of the same page always.”

But he said disagreement is good. When they hash things out, mesh ideas and come up with something they all agree on, then they know its good. It’s like having an editor for writing, they said. Colton found that he loves obsessing over mixing — fiddling and tinkering with songs until they’re just right.

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Found sound

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Layered into, and around, the songs are field recordings — old clips of Colton and his sister Lennon, who were 3 and 4 at the time; the sound of the crowd ringing in the new year at the live show and several familiar voices from around town reading radio ads.

The found sound experimentation comes to a head at the end of “That Side” with a hidden track featuring an audio collage of Saranac Lakers a la The Beatles’ “Revolution Number Nine” or Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”

Colton likes the texture of found sound. The background noise on the live side of the album with the crowd at the Nail that night maintains intrigue, he said. Josh added that, while most of rock is the G, C and D chords, found sound brings endless possibilities.

Recording live was Colton’s brainchild, and Sutphen said they captured “lighting in a bottle” with this set with their energy and personality.

“I think we just get way, way too excited when we get up there,” Sutphen said. “We’re just trying to live this dream and this fantasy.”

Josh said it’s easy to play a bar and have no one pay attention. He works hard to maintain the audience’s eyes and ears.

“It’s just everybody that I’ve ever admired. I’ve got to try to do something as good as what I’ve always loved,” Josh said.

He’s always working to meet that level.

When he’s jumping off a pool table, seeing the excitement on the faces of the crowd is energizing.

“That’s like drugs to me,” Josh said.

This was probably best summed up by Enterprise columnist Bob Seidenstein, who came by to schmooze with the DSkinnyD crew while they conducted this interview in Seidenstein’s informal office at Nori’s.

“These guys make the Grateful Dead look like a garage band,” Seidenstein said.

Josh said he’s getting older and anticipates that he’s probably going to get hurt doing this. He believes he’ll know when enough’s enough and pull up short before that happens. Colton doesn’t believe he will.

“One of these days Josh is going to blow his knee out or fall over backwards,” Sutphen said. “But as long as someone has seen, like ‘ER’ or something I’m confident they can hook him up and make it work. … That could be the difference in Josh having another 20-year career or, you know, being in the chair.”

The album features familiar genres with new takes on them, even some orchestral strings at one point. It features the band’s blend of a heavy sound with uplifting lyrics.

On Friday, people will be able to hear songs from the album played live and in costume by DSkinnyD.

There’s just one hang-up. Josh does not have a record player.

“I’m selling a record and I have no way to listen to it,” he said.

“You don’t need a way to listen to it, you should just buy it,” Colton said.