Caleb (HTFAF): What are the main differences so far between working with Tim as Pedro the Lion and working by yourself under your own name?
Dave: Well… If I remember right, from the second Tim moved out [to Seattle] it was crunch time; we had to get Achilles Heel finished and then we had to get on the road ASAP. I don’t remember if either of us thought of it like this, but, with two families to support, we were always trying to make sure we were gonna make rent, etc. That was a major stressor for both of us, I think. Um… I’m still broke most of the time, but now that isn’t hurting Tim and his family. Also, I don’t get to see him everyday anymore.
Caleb (HTFAF): Do you regret how that chapter of your life ended at all?
Dave: It was pretty messy. Actually, from the Headphones record on, it was starting to deteriorate…Regret is weird. I don’t know if I catalog many things as regret. There are certain things I can think of that I now wish that I had done differently. For instance, I am very happy with both Lenz’ and Hankins’ contributions to the Headphones record, but if Tim and I had made it together by ourselves, things might have gone differently as far as the end of our active partnership.
Caleb (HTFAF): How so?
Dave: Well, the Headphones record was a major disappointment for Tim. The whole Headphones saga was pretty messed up, actually, by the time “Headphones” was the synth and drums project that it is now. We had already gone through a lot of drama with it (Tim, Ken, and I).
Caleb (HTFAF): Is it something you feel comfortable explaining?
Dave: Well, at that point I was writing all the music, with some help from Tim whenever we were together and not working on Pedro stuff. (Pedro was doing a bit of touring at that point). The assumption was that Tim was helping to produce the thing, and would record it and play drums on it. That it was our thing, but because of the time crunch (pre-existing deadline) I was gonna have to do a lot of the writing alone in my spare time (most of that record was written in the van on tour, or in my car on vacation, etc). But over the course of this one Pedro tour that Lenz was drumming on and Hankins was doing sound for, Tim and I discussed the possibility of delegating the drums and recording to Lenz and Hankins so we could focus on the music and the “vibe” and all that. Not realizing that we were delegating Tim right off the record, because he then wouldn’t have any concrete responsibilities. And he had a tough time feeling like he was needed during the making of the record, and I was overloaded trying to finish writing while tracking my parts so Lenz would have something to drum to. In the end, it was left up to Tim to find a place for himself in all of that mess – which was totally not fair to him – and it didn’t work. He couldn’t find a role for himself and most days, he told me later, he wondered if he should even come in. But the train was thundering down the tracks in such a way – and I had my head up my ass, scrambling to complete the record – that I couldn’t see it or didn’t see it, and probably wouldn’t have known what to do about it even if I had seen.
Caleb (HTFAF): So do you think you and Tim will ever be able make music together again?
Dave: Yes, but not in the setting where he would take time off of work to record and tour and all that. Or, at least it’s hard to imagine how that would work right now. But as things are settling down, I feel like – I hope – we are pretty close to being able to hang out and play music in an open ended fashion with some live mics around. All this is very sad.
Caleb (HTFAF): I would imagine. So you guys haven’t played together at all, since Pedro split?
Dave: Well, he [T.W. Walsh] played drums for a Headphones show, plus rehearsals. And I played a Soft Drugs show, plus rehearsals. That felt really good. I especially remember feeling pretty emotional during the Headphones rehearsal. But I think I hid it pretty well.
Caleb (HTFAF): [Laughter] Have you started working on the Bazan LP yet?
Dave: Sort of, but not really.
Caleb (HTFAF): Is most of the record written?
Dave: No, almost none of it is.
Caleb (HTFAF): Do you think you will go about writing this record differently than usual, now that you have clean slate?
Dave: I haven’t figured that out yet, but I probably will write in a similar way as before. Um…I have the tendency to want to “rethink” the way I do things with every record. Hence the line, “when every other start, requires a brand new thesis.”
Caleb (HTFAF): Well, there is definitely a marked difference in your writing style between Fewer Moving Parts and the Headphones LP.
Dave: Yeah, that’s something I have been thinking a lot about. But I am gonna try to stay the course and utilize the normal writing process. Tim and I were talking about that the other day because we were discussing how I just needed to sit down with a guitar and write some songs. And I mentioned how the process with the Headphones record was so different and how I liked it and maybe wanted to head that direction again. And Tim said, “Yeah, but those songs aren’t as good.” And I don’t know, but I think he’s right about that.
Caleb (HTFAF): I think they are very different, but I think it is the most relaxed and natural batch of songs I’ve heard from anyone in a long time.
Dave: They are some of my favorite lyrics that I’ve written. Well thanks a lot. Now I’m totally confused.
Caleb (HTFAF): [Laughter] You have said that you wanted the full-length to be recorded with a full band. Is this still the case?
Dave: Probably not. But I really have no idea. I still don’t have my stuff together enough to entangle anyone else into the “professional” end of making music with me. Having created a situation in which I caused my good friends and myself so much pain, I am pretty gun shy about having a band at this point. I am cool with “taking my lumps” and playing solo for awhile. I know you are wanting to see a band, sorry. I am actually learning a lot this way, and singing better than I have in awhile.
Caleb (HTFAF): Well, your vocals have improved drastically over the past few years. Not that they were ever bad, But it seems like you have a lot more confidence in your singing, especially live. Has that been a conscious thing?
Dave: Oh, yeah. I’ve been working hard at being more confident with my singing. Knowing that if it’s just me up there, I have to figure out a way to make it great. Unfortunately that Nashville show was kind of a dud in that way.
Caleb (HTFAF): I didn’t think it was…
Dave: Me and Cody [Cloud, Dave’s tour manager] actually got into a fight about it.
He was drunk after the show, and was being pretty frank with his criticisms. And I wasn’t really ready to process all of it, because I was still evaluating the show myself, and pretty drained after playing for 90 minutes. And so I told him to back off for a minute, and then it just got out of control. He can be pretty stubborn when he’s drunk. Really drunk, that is.
Caleb (HTFAF): He put about four back in the time from when I was backstage to the time you went on stage. So I would imagine he was pretty hammered by night’s end.
Dave: Yeah, we like to drink.
Caleb (HTFAF): I’ve noticed. So, do you plan on forming a band in some capacity once you get things straightened out?
Dave: I think so, but I haven’t made the final decision. I’ll have to see how the record goes, and if I can be less scattered as a person. Then I might consider involving other folks. I do miss playing with other dudes live.
Caleb (HTFAF): It’s almost Christmas. You, of course, released the Away in a Manger 7 inch a little bit ago.
Dave: Yep.
Caleb (HTFAF): Why do you do the Christmas records?
Dave: Well, my friend Dave at Suicide Squeeze came up with the idea a few years ago. And I like him a lot, and I generally liked the idea – there are a lot of beautiful Christmas songs – so I just started doing them. Now we are kind of shooting for releasing a CD comp of all of the singles in a couple of years, so I have to do a couple more at least. A couple of them have come out really well, and that feels good. Like, I really dig last years.
Caleb (HTFAF): You seem to constantly have to explain that your songs are based on fictional characters. Are you worried that as your daughter gets older, she will question whether songs like “Cold Beer & Cigarettes,” or “Rapture,” or “I Do,” etc. were truly autobiographical?
Dave: I don’t know if she’ll be interested or not, but if she is we will be able to have frank discussions about all that. She won’t have to wonder. Whether she does it as a vocation or not, I hope that she is creative and will therefore be interested in and understand the creative process, which will give her insight into my process.
Caleb (HTFAF): Does it make it harder to tour knowing you have a family at home, and do you think that will cause you to slow down or eventually stop touring altogether?
Dave: It hasn’t been a major issue. I miss being home more when I’m gone now, but touring is part of our lives and Ann Krestene [Dave’s Wife]and I are cool with it. We discuss the logistics of it often, but never in the sense that it just won’t work do tour.
This is the only thing I’m good at. So I kind of have to make it work
Caleb (HTFAF): Ah, the self deprecating artist.
Dave: Fuck that. [Laughter] I’m awesome.
Caleb (HTFAF): [Laughter] Do you have any particularly crazy tour stories?
Dave: Well, we always got real drunk, which is a pretty pleasant memory.
On the drive from Orlando to Atlanta, Ken and I learned ten Earlimart songs because their van broke down and Aaron was flying ahead to play Atlanta solo. [Earlimart was opening for Pedro the Lion] Well, he arrived at the venue 10 minutes before he was supposed to play, and he didn’t know we had learned his songs ‘til he got there. When we told him, he was pretty psyched, and then the three of us got on stage and played as Earli the Lion, or something corny like that. But it was pretty fun.
Caleb (HTFAF): [Laughter] That’s great, minus the name.
Dave: I know, I know. One night in Minneapolis, I was very drunk after the show when we were loading out. We were all just goofing off on the street by the van, saying our goodbyes to the locals, and I found some lipstick on the street. Everyone protested as I began to apply it to my lips, but there was no stopping me. Someone got a photo, I think. Hundreds of stupid little ones like that.
Caleb (HTFAF): Oh, wow.
Dave: Now I have herpes.
Caleb (HTFAF): [Laughter] What do you think the next Headphones album will look like, or will there be one?
Dave: I have talked to Dave at Suicide Squeeze a little about the possibility of my next record for him being a Bazan record. But I don’t know. I have a feeling that the Bazan records will move more in a Headphones direction. But again, I really don’t know for sure. No decisions have been made, or will be for awhile.
Caleb (HTFAF): So there is a possibility that Headphones will no longer exist? It certainly makes sense, now that Pedro is no longer to just incorporate the two together under your own name.
Dave: Yeah, that’s the idea. I will probably make my next two records for Jade Tree (Bazan ones), and then instead of making a Headphones record for Suicide Squeeze at that point, I would just make another Bazan record for him.
Caleb (HTFAF): Have you started writing any new material besides “Harmless Sparks?”
Dave: Yeah, I’ve got some lyric-less sketches of a couple others, but they’re acoustic guitar/vox melody sketches, and those don’t feel real ‘til there are some “keeper” lyrics. Whereas with the Headphones, a ten second riff felt like most of a song.
Caleb (HTFAF): I see. Can you talk a bit about your writing process? Where do you do most of your writing? How do the songs come together? What’s the average time it takes you to write a song from start to finish?
Dave: Um, I’ll try to tackle specific examples, otherwise I get lost. “Selling Ads,” I wrote in the control room of the studio in Poulsbo, at night, when I am not really supposed to be working, in about 40 minutes. Actually, maybe less than that. It just kind of came out. “Cold Beer and Cigarettes” was in my friend Ben’s apartment on that same property in Poulsbo. That took two 8 hour days – a Thursday and a Friday, I think. The song was basically finished when I finished the acoustic demo that is on the EP.
Caleb (HTFAF): I have four more short questions before you go, Dave
Dave: Ok
Caleb (HTFAF): What have you been listening to lately?
Dave: Deerhoof. I listened to that “Inlets” EP yesterday. The Rolling Stone John Lennon interview.
Caleb (HTFAF): What was the last book you read?
Dave:Lancelot, by Walker Percy – pretty great.
Caleb (HTFAF): Finally, What was the last film you saw?
Dave: In the theatre, The Fountain. Borat before that. The Prestige before that. At home, Cars, The Break-Up… Lots of Hollywood stuff. Oh, and the Eternal Sunshine commentary before that.
Caleb (HTFAF): The Break-Up was surprisingly good. I liked the soundtrack. And I liked how there wasn’t too much of a Hollywood ending.
Dave: Yeah, I totally agree. Vince Vaughn is smokin’ hot.
Caleb (HTFAF): I’m done, man.
Dave: Have a good day
Caleb (HTFAF): Thanks for squandering two hours of happy hour with me.
Dave: You’re welcome. Cheers.
[LINKS]
David Bazan
Buy Pedro the Lion and Bazan records
A Conversation with T.W. Walsh, formerly of Pedro the Lion
Jade Tree Records
Suicide Squeeze Records
Pedro the Lion frontdude David Bazan has announced a political-in-tone itunes single to be released, when else, but election day! (Next Tuesday, November 4th, 2008.) According to Barsuk’s website, the single will also be released as a 7” sometime in the near future in limited quantities, and the b-side to both the digital and physical copies shall be a demo recording of a new Bazan song entitled Please Baby Please, which can be seen as well as heard on the recently released Bazan : Alone at the Microphone DVD.
Hard to Find a Friend - A Music Blog 