Denver Dalley is a man with many a finger in many a project. He’s one of those musicians who also continues to add to his catalog of accomplishments without slowing down. Some of the musical accomplishments already include, Statistics, Desaparecidos, Intramural, City Light, and he fit time to record an album with Leta Lucy from The Twilight Singers, among others.
I first heard Statistics years ago and loved it right away. It was the kind of music that never left my CD player for weeks and weeks. Then the greatest rock band of all time came across my lap, Desaparecidos. Read Music/Speak Spanish by Desaparecidos, from beginning to end, just doesn’t dip or stop rocking and the lyrics on are as good easily as any work Conor has done in Bright Eyes. Recently I actually gave it a perfect rating. It is a perfect record for me. Intramural is a great idea for a project, which is Denver writing the music for songs and wrangling a bunch of singers such as Judah Nagler of The Velvet Teen, John Roderick of the Long Winters, Tricia Kanne of Minipop, Matt Friction of Pink Spiders and many more to contribute to them. I am excited to really delve into that and for future material released by Intramural.
Well, let’s get right to this. I was able to get a hold of Denver and send him some questions, which he was gracious enough to reply to. Hurray for nice people and good musicians:
Indie Schmarm: So far in your career, you’ve had your hands in quite a few great projects, but I figured I’d just start with your latest project Intramural and go from there. So, how did the idea for Intramural come about?
Denver Dalley: I had a handful of song ideas that I wanted to record and I was taking Statistics in a more “live band, guitar driven” direction, so Intramural just sort of happened. I do have a lot of projects going on. I want to collaborate with so many people, but it would be impossible to have a band or project with each one. Intramural became a way to work with a bunch of different singers that I really respect and admire.
Indie Schmarm: Did you have the singers come into your studio, or did you send them the songs and they sent you back a a track with vocals on it?
Denver Dalley: I love to be able to write and record anytime that I can. I get most of my work done when I cant sleep at night. I sent every singer their track and they recorded themselves and sent it back to me, except for Matt Friction, he’s here in Nashville and we tracked him in Sam’s [Shacklock, co-producer] living room. I haven’t even met a couple of the vocalists, most are good friends.
Indie Schmarm: Is Intramural something you plan on doing for a while with new singers for every record?
Denver Dalley: Yeah, I really love that process. I don’t necessarily like the legal side of it. That can be a headache, but I’m definitely planning on doing more Intramural records, and I’ve started working on the next one.
Indie Schmarm: Any plans on wrangling some of the singers for a tour with Intramural?
Denver Dalley: I would love to, but I don’t think that it’s very realistic, a scheduling nightmare. My plan is to slowly collect videos for each song and then tour with a video installation that represents each vocalist. Maybe I could go out on tour with one of the bands and that vocalist could come out for their song…
Indie Schmarm: Is Statistics something you’ll ever bring back?
Denver Dalley: Yeah I think so. I’m kind of starting all over with that project, both musically and label-wise. I needed to take a step back and get re-inspired or something. I’m also working on so many other projects right now that Statistics just kind of got put on the back burner, but I definitely haven’t forgotten about it.
Indie Schmarm: Were Statistics songs born in the studio, or did you come in with songs ready and fully written?
Denver Dalley: I wrote the songs at home on an old 8 track and then went into the studio and recorded them. Both Statistics and Intramural were my way of teaching myself how to record. I’m still very much a student, but I feel proficient enough at it now. Even some studio guys that have been at it for longer than I’ve been alive comment on how quickly and efficiently I can edit…such a child of the Pro Tools generation.
Indie Schmarm: Was there anything influencing you musically during that (Statistics) era of your life?
Denver Dalley: Really anything…I remember getting inspired by recordings in general and picking out certain elements of annoying radio buzz bands. I think that people automatically dismiss a song or a band if they don’t like the singer, but if you can focus in on other elements, there are incredible musicians that get overlooked. The same way that you can find something positive about a film that you didn’t like. Maybe the lighting or the costumes were amazing.
Indie Schmarm: Moving on to yet another project. You’ve also had your hand in the project City Light. What was your involvement in City Light? Did you write any of the songs?
Denver Dalley: I started talking to the main vocalist, Matthew Shaw, a while back. He contacted me about doing a remix for his solo project, so I did that and asked if he was working on anything else at the time. He sent me the City Light material and I asked to be a member. I ended up going back through all of the songs and basically remixing them, taking out things, adding parts…just re-tooling them. I wrote another one in the process (”Hang On”).
Indie Schmarm: Was that a one time thing?
Denver Dalley: Yeah, it’s really incredible how many other projects have started from the Intramural record. I wrote and recorded an entire record with Leta Lucy, who sings on the fifth track of the record Grows Stronger, and that’s called Two of Cups, and we are looking for a label for that. And Greg Dulli and I just started a new project together as well. There are a couple more on the horizon, probably not worth mentioning yet.
Indie Schmarm: Moving on now to probably the greatest rock band of all time, Desaparecidos. So how did that form and come to be what it was? Was there any musical influence behind it?
Denver Dalley: Oh wow. Well let’s see. All of us grew up together except Matt [Baum]. I knew of him but didn’t really know him until around the time we formed. (I had known Conor [Oberst] since grade school, Ian [McElroy] and Landon [Hedges] since middle school). Originally it was just Ian, Matt and I, then Conor caught wind of it (he and Ian are cousins), and so he got involved and the four of us got together in Matt’s basement and just really hit it off…had a first practice where we just made noise and we kind of knew then and there that we wanted to be a loud, angry rock band. Just had so much energy. Landon joined up later while I was out of town and ended up leaving at the end of our second tour.
Indie Schmarm: Do you think another record will ever see the light of day?
Denver Dalley: I’m not sure. I hope so, but I have to doubt it. Conor just doesn’t seem interested. We have had hints that it might happen someday. I’ve been pushing for a reunion tour at least…it’s all just up in the air really.
Indie Schmarm: How did the songs form in that [Desaparecidos]?
Denver Dalley: In Desa, I would usually bring a song to the table and we would mess with it for about a half an hour or so and then it was done. Conor usually sang nonsense the first day, then he would iron out the lyrics later. That was the usual pattern, although Conor and Landon wrote a couple of the songs too.
Indie Schmarm: In that nonsense when you guys were working out songs, would Conor come up with a melody then too? or did you have an idea for melody when you brought the songs in?
Denver Dalley: Yeah, of the 12 songs that Desaparecidos released, I wrote 8, Conor wrote 2 and Landon wrote 2. I’m pretty sure thats the breakdown. Conor came up with the melodies and lyrics. I think that Landon had some lyrical input on his songs, but Conor had the final say.
Indie Schmarm: What were some of the songs you had brought in for it?
Denver Dalley: I wrote “Manana”, “Greater Omaha”, “Man and Wife, The Latter (Damaged Goods)”, “Mall of America”, ‘Hole in One”, “What’s New for Fall”, “Popn’ Off At the F…”
Indie Schmarm: Was it after the songs were being formed that you guys started to go for a theme with record with materialism and consumerism?
Denver Dalley: I think that was the mindset the whole time. We were all down to write a record about America and even target ourselves (being consuming Americans ourselves).
Indie Schmarm: Musically, what are you most proud of accomplishing?
Denver Dalley: Well the Intramural record really took a long time to finish. There were a lot of legal issues to iron out with all of the different artists that appear on the record and their labels and so on. So I’m really proud that it’s actually released and all of that stuff is over with. But I’m still really proud of that Desaparecidos record. I think that really came together with the right people at the right time. I dont know. I had an amazing conversation with Michael Stipe one time after a show and he told me what an amazing musician he thought I was. You could have knocked me over with a feather. It’s not everyday that one of your heroes that you grew up listening to (and was a huge part of the reason you started playing music to begin with) compliments you.
Indie Schmarm: What’s the plan for 2008?
Denver Dalley: I’m not sure really. I’d love to finish up all of the records that I’m currently working on and see them all released. For that matter, I would love to finish the records that I haven’t started yet, but have committed to or have been planning with others. I think that I’m going to do some touring this year as well. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. Really though, I’m excited for whatever happens.
End Scene,
Dan Tana
No comments
Comments feed for this article