The Dambuilders | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: The Damn Builders, and we've got Dave Derby here with

0:02 Speaker 1: us via Microsoft Teams. Hello, Dave, Hey, how's it going? Good? Good,

0:06 Speaker 1: very good, wonderful. It's great to speak with you. I've

0:08 Speaker 1: very excited about today. When I have to tell you this,

0:11 Speaker 1: I'm gonna geek out a little bit live on the air.

0:14 Speaker 1: When I first when it came to my attention that

0:17 Speaker 1: you were going to be coming on the show today,

0:19 Speaker 1: the first thing I thought of was the original video

0:22 Speaker 1: for Shine, you know, and the whole alien vibe and

0:26 Speaker 1: everything with those white outfits. That was the first thing

0:29 Speaker 1: that came into my head. So I had a very

0:31 Speaker 1: a very vivid visual image of the band in my mind.

0:35 Speaker 1: And then of course I went back and watched the video,

0:37 Speaker 1: and then I watched the new video, which has footage

0:40 Speaker 1: from the old video in it and very very cool.

0:43 Speaker 1: And so I'm extremely curious why why Now? Obviously the

0:49 Speaker 1: dam Builders has been away for a bit, right, I

0:51 Speaker 1: mean it was what was it nineteen eighty nine when

0:54 Speaker 1: the band started, is that right?

0:56 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, nineteen eighty nine, started in Honolu, Hawaii, and

1:02 Speaker 2: then yeah, we called it quits I think in ninety seven. Okay,

1:06 Speaker 2: so almost you know, almost thirty years, we had been

1:12 Speaker 2: playing kind of reunion shows. Well actually so we hadn't

1:17 Speaker 2: played them as the dam Builders. We kind of had

1:19 Speaker 2: a funny thing where.

1:20 Speaker 3: We wanted to try out this sort of new lineup

1:24 Speaker 3: of the band, and we played under a kind of

1:28 Speaker 3: like a pseudonym as a Damn Builder's tribute band featuring

1:32 Speaker 3: members of Luna guided by Voices and the dam Builders.

1:36 Speaker 2: Interesting a couple of times just to try it out,

1:39 Speaker 2: and then you know, it took a while for schedules

1:41 Speaker 2: to align. It's kind of crazy how so much time

1:44 Speaker 2: can fly by. But this has been something that you know,

1:48 Speaker 2: we've been thinking about for I don't know, probably ten

1:51 Speaker 2: fifteen years. Finally pulled it off. Okay, yeah, and we did,

1:56 Speaker 2: you know, so we did these new releases, a couple

1:59 Speaker 2: of new shows, and intending to do more kind of

2:04 Speaker 2: in the future.

2:05 Speaker 1: Oh good good, I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, you

2:08 Speaker 1: mentioned starting out the band starting out in Honolulu, but

2:11 Speaker 1: then you really became a fixture, you know, on your

2:14 Speaker 1: way up and obviously you know national act. I remember

2:16 Speaker 1: seeing the video for Shine on MTV, but really in

2:20 Speaker 1: the college in the in the Boston College Rock scene, right,

2:23 Speaker 1: was where you sort of started to really come up.

2:26 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, we moved to Boston in nineteen ninety. We

2:30 Speaker 2: had kind of dates ourselves, but we had a record

2:34 Speaker 2: on an independent label in Berlin, which was at the

2:38 Speaker 2: time West Germany, and we you know, we're living in

2:41 Speaker 2: Honolulu and we're like, okay, we can't do this. Let's

2:43 Speaker 2: go somewhere. We wanted to be on the East Coast

2:46 Speaker 2: because we figured at that point we would be doing

2:49 Speaker 2: more stuff in Europe, okay, And we had all gone

2:53 Speaker 2: to college on the East Coast anyway, and so Boston

2:55 Speaker 2: just seemed like a natural place. It had you know,

2:57 Speaker 2: there are bands that we loved from that scene, and

3:01 Speaker 2: it you know, has had a vibrant scene for many,

3:04 Speaker 2: many years, and it was just a great place to go.

3:06 Speaker 2: So in many ways that is kind of our home.

3:08 Speaker 1: How did you adjust to the weather.

3:13 Speaker 2: While yeah, different.

3:14 Speaker 1: I was gonna say that would be the one disadvantage, right, Yeah.

3:18 Speaker 2: I think it's funny. The thing I think that we

3:20 Speaker 2: sort of collectively weren't so great. It was the idea

3:23 Speaker 2: of having really good winter coats, you know, I think

3:27 Speaker 2: among us we've probably had one. Yeah.

3:31 Speaker 1: Now I'm curious to know more about Oh, I'm sorry,

3:35 Speaker 1: I keep saying the title wrong Shrine. I keep saying Shine.

3:38 Speaker 1: I don't know why, but I don't know why I

3:41 Speaker 1: do that, But I'm curious to know more, like why

3:43 Speaker 1: did you choose that song, you know, in terms of

3:47 Speaker 1: transitioning it into Shrine twenty twenty six and you know,

3:51 Speaker 1: making again the video is great. I love the way

3:55 Speaker 1: you know it combines obviously you today with some footage

3:59 Speaker 1: from the original video, But why that, why why the

4:02 Speaker 1: focus on that song specifically?

4:05 Speaker 2: It was just something that when you know, when this band,

4:08 Speaker 2: this version of the band reformed, we just thought that

4:10 Speaker 2: there was a kind of slightly different energy to it. It

4:13 Speaker 2: does sound pretty similar to the original, yeah, but but

4:16 Speaker 2: there's just a kind of I think there's a little

4:19 Speaker 2: bit of a spirit that's a little different. And it

4:22 Speaker 2: was just something, you know, to be honest, we just

4:25 Speaker 2: kind of like Kevin and I were in the studio

4:27 Speaker 2: and we were working on some other stuff and we

4:30 Speaker 2: just started playing it and then kind of thought like, wow,

4:33 Speaker 2: this is we should re record this. Yeah. Yeah, and

4:37 Speaker 2: it it turned out really well. It it was just

4:41 Speaker 2: and I think, you know, lyrically kind of what the

4:45 Speaker 2: song is about and sort of what it has kind

4:48 Speaker 2: of meant to our history. It just felt it feels

4:50 Speaker 2: like a really good song to kind of restart things

4:54 Speaker 2: with the video. You know, we're actually working on a

4:59 Speaker 2: documentary of It's not only about the Dan Belers kind

5:03 Speaker 2: of like about the sort of things that happened kind

5:05 Speaker 2: of adjacent to us being a band in Honolulu when

5:08 Speaker 2: there was kind of a rich scene in the eighties

5:10 Speaker 2: and then and then you know, going to Boston and

5:13 Speaker 2: being part of that scene, and then being part of

5:16 Speaker 2: a group of bands that were playing in Europe at

5:18 Speaker 2: that time, kind of you know, pre Nirvana and all

5:20 Speaker 2: that stuff. And so the video director is an old

5:24 Speaker 2: friend is actually like the first friend that I made

5:27 Speaker 2: when I moved to Boston, and he has you know,

5:32 Speaker 2: I've been friends with him for years and he's known

5:33 Speaker 2: the band really well, and he had a lot of

5:36 Speaker 2: really great ideas about how to kind of reuse some

5:41 Speaker 2: of the older footage and kind of to weave in

5:44 Speaker 2: this whole backstory and kind of bring in other people

5:48 Speaker 2: in the band, including you know, Joan Wasser, who is

5:53 Speaker 2: She's not in the current lineup, though we hope we

5:55 Speaker 2: can convince her to join us on stage one of

5:58 Speaker 2: these days. But she's she and Eric and Eric does

6:02 Speaker 2: has played with the dan Builders in the new lineup,

6:05 Speaker 2: and we'll probably be doing so. But we also wanted

6:09 Speaker 2: a way to kind of like bring the past members

6:14 Speaker 2: into it. And there's another person who's in the video

6:17 Speaker 2: is actually the original Dan Builders drummer on the very

6:20 Speaker 2: first record that we made. A guy named Daniel Glass

6:24 Speaker 2: I went to preschool with, who's actually a really famous

6:27 Speaker 2: kind of drummer's drummer. He has a column and Modern

6:30 Speaker 2: Drummer Magazine's he played in the Royal Crown Review and

6:38 Speaker 2: he's just a he's an amazing player. And kind of

6:40 Speaker 2: started playing with him again, and you know, a long

6:44 Speaker 2: way of saying like, we felt like the video is

6:46 Speaker 2: a great way to kind of bring the past and

6:49 Speaker 2: present together and kind of celebrate what the band is.

6:53 Speaker 2: And I think that reflects the spirit of of doing

6:57 Speaker 2: that song.

6:57 Speaker 1: Now, the friend you were talking about is that Bruno Bruno.

7:00 Speaker 2: Corbo, Bruno Corbo.

7:02 Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, So he did the video, the original video

7:07 Speaker 1: for Shrine. What was the did he come up with?

7:10 Speaker 1: Whole concept? It sort of like this alien rockers living

7:13 Speaker 1: underground kind of thing. Was that him that came up

7:16 Speaker 1: with that or yeah, you collaborate.

7:17 Speaker 2: So so yeah, So the original video, the nineteen ninety

7:21 Speaker 2: four video was created by Trenton George, who actually was

7:25 Speaker 2: also an original member of the Dan Builders as well.

7:27 Speaker 2: He kind of went in a different direction after we

7:29 Speaker 2: did some tours in Europe and became kind of a

7:33 Speaker 2: very successful director and still really really good friends with him,

7:37 Speaker 2: and so we wanted to take a lot of the

7:39 Speaker 2: really magical stuff that try and created in that video

7:44 Speaker 2: and bring this whole backstory that that Bruno had kind

7:46 Speaker 2: of created mostly on his own, but also you know,

7:49 Speaker 2: we kind of collaborated on some of these ideas just

7:52 Speaker 2: how we could kind of pay homage to the original

7:56 Speaker 2: video and bring in something new. And I think, you know,

7:59 Speaker 2: we first made the making of that first video of

8:02 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four is kind of a funny thing where

8:04 Speaker 2: there was a different song that was supposed to be

8:06 Speaker 2: the single, and then we kind of had to pivot

8:08 Speaker 2: to making a video for Shrine, and in our approach

8:11 Speaker 2: to it, I know this kind of sounds pretentious, but

8:13 Speaker 2: the sort of French wave film, you know, sort of

8:16 Speaker 2: like that idea of just like you know the way

8:18 Speaker 2: that you know, the original Breathless was made, where you

8:21 Speaker 2: know that the people in the film just kind of

8:23 Speaker 2: improvised and came up, you know, they had a basic storyline, sure,

8:27 Speaker 2: and kind of improvised and used things in the set,

8:30 Speaker 2: and so that video was very kind of random. We

8:34 Speaker 2: even though we had a really solid backstory, we kind

8:37 Speaker 2: of tried to bring that same sort of collaborative, kind

8:42 Speaker 2: of French new wave element to it because that kind

8:46 Speaker 2: of thing like experimentation and collaboration is a really important

8:50 Speaker 2: part of I think, like I'm sounding really pretentious today,

8:53 Speaker 2: but the ethos of the Damn Builders, right, it was like,

8:56 Speaker 2: we're kind of all about that. So it just felt

8:59 Speaker 2: like it all came together through collaboration and you know,

9:02 Speaker 2: different people coming up with different ideas, and I just

9:06 Speaker 2: think it's a celebration of who we are and where

9:08 Speaker 2: we're going and getting back together again and all those

9:11 Speaker 2: wonderful things.

9:12 Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I'm curious to know more. The documentary you

9:15 Speaker 1: refer to is that I Used to Be Different? Is

9:17 Speaker 1: that the one that yeah, okay, we in progress?

9:20 Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, can.

9:21 Speaker 1: You tell us a little bit more about that, because

9:23 Speaker 1: that's particularly interesting to me. Too.

9:25 Speaker 2: Yeah, So you know it is, we're in the middle

9:29 Speaker 2: of it. It's kind of I'm trying to figure out,

9:34 Speaker 2: like you know, Brennan and I've been friends for so

9:39 Speaker 2: long and we just kind of have this habit of

9:40 Speaker 2: like just you know, coming up with really probably two

9:44 Speaker 2: elaborate plans. But the idea is that we've shot a

9:49 Speaker 2: lot of stuff in Hawaii, kind of going back to

9:52 Speaker 2: sort of the roots of the band, the original members.

9:56 Speaker 2: The one one thing I'd like to plug that is

9:59 Speaker 2: very relevan and too this is it was a great

10:01 Speaker 2: book that just came out that's about the Honolulu music

10:04 Speaker 2: scene that's called Local Unrest by a guy named Sean Lopez.

10:09 Speaker 2: It's a fantastic book if you just like reading about

10:12 Speaker 2: you know, it's it's kind of similar to something like,

10:16 Speaker 2: you know, please kill Me, but it's said in Honolulu.

10:18 Speaker 2: As crazy as that sounds.

10:19 Speaker 4: Oh wow, okay, And and so we wanted to capture

10:22 Speaker 4: some of that stuff, like just kind of inspired by Sean,

10:25 Speaker 4: and we did kind of like you know, driving around

10:27 Speaker 4: and finding you know, old clubs and the you know,

10:30 Speaker 4: the sights of old venues and.

10:33 Speaker 2: Stuff like that. We're going to do a similar type

10:36 Speaker 2: of thing about you know, shooting and interviewing folks that

10:39 Speaker 2: were in bands we were coming up with in in Boston, Yeah,

10:43 Speaker 2: as well as talking to the original.

10:45 Speaker 5: Members and then hopefully going to Berlin and and and

10:49 Speaker 5: and Germany and revisiting some of the places where we

10:52 Speaker 5: did shows there and kind of you know, interviewing our.

10:56 Speaker 2: Really very colorful, interesting record label guys like one of

11:03 Speaker 2: one of the strangest, most awesome people I've ever met

11:07 Speaker 2: in this life. And just having game on camera will

11:10 Speaker 2: be great, but it's kind of supposed to be about

11:12 Speaker 2: everything in between, and you know, we're just having fun

11:15 Speaker 2: doing it, and you know, our goal is to get

11:19 Speaker 2: this done by the you know, end of summer, and

11:25 Speaker 2: we'll have what we have and we'll be sharing you know,

11:29 Speaker 2: kind of teasers of it and you know, going into

11:32 Speaker 2: editing hopefully in the fall. We are we're hoping that

11:37 Speaker 2: that you know, corresponds to We're gonna be we we're

11:42 Speaker 2: doing a Boston show, which we actually this would be

11:45 Speaker 2: the first time I actually announced it. God, I better

11:47 Speaker 2: get the rest to day right, But it's twentieth and twenty. First,

11:51 Speaker 2: let me just confirm in at the burn in November,

11:59 Speaker 2: like that far away, okay, because apparently Boston has become

12:03 Speaker 2: you have to book it that far in advance these days. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

12:09 Speaker 2: which is crazy. So I think it's yeah, I think

12:11 Speaker 2: it's the it's it's yeah, the weekend before Thanksgiving, So

12:16 Speaker 2: I think it's the twentieth and twenty first. We'll be

12:19 Speaker 2: doing a little residency there and hopefully before that, you know, uh,

12:26 Speaker 2: hoping to do a few shows in New England and

12:31 Speaker 2: Lee in New Hampshire actually that's one place. And we're

12:33 Speaker 2: hoping to play at Portsmouth.

12:35 Speaker 1: That would be excellent.

12:37 Speaker 6: Yeah, and and then and then we'll be doing you know,

12:43 Speaker 6: our plans like and you know, the current Dambler's band

12:47 Speaker 6: is so busy.

12:49 Speaker 2: It's hard to kind of keep everyone's schedule. Sean plays

12:51 Speaker 2: in Luna Claudia Chopek, you know who plays violin is

12:57 Speaker 2: you know, she is in a million Broadway plays, oh wow,

13:00 Speaker 2: and so her schedule gets really busy. But we will

13:04 Speaker 2: be doing we're looking to be doing some some touring

13:07 Speaker 2: in February and March, you know, hopefully, We're not exactly

13:12 Speaker 2: sure where, you know, East coast, you know, some of

13:17 Speaker 2: the Midwest, hopefully West coast as well. Kind of TVD

13:20 Speaker 2: but that's kind of the more ambitious plans for the future.

13:24 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so you've got some things coming up that's excellent.

13:28 Speaker 2: Yeah.

13:28 Speaker 1: Something specific I really want to ask you about, too,

13:31 Speaker 1: is something that I am very passionate about is college radio.

13:35 Speaker 1: And and I feel like I'm curious to get your

13:38 Speaker 1: thoughts on how on the role that college radio, you know,

13:42 Speaker 1: especially in a place like Boston, which has you know,

13:44 Speaker 1: just a lot of obviously an incredible music scene, and

13:48 Speaker 1: a big part of that is is college radio in Boston.

13:51 Speaker 1: But I'm curious about the role of college radio in

13:54 Speaker 1: helping the dam builders in the beginning. Obviously you were

13:56 Speaker 1: getting exposure, you know, on MTV, Like I said, I

14:00 Speaker 1: remember seeing the video for Shrine, but but also at

14:02 Speaker 1: college radio. I feel like that's part of part of

14:05 Speaker 1: a big part right of the dam builders essential.

14:08 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, And I'm super passionate about college

14:13 Speaker 2: radio myself, you know, I Boston, being in Boston in

14:19 Speaker 2: the nineties, especially like you know, pre Internet era, like

14:22 Speaker 2: college radio was just a thing where you know, I

14:24 Speaker 2: just remember like planning my days around shows that were

14:29 Speaker 2: on different stations and just you know, switching from from

14:32 Speaker 2: station to station, you know, like NBR and r S

14:36 Speaker 2: and HRB and uh, you know all all the stations there, VBC,

14:45 Speaker 2: but uh, you know, so that was a huge thing.

14:48 Speaker 2: Another thing and also yeah, NBR, like we one thing

14:54 Speaker 2: that will be kind of TVD in terms of how

14:59 Speaker 2: how we really but we're definitely gonna There's some rarities

15:02 Speaker 2: that we have, like live radio performances where you know,

15:08 Speaker 2: the band used to like we used to you know,

15:11 Speaker 2: we used to write songs sometimes like right before the

15:15 Speaker 2: show or even on the moment. And there there's some

15:20 Speaker 2: there's some really cool nineties Dan Builders performances that we

15:25 Speaker 2: were planning to release in some form and so those

15:29 Speaker 2: are all about Collegrado. Collegrated for us was like you know,

15:33 Speaker 2: it was and I think this was very true, like

15:35 Speaker 2: back in back in the nineties, it was like, you know,

15:39 Speaker 2: it was like going into the studio was like prepping

15:41 Speaker 2: something for the studios. Like the chance to be live

15:44 Speaker 2: on the radio was just such an important thing. And

15:47 Speaker 2: in Boston people you know, even before you know, bands

15:50 Speaker 2: would release like vinyl or CDs, they just do you know,

15:55 Speaker 2: radio tapes and kind of take them around and you know,

15:58 Speaker 2: and I just remember loving radio tapes that I don't

16:02 Speaker 2: know if they were ever even actually released by by

16:05 Speaker 2: you know, some local bands in Boston's and then just

16:10 Speaker 2: a whole other thing about college radio just just since

16:13 Speaker 2: you mentioned it. I mean, this is just like so

16:14 Speaker 2: just for fun. One other thing that I'm doing with

16:19 Speaker 2: with some old friends is starting a band that is

16:23 Speaker 2: is actually a cover band that is totally devoted devoted

16:28 Speaker 2: to really like mid to late eighties college radio in

16:33 Speaker 2: America before it was called indie. Yeah, so it's just

16:37 Speaker 2: like kind of trying to capture and that's when I

16:40 Speaker 2: went to college, and that's you know, I still have

16:42 Speaker 2: this like memory of hearing like Husker Doo for the

16:45 Speaker 2: first time and stuff like that. So that's so we're

16:48 Speaker 2: only playing songs from that that era and it's just

16:52 Speaker 2: so fun. Yeah, it's like a time capsule.

16:55 Speaker 1: Oh that's wild. Wow, that's so cool.

16:58 Speaker 2: Yeah, I see that as a real cell bration the

17:00 Speaker 2: college radio. But yeah, I mean college radio was just

17:04 Speaker 2: such a such a huge thing to us, and it's

17:06 Speaker 2: still kind of it still is it still is Yeah, Yeah,

17:10 Speaker 2: it's still so vibrant. I mean yeah, in New York,

17:14 Speaker 2: the New York area, the FUV thing is just really

17:16 Speaker 2: fun and you know, fmu like people are super into

17:20 Speaker 2: those stations and you know, just kind of still really

17:24 Speaker 2: important and the folks who are DJs are really kind

17:26 Speaker 2: of super important to I think, you know, sustaining any

17:31 Speaker 2: That's definitely true in the New York scene as well.

17:33 Speaker 1: Oh no doubt, no doubt. Well then well then so

17:36 Speaker 1: you know, if we fast forward to today, obviously, you know,

17:39 Speaker 1: now we have streaming and the social media landscape and everything, right,

17:42 Speaker 1: how do the how do you and and how does

17:45 Speaker 1: the band the dam Builders sort of adapt to all

17:49 Speaker 1: of that? I mean, has that been easy? Has that

17:51 Speaker 1: been a challenge?

17:52 Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I guess. I mean it's not a challenge,

17:58 Speaker 2: and it's and we're still kind of I think in

18:00 Speaker 2: terms of the dam Builders is still going to kind

18:02 Speaker 2: of see how that goes, you know, but I would say,

18:09 Speaker 2: you know, I've been putting out records for a long

18:12 Speaker 2: time in different different bands, you know, post Dam Builders,

18:17 Speaker 2: and it just to kind of wax a little bit

18:20 Speaker 2: philosophical about streaming. I think there is like one of

18:24 Speaker 2: the issues was streaming, and this is I think you know,

18:27 Speaker 2: college radio is very different in this sense, but streaming

18:31 Speaker 2: is you know, it is this kind of crazy candy store.

18:34 Speaker 2: We can go to twenty four to seven and stream

18:37 Speaker 2: anything and everything we want, and it does. I think

18:41 Speaker 2: it's hard to get past the reality that it it

18:45 Speaker 2: kind of on some level the values music. I mean,

18:48 Speaker 2: I love the fact that I can go and listen

18:50 Speaker 2: to lots of old things and discover so many new things,

18:55 Speaker 2: Like every day I feel like I'm just learning something new.

18:58 Speaker 2: So on one level, this is constant, constantly, abundant, wonderful thing.

19:03 Speaker 2: But on another level, it's like it kind of takes

19:07 Speaker 2: away the sort of preciousness of like there's something special

19:12 Speaker 2: to me about you know, I still remember hearing things

19:15 Speaker 2: on college radio, Like I remember just kind of you know,

19:19 Speaker 2: being in La and hearing things on KCRW morning becomes

19:22 Speaker 2: eclectic in real time, and just like I still remember

19:27 Speaker 2: those kind of moments of hearing something, and I think,

19:29 Speaker 2: if you know, I think there's there's got a I

19:33 Speaker 2: hope there's a way to get back to that. And

19:36 Speaker 2: I kind of think that a lot of it has

19:38 Speaker 2: to do with or maybe part of the solutionist is

19:43 Speaker 2: partially you know, like I love the fact that people

19:45 Speaker 2: are getting back into physical things like you know, vinyl

19:50 Speaker 2: and CDs. I have a twenty year old daughter who

19:53 Speaker 2: like is just in love with music and it is

19:56 Speaker 2: all about, you know, going out and finding actual physical

20:00 Speaker 2: versions of music. Like I think that there still needs

20:02 Speaker 2: to be that element of that making it precious. And yeah,

20:08 Speaker 2: so I don't know, like it's it is a mixed bag.

20:13 Speaker 2: And I also think too, like there's a sort of

20:16 Speaker 2: adjacent thing I think in the world right now is

20:18 Speaker 2: like you know, things like AI where more than ever,

20:23 Speaker 2: I think being being human and being real and something

20:28 Speaker 2: doing like bands playing in real time is such an

20:32 Speaker 2: important kind of thing. And it's kind of made me

20:35 Speaker 2: think that, you know, one one thing that that I

20:39 Speaker 2: really am excited about with the Dan Bilders is it's

20:41 Speaker 2: such a it's such a joy to play with these people,

20:44 Speaker 2: and I want to just capture that live, raw sound

20:49 Speaker 2: as well. That's a really long response to.

20:55 Speaker 1: No, that's that's okay. I mean we are, we are

20:58 Speaker 1: very fortunate. You know, I'm a gen X or so

21:00 Speaker 1: you know my you know, I'm not sure how old

21:02 Speaker 1: you are, but Gen X of course the last generation

21:06 Speaker 1: to really grow up without the Internet.

21:07 Speaker 2: And yeah, I do agree, I do.

21:09 Speaker 1: Agree with obviously it has devalued music in a way,

21:12 Speaker 1: although I do love as you as you mentioned, you know,

21:15 Speaker 1: we live in a time where you can hear anything

21:17 Speaker 1: you want to at literally at any time, and that's

21:20 Speaker 1: that's pretty amazing.

21:22 Speaker 2: It is, it really really is. It's just I mean,

21:25 Speaker 2: because on the other hand, you know, I guess it's

21:28 Speaker 2: sort of like a lot of things, you know, like

21:32 Speaker 2: just a dumb example, like it just kind of comes

21:34 Speaker 2: to mind sort of immediately, but like a band that like, uh,

21:40 Speaker 2: you know that I never really listen to you ever,

21:47 Speaker 2: as it's kind of funny, like my sort of boomer

21:49 Speaker 2: uncle who kind of gave me all of his like

21:51 Speaker 2: classic rock records, the same thing where neither one of

21:54 Speaker 2: us really ever listened to the band A Little Feet

21:57 Speaker 2: and like you know, little Feet something like like now

21:59 Speaker 2: I can stream it. I listened to it and go, god, man,

22:01 Speaker 2: I wish I had heard this stuff a long time ago.

22:04 Speaker 2: But the reality was, you know, back then, you would

22:06 Speaker 2: buy the records that you bought, and you know, there's

22:10 Speaker 2: there's also that thing of like there are definitely records

22:14 Speaker 2: that I owned that that I that are probably not

22:20 Speaker 2: really great records, but just because I owned them. I

22:22 Speaker 2: kind of like made myself. It's like a Stockholm syndrome

22:25 Speaker 2: thing where I made myself like them, but but I

22:28 Speaker 2: still like remember them super fondly. And that's kind of

22:32 Speaker 2: you know, that's sort of like the weird thing about

22:35 Speaker 2: I don't know, just having access to things versus you know,

22:38 Speaker 2: the thing that you own, the thing you went out

22:40 Speaker 2: and bought, you know. Yeah, and it yeah, it's it's

22:47 Speaker 2: you know, it's hard. It's hard not to it is

22:51 Speaker 2: like this is Okay, here's a sort of sidebar thing

22:54 Speaker 2: that I find really fascinating. There's a there's a new

23:00 Speaker 2: recording software thing that's kind of like from what I

23:03 Speaker 2: can tell, there's been all these like you know, social

23:05 Speaker 2: media posts about it, and there's a lot of excitement

23:11 Speaker 2: around it, but it's a it's a technology that basically

23:14 Speaker 2: emulates the old school sixteen track you know, or twenty

23:18 Speaker 2: four track recorders, okay, And unlike typical digital audio workstation

23:24 Speaker 2: types of things where you can see waveforms go in

23:26 Speaker 2: and edit them, you can't do any of that. You

23:28 Speaker 2: just have to record it and there's nothing to look at.

23:31 Speaker 2: You have to if it's not good, you can punch

23:33 Speaker 2: if your performance wasn't perfect. You can punch in or

23:36 Speaker 2: punch out or just re record it. And it's really

23:40 Speaker 2: interesting to see all these kind of gen Z kids

23:45 Speaker 2: getting super excited about those imposed limitations. Yeah, and it's yeah,

23:51 Speaker 2: it's I think it's sort of adjacent to that, the

23:54 Speaker 2: idea of like, you know, the physical product is sort

23:57 Speaker 2: of like there was a different in a different way

24:00 Speaker 2: of making music back in those days.

24:02 Speaker 1: Right right, Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, it's it's interesting how vinyl is. Uh,

24:09 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of young people will buy vinyl

24:11 Speaker 1: now too, although I think that I think that when

24:13 Speaker 1: they're buying new vinyl, they never actually open it. They're

24:16 Speaker 1: just you know, if it's cool too, if you're really

24:18 Speaker 1: a fan of somebody, it's it's nice to have the vinyl,

24:21 Speaker 1: you know, and maybe just mount the cover on your

24:23 Speaker 1: wall or something almost like that. But but but nothing

24:27 Speaker 1: sounds better than vinyl. We actually have a vinyl record

24:29 Speaker 1: player here in the I think only one. I think

24:32 Speaker 1: there's only one show that actually uses it. But we

24:34 Speaker 1: have a record player here in the studio. Cool that

24:37 Speaker 1: that one one of the guys uses. Yeah, DJ Steve,

24:40 Speaker 1: I think he uses it. But but yeah, nothing nothing

24:42 Speaker 1: sounds better than vinyl, and it's you know, it's never

24:44 Speaker 1: gone away completely and it's it's definitely out of resurgence

24:47 Speaker 1: over the last few years, which is nice. And you know,

24:49 Speaker 1: even CDs, a lot a lot of artists are releasing

24:52 Speaker 1: CDs who had kind of given up on them at

24:54 Speaker 1: one point, you know.

24:56 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, when I was putting out records with my

24:59 Speaker 2: band Gramsey Arms, like the last record I released all

25:01 Speaker 2: these people Rockman like other CDs and it was like CDs,

25:05 Speaker 2: you want CDs and I get it actually, like I

25:08 Speaker 2: I got it. You know, just going around to like

25:10 Speaker 2: local kind of like used record and CDs tours, like

25:13 Speaker 2: it's kind of fun. You know, it's fun playing old

25:17 Speaker 2: CDs as well, like they sound really good. Yeah, you

25:20 Speaker 2: know they're uh, you know they are what they are.

25:24 Speaker 2: It's but it's it is kind of funny. I agree.

25:25 Speaker 2: It's it's sort of like, you know, to me, it's like,

25:28 Speaker 2: why wouldn't you just get the vinyl? Right? Yeah.

25:33 Speaker 1: I'm also curious ask you too about your other work

25:35 Speaker 1: because you've after the dam Builders. Uh tell me if

25:39 Speaker 1: I've got the timeline right, but I assume it was

25:40 Speaker 1: after the after the dam Builder's initial run. You worked

25:44 Speaker 1: in TV and film music, and you worked with another

25:48 Speaker 1: New Hampshire person, Sarah Silverman. She's from here.

25:53 Speaker 2: Yeah, I love Sarah Silverman. She's The thing that is

25:56 Speaker 2: so true is like, what's so funny is she always

25:59 Speaker 2: plays is like sort of you know, kind of mean girl,

26:04 Speaker 2: and she's like one of the sweetest, nicest people you'll

26:06 Speaker 2: ever meet. I've heard that in this world.

26:08 Speaker 1: Yeah.

26:09 Speaker 2: Yeah, so down to earth and cool. And it was

26:13 Speaker 2: really wonderful collaborating with her. And and she's just a

26:18 Speaker 2: she's a real sweetheart. Like I just I wish I

26:22 Speaker 2: saw her more often, but yeah, I for yeah, and

26:28 Speaker 2: it's it's it's funny. I worked in I did like

26:30 Speaker 2: a bunch of stuff for probably about like eight or

26:33 Speaker 2: nine years and and a lot of like writing and

26:37 Speaker 2: production and just kind of you know, just got to

26:41 Speaker 2: work on shows and advertisement and you know, kind of

26:47 Speaker 2: everything in between. Even did some like it was very

26:50 Speaker 2: strange kind of la pop songwriting stuff. I actually wrote

26:55 Speaker 2: a song. Yeah, I actually co wrote a song for

26:58 Speaker 2: Hannah Montana as well as Demi Levado and Selena Gomez

27:04 Speaker 2: Wow Today with Yeah, with my business partners who were

27:08 Speaker 2: kind of more so plugged into that world. Okay, and

27:11 Speaker 2: that was freaky and weird.

27:13 Speaker 1: It's interesting moment sounds fun though, that.

27:18 Speaker 2: Was totally fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

27:20 Speaker 1: So during during all that time, when you're when you're

27:21 Speaker 1: doing all this, I mean, I'm just I'm curious, was

27:24 Speaker 1: it always kind of in the back of your mind

27:26 Speaker 1: that eventually you would get back to the dam Builders

27:30 Speaker 1: or was there a point where that was just totally

27:32 Speaker 1: in your rear view mirror or or what was kind

27:34 Speaker 1: of your your mindset over those years.

27:37 Speaker 2: That's a great question, I think so, I think on

27:41 Speaker 2: some level, I mean, it's kind of I have to say,

27:44 Speaker 2: it's kind of funny that, uh, and I think, you know,

27:47 Speaker 2: maybe this is kind of the way these things go.

27:49 Speaker 2: But to be honest, like as that when the Tamblers

27:52 Speaker 2: were kind of breaking up, like I think I was

27:53 Speaker 2: probably like leading the charge to break up the band,

27:57 Speaker 2: I was like so over it, you know, really reason

28:00 Speaker 2: that are not even worth going into. But now I've

28:03 Speaker 2: become like the most you know, I'm like the evangelist

28:06 Speaker 2: of the Damblers, like and I have been for like,

28:09 Speaker 2: you know, for a while, and I kind of I

28:12 Speaker 2: think and I also I've just you know, in a way,

28:17 Speaker 2: it was there was so much. It was my life

28:21 Speaker 2: for a long, you know, period of time when I

28:26 Speaker 2: was younger. When you know that, it does like when

28:29 Speaker 2: eight years of your life is like a lot. Now

28:31 Speaker 2: it's like you get older and it's just like I'm

28:33 Speaker 2: just whizzes by. But there was a lot to it.

28:38 Speaker 2: There was a lot of emotional connection to it. And

28:43 Speaker 2: when I was finished with it, I really like I

28:45 Speaker 2: kind of look back and I felt like I really

28:47 Speaker 2: tried to do something, to really go in an opposite

28:50 Speaker 2: direction in a bunch of different ways. And and now

28:55 Speaker 2: I'm just so proud of it and so grateful to

28:59 Speaker 2: have made music with everyone who's in the band, and

29:03 Speaker 2: just to have collaborated with them, and I love them

29:06 Speaker 2: so much as people, and I really I'm just very

29:10 Speaker 2: proud of what we did. I think, you know, I

29:13 Speaker 2: really do think that the Damn Builders, like for better

29:18 Speaker 2: or worse, it's a band that just was unique. I

29:20 Speaker 2: don't think there really was any band that we could

29:24 Speaker 2: say like, oh, they sound exactly like that. I mean,

29:26 Speaker 2: there are elements kind of sounded similar to other things,

29:30 Speaker 2: but it was just a it was a very original

29:33 Speaker 2: and vibrant thing. And I am my my goal with

29:40 Speaker 2: doing it now, you know. And it's funny because I

29:41 Speaker 2: actually sat down the other day and I was like,

29:43 Speaker 2: what am I What am I trying to accomplish with this?

29:45 Speaker 2: And it's really just to honor the legacy of it

29:50 Speaker 2: and actually hopefully introduced some new people, you know, who

29:54 Speaker 2: might have missed it the first time around. Like one

29:56 Speaker 2: thing is super cool, like just doing the two shows

29:59 Speaker 2: that did you know, there are a few people that

30:02 Speaker 2: came up were younger people who had just heard about

30:05 Speaker 2: us and or read about us sort of. I think

30:07 Speaker 2: in this way that folks are kind of like discovering

30:10 Speaker 2: things from the nineties, and to me, that's what it's

30:13 Speaker 2: all about. It's just like, yeah, yeah, so more of.

30:18 Speaker 1: That, please, absolutely no, it's going to be very validating.

30:22 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And it's it is. You know, it's just

30:26 Speaker 2: interesting to me too, Like even music from that era.

30:29 Speaker 2: I mean, this has been kind of interesting just my

30:32 Speaker 2: daughter's take on things that were from that era that like, honestly,

30:36 Speaker 2: you know, for whatever reason, I might have had some

30:38 Speaker 2: sort of predisposed notion to that, you know, from my

30:42 Speaker 2: like nineteen ninety six mind or whatever, and I listened

30:46 Speaker 2: to it, you know, She'll say what about listen to

30:49 Speaker 2: this and it's like, oh my god, this is amazing, Like, yeah,

30:52 Speaker 2: I didn't realize how great this was. It's like another

30:54 Speaker 2: artist look from that time. So it's really interesting to

30:58 Speaker 2: kind of go back and listen to those thing and

31:00 Speaker 2: kind of kind of remove that sort of those emotional connections.

31:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I do want to ask you, Dave, because

31:08 Speaker 1: and we're starting to run out of time, but I

31:11 Speaker 1: do want to, uh because at the end of our conversation,

31:14 Speaker 1: you know, we played Shrine earlier. I want to play

31:17 Speaker 1: the song. I hope we're not too late. And yeah, yeah,

31:21 Speaker 1: I'm curious about this. So what I mean, does the

31:23 Speaker 1: title me to have any relation to to I mean,

31:26 Speaker 1: is this kind of the mindset or or a part

31:30 Speaker 1: of the mindset that you've had going into this.

31:33 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's it's so Kevin. Kevin March really

31:37 Speaker 2: came up with the main part of the song. And

31:41 Speaker 2: he has this incredible ability to when he writes songs

31:46 Speaker 2: and then and then you know, he has this like

31:51 Speaker 2: he writes lyrics that are so simple and so like searingly.

31:57 Speaker 7: Evocative and personal and like like and deep like in

32:02 Speaker 7: a way, and they're just like and just and you know,

32:05 Speaker 7: his idea of it was like originally he was, you know,

32:10 Speaker 7: thinking about it as like it's like I hope we're

32:12 Speaker 7: not too late to like a party or something.

32:14 Speaker 2: But it's really like, I hope we're not too late

32:17 Speaker 2: in this moment, like to be coming back to be

32:20 Speaker 2: you know, it's like fear. It's a kind of fomo,

32:22 Speaker 2: but it's like, I I hope we're not too late

32:26 Speaker 2: as and this is you know I've heard him say

32:28 Speaker 2: this as well. It's like he originally thought it was

32:30 Speaker 2: like I hope we're not too late. It's just like

32:32 Speaker 2: people or it's like a species like on this planet,

32:35 Speaker 2: and it just he he loves to write, and he's

32:39 Speaker 2: so good at writing things that can they're just you

32:41 Speaker 2: can interpret them in different ways. Sure, And and so

32:44 Speaker 2: I kind of helped and the rest of the band

32:46 Speaker 2: kind of helped to write the rest of the song.

32:48 Speaker 2: And it was a little bit more about like kind

32:50 Speaker 2: of like you know, we kind of thinking that we've

32:54 Speaker 2: kind of been here before, and that's I find something

32:59 Speaker 2: to me that's something lyrically I've kind of been it's

33:03 Speaker 2: coming out and things I've been writing of just you know,

33:06 Speaker 2: we're kind of a sort of connection to the past.

33:09 Speaker 2: The other thing about the song that I really love

33:11 Speaker 2: that's really you know, to me, is just I think

33:13 Speaker 2: what's so great about it sort of pairing it with Shrine,

33:18 Speaker 2: is that it really gets to the spirit of the

33:21 Speaker 2: dam Builders that I think, you know, Sean and Claudia

33:27 Speaker 2: really represent a very similar kind of mindset that Joan

33:33 Speaker 2: and Eric have had. That is that sort of embrace

33:37 Speaker 2: of improvisation and creativity and sort of collective creativity and

33:45 Speaker 2: that spirit. I mean, it's like, really that song came

33:48 Speaker 2: out of us kind of jamming together and finding something different,

33:53 Speaker 2: and that is really that is such an important element

33:59 Speaker 2: of the dam Builders. I feel really glad that we

34:02 Speaker 2: were able to kind of combine and kind of bring

34:05 Speaker 2: that in in and also really kind of give Kevin

34:10 Speaker 2: more of a voice because his writing has really come.

34:13 Speaker 2: I mean, he's just writing tons of stuff, I mean,

34:17 Speaker 2: and we're working on new songs, you know, and it's

34:19 Speaker 2: just really amazing to kind of tap into his creativity.

34:24 Speaker 2: And I think in the dan Builders, like you know,

34:27 Speaker 2: the last record that we made together Against Stars is

34:30 Speaker 2: really kind of Joan coming out and stepping into the front.

34:35 Speaker 2: And I feel like there's a lot of this with

34:37 Speaker 2: Kevin kind of in the future. I think, like like

34:41 Speaker 2: his his literal voice, but his songwriting voice is just

34:45 Speaker 2: getting stronger and stronger, and it's it's it just makes

34:50 Speaker 2: me really happy, Like I'm very excited about it. Yeah,

34:53 Speaker 2: as you look forward to the future.

34:55 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I really like this track a lot.

34:57 Speaker 1: And I do think too, you know, some of the

34:59 Speaker 1: lyrical themes that you're talking about, I think they're relatable

35:01 Speaker 1: for people because I think everyone has has something, you know,

35:06 Speaker 1: at least one thing in their life where they you know,

35:08 Speaker 1: something they want to do, something they want to accomplish,

35:10 Speaker 1: maybe something they used to do that they want to

35:12 Speaker 1: go back to, and that's kind of that thought yea,

35:13 Speaker 1: And like, oh, I hope it's not too late, you know.

35:16 Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, I think everyone can do with that, yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah.

35:23 Speaker 2: And I find myself thinking a lot too about things,

35:25 Speaker 2: you know, just I think I think it's just maybe

35:29 Speaker 2: a natural thing of just getting older where you start

35:31 Speaker 2: to think about, like what is my time on this

35:34 Speaker 2: earth really mean? You know, like and what what am

35:37 Speaker 2: I like connected to that's part of the past, that

35:40 Speaker 2: and maybe part of the future, and that to me

35:43 Speaker 2: is that's kind of where I was trying to take

35:44 Speaker 2: the other part of the song, but sort of like

35:47 Speaker 2: you know, it's like it's not really answering any questions

35:50 Speaker 2: and the like the sort of to me, the really

35:54 Speaker 2: provocative questions that Kevin is asking, right right. But yeah,

35:58 Speaker 2: So so there's a brand new song that we're working

36:02 Speaker 2: on where Kevin just has another really simple lyric that's

36:05 Speaker 2: like I hope you make it back home, and it's

36:09 Speaker 2: like it is it's almost like the flip side of

36:12 Speaker 2: that and it's really powerful and I can't wait to

36:17 Speaker 2: you know, record it and yeah, all that good stuff.

36:20 Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, we look forward to hearing it. Dave Dave Derby,

36:23 Speaker 1: This has been wonderful. We'll definitely have to do this

36:25 Speaker 1: again in the future. We'll let you go in a

36:28 Speaker 1: moment and we'll hit that track. I hope we're not

36:30 Speaker 1: too late. But before we do that, where where's the

36:32 Speaker 1: best place for people to go online to keep up

36:34 Speaker 1: with everything that the Dam Builders is doing?

36:37 Speaker 2: Okay, probably best places are like you know, Instagram, the

36:42 Speaker 2: dam Builders, also Facebook, the dam Builders. Yeah, those are

36:47 Speaker 2: a few main places. Yeah, and more to come. I mean,

36:51 Speaker 2: there's definitely you know, like I said, we will be

36:54 Speaker 2: there's some rarity stuff we'll be sharing. Uh not sure

36:57 Speaker 2: about that release the new recordings, so just look at that,

37:01 Speaker 2: and then also the documentary we'll share it there. There's

37:06 Speaker 2: also you know similar it's called you know, it's called

37:09 Speaker 2: The Dam Builders Film. Okay, so like Instagram, the Dan

37:12 Speaker 2: Builders Film, Facebook, the Dan Builders Film. But that's early days.

37:17 Speaker 2: We're still still in production.

37:19 Speaker 1: I guess you could say, okay, okay, you got a

37:21 Speaker 1: lot of good stuff coming up. That's that's wonderful, all right, Dave,

37:25 Speaker 1: very good again, Dave Derby, thank you so much. We'll

37:28 Speaker 1: let you go and we will hit that track, but

37:30 Speaker 1: thank you so much and we will do it again

37:33 Speaker 1: absolutely all right, take care bye.

37:35 Speaker 2: All right.

37:36 Speaker 1: That is Dave Derby from the Dam Builders. And yeah,

37:39 Speaker 1: I really like this song a lot. Let's give this

37:41 Speaker 1: a spend. This is called I hope We're not too late,

37:44 Speaker 1: Brand new from the Dam Builders