The Dambuilders | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: The Damn Builders, and we've got Dave Derby here with us via Microsoft Teams. Hello, Dave, Hey, how's it going? Good? Good, very good, wonderful. It's great to speak with you. I've very excited about today. When I have to tell you this, I'm gonna geek out a little bit live on the air. When I first when it came to my attention that you were going to be coming on the show today, the first thing I thought of was the original video for Shine, you know, and the whole alien vibe and everything with those white outfits.

0:27 Speaker 1: That was the first thing that came into my head. So I had a very a very vivid visual image of the band in my mind. And then of course I went back and watched the video, and then I watched the new video, which has footage from the old video in it and very very cool. And so I'm extremely curious why why Now? Obviously the dam Builders has been away for a bit, right, I mean it was what was it nineteen eighty nine when the band started, is that right?

0:56 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, nineteen eighty nine, started in Honolu, Hawaii, and then yeah, we called it quits I think in ninety seven. Okay, so almost you know, almost thirty years, we had been playing kind of reunion shows. Well actually so we hadn't played them as the dam Builders. We kind of had a funny thing where.

1:20 Speaker 3: We wanted to try out this sort of new lineup of the band, and we played under a kind of like a pseudonym as a Damn Builder's tribute band featuring members of Luna guided by Voices and the dam Builders.

1:36 Speaker 2: Interesting a couple of times just to try it out, and then you know, it took a while for schedules to align. It's kind of crazy how so much time can fly by. But this has been something that you know, we've been thinking about for I don't know, probably ten fifteen years. Finally pulled it off. Okay, yeah, and we did, you know, so we did these new releases, a couple of new shows, and intending to do more kind of in the future.

2:05 Speaker 1: Oh good good, I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, you mentioned starting out the band starting out in Honolulu, but then you really became a fixture, you know, on your way up and obviously you know national act. I remember seeing the video for Shine on MTV, but really in the college in the in the Boston College Rock scene, right, was where you sort of started to really come up.

2:26 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, we moved to Boston in nineteen ninety. We had kind of dates ourselves, but we had a record on an independent label in Berlin, which was at the time West Germany, and we you know, we're living in Honolulu and we're like, okay, we can't do this. Let's go somewhere. We wanted to be on the East Coast because we figured at that point we would be doing more stuff in Europe, okay, And we had all gone to college on the East Coast anyway, and so Boston just seemed like a natural place. It had you know, there are bands that we loved from that scene, and it you know, has had a vibrant scene for many, 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 sort of collectively weren't so great. It was the idea of having really good winter coats, you know, I think among us we've probably had one. Yeah.

3:31 Speaker 1: Now I'm curious to know more about Oh, I'm sorry, I keep saying the title wrong Shrine. I keep saying Shine. I don't know why, but I don't know why I do that, But I'm curious to know more, like why did you choose that song, you know, in terms of transitioning it into Shrine twenty twenty six and you know, making again the video is great. I love the way you know it combines obviously you today with some footage from the original video, But why that, why why the focus on that song specifically?

4:05 Speaker 2: It was just something that when you know, when this band, this version of the band reformed, we just thought that there was a kind of slightly different energy to it. It does sound pretty similar to the original, yeah, but but there's just a kind of I think there's a little bit of a spirit that's a little different. And it was just something, you know, to be honest, we just kind of like Kevin and I were in the studio and we were working on some other stuff and we just started playing it and then kind of thought like, wow, this is we should re record this.

4:36 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and it it turned out really well. It it was just and I think, you know, lyrically kind of what the song is about and sort of what it has kind of meant to our history. It just felt it feels like a really good song to kind of restart things with the video. You know, we're actually working on a documentary of It's not only about the Dan Belers kind of like about the sort of things that happened kind of adjacent to us being a band in Honolulu when there was kind of a rich scene in the eighties and then and then you know, going to Boston and being part of that scene, and then being part of a group of bands that were playing in Europe at that time, kind of you know, pre Nirvana and all that stuff.

5:21 Speaker 2: And so the video director is an old friend is actually like the first friend that I made when I moved to Boston, and he has you know, I've been friends with him for years and he's known the band really well, and he had a lot of really great ideas about how to kind of reuse some of the older footage and kind of to weave in this whole backstory and kind of bring in other people in the band, including you know, Joan Wasser, who is She's not in the current lineup, though we hope we can convince her to join us on stage one of these days.

5:59 Speaker 2: But she's she and Eric and Eric does has played with the dan Builders in the new lineup, and we'll probably be doing so. But we also wanted a way to kind of like bring the past members into it. And there's another person who's in the video is actually the original Dan Builders drummer on the very first record that we made. A guy named Daniel Glass I went to preschool with, who's actually a really famous kind of drummer's drummer. He has a column and Modern Drummer Magazine's he played in the Royal Crown Review and he's just a he's an amazing player.

6:40 Speaker 2: And kind of started playing with him again, and you know, a long way of saying like, we felt like the video is a great way to kind of bring the past and present together and kind of celebrate what the band is. And I think that reflects the spirit of of doing 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 for Shrine. What was the did he come up with? Whole concept? It sort of like this alien rockers living underground kind of thing. Was that him that came up with that or yeah, you collaborate.

7:17 Speaker 2: So so yeah, So the original video, the nineteen ninety four video was created by Trenton George, who actually was also an original member of the Dan Builders as well. He kind of went in a different direction after we did some tours in Europe and became kind of a very successful director and still really really good friends with him, and so we wanted to take a lot of the really magical stuff that try and created in that video and bring this whole backstory that that Bruno had kind of created mostly on his own, but also you know, we kind of collaborated on some of these ideas just how we could kind of pay homage to the original video and bring in something new.

7:58 Speaker 2: And I think, you know, we first made the making of that first video of nineteen ninety four is kind of a funny thing where there was a different song that was supposed to be the single, and then we kind of had to pivot to making a video for Shrine, and in our approach to it, I know this kind of sounds pretentious, but the sort of French wave film, you know, sort of like that idea of just like you know the way that you know, the original Breathless was made, where you know that the people in the film just kind of improvised and came up, you know, they had a basic storyline, sure, and kind of improvised and used things in the set, and so that video was very kind of random.

8:34 Speaker 2: We even though we had a really solid backstory, we kind of tried to bring that same sort of collaborative, kind of French new wave element to it because that kind of thing like experimentation and collaboration is a really important part of I think, like I'm sounding really pretentious today, but the ethos of the Damn Builders, right, it was like, we're kind of all about that. So it just felt like it all came together through collaboration and you know, different people coming up with different ideas, and I just think it's a celebration of who we are and where we're going and getting back together again and all those wonderful things.

9:12 Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I'm curious to know more. The documentary you refer to is that I Used to Be Different? Is 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 that's particularly interesting to me. Too.

9:25 Speaker 2: Yeah, So you know it is, we're in the middle of it. It's kind of I'm trying to figure out, like you know, Brennan and I've been friends for so long and we just kind of have this habit of like just you know, coming up with really probably two elaborate plans. But the idea is that we've shot a lot of stuff in Hawaii, kind of going back to sort of the roots of the band, the original members. The one one thing I'd like to plug that is very relevan and too this is it was a great book that just came out that's about the Honolulu music 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 you know, it's it's kind of similar to something like, you know, please kill Me, but it's said in Honolulu. As crazy as that sounds.

10:19 Speaker 4: Oh wow, okay, And and so we wanted to capture some of that stuff, like just kind of inspired by Sean, and we did kind of like you know, driving around and finding you know, old clubs and the you know, the sights of old venues and.

10:33 Speaker 2: Stuff like that. We're going to do a similar type of thing about you know, shooting and interviewing folks that were in bands we were coming up with in in Boston, Yeah, as well as talking to the original.

10:45 Speaker 5: Members and then hopefully going to Berlin and and and and Germany and revisiting some of the places where we did shows there and kind of you know, interviewing our.

10:56 Speaker 2: Really very colorful, interesting record label guys like one of one of the strangest, most awesome people I've ever met in this life. And just having game on camera will be great, but it's kind of supposed to be about everything in between, and you know, we're just having fun doing it, and you know, our goal is to get this done by the you know, end of summer, and we'll have what we have and we'll be sharing you know, kind of teasers of it and you know, going into editing hopefully in the fall. We are we're hoping that that you know, corresponds to We're gonna be we we're doing a Boston show, which we actually this would be the first time I actually announced it.

11:46 Speaker 2: God, I better get the rest to day right, But it's twentieth and twenty. First, let me just confirm in at the burn in November, like that far away, okay, because apparently Boston has become you have to book it that far in advance these days. Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is crazy. So I think it's yeah, I think it's the it's it's yeah, the weekend before Thanksgiving, So I think it's the twentieth and twenty first. We'll be doing a little residency there and hopefully before that, you know, uh, hoping to do a few shows in New England and Lee in New Hampshire actually that's one place.

12:33 Speaker 2: And we're 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, our plans like and you know, the current Dambler's band is so busy.

12:49 Speaker 2: It's hard to kind of keep everyone's schedule. Sean plays in Luna Claudia Chopek, you know who plays violin is you know, she is in a million Broadway plays, oh wow, and so her schedule gets really busy. But we will be doing we're looking to be doing some some touring in February and March, you know, hopefully, We're not exactly sure where, you know, East coast, you know, some of the Midwest, hopefully West coast as well. Kind of TVD 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, is something that I am very passionate about is college radio. And and I feel like I'm curious to get your thoughts on how on the role that college radio, you know, especially in a place like Boston, which has you know, just a lot of obviously an incredible music scene, and a big part of that is is college radio in Boston. But I'm curious about the role of college radio in helping the dam builders in the beginning. Obviously you were getting exposure, you know, on MTV, Like I said, I remember seeing the video for Shrine, but but also at college radio.

14:03 Speaker 1: I feel like that's part of part of a big part right of the dam builders essential.

14:08 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, And I'm super passionate about college radio myself, you know, I Boston, being in Boston in the nineties, especially like you know, pre Internet era, like college radio was just a thing where you know, I just remember like planning my days around shows that were on different stations and just you know, switching from from station to station, you know, like NBR and r S 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. Another thing and also yeah, NBR, like we one thing that will be kind of TVD in terms of how how we really but we're definitely gonna There's some rarities that we have, like live radio performances where you know, the band used to like we used to you know, we used to write songs sometimes like right before the show or even on the moment. And there there's some there's some really cool nineties Dan Builders performances that we were planning to release in some form and so those are all about Collegrado.

15:31 Speaker 2: Collegrated for us was like you know, it was and I think this was very true, like back in back in the nineties, it was like, you know, it was like going into the studio was like prepping something for the studios. Like the chance to be live on the radio was just such an important thing. And in Boston people you know, even before you know, bands would release like vinyl or CDs, they just do you know, radio tapes and kind of take them around and you know, and I just remember loving radio tapes that I don't know if they were ever even actually released by by you know, some local bands in Boston's and then just a whole other thing about college radio just just since you mentioned it.

16:13 Speaker 2: I mean, this is just like so just for fun. One other thing that I'm doing with with some old friends is starting a band that is is actually a cover band that is totally devoted devoted to really like mid to late eighties college radio in America before it was called indie. Yeah, so it's just like kind of trying to capture and that's when I went to college, and that's you know, I still have this like memory of hearing like Husker Doo for the first time and stuff like that. So that's so we're only playing songs from that that era and it's just so fun.

16:52 Speaker 2: 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 college radio. But yeah, I mean college radio was just such a such a huge thing to us, and it's still kind of it still is it still is Yeah, Yeah, it's still so vibrant. I mean yeah, in New York, the New York area, the FUV thing is just really fun and you know, fmu like people are super into those stations and you know, just kind of still really important and the folks who are DJs are really kind of super important to I think, you know, sustaining any 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 you know, if we fast forward to today, obviously, you know, now we have streaming and the social media landscape and everything, right, how do the how do you and and how does the band the dam Builders sort of adapt to all of that? I mean, has that been easy? Has that been a challenge?

17:52 Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I guess. I mean it's not a challenge, and it's and we're still kind of I think in terms of the dam Builders is still going to kind of see how that goes, you know, but I would say, you know, I've been putting out records for a long time in different different bands, you know, post Dam Builders, and it just to kind of wax a little bit philosophical about streaming. I think there is like one of the issues was streaming, and this is I think you know, college radio is very different in this sense, but streaming 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 anything and everything we want, and it does. I think it's hard to get past the reality that it it kind of on some level the values music. I mean, I love the fact that I can go and listen to lots of old things and discover so many new things, Like every day I feel like I'm just learning something new. So on one level, this is constant, constantly, abundant, wonderful thing. But on another level, it's like it kind of takes away the sort of preciousness of like there's something special to me about you know, I still remember hearing things on college radio, Like I remember just kind of you know, being in La and hearing things on KCRW morning becomes eclectic in real time, and just like I still remember those kind of moments of hearing something, and I think, if you know, I think there's there's got a I hope there's a way to get back to that.

19:36 Speaker 2: And I kind of think that a lot of it has to do with or maybe part of the solutionist is partially you know, like I love the fact that people are getting back into physical things like you know, vinyl and CDs. I have a twenty year old daughter who like is just in love with music and it is all about, you know, going out and finding actual physical versions of music. Like I think that there still needs to be that element of that making it precious. And yeah, 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 adjacent thing I think in the world right now is like you know, things like AI where more than ever, I think being being human and being real and something doing like bands playing in real time is such an important kind of thing. And it's kind of made me think that, you know, one one thing that that I really am excited about with the Dan Bilders is it's such a it's such a joy to play with these people, and I want to just capture that live, raw sound as well.

20:50 Speaker 2: That's a really long response to.

20:55 Speaker 1: No, that's that's okay. I mean we are, we are very fortunate. You know, I'm a gen X or so you know my you know, I'm not sure how old you are, but Gen X of course the last generation 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, although I do love as you as you mentioned, you know, we live in a time where you can hear anything you want to at literally at any time, and that's that's pretty amazing.

21:22 Speaker 2: It is, it really really is. It's just I mean, because on the other hand, you know, I guess it's sort of like a lot of things, you know, like just a dumb example, like it just kind of comes to mind sort of immediately, but like a band that like, uh, you know that I never really listen to you ever, as it's kind of funny, like my sort of boomer uncle who kind of gave me all of his like classic rock records, the same thing where neither one of us really ever listened to the band A Little Feet and like you know, little Feet something like like now I can stream it.

21:59 Speaker 2: I listened to it and go, god, man, I wish I had heard this stuff a long time ago. But the reality was, you know, back then, you would buy the records that you bought, and you know, there's there's also that thing of like there are definitely records that I owned that that I that are probably not really great records, but just because I owned them. I kind of like made myself. It's like a Stockholm syndrome thing where I made myself like them, but but I still like remember them super fondly. And that's kind of you know, that's sort of like the weird thing about I don't know, just having access to things versus you know, the thing that you own, the thing you went out and bought, you know.

22:42 Speaker 2: Yeah, and it yeah, it's it's you know, it's hard. It's hard not to it is like this is Okay, here's a sort of sidebar thing that I find really fascinating. There's a there's a new recording software thing that's kind of like from what I can tell, there's been all these like you know, social media posts about it, and there's a lot of excitement around it, but it's a it's a technology that basically emulates the old school sixteen track you know, or twenty four track recorders, okay, And unlike typical digital audio workstation types of things where you can see waveforms go in and edit them, you can't do any of that.

23:28 Speaker 2: You just have to record it and there's nothing to look at. You have to if it's not good, you can punch if your performance wasn't perfect. You can punch in or punch out or just re record it. And it's really interesting to see all these kind of gen Z kids getting super excited about those imposed limitations. Yeah, and it's yeah, it's I think it's sort of adjacent to that, the idea of like, you know, the physical product is sort of like there was a different in a different way 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, you know, a lot of young people will buy vinyl now too, although I think that I think that when they're buying new vinyl, they never actually open it. They're just you know, if it's cool too, if you're really a fan of somebody, it's it's nice to have the vinyl, you know, and maybe just mount the cover on your wall or something almost like that. But but but nothing sounds better than vinyl. We actually have a vinyl record player here in the I think only one.

24:31 Speaker 1: I think there's only one show that actually uses it. But we have a record player here in the studio. Cool that that one one of the guys uses. Yeah, DJ Steve, I think he uses it. But but yeah, nothing nothing sounds better than vinyl, and it's you know, it's never gone away completely and it's it's definitely out of resurgence over the last few years, which is nice. And you know, even CDs, a lot a lot of artists are releasing CDs who had kind of given up on them at one point, you know.

24:56 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, when I was putting out records with my band Gramsey Arms, like the last record I released all these people Rockman like other CDs and it was like CDs, you want CDs and I get it actually, like I I got it. You know, just going around to like local kind of like used record and CDs tours, like it's kind of fun. You know, it's fun playing old CDs as well, like they sound really good. Yeah, you know they're uh, you know they are what they are. It's but it's it is kind of funny. I agree. It's it's sort of like, you know, to me, it's like, why wouldn't you just get the vinyl?

25:32 Speaker 2: Right? Yeah.

25:33 Speaker 1: I'm also curious ask you too about your other work because you've after the dam Builders. Uh tell me if I've got the timeline right, but I assume it was after the after the dam Builder's initial run. You worked in TV and film music, and you worked with another New Hampshire person, Sarah Silverman. She's from here.

25:53 Speaker 2: Yeah, I love Sarah Silverman. She's The thing that is so true is like, what's so funny is she always plays is like sort of you know, kind of mean girl, and she's like one of the sweetest, nicest people you'll 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 really wonderful collaborating with her. And and she's just a she's a real sweetheart. Like I just I wish I saw her more often, but yeah, I for yeah, and it's it's it's funny. I worked in I did like a bunch of stuff for probably about like eight or nine years and and a lot of like writing and production and just kind of you know, just got to work on shows and advertisement and you know, kind of everything in between. Even did some like it was very strange kind of la pop songwriting stuff.

26:53 Speaker 2: I actually wrote a song. Yeah, I actually co wrote a song for Hannah Montana as well as Demi Levado and Selena Gomez Wow Today with Yeah, with my business partners who were kind of more so plugged into that world. Okay, and 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 doing all this, I mean, I'm just I'm curious, was it always kind of in the back of your mind that eventually you would get back to the dam Builders or was there a point where that was just totally in your rear view mirror or or what was kind of your your mindset over those years.

27:37 Speaker 2: That's a great question, I think so, I think on some level, I mean, it's kind of I have to say, it's kind of funny that, uh, and I think, you know, maybe this is kind of the way these things go. But to be honest, like as that when the Tamblers were kind of breaking up, like I think I was probably like leading the charge to break up the band, I was like so over it, you know, really reason that are not even worth going into. But now I've become like the most you know, I'm like the evangelist of the Damblers, like and I have been for like, you know, for a while, and I kind of I think and I also I've just you know, in a way, it was there was so much.

28:20 Speaker 2: It was my life for a long, you know, period of time when I was younger. When you know that, it does like when eight years of your life is like a lot. Now it's like you get older and it's just like I'm just whizzes by. But there was a lot to it. There was a lot of emotional connection to it. And when I was finished with it, I really like I kind of look back and I felt like I really tried to do something, to really go in an opposite direction in a bunch of different ways. And and now I'm just so proud of it and so grateful to have made music with everyone who's in the band, and just to have collaborated with them, and I love them so much as people, and I really I'm just very proud of what we did.

29:12 Speaker 2: I think, you know, I really do think that the Damn Builders, like for better or worse, it's a band that just was unique. I don't think there really was any band that we could say like, oh, they sound exactly like that. I mean, there are elements kind of sounded similar to other things, but it was just a it was a very original and vibrant thing. And I am my my goal with doing it now, you know. And it's funny because I actually sat down the other day and I was like, 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 and actually hopefully introduced some new people, you know, who might have missed it the first time around. Like one thing is super cool, like just doing the two shows that did you know, there are a few people that came up were younger people who had just heard about us and or read about us sort of. I think in this way that folks are kind of like discovering things from the nineties, and to me, that's what it's 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 interesting to me too, Like even music from that era. I mean, this has been kind of interesting just my daughter's take on things that were from that era that like, honestly, you know, for whatever reason, I might have had some sort of predisposed notion to that, you know, from my like nineteen ninety six mind or whatever, and I listened to it, you know, She'll say what about listen to this and it's like, oh my god, this is amazing, Like, yeah, I didn't realize how great this was.

30:53 Speaker 2: It's like another artist look from that time. So it's really interesting to kind of go back and listen to those thing and 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 and we're starting to run out of time, but I do want to, uh because at the end of our conversation, you know, we played Shrine earlier. I want to play the song. I hope we're not too late. And yeah, yeah, I'm curious about this. So what I mean, does the title me to have any relation to to I mean, is this kind of the mindset or or a part 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 came up with the main part of the song. And he has this incredible ability to when he writes songs and then and then you know, he has this like 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 a way, and they're just like and just and you know, his idea of it was like originally he was, you know, thinking about it as like it's like I hope we're 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 in this moment, like to be coming back to be you know, it's like fear. It's a kind of fomo, but it's like, I I hope we're not too late as and this is you know I've heard him say this as well. It's like he originally thought it was like I hope we're not too late. It's just like people or it's like a species like on this planet, and it just he he loves to write, and he's so good at writing things that can they're just you can interpret them in different ways.

32:43 Speaker 2: Sure, And and so I kind of helped and the rest of the band kind of helped to write the rest of the song. And it was a little bit more about like kind of like you know, we kind of thinking that we've kind of been here before, and that's I find something to me that's something lyrically I've kind of been it's coming out and things I've been writing of just you know, we're kind of a sort of connection to the past. The other thing about the song that I really love that's really you know, to me, is just I think what's so great about it sort of pairing it with Shrine, is that it really gets to the spirit of the dam Builders that I think, you know, Sean and Claudia really represent a very similar kind of mindset that Joan and Eric have had.

33:34 Speaker 2: That is that sort of embrace of improvisation and creativity and sort of collective creativity and that spirit. I mean, it's like, really that song came out of us kind of jamming together and finding something different, and that is really that is such an important element of the dam Builders. I feel really glad that we were able to kind of combine and kind of bring that in in and also really kind of give Kevin more of a voice because his writing has really come. I mean, he's just writing tons of stuff, I mean, and we're working on new songs, you know, and it's just really amazing to kind of tap into his creativity.

34:24 Speaker 2: And I think in the dan Builders, like you know, the last record that we made together Against Stars is really kind of Joan coming out and stepping into the front. And I feel like there's a lot of this with Kevin kind of in the future. I think, like like his his literal voice, but his songwriting voice is just getting stronger and stronger, and it's it's it just makes me really happy, Like I'm very excited about it. Yeah, as you look forward to the future.

34:55 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I really like this track a lot. And I do think too, you know, some of the lyrical themes that you're talking about, I think they're relatable for people because I think everyone has has something, you know, at least one thing in their life where they you know, something they want to do, something they want to accomplish, maybe something they used to do that they want to go back to, and that's kind of that thought yea, 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. And I find myself thinking a lot too about things, you know, just I think I think it's just maybe a natural thing of just getting older where you start to think about, like what is my time on this earth really mean? You know, like and what what am I like connected to that's part of the past, that and maybe part of the future, and that to me is that's kind of where I was trying to take the other part of the song, but sort of like you know, it's like it's not really answering any questions and the like the sort of to me, the really provocative questions that Kevin is asking, right right.

35:57 Speaker 2: But yeah, So so there's a brand new song that we're working on where Kevin just has another really simple lyric that's like I hope you make it back home, and it's like it is it's almost like the flip side of that and it's really powerful and I can't wait to 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, This has been wonderful. We'll definitely have to do this again in the future. We'll let you go in a moment and we'll hit that track. I hope we're not too late. But before we do that, where where's the best place for people to go online to keep up with everything that the Dam Builders is doing?

36:37 Speaker 2: Okay, probably best places are like you know, Instagram, the dam Builders, also Facebook, the dam Builders. Yeah, those are a few main places. Yeah, and more to come. I mean, there's definitely you know, like I said, we will be there's some rarity stuff we'll be sharing. Uh not sure about that release the new recordings, so just look at that, and then also the documentary we'll share it there. There's also you know similar it's called you know, it's called The Dam Builders Film. Okay, so like Instagram, the Dan Builders Film, Facebook, the Dan Builders Film.

37:16 Speaker 2: But that's early days. We're still still in production.

37:19 Speaker 1: I guess you could say, okay, okay, you got a lot of good stuff coming up. That's that's wonderful, all right, Dave, very good again, Dave Derby, thank you so much. We'll let you go and we will hit that track, but thank you so much and we will do it again 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, I really like this song a lot. Let's give this a spend. This is called I hope We're not too late, Brand new from the Dam Builders