It’s absolutely genuine what you are playing and making instruments sound for, I love 80’s rock and sometimes I keep playing those for a couple of hours, so to find someone releasing recently with contemporary sound and lyrics while preserving the classic signature is something rare to happen.
- Welcome David A for this exciting interview..
Thank you. I’m excited to join you.
- How did you start your journey with music?
I was a school band geek, a junior high trumpet player. I wanted to be the next Herb Alpert – seriously – until a buddy of mine got The Doors’ Strange Days album for his birthday and invited me over for a listen. I was completely transformed. I own that copy now, signed for me in person by Robbie Krieger, hanging in a frame on my bedroom wall.
- Tell us about your previous releases. Which one is the closest to your heart?
One thing my favorite artists have always done – the ones whom I believe deserve to be called “artists” – is make every album its own journey. I like to think I’ve followed that example reasonably well. My favorite among my works? Probably Sacrilege 2.0, my national breakout of sorts. I got to collaborate with a lot of great musicians on that one in Florida and California – East Bay Ray, Mark Prator, Tim Mulaly, Rob Wegmann, Cleveland Dave Mathews, Chuck Lindo, Robert Wolffe and others, quite a lineup – and the whole project took on a more mature confidence than previous outings.
- Could you tell us How “Sacrilege 2.0” made such a big success?
Well, really it didn’t – not commercially, anyway. It was a pretty fair critical and airplay success, though, and my most commercially successful album to that point. I’m not sure how I’d attribute its relative success other than it was my return after several years away from music, and I think the fresh energy is palpable in the songs and performances. Another big ingredient was just upping my game with better musicians, better songwriting, better singing, getting bold and reaching out to East Bay Ray and doing a couple tracks with him that helped put it on the map. But most of all, it wasn’t a matter of going back to music. It was a matter of grabbing it again and moving forward with it.
- So what is the story of the album “Lit” and what is the concept?
I really don’t think of it as having a concept, per se, other than just setting out to make an original, new rock album that pulls no punches and has no fear, one that puts legitimate expression first and then packs a wallop with it.
- Which track is the closest to your heart from “Lit”?
Depends on which day you ask me, but probably “Glamour Slain.” It’s one of six from the album that have asserted themselves nicely on indie and college radio, but I think it best embodies the unbridled passion I feel, and my favorite songs are usually the ones I find most cathartic to sing. “Prodigal Bastard” is high on that list, too, and since that’s my new video, that should be my real answer, right?
- How do you write your music? Tell us about the whole process.
I wait for inspiration. Or put another way, I wait for the songs to write themselves, which is pretty much what they do. Sometimes I think they’re more real than I am. Generally, a whole line or even a whole verse or chorus drops into my head, and I sing it into the audio recorder on my phone. On at least one occasion, I’ve dreamt a whole song (“Battleship”) and managed to remember it in the morning.
- You seem to enjoy keeping a musical company, How could you pick the musicians that participated in the latest release?
Rob Wegmann and I have been recording together since about 1990. Really dating myself here, but we met when we were performing in different “new wave” bands in Tampa clubs in the ‘80s. We hit it off on a personal level right away. Snark attracts snark, I suppose. We started recording together a few years later, and he’s been on every recording I’ve done since except for The Dharma Bums. Three years ago, a music colleague put me in touch with George Harris, and I’ll be forever in his debt for that. George’s reputation as a musician and sound engineer precedes him and for good reason. George then dipped into his enormous pool of top-notch connections and brought in Angelo Collura, and presto! I had the best ensemble I’ve ever worked with.
- How does it feel to be back on the charts?
Well, of course it feels great, but more than that, it feels like vindication and validation.
- What do you do besides music?
These days, not much. I’m a former journalist and radio talk show host, and I have an interest in maybe returning to one or both of those pursuits in the near future – but I’d rather be touring. Sounds like a bumper sticker, right? Anyway, I’m more ensconced than ever before in delivering original music and staying upright in the stream of momentum I’m in with my current cohorts. I’m already working on the next album, Vagrant Soul, with the same core band from Lit – George Harris, Rob Wegmann, Angelo Collura – and a guest list that so far includes T.C. Carr, Ronnie Dee and Fred Chandler. We have the first four songs done, and I’ve never before been as excited about a work in progress. We’ve consciously raised the bar for this one and given it its own flavor. It won’t just be Lit over again.
- Who are your major influences? How did that affect the album?
Probably everything I’ve ever heard and really liked is in there somewhere, but as for my most major influences, the rock poets who shaped lyric writing. So, Jim Morrison/The Doors, Mark Lanegan/Screaming Trees, Patti Smith, Jim Carroll. I also put Bryan Ferry in that category. Love Roxy Music, and that’s where some of my affection for sax comes from. Otherwise, Dead Kennedys, Moody Blues, CCR, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper (especially the original band), Springsteen, Lou Reed, John Mellencamp, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Ian McColluch/Echo and the Bunnymen, many others. Some of those are just among my favorites and might not be overtly present, but I think they all weigh in here and there and make themselves known in often subtle ways that I’m not even always aware of.
- What is your favorite song of all time?
I don’t have anything close to one favorite. There are far too many great songs out there for that.
- Any upcoming gigs?
None scheduled, but I’m beginning the process of making some happen soon. I’m absolutely dying to perform again – especially with this band.
- Lastly, a word to your fans.
Thanks for joining us in fighting the good fight for rock!
