Written by Ian Blechschmidt


Dave Dill calls his newest release, See You In the Sunshine, "a composite of everything [he's] ever done" - he also says he nearly went crazy making it. Dave tells Indiesoundz about the process and the inspiration that went into See You In the Sunshine, and about how Lex Luthor may or may not have tried to steal his underwear.


Your newest release, See You In the Sunshine has been out for a little while now — how has the response been?

So far, reviews have been great. And more importantly, the people who have the CD really love it. The best part is that they listen to it more than once. I can’t count how many CDs I’ve bought or been given from indies and majors alike that I just spin once and put away somewhere. Most of the responses I’ve gotten are from people who put my CD in their regular listening rotation, which is the highest compliment possible.

You say that making this record "nearly drove you crazy"; why? What happened?

Well……while making the CD, I became convinced that I had x-ray vision and that my nemesis, Lex Luthor was trying to steal my underwear so that he could take control of the Panama Canal.
Actually, I wish my answer were that interesting. The truth is that being the songwriter, producer, recording engineer, and playing all of the instruments including singing on a project like that can be very stressful ... The problem when you do everything yourself is that you start to over-analyze. “Is the kick drum loud enough?” “Is that my best vocal take?” “Does 'Steve Urkel' really rhyme with 'Deep Purple' and if it does, what does it really have to do with the meaning of this song anyway?” It just goes on and on ‘till you really don’t know the answers anymore. But through it all, you have to turn all of that off and try to follow your “gut” again.

You've said that you want your music to have an element of a "light at the end of the tunnel" — but a lot of people have trouble staying that optimistic. How do you keep from just giving up and going all cynical?

The honest truth to that question is that I’m just as cynical and in a lot of ways more cynical than most people. And I used to show it in a big way in my songs. One of the last songs I wrote like that started off with the lyrics, “Stomp me out like a fuck’n maggot”. I think you can tell right there that things weren’t really going in a positive direction in that tune. People really ate that stuff up too. The problem was that at the end of the day, when I listened to it, I didn’t feel that great about it. Furthermore, the thought of bringing down someone else with my self-indulgent misery was even worse to think about. It was about that time that I took a really hard and honest look at what I was doing and I realized some very important things. The most important was that growing up as a kid, music was an escape for me. I definitely wasn’t the happiest kid on the block, but when I listened to the Beatles or the Who, all of the hopelessness went away.

Historically, popular music up till now always leaned towards a more hopeful escapism. Tin Pan Alley was made of Jewish immigrants who escaped Russian oppression only to dwell in the poverty of New York city. Now those were some people that really had something depressing to write about. Yet they chose to write about “love” instead. In the 50’s and 60’s you had people building bomb shelters in their basements and hiding under tables during bomb drills because they were sure there would be a nuclear conflict between the USA and Russia that would probably end the world. And what did they write about? A lot of them wrote about “love”. Sure, Lennon wrote “Yes I’m lonely, wanna die” in “Yer Blues,” but he didn’t make a career out of it.

Dave Burlovich has said that you've "come into your own" on this disc — do you feel that you have? What does that mean to you?

Not sure exactly. I just know that I love Dave and that he really likes the CD. Every CD I record is really a separate entity for me in style and subject matter ... I viewed See You in the Sunshine as more of a composite of everything I’ve ever done. And I really tried not to hold back anything at all on it, which can lead to the perception of a more complicated and mature effort. Honestly, though, I still have a lot more that I can do and one of these days I hope I can release it all into something tasteful. If that finally happens I think I’ll feel like I’ve “come into my own”.

Classic rock — for example, the Beatles or the Who - obviously still has a huge influence on you; with so much music having been made since Sgt. Pepper's or My Generation, why does that music still stand out for you?

People ask me that question a lot and it inevitably ends in some sort of argument because I’m afraid I’m rather set in my ways and opinions where music is concerned. The thing is that I try to listen to newer stuff. But, I just keep hearing the same crap. Then, when I finally find someone who has promise, their next album is the same formula as the first. No growth. I listen to a lot of classic rock not just because I like it, but also because it inspires me. Every time I listen to The Beatles or The Beach Boys, I hear something new and I learn something new. Those artists were really incredible that way. They were really competitive too. Rubber Soul influenced Wilson to make Pet Sounds, which made The Beatles record Pepper. I don’t really get any sense of artistic competition these days. Too many people are just competing for the “dollar”. When that happens, they only care about it being good “now” instead of great “forever”. But then again, what do I know? I’m just a guy who records CDs in his basement.

I gotta ask — what does it feel like to smash a violin?

It feels great! I highly recommend it.