|
 Evan Dando, of The Lemonheads, is bringing his solo acoustic tour to Common Grounds on Thursday, Feb. 11. Longevity in the music business is rare, and Dando became a well-respected father figure in rock music, having been a pivotal ingredient of the grunge-rock explosion of the early nineties. In our exclusive interview, Dando talks candidly about what he's learned, what he fears and his relationship with Oasis and rock legend Kurt Cobain.
By Jon Silman; Images from the Evan Dando Web site
In your 20 plus years of experience in the music industry, what's the one thing that you've learned? Something that really sticks out.
It's good to show up for gigs I think. That's one thing you shouldn't ever do is miss a gig. It never really happened much, but when it happens everybody knows and gets really pissed off about it. Just like life, showing up is 75 percent of the whole thing. You gotta be there.
Have you missed some show that you wish you hadn't?
Yeah one in '95. There was a big show in Glastonbury. I went off with some friends of mine to this place that was way farther away than I thought, and we couldn't get there in time. It was a mess, because I made a lot of enemies there. (Author's Note: Glastonbury is one of the biggest festivals in the universe and has been since the 80's: i.e. Stevie Wonder and U2 are headlining this year).
What scares you the most in your life?
I don't know. Fear of that (life) stuff is more for young people. I don't really get scared about much anymore. I used to worry in bed about stuff when I was 22 and 24, but at this point you know so many things.
You're not afraid of dying or anything like that?
I'm more interested in the whole thing really. Life would be pretty pointless if you didn't die. I'm not in any hurry to die though and I'm not particularly afraid of it.
Did you know Kurt Cobain (lead singer of 90's grunge act Nirvana)?
Yeah, you know, that woman got between us. I think we could have been friends. I would play with those guys. I jammed with them one night, all night, when they were rehearsing for In Utero. That was really fun. We had the same management and stuff so I'd just see him around, and we had a lot of mutual friends but we weren't really that close because Courtney was so weird (laughs). We were on tour together and she would try to make up some stuff to make him jealous of me or something, so it was a lot of unsavory things that happened, but he was a really cool guy, and I'm glad I got to meet him at all.
You've been through a lot. What is the coolest thing about your life?
It's weird I really enjoy playing live. I don't get high anymore when I play, so I get a real natural high from playing. It sounds so corny but it's really true; I get a really good feeling from playing an hour or so.
What's your most important tour accessory?
I guess that would be my guitar, especially when I'm playing acoustic shows. I mean I can't imagine what would be more necessary besides, you know, identification.
What about your new record (Varshons)? It's a covers record, how did you go about that?
It really just happened because I went to an art exhibit, and I saw this painting (the Varshon's cover art), and I thought 'wow, maybe I should use this for something.' So I said, 'well I'm not done with my new record so I can't use that, but I haven't done a covers record so I might as well do that.' The painting looks really good on the vinyl; it's scratch and sniff too. There'll be a lot of those on tour.
I was looking on your Wikipedia page, and wanted to know how true some of that info is. It said you had a weird relationship with Oasis?
Not weird, no. I was finishing a tour of two and a half years; I wasn't ready to stop touring, so I went along with them. We just had a whole lot of fun. And then we wrote this song, which wasn't very good, and the label really liked it and I was kind of unsure about it and Noel didn't want it to be used so that kind of solved that problem. People kind of got the wrong idea about that, like we had a falling out or something, but I see those guys around and I like those guys a lot.
What was the song called?
"Purple Parallelogram." It was written in 1994 and he used that melody to write "Roll with it," which is a better song, so that disqualified the other one.
Is that floating around somewhere?
Oh yeah you can see it on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbUxCx6pm68 In a way it was perfect because every band should have a weird, mysterious song that didn't ever come out, you know. So we finally got one of those.
There's a bit about you having a drug problem in the mid '90s. Is that something you still struggle with?
It was part of the whole thing when I was younger. I stupidly talked about it because I couldn't speak and needed to rest my voice but it just blew up into something really silly. I'm just like anyone in a band. A lot of us experiment with drugs and that's about it. It's not a big deal I can take them or leave them basically.
You do a very poignant cover of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" on this record. Did you have to play it a million times to get the hang of it?
Not really. I can learn songs really quickly that's one of my strengths. You just sort of start playing it your own way and forget about the original.
You threw away an NME award?
That kind of got blown out of proportion. It was sort of this ugly thing with a middle finger sticking out so I just kind of threw it out. I didn't want the thing in my house, it was just kind of shoddy. It didn't say my name on it or the band's name or anything. Nothing against getting it, it was fine I was into getting it. Someone went and got it for me, and I ended up just giving it to another band.
What's your favorite movie of all time?
Night of the Hunter, a movie directed by Charles Laughton, the only movie he ever directed. It's about an evil priest who goes around killing widows. I have a bunch of copies of it I tend to give it to people.
What legacy do you want to leave behind?
I want to keep making good records and keep getting better at it. I feel fortunate that we never got too huge because I still feel the hunger to just get better and better.
Evan Dando will play at Common Grounds on Feb. 11 with with Chris Wollard (of Hot Water Music) & Colourslide (Acoustic). Doors: 9:00pm. Tickets - Day of: $14. Advance: $12
|
