Devin Davis is one of the finds of the year, the sort of performer who writes songs of such incredible quality that you feel compelled to breathlessly play them to every single person you know.
His album, Lonely People Of The World, Unite!, is a blinding listen – and it’s all down to the quality of the songs. Devin manages to leap between sweetly strummed acoustic numbers and deliriously upbeat pop-rock (like the staggering Iron Woman, a serious contender for song of the year) with impossible ease.
We caught up with the unfailing polite Devin Davis for a chat about Dylan, Vikings and Lost…
Who are you, and where are you?
My name is Devin Davis. I am presently in a room in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Why should people buy your records?
Hmm… well… I think it’s a ‘fun’ album. It has a nice fold-out cover with a lyric booklet inside. There is no ‘middle man’ involved either… it’s a direct purchase from me via my website (and every little bit helps out. so to speak). Hmm… I worked on it a long time? I’m a terrible salesman.
Your album is called Lonely People Of The World, Unite! Was it always planned to explore one theme throughout the album? What was the thinking that led to the decision?
I had moved to Chicago and didn’t know anybody. I was pretty lonely… so it seemed like the natural thing to write songs about – if not, in some respects, the ‘only’ thing. I kind of latched onto the "lonely people of the world, unite" theme pretty early on. I thought that title seemed like it had the potential of being kind of ‘touching’ and ridiculous/absurd at the same time. Then, at some point, not too long after, I came to the conclusion that there should be an exclamation point at the end.
The album begins with Iron Woman – an undoubtedly fantastic song. What’s it about, though? We think it’s either about a boat or a lady robot.
Well… I lived (and do still) in a basement apartment with low ceilings that flooded a lot (meaning both in frequency and in severity)… knee high at one point (I woke up to that one). Luckily there hasn’t been any water in a while… knock on wood… which is good for me, but bad for the farmers. Anyway… that all kind of inspired the first part. I suppose that – without giving too much away – the song is (eventually after the first verse) about a Viking fellow who’s favourite gal leaves him when she meets some more popular Viking folks. Your basic "my baby left me"/ pining for lost love sort of song.
This is your first solo album. Excuse our ignorance, but what other albums have you made, and what role did you play in them?
I released an album called Perpetual Motion Sickness under the name Irving Philharmonic (a band – which eventually ended up just being me – that I started in Jacksonville, Florida). It was really noisy and eerie… I was heavily into Sonic Youth, Devo, and Polvo at the time… Glen Branca records.. etc. It’s largely instrumental and has some rather long purely noise sections. I’m not embarrassed by it, so to speak, but I don’t ever think about it anymore. It was more a ‘studio experiment’ than anything… recorded when I was first teaching myself how to use recording equipment. I didn’t really concentrate on learning how to write more ‘conventional songs’ until Lonely People…
You call Lonely People… "an ode to classic rock". In what sense? What’s your definition of classic rock?
It’s more just the cliched term really (The commonly accepted/popular term for rock music from the 50′s and 60′s). I just seemed to be listening to a lot of music from that time period when I was writing the songs for the album. There’s really nothing any more ‘classic’ about that music than anything done after it. I suppose that there is a certain rawness and innocence about the music from that era though. Before recording techniques became so refined and polished… before everybody figured out they had to clean up ‘unwanted distortions’ and the like. That rawness has obviously come and gone since… but there is a certain charm to the ‘first time.’
What nationality was William Tell?
He was Swiss.
How did SXSW turn out for you earlier in the year?
It was cool. Pretty chaotic… everybody is piss drunk everywhere you look by the time the sun goes down. Our show was OK. We played outside while another band played simultaneously right behind us. It was like 45 degrees… I swear it followed us south from Chicago.
Preach about something you love (not related to your music) in less than 100 words.
Well,.. I’m a big fan of the TV show Lost… it’s on ABC over here (and just won the Emmy Award for best new drama series). It’s about a bunch of people who survive a plane crash on a deserted island that is full of mysteries and monsters. The things I like most about it are that, up to this point, all the mysterious elements – the ‘monsters’ – have existed only through sounds and very brief blurry shots… everything is left unseen, very abstract and up to the viewers’ interpretation. My hope is that they can stick to this original idea as much as possible… although I fear that our current culture’s insatiable need for easily defined, in-your-face ‘answers’ will bend the writers into feeling the need to have to reveal things, as opposed to just creating creepy atmospheres for their own sake. There is also a main character (a ‘good-guy’) who is an ex-Iraqi Republican Guard soldier, which I think takes some serious balls to do over here. That’s probably more than 100 words.
What’s on your iPod?
I don’t have an iPod yet, although after our last tour I’m pretty much sold on the idea. Our bass player had one… it was amazing. The first long car trip I’ve been on where there weren’t jewel cases strewn about everywhere. Nobody ended up with anybody else’s CD’s when it was over.
Favourite movie soundtrack?
Wes Anderson has cranked out some gems for sure. I have also always really enjoyed Stanley Kubrick‘s soundtracks. The Clockwork Orange soundtrack is awesome. The amount of work that it took to make those early synth pieces is absolutely astounding… and there is phase effect on EVERYTHING… totally awesome!… and I Wanna Marry a Lighthouse Keeper… c’mon!!?? I think the 2001: A Space Odyssey record had a very profound effect on me as well, as the movie did for sure as well. The Ligeti stuff is so haunting… and who doesn’t love The Blue Danube? Alright… that’s more than one ‘favourite’… sorry bout that.
Motorhead have Cheese And Chive Ruffles on their rider. What’s on yours?
We’ve never had a rider… but if I did… I probably wouldn’t stray that far from Lemmy’s lead. I would probably request Planter’s Cheese Balls… and to counter-act the sheer awfulness of those, I’d try to get some Odwalla fruit smoothies.
Any plans to tour Europe?
I would LOVE to do that more than anything else I can think of. Unfortunately no plans to do so yet. Booking tours is a very difficult endeavour, especially without a label backing you. Maybe if the planets align we’ll get a chance to do that someday. That would be a dream come true. I’ve never been to Europe… sadly.
What are you going to do right now?
I think I will play the acoustic guitar for a while… I just watched the Bob Dylan doc on Public Television… very inspiring.
Devin Davis sells copies of Lonely People Of The World, Unite! directly through his marvellous website, where you can also download MP3s. His T-shirts are also pretty rocking.
[story by Stuart Heritage]
