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October 06, 2006
Interview with Ben Daniels of A Sunny Day in Glasgow
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "the Best Summer Ever"
We've been big fans of the odd and appealing music made by Ben Daniels and his sisters for a while now. Their self released the Sunniest Day Ever EP has been wearing out the new fangled hi-fi in MS towers since we got our hands on a copy at the beginning of the year. In advance of this Sunday's live appearance at Piano's in Manhattan, I caught up with the A Sunny Day in Glasgow mastermind as he nursed a brutal cold, pounded cough syrup, and had nothing better to do. It went like this...
Jeff K: Considering the dense layering that goes into your songs, do you have a concrete idea going in of what sort of noise to melody ratio you'd like to achieve?
Ben Daniels: Not really. Midway through recording the full length record I got this pedal called the "Fuzz Factory" which is totally amazing and that made me want to put noise on everything. Noise usually comes later once I get going on a song. I should probably switch this up though and see what happens
JK: Do you ever have the impulse to bury a melody because it's too straightforward?
BD: Maybe. This is the first time I've ever tried to write melodies, so I'm pretty insecure about them. Burying though is probably more to obscure the words. I've never really written lyrics before either. Also, I just like having the vocals there as another instrument. But I don't think I bury them all that much.
JK: What emphasis should the listener place on the lyrics in your songs, considering they're often obscured?
BD: Well, I mean, all the lyrics are meaningful. There's one song on the full length that has a really repetitive, nonsensical lyrical part that is maybe not so important, but the other parts going on around are meaningful. I don't know, the songs are all about something I guess, but the aesthetic experience of listening to the whole thing is far more important I'd say.
JK: Is making music something you've always shared with your sisters? Or was it more a matter of convenience and proximity that they became involved in ASDIG?
BD: No, we've never played music together. I remember when I first starting playing guitar our grandmother used to always say we should play music and sing together and I always thought she was crazy. I never even really considered it until I got in this argument with a friend a year ago or so. We were arguing about who had good voices among people we knew and I said that my sisters had better voices than probably anyone I knew. That put the idea into my head. And then I guess it was convenience, but I mean, they have terrific voices, so it's alot more than convenience.
JK: How difficult was it for you to translate your sound to live performance?
BD: This has been really hard. I think we have a long way to go with our live show. We have a drummer for the next couple of shows, so that will help. I love recording with drum machines and samples and stuff, but unless you have really great equipment I think it's hard to make that work live. I have shitty amps and 3rd rate equipment. I don't really know what I'm doing with most of it anyway. If anyone reading this wants to do live beats for us and can make it sound awesome, send us an email.
Tags: A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Piano's, King Kong Ding Dong
JK: Is a full time touring band even your end goal, or is making music in the studio (bedroom) where you get your fulfillment from it?
BD: I guess there are people who enjoy 9-5 jobs, but they make me just want to give up on everything and everyone. I'd love to tour and make a living from music, but it's hard. Especially with a band of people who all have different ideas, goals, etc... I don't know, I hope we can get out on some kind of tour to somewhere once the full length is out. But yeah, even without touring, I really enjoy just recording music.
Most of all I think I just like everything that surrounds "bands" or pop music in general. It's so exciting to get to release stuff you've made. Even if it's just to your dumb friends or whatever on a CDR or cassette or something. Even if it's terrible. I can't really say what I want to here, but did you ever see that Half Japanese movie, I think it's called "The Band That Would Be King". This is my favorite movie of all time and I think it expresses what I am trying to say. It's just so fun to be a part of it all in whatever way you can. I don't know, if God forbid I ever couldn't play music, I'd start a label. I'd still love to do that anyway actually.
JK: Now that you've left Philly, what's the status of your other band, King Kong Ding Dong?
BD: It's on a sort of hiatus I guess. I'll actually be home in November for a weekend but we couldn't work out a show for then, so they might play it without me. We've got a record coming out on Badmaster Records this Fall. Actually, I think it should be out by the end of October. It's really good stuff. Hopefully we'll get something together for December and then next year definitely start playing again. I'm only up here for a few months
JK: Any plans for the Sunniest Day Ever EP to get a proper release?
BD: Just today we got the official word from Notenuf Records (NYC/Berlin) that they will be putting out our full length, which will include 3 songs from the EP. We are really really really excited about this!!! There's going to be a flurry of activity over the next two months to get it all mixed and mastered and it should be out by February/March 2007. But it's going to be 13 songs and the tentative title is "SCRIBBLE MURAL COMIC JOURNAL"
JK: So how far along in the recording process are you? Has the ASDIG sound progressed at all from release to release?
BD: It's done. I need to fiddle with the mix on a couple of songs but it is essentially done. We're sending it off to get mastered later this month. The first 3 songs from the EP are on the LP. I don't know that the sound has really progressed much because most of the songs were written around when I wrote the EP songs. BUT, there are a few songs that are alot more electronic than anything on the EP. Actually, as I've gone along and recorded this I've gotten alot better at using the equipment I have, so there may be some things that sound different from a production standpoint, but on the whole, I think they all hang together very well. Next album I am definitely going to a studio and paying someone who knows what they are doing though.
Lightning round!
JK: You've recently moved to Montreal. How long until you've started a band with Spencer Krug?
BD: I don't know who Spencer Krug is. If he hangs out / lives in the McGill Library though, it can't be long.
JK: What's the French Canadian equivalent of a cheese steak?
BD: Poutine. I don't know that it's as revolting as a cheese steak though.
JK: The greater Glaswegian contribution is to the field of A: twee pop, B; deep fried snack foods?
BD: I'm going to say A, only because the only fried mars bar I've ever had was at Tritone in Philly, and I looked for them in Glasgow. I do miss the curry fries though.
JK: Which would you rather fight and why? A cougar or a squid (let's say a a young adult cougar and slightly larger than medium sized squid)?
BD: A squid. Either one would kill me, but I'm kind fascinated by squids. It would probably feel kind of neat too. yeah.
FIN.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at October 6, 2006 09:40 AM
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