INTERVIEWPAINT IT BLACK
by Christer Davidsson, November 2007
Hey Dan! How are you doing?
Dan Yemin: -Doing great! Thanks for asking.
I'm glad you're taking the time to talk to me. Are you doing a lot of interviews for zines and such?
-Yeah, I’m pretty much always in the middle of a couple of interviews. It gets really intense when we’ve got a new record coming out.
Ever been involved in any zines yourself?
-I did some writing for CHANGE ZINE and RUMPSHAKER FANZINE, two of my favorites from the 90’s. The best was Eric from Rumpshaker had me and Atom (from Atom & His Package) write tag team record review! We were worshipful of records we liked, and pretty mean to records we thought were melodramatic or trying too hard to be arty.
Ok, let's talk about Paint It Black. You guys have been in the studio recording your third album. How is it coming together?
-It’s all done! I’m really excited about and incredibly satisfied with the process and with how it came out.
Where have you been recording and who have you worked with?
-We did all the drums, bass, guitar and my vocals with J. Robbins at his studio the Magpie Cage in Baltimore. We did all of the post-production, backup vocals, and mixing with Oktopus (from Dälek). Post-production involved samples, tape loops, noises, strings and stuff like that. Jeff Pezzati from Naked Raygun sang on one song, and his vocal track was recorded in Chicago by Daniel Escauriza.
Did you have everything in the bag when you entered the studio or have you been writing and arranging songs along the way?
-Everything was pretty much sorted out when we went into the studio. We were really obsessive with the writing, arranging, and rehearsing part of this, so we were really well prepared, probably more than I’ve ever been with any band. Writing in the studio is fine when you have a lot of time, but when you’re recording hit-and-run style like we do, it’s more comfortable to be really well prepared when you get there. Otherwise it can be really stressful, but not in the way that stress can sometimes make you more productive, more in the I’m-losing-my-mind-and-totally-shutting-down sort of way.
I loved "CVA" and your latest album "Paradise" is one of my favorite records of all time. Do you feel any pressure recording a follow-up to a record like "Paradise". I mean, that album is fantastic.
-I appreciate the kind words! We were really proud of “Paradise”, and of course felt some pressure to top it, or at least to match it. But everything about how we did this record was pretty next level in terms of intensity. There’s always a point in the middle of the recording process where my ears get burnt out, everything starts to sound like garbage to me, and I start to worry about whether we might have a disappointment on our hands, but I’ve realized that this is just part of the process, and it passes pretty quickly.
How would you describe the sound of the new material? Is it any different from the previous stuff?
-I feel like everything’s just more intense. The fast stuff is faster, the vocals are more raw, the heavy stuff is heavier, the drone parts are more psychotic, and the lyrics are more interesting I think. The recording is also much more dense and textured. The heaviness comes from something less traditional than the typical hardcore record, which usually has 4-6 guitar tracks on it. We kept things simple: just drums bass, and two guitars tracks. The heaviness comes more from the bass, from the way everything is played (tempo and dynamics), and from all the samples and loops and other stuff going on in the background. The cool thing is that the songs sound equally fierce and thick on stage with just the four of us. Studio and stage are just totally different mediums, and the heaviness comes from different elements depending on which medium you’re using.
Sounds good to me. How may tunes will be on this new record and do you have a title for it yet?
- The album is called “New Lexicon” and its got 15 songs.
What are some of the subjects of the lyrics on the new record?
-One of the big themes is faith, both secular and religious, the different forms it takes, and the way it can be both a source of strength and of depravity. Ultimately faith in people, faith in gods, and faith in institutions, can be disappointing and disillusioning. In other circumstances, though, it’s the only thing that helps people survive. I also wrote a lot about language, and how although we rely on it to communicate and connect with each other, it can also distort meaning and sever connections between people. I was also interested in how much communication has changed, because most of it occurs through the written word over the internet at this point. Because of this, I think language is totally separated from context a lot of the time, because of the absence of non-verbal cues like eye contact, body language, and tone of voice that convey so much of the meaning in human communication. Seems like we’ve replaced face-to-face context with emoticons. Of course, I still write about politics: war, abuse of power, economic injustice, and prejudice. I just try to do it a little differently on each album. I also wrote about Philadelphia specifically on this record for the first time.
This is the first recording you've done with your new drummer Jared Shavelson. Is he doing a good job?-He’s amazing. He wrote great stuff for this album and his help with the arrangements was invaluable. This line-up of Paint It Black has the best work ethic of any band I’ve ever played with. I work a lot of late hours, and I sometimes have stuff to do with other bands, and I got married this year as well, so although this record was top priority, I was also really busy. They practiced so much without me it was amazing. They had full-on, all weekend marathons where they just played things over and over, really working over the arrangements and getting the tempos right. One weekend they just played everything at half speed the whole time to really work on the dynamics, and then sped it back up at the end of the weekend.
He was in the Hope Conspiracy, right?
- Jared is still in Hope Conspiracy. They put out a new record within the last year.
Do you think him being in the band has made an impact on the music?
-Most definitely.
It's been 3 years since "Paradise" was recorded. Did you guys do a lot of touring after the release of that one?
- I would say “a lot” is kind of relative. For us we toured a lot: West Coast twice, Europe twice, the string of cities from Boston to Richmond about four times, more festivals. We neglected the Midwest a little though, because we played there so much on the first album. If you live in the Midwest we will totally make it up to you this time!!! Our first tour on the new record will be coming your way. The frustrating thing is that a lot of our peers tour for 4-8 months a year, and we’re sort of less visible because we can only do short tours because of work.
What did you think of Europe? Culturally, Musically?
-
Wow, that’s a pretty broad question. I don’t think that you can make a uniform statement about the entire continent from a cultural or musical perspective without making sweeping generalizations that are bound to be inaccurate. I’ll do my best though. I’ve always felt as if Mainland Europe, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom have very different cultural and musical reference points, and within the mainland, western and eastern Europe are also very different.
I’ve always loved playing in Europe for a lot of reasons: I’m obsessed with architecture and the experience of all things ancient. The U.S. is a much younger country, so the opportunity to see buildings that are over 500 years old is really limited. Also, in Europe people take much better care of bands on tour, especially in terms of food and shelter, which is great when you’re so far from home. I’m always feeing sort of guilty though, because I feel like US punk and hardcore gets more attention in Europe than bands that live over there. Its upsetting to me that its easier for a
2nd-rate US band to tour Europe than a great European band. There are amazing bands, like Deny Everything from Germany or Rituals from Italy, that should be getting a ton of attention, but instead people are getting all excited about some generic metal-core band, that sings about fighting or something stupid like that.
When is the new album going to hit the stores?
-February 2008.
You're still working with Jade Tree on this one, right?
-Yes.
I just read somewhere that you're one of the bands in a new Tony Hawk skateboarding game. How do you feel about that?
-I’m flattered that they picked us. There are a lot of really cool musicians on that soundtrack.
Are you guys doing any skatboarding yourselves?
-Josh brings a skateboard sometimes when we travel. I’m too clumsy. I get hurt enough just playing music.
I've seen a bit of Philadelphia in various skatevideos. It's a pretty good place to skate, right? Isn't that park with the "Love" sign in Philly?
- Yeah, our city has a strong tradition as a prime skating location. The legendary Love Park is in Philly, and FDR skatepark as well. I think Philly is featured as a skating location in the new Tony Hawk game.
So, have you been trying out any of the new songs on any recent shows?- We’ve been playing 2 new songs at each show since we got out of the studio, and the response has been good. We did a secret show in Philadelphia last winter where we just came out and played 8 new songs and nothing old. That one was sort of weird, people just stared at us. It sort of spooked me.
Apart from Paint It Black you are involved in a bunch of other bands as well including Lifetime and Armalite, any more? What about the other guys?
-Jared is in Hope Conspiracy, and was in None More Black until they broke up. He also plays in a couple of experimental bands in NYC that are totally over my head. Josh and Andy play in Affirmative Action Jackson, Philadelphia’s best, and most hilarious, hardcore band. Josh also was in Knives Out and Tokyo. Andy plays in Philly’s legendary Oi! Cover band, and fills in for Lifetime when Dave can’t travel.
Armalite released a record in 2006 and Lifetime put out a new one earlier this year. How much of your time is going into your bands?
-My life is equal parts relationship, career, and music. I’m pretty lucky.
What are you guys doing when you're not playing music?
-Josh works construction and is a tour guide at a museum. Jared is a drum tech and stage manager for other bands on tour, and does some production assistant stuff in a TV studio when he’s home. Andy puts on a lot of shows in Philadelphia, and maintains a website and database for a legal nonprofit organization. I’m a psychologist.
I've never had the opportunity to see Paint It Black live. Do you think you'll be playing in Europe next year? Maybe even Sweden?
- We’ll probably be in Europe in the summer. I would like to come to Sweden. It’s weird, in the 90’s Sweden and Norway were the best places for HC bands to play, and it was much harder to have a successful show in the UK. Now when they book our tours, they set up 5 shows in the UK and none in Scandinavia. I don’t know why that is…
Well, great talking to you Dan. Is there anything else that you'd like to say while you have the chance?
- Looking back at my answer to the question about lyrical themes, I think that I wasn’t clear enough about some of my feelings on the topic of spirituality. I am VERY suspicious of organized religion. As a source of community and cultural context I think it can be really useful, but I think on the whole it’s a means of social control and is really regressive.
[Photos by: 1) Mark Beemer. 2) Unknown. 3 & 4) RobbyRedcheeks.Com.]