You mentioned that you’ve written a lot of songs this year already. Do you have plans to enter the studio now that the live album has been released?

Definitely, as soon as possible. With so much touring going on right now, I realize that the next record won’t be done in one visit. Radiance was done in one week…we had all the songs ready, we mixed all the songs and it was done. With the next record, I don’t know if I’m going to have a week to do that. But we have enough songs, so I’ll probably have to do it in pieces. With the live album out there’s no hurry, but I’m psyched that we have a lot of new material. I’d like to have time to just go into the studio and just improvise and let the studio be the inspiration ‘cause I have enough songs to make a whole record—it just changes what you do.

An example to me of how that works is Radiohead’s first couple albums were just three guitars—awesome fucking guitars. And then as they progressed, they were just like “let’s turn the guitars down and see what we can do.” Then they started getting into [makes eerie noises] weird sound and I love that. When I lived in New Mexico I had a professional recording studio and I did a lot of recording at home and after a while you just get into “I’m not going to play guitar, I’m just going to do some other shit and see what that sounds like.” You always get off on that because it’s not the regular thing. So I’m hoping to get into that space too just to write music. To me that’s the best thing.

It’s funny because playing is great but writing is like creating a story and it’s kind of the same any time you play it. But whenever you play it live, it always sounds a little different—because you play it in front of different people. Even when you play it in the same club two times, one year you play and then the next time it’s a totally different experience. Sometimes a few people can bring out a different energy, like we played a gig in Arcadia, CA and there was a small group of people there that had such a great time, and we had a great time. It was the first gig we had played after we played the Gorge, which was a lot of people. But we realized it was just as fun because this small group was just as enthusiastic. It was really intimate and I was talking a lot of shit to them and they were getting high. It was really fun.

How do you feel working with Dave has affected your own songwriting?

I don’t really know consciously, but I’m sure unconsciously just the expression of your soul. He just writes some great songs and I’m always inspired to write a song that has something to say or projects a feeling. He has some great songs and he’s just inspiring.

After working with Dave for so many years, what finally to the decision to become a full-time member of DMB?

It’s kind of an organic process. I had moved back to the outer banks and [my manager] Hugh called and said they wanted me to work on their new record. It was kind of a result of that—going into the touring cycle based on that album. It just seemed like a nice thing to do after being in New Mexico for 10 years doing my own thing. I also realized that in years past, they used to just tour so much and I didn’t really want to make a commitment to that because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything on my own—and I really needed to do that for my own personal expression.

But at the time, which was three or four years ago, they pretty much just toured in the summer. But since I’ve been doing it, they’ve toured a lot more than just that. We try to make space to do my gigs…this year has been great because we’ve been able to do a lot of gigs. I’m hoping to keep it going next year. It’s always just a matter of working out the schedules.

How have you been enjoying the different format with the Caravan shows?

It’s been fun being able to do TR3 gigs with larger audiences, depending on the show and being able to see some of my favorite bands. Like to see The Flaming Lips twice, Black Dub and fucking Devotchka…fuck! I really love Devotchka’s one album called How It Ends, it’s one of my favorite albums, but I never heard or knew what they were like live. I wasn’t ready for how awesome it was live. To me, one of the deepest things would be to see someone like Peter Gabriel who just grabs your soul and tears it inside out. As soon as the guy in Devotchka started singing I was like, “Oh, yes!” I love it when you get that kind of input because that makes your soul ready to play for another 20 years—if you can get one show like that. And The Flaming Lips was like that and Daniel Lanois and Trixie Whitley with Black Dub, that did it for me. It just brings you back to the same thing. I didn’t know Devotchka was on that bill at the Gorge but when I saw I was like “Devotchka?! No fuckin’ way! Fuckin’ A!” It killed me. It’s so different, I mean try to describe it somebody…

How did the rescheduled Randall’s Island shows go?

Well I didn’t know it would be so quick, but it’s pretty amazing. We had to cancel a couple gigs on the West Coast, but it was great to be able to play on all four of the shows. It’s all kind of the oneness of any day you get on stage and play music—that’s just the most free moment of any day of your life.

Warren Haynes has joined DMB for a couple of songs this summer. You two seem to have a fairly close chemistry…

It’s always great—he’s my total guitar brother. I love playing with him, he’s got so much soul. I’m always feeling like “you’ve got such great tone and I have shit tone,” because he’s got tone of the ages. He was playing through these amps that weren’t even his and he came up to me after and said “I can’t get a sound out of the amp!” But I said “you have your sound, you can play through any amp and it’s going to sound like you.” I mean I would feel the same way if I played through an amp I wasn’t used to. It’s just so free and there’s no competitive thing. It’s just…play.

So what are the upcoming plans for DMB and TR3?

Well there’s a few acoustic gigs with Dave, and I’m sure DMB is going to hit it hard next year, but the rest of the year is mostly TR3 gigs. We’re going to Florida and Georgia next month. Our tour kicks off in October down in Florida. I’m very excited…

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