This past year has been an exciting one for The Dandy Warhols. Supporting the release of their first greatest hits compilation The Capital Years: 1995-2007, they’ve completed tours of Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Standing the test of time with a career that spans 15 years, The Dandy Warhols are still going strong and not slowing down anytime soon. Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with guitarist Peter Holmstrom about touring, recording, and what fans can look forward to in 2011.
I got the chance to catch your show in Baltimore, and noticed that it has been 12 years since your last show in Charm City. What was it that kept you away for so long, and what led to the decision to include Baltimore in your itinerary this time around?
I think the reason we didn’t come there is just because we were in DC, and we figured that was close enough. Maybe that’s wrong, I really don’t know. This time around the venue we always play, the 9:30 Club, was booked and the option to play Baltimore came up and we were like, “Great, let’s do it!” It’s one of those things where it’s really tricky trying to play everywhere, and since the 9:30 Club is kind of still one of our favorite clubs to play in the United States it was always like, “Let’s play there.” It’s kind of their fault, is what I’m saying. (laughter)
You just released a second video for the single “This is the Tide” — what led to the decision to make a second video for that song?
They were both made at the same time, pretty much. There’s actually a third video that was made that will come out sometime, maybe, I don’t know. Some friends wanted to do a video for us, and that’s the one that came out first. Brent [De Boer, drums] had actually started making the other one — the one that just came out — maybe a couple days before that. It was just to see which one was the best or just to see other people’s ideas of what they could do.
As a member of a band whose popularity seemed to skyrocket in part due to the music video platform in the ’90s, how do you think the role of the music video has changed in recent years, as music videos are now mostly viewed on the internet?
I think more people can actually see the videos. I know that some bands that I was really into in the ’90s, I never saw their videos because I didn’t have MTV, and [then] MTV stopped playing videos. But I knew they made videos, and I’ve now managed to see them all now on the internet. I kind of think it’s not a huge important thing anymore. It’s definitely not worthy of the massive budgets that used to [be utilized] to make videos. I still think it’s cool.
I noticed that the new single doesn’t really appear on your set list on this tour — any reason why?
We were learning the song — we were playing it pretty much at every sound check, but for one reason or another we decided to not to play it during the show and finally, [during] the last three shows of the tour, we played it. It’s doing alright; it’s still a little rough.
How does your recording process work? You mentioned that you were all still learning the song, so does that mean you just lay down the song track-by-track, or do you do any live recording as well?
The problem is that we all put things down individually months and months and months ago. I had put down probably four or five different guitar parts, of which you can hear bits and pieces of all of them in there, but those don’t necessarily all work live — and I can’t necessarily play all of them. I can’t even remember how to play all of them. I mess around with different tunings, different guitars, different effects set-ups, and I really should document what I’m doing so I can go back and figure it out. I think we all do that, and just the fact that it’s Brent singing lead as opposed to harmonies is a new thing, and it was a whole lot of stuff to get used to. We’ve got something that works now, so hopefully it will be in the set list now. It’s good to have new songs.
You all have had a pretty extensive tour schedule this year — how do you and the other members balance tour life with family life?
Yeah, I think pretty much everybody’s families have been out or will be out on a leg or two of the tours — it’s kind of the only way to do it. I know that some bands are opposed to having girlfriends and wives and stuff out on the road; we’ve never been that band. It’s always been pretty family-oriented. It’s probably one of the reasons we’re still together.
Do you have separate tour buses for each member?
No. (laughter) It’s a crowded bus, but no, it’d be very expensive. There are days when I’d really, really like my own tour bus, [but] that will never happen.
What are your future plans for the Dandy Warhols? Are there any new albums out on the horizon?
We’ll start writing and recording in January after the holidays. If everything goes well we’d like to have a record out in the summer or fall at the latest, which is amazingly quick for us, so don’t hold your breath.
Do you see yourselves continuing the space-rock direction that you were going in on Earth to the Dandy Warhols?
I think there will always be aspects of that in what we do. I kind of think there’s been a lot of desire to go very electronic or kind of old-school rock and roll; back to the roots — it could be anywhere, really. It could be all three! I think it’s important for us to have a focus in the songwriting department of the record. [But] I have no idea where it’s going.
How has having your own label, Beat the World Records, changed your dynamic as a band in regards to songwriting and producing?
That was the one thing that Capitol didn’t really get in the way with: our creative process. They never really put a damper on anything — so after doing a record on our own, the only thing I think we may need is to bring in a producer for the next one, just to have a little more focus. Having our own label and our own studio just allows far too much meandering. You can go anywhere you want, which is not necessarily a good thing — especially when you like to have some sort of time constraint.
Do you ever feel like your musical influences shift? Who are some of your most current influences?
Oh, constantly — I’ve been really listening to a lot of Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent…kind of the old school rock ‘n roll thing. I just like the idea of putting one mic in the middle of the room and playing a song into it and that’s the result. I think that’d be really cool — a really cool challenge, at least.
Any plans for your solo project, Pete International Airport, to tour?
My singer is a schoolteacher, so maybe spring break? Maybe in the summer we can get out and do something. At the moment, I’m just focusing on playing a couple shows here and there in Portland, maybe Seattle. Anywhere we can drive in a weekend, I guess. I would love to tour; it’s a pretty good band — good group of people.
What’s your favorite thing about touring?
I don’t know if there’s one thing — the fact that I get to do it? Traveling has always been important to me; my family did a lot of it growing up. The fact that I get to combine it with my other favorite thing, playing music, is pretty much perfect.