Herman Dune Interview

Monday 6th June
XOYO – Old Street
London

HERMAN DUNE INTERVIEW

(Interview with Herman Dune, vocals and guitarist David-Ivar Herman Dune
And drummer, backing vocals Neman Herman Dune.)


Q)Strange Moosic is the new album, are you happy with the finished version? Did it turn out exactly as you’d envisioned it?

A)David – I am happy because it didn’t turn out how we imagined it, it turned out much better, it surprised us but we are happy that we got to that stage and it turned out like it did, that’s the magic involved. A lot of artists that we know record the vocals afterwards so they have time to work on parts and think about how it needs to sound, with us we record all live in the studio so you don’t have time to think about it to much, you just DO it, it’s like a sound picture.

Q) How was the recording process? Did you try anything different this time? Or are you pretty much experienced and well versed recording wise so it’s just a case of get in, tune up and get out…

A) David -I don’t remember thinking about it in that way although sometimes we’d play the songs through like a practice first of all and then we’d record them live in the studio as they happened and unfolded. When I write a song, with my guitar and voice I don’t even think about any other parts or how it would sound live and the song then takes shape on its own

Q) Do you like putting restrictions on yourself in the studio as well as on your writing? Due to the almost everlasting amount of options in today’s studios giving you/the band a million possible sounds and instruments.

A) Neman- Yes sometimes that is the case, although on this record there are a few keyboards on it, they aren’t big things on the overall sound but there were a few keyboards that Adam (producer Adam Selzer) had in the studio that complimented the tracks and sound that we hadn’t thought about it beforehand. But sometimes it happens yeah. Although we did really want to stick to the three piece format live environment recording idea we had at the start.

David- Both Neman and I don’t really think about the recording in the case of instrumentation too much. We just want the song to sound right, and we have noticed that this is a different process than with other people I have worked with that aren’t completely song based. With Herman Dune it’s never about what instruments we want to use, who’s going to play what instrument or whatever.

Neman- It’s the best way to be, just listen to the song and go from there.

David – I’ve always said it’s a fantastic experience working with him (Neman) if I was a drummer I would be more interested in what I’m going to be playing on the drum track and wanting to try a new groove or a new fill I’d learnt or created, but Neman has always been more song based, and paid a lot of attention to the overall music and lyrics and sometimes would even be the one to say “that’s enough, I don’t think I need to add anything else there”, just serving the song completely. I’ve played with other drummers and it’s rare.

Q) Some of your other recordings from the ‘Giant’ album onwards really featured a more groups recording with additional musicians. Where as live you seem to prefer a more stripped down arrangement of the tracks from this period, do you ever find this 2 piece restricting LIVE?

A) David - There is always a time for something, and then a time for something else and with this recording it was time for a trio album, we wanted Ben on bass (Ben Pleng) and record it as a trio album, sometimes we tend to change our minds halfway through although with this one we stuck to it throughout. It sounded better and better every day and we are really happy with the outcome.

Q) There are some YouTube clips up of you doing various covers, such as Bob Dylan’s ‘Just like Tom Thumbs Blues’ in Paris, would you ever rule out including cover versions on your recordings, it seemed in the 60s and before artists would cover songs on their albums regularly, the charts might even have the same song by 2 different artists out at the same time.

A) David – Yeah, I love playing Bob Dylan songs, I do it every day (laughs), actually in Paris recently they set up something for his 70th Birthday (Dylan) and were looking for bands to each cover a whole album as part of it and Neman and I have decided to cover ‘Shot Of Love’ and we’re going to work on it this year. Maybe it’ll be released next year, we want to use a gospel choir and really work on it. It’s one of my favourite albums of his, I think it’s a very sharp and cleaver album that teaches me a lot. I love ‘Blood on the Tracks’ too it’s great but to me this album just transcends a lot of things, every line almost say’s exactly what you want to say. I love it.

Q) As a group you are very prolific, writing and recording 10 albums in as many years, do you think that having this level of artistic freedom is something that you could have only got by being on an Independent label?

A) David – It sure gave us a lot of freedom being on an independent label, such as releasing 2 albums in one year. Although we have 2 albums that are on EMI (major label) and there was no pressure making those at the time, we didn’t notice any difference making them than we did making the others. It’s different for different bands I guess. Some have a really hard time with pressure from the label; and that can even be from Independents too, not just majors.

Q) What music do you listen to for your own pleasure?

A)(Both) – Bob Dylan! (Both laugh)
David – The Beatles too…just today in the van I was listening to ‘Rubber Soul’ and ‘Street Legal’ (Bob Dylan

Q) Are there currently any bands that you like i.e. bands that you have gigged with or seen on the circuit?

A) David -Sure,The Woes from New York, The Strokes, Kings of Leon, Nemen likes a lot of bands as well, he plays a lot of records

Q) You were greatly championed by John Peel on his show, do you think there is anyone else out there at the moment that is giving new bands (even unsigned ones) the spotlight and air time that he did?

A) David - I don’t think there could ever be someone else like him, or even similar to what he achieved. He helped us out so much, he was so unique and just played bands that he liked which is so rare for radio these days. His audience would be 16-60 year olds easily, and he was just so much into music. He was a champion of music and sometimes he didn’t even play a record in relation to the release date, he’d play old songs of ours or even brand new ones in no order, he might even play the same song twice just because he liked it.

Neman - We really admire him.

Q) Are you playing any of the summer festivals here in the UK?

A) David -Maybe the album came out a little late, so maybe it’s too late to get on some of the bills, we have some secret ones.

Neman - We can’t really talk about those though, although there should be some.

THANK YOU

STRANGE MOOSIC was released on 6th June on Strange Moosic(records) through FORTUNA POP
www.hermandune.com
www.myspace.com/therealhermandune


Thanks to Lucy Hurst at butilikeyouPR

'originally posted on 405'