The perfect irony of working in the music press is that, while it is a news-based medium, the things which get reported are rarely the newest things happening in a subject's life. In many ways, being a rock writer is as much (if not more) a pop medium as pop music is in that the focus always treads to the popular interest of the moment. not the biggest possible story hinted at or even the one which is of the greatest interest to the artist being interviewed. In that way, that it could coyly and ironically be asserted that the news isn't always the newest thing, it's actually very true.
The irony of the newest news not being of the greatest interest to the subject of an interview was made pretty clear recently during my discussion with Ryan Dahle of Limblifter. In that case, yes – Limblifter is doing a couple of shows for the first time in years and is reissuing their debut album which was originally minted in 1996 on vinyl and that is exciting; but readers would likely get a larger charge out of the fact that, when Ground Control spoke to him, Dahle was just putting the finishing touches of K-os' forthcoming double album before it goes to be mastered. Later, when the conversation turned to discussions of Hot Hot Heat and the work that Dahle did on their Future Breeds album, the producer let it slip that the band is planning to record a new album soon, and he may very well produce that venture too. Is all this exciting news? Yes, of course. Would it fit easily into an article about Limblifter? Not really. Still, we couldn't just let it all slide by the wayside; because of that, here we give readers The Rest Of The Story with Ryan Dahle, and all the projects that he currently has his fingers into.
Bill Adams vs. Ryan Dahle of Limblifter
RD: Hello?
BA: Hi, may I speak to Ryan Dahle please?
RD: This is he.
BA: Hi Ryan, it's Bill Adams calling from Ground Control.
RD: Hi Bill, how're you doing?
BA: I'm doing great thanks, how about you?
RD: I'm really good, can you hear me okay? I don't think my phone battery is in danger of dying but, if it does, don't think I'm an asshole. [chuckling]
BA: [chuckling] Oh, there's little danger of that. We've met before – in fact, the first time was around twelve years ago – and I know you're not an asshole.
RD: [laughing] Okay good. Uhm, where'd we meet?
BA: I know it was at a venue, I think it was either at Lee's Palace or The Opera House. The woman I was dating at the time introduced us; I guess she'd known you for a little while, and I know she had a major crush on you.
RD: Cool. And you're not dating her now?
BA: I haven't seen her now in eleven years. You and I met through her twelve years ago, I haven't seen her in eleven. It's easy to remember; it was the year 2000.
RD: It's still pretty cool that you have a memory for time like that.
BA: Thanks. So what's shakin'? Last we spoke, you had just released a solo record and now you're reissuing your first Limblifter album – what's going on here?
RD: Uhm, a guy named Eric Warner – wno I believe you know – called me up with hopes of re-releasing it; he really loved that first album, and he felt like it was important to re-release it on vinyl. I listen to vinyl every day, so I thought 'Why not? Why not re-release it?' It had never been released on vinyl before. It came out in 1996 and nobody was really releasing vinyl records at that time – although Limblifter's first release was a seven-inch – we had talked Mercury Records into releasing a seven-inch somehow – but the first album never came out on that format so we said yes and then he asked us if we wanted to play a showcase show at NXNE for his label. I did some research and discovered that I really liked all the bands he was releasing music by, so it seemed like an even better idea to become affiliated with the label in that capacity too. The music they're releasing is pretty cutting edge and great, great music so I was super-surprised that somebody so in touch with so much great music was interested in Limblifter and felt like it was important; I was flattered and thought we should do it.
BA: Well, tht's cool – so how's it working then? Is Kurt doing it with you? Is this actually some semblance of a reunion?
RD: I try not to think about it in those terms because it's not a marketing ploy, it just sort of happened. I don't really concentrate on my own music very much anymore; I make records for other people. In fact, we're just finishing a double record with K=os right now that I co-produced and co-wrote. I also played on most of it and we're just in the last few days of mixing over twenty songs. I do a lot of stuff like that now; I built a studio and I master a lot of records under a different name. I've been a part of a lot of records – I mixed the last Hot Hot Heat record and worked on the first couple of Billy Talent records too. I do more things like that now than anything else; I released a solo album because, having your own studio, you end up writing and recording them so I released that record and played a few shows to support it, but I haven't really treated any of it like an ongoing project or anything as formal as a band. Anyway, 'Is Kurt playing?' No. I asked him to play and he had agreed initially but, on the first day we got together to rehearse, he discovered he had also already agreed to do some Neko Case dates so he'll be in Salt Lake City with Neko Case during the North By Northeast festival. It's unfortunate, but the last version of Limblifter didn't involve him anyway; in fact, before the band went into stasis years ago, he already hadn't played in it for a few years; the drummer toward the end was Brent Pollack who is a great drummer and a great singer, and he still plays in my solo band so he's going to do it. In addition to that, my girlfriend Megan Bradfield – who played on the last Limblifter record – is going to play. In addition to that, Greg McDonald is helping us out; he's the fifth guy from Sloan and he's from out near us in B.C. but lives in Toronto now so we figured we'd have someone on the ground helping us out and we're just going to do a couple of shows for the fun of it; we're going to be doing The Casbah in Hamilton on June 14, and then we're doing a show on North By Northeast at the El Mocambo on the 16th.
BA: Nice! You know, it's funny, I still remember the first time I heard Age Of Electric and I can safely say that I didn't have cable so it was very literally what I heard on the radio.
RD: Where'd you grow up?
BA: Just outside of Niagara Falls.
RD: I think it might have had a little to do with the time too. I mean, I grew up in rural Saskatchewan and because of what we had access to musically, you didn't find people who were into The Clash and then people who were into Duran Duran, you found people who were into music – all of it – and then other people who weren't.
BA: Yeah, that's about right.
RC: And just close enough to civilization to have that 'city' feel right?
BA: Exactly. So what happens now? I mean, with the reissue coming and with the couple of shows you are doing, has there been that spark in your minds which hints that 'Yeah – we could do this again and make it work!'
RC: Well, I mean, I carried on with Limblifter for two records after my brother left, and there's been about twelve people in the band altogether but none of those people and I had a big falling out with, it has all been great. Any of those people would probably play in the band again, it has always been about having these songs I wrote and wanting to play them before audiences. I've written a bunch more – every year I wrie probably about an album's worth of material that's and probably an additional hundred pieces of crap on top of that. Now that I have my own studio, I find myself writing more with other people and doing more and more, but happily those extra songs are getting better and better. As it stands right now, I think I probably have about two records' worth of material that I could use either as a solo record or another record of my own, whatever name I want to put on it. It takes a lot of time to put something out properly and to go support it; it takes a lot of time and energy and there's not a lot of money in it. I really enjoy writing and recording and producing and mastering records so, looking at the difference between going out on the road and playing or the alternative, I don't see myself going out on the road for more than a couple of months at a time anymore – you know?
BA: I can understand that. I mean, at a certain point, I can understand how the bloom come off it because eventually, you find it to be a little like running through this and putting so much in, but getting the same result every time.
RD: Yeah – like, I don't mind going on the road, I'm just not one of those people who feeds off of the attention, and I don't get as excited about going out and playing live as some people do. Age Of Electric started in 1989 and we just toured non-stop; I was fine with that lifestyle, but I've never felt like I needed it or really got off on the ego boost. It's just a job and I love to play music – so I'm part of it.
BA: It's not the first time I've heard that, actually. Mark Oliver Everett told me that he loves the process of writing and recording albums, but isn't huge on releasing or promoting them.
RD: I don't know if I'd go on the record saying something like 'I hate going out to play live,' it's more a matter of going out there and the act of doing so costing you money – that's not interesting to me because then all that's left is the ego boost and I'm not into that; I can do what needs to be done and, if that's the job at hand, then I'll do it. The thing is, people have to want to see you; you have to have something out for people to want to come to the shows.
BA: I can understand that. I mean, I remember when Irrational Anthems came out and I remember really getting a kick out of it; I remember wanting to see you play behind it too, but I don't think I did.
RD: We didn't do a lot to promote it. There wasn't that much support from anywhere so it didn't get a whole lot of attention. At that point, it becomes about money; you need to have to have money to do the things that you want to do, like promote a single to radio and all that shit and I'm not into playing that kind of game.
BA: I can understand that, but by the same token, one would assume that the same model would be in place behind this reissue; I'm sure lots of people have great memories which are associated with the record in some way. Like, for example, I remember the first time I heard “Screwed It Up” and where I heard it.
RD: Oh yeah?
BA: Yeah – it was on a compilation CD that came with an issue of CMJ. That was where I heard it first.
RD: Yeah – for a minute there, it was the most-added song on rock radio in America. It really started taking off too; Howard Stern was playing it on his show for aabout two or three weeks straight and Mercury Records – who released it – had sort of done a Mom-and-Pop record store run where they thought it was going to be an indie record so they put it in all the small stores thinking they'd have to build it up slowly – so it didn't get distributed properly through all the big stores so when they checked their tracking, it wasn't selling well and they dropped the song.
BA: Really?!
RD: Yeah – I'm not sure if Mercury was uncertain whether it would be commercially successful or what; maybe they thought it was going to be an underground record and so they didn't really prepare for it doing well on radio so, when it was the most-added thing for two weeks or whatever it was, they weren't prepared and couldn't get records out fast enough. It was a different world back then; it was about brick-and-mortar distribution and trucking a bunch of records out to somewhere just wasn't an option. It's weird to talk about this record now; I've done a couple of interviews where people mention the second and third records and talk about how much they loved those records but, at the time, it didn't seem like they got much traction at all; I mean, the second record did – “Ariel vs. Lotus” did well and “Wake Up To The Sun” did well, but it's just nice to hear that people remember those records fondly and know that we didn't do them for no reason. That kind of inspires me to keep writing; even if the records aren't super-successful and we're not making a million dollars on them, I'm still happy to keep creating them.
BA: That's cool. So, with the reissue being of the first album, what will the set lists look like for these shows?
RD: Well, we've had a lot of requests actually, from people interviewing and other folks just requesting songs from the catalogue -so I think we'll do a do a broad scope of it. I mean, Brent and Megan know the whole catalogue so we could pull just about anything out at any time. It's actually more the first record that we didn't actually know as well, other than the singles. I mean, I haven't played those songs in so long now…. It's good though, because it's an opportunity to play songs that I wrote so many years ago. The problem I'm finding now is that I've written so many songs while I was on different creative avenues that there's no single artist name to perform under to play them all; it's a great thing in some ways, but kind of complicated too. For example, the last time I went out was billed as a solo tour but, toward the end of the sets, we'd throw in a couple of Limblifter songs just because we could. What was funny about that was people would come up to me after we'd come offstage saying how much they loved the covers we played at the end – but they were just Limblifter songs!
BA: Nice. Now, because you are going back and are re-visiting it with a re-issue, are you discovering that while there are some songs you'd forgotten how much you liked, there are also a few that make you cringe?
RD: Yeah – I think both things happen; some are good but then there are others where you don't even remember who you were when you wrote it. It's interesting because it's almost like another person wrote them sometimes. I don't know if I hate any part of our catalogue, but I don't sit around and listen to it, that's for sure [chuckling]. I think it's one of those things though, where you need to have been into it when you wrote it or else why would you have written or released it? On the other hand, if you're still really feeling what you wrote ten of fifteen years before, that's a little weird. I like having that little bit of distance – where I can go out and play a solo show and no one is bothered by the fact that I'm not playing “Tinfoil,” “Remote Control” or “Screwed It Up.” In this case, I think it'll be an interesting thing, because we haven't played those songs in six or seven years.
BA: I meant to ask that. Even when they were brand new, I'm sure you didn't play all the songs in the catalogue live, so how long has it been since you played some of the material?
RD: Six or eight years ago, we played at the Croatian Cultural Center here in town. There were two bands on the bill who were backing us up and it was Marianna's Trench and Hedley. At the last minute, our agent called me and said, 'Hey – this Hedley band is doing really well, they've got a single on the radio which is doing well. Do you think you'd mind letting them close the show? I think there would be a lot of people there to see them and you don't want to close the show if the band on before you has all the people there. It sounded fine to me, so I said that worked fine by me. We let them close the show, and there we were – between Marianna's Trench and Hedley. [both laughing] And that was our last show!
BA: And that was your last show?
RD: Yup, after that, we thought maybe it would be time to put it down for a while.
BA: Somebody somewhere has to be still wishing they'd taped it for prosperity.
RD: Well I know there were some photographs, and I know we sounded the best [laughing]. I gotta tell you, I have to admit it. I know some of the people in those bands and they're nice people, but I'm pretty sure we blew them out of the fuckin' water. [chuckling] Both of them were just getting started back then, I'm sure they're much bigger and do really well now. I'd produce a record for them if they wanted.
BA: I'd definitely review those records! It's funny, but the first time I heard the last Hot Hot Heat album, the first time I heard “21 @ 12,” I knew you had produced that record before I checked the liner notes. The big synth bleat at the beginning of the song gave it away as something you'd had a hand in. By the same token though, as you said yourself, you've been doing production work with a lot of different people – like completely different sounds from your own; do you learn different things from all the acts you produce and does it filter into the stuff that you're writing?
RD: That's an interesting question. I'm sure that it does, but once you've done as much as I've done as an artist singer, you do branch out a bit but you also have your voice and your thing that you do. I play guitar for the most part when I'm songwriting and if I were to put it down for a whole record, it would be much easier to escape the paradigm I have but it's a comfort zone – you know?
BA: I can understand that, I was just curious. Like how much exchange is there between an artist and producer, and does it affect the producer's music if he makes some as well?
RD: It was really interesting between K-os and me because he's got really diverse listening tastes. I think he's an incredible singer; some of the things he does off the cuff and in one take are just incredible and blow me away. It's really great to be a part of, and Dustin Bentall is the same way; I produced a record of country rock for him and that was a whole different thing again.In both cases, I think they're both such good records that I don't even care if they do well; the experience was just excellent.
BA: Wow – that's really wild, now I really want to hear them. So what else am I very obviously forgetting to ask about? What else should very definitely be addressed in this article?
RD: Shit – well, there's those two shows, there's the vinyl release which is July 10 so, it'll be after the shows… I'm not sure. I'm not a news-maker, so I don't know [chuckling].
BA: I'll make it sound good, it's what I do.
RD: Exactly! I trust you!
BA: Oh, since I've got you on the line and since I feel like you'd be the right kind of guy to ask, is it just me or is it really as cool as I think it is that vinyl is getting another spin at popular interest?
RD: I think it's incredible and, really, I think it should happen because having a vinyl copy takes it back to when having a physical copy meant something.
BA: Didn't it always though?
RD: I think it does, but with CDs it was a little more dispensable and you could feel it happening; everybody had a huge CD collection because it was very easy to have one, but vinyl has an essence all its own. It's like a living thing; it degrades. When you put it on something physical happens and when you put it away, it has degraded down from where it was when you put it on. If you put a record on seventy times, it's going to get scratched – you know?
BA: No doubt. So what am I very obviously forgetting to ask you about? What else would you like to see in this piece?
RD: Uhm, I think you've about covered it man, there's nothing else I can think of right off the top of my head.
BA: Okay man, that's cool. Thanks for taking some – oh wow, quite a bit of time to sit down and talk to me.
RD: No problem Bill, it was my pleasure.
BA: Thanks man, have a good rest of your day.
RD: You too.
BA: Bye.
RD: Bye.
