A six-song EP co-produced with John Plymale (Meat Puppets, Superchunk, The dB’s), ‘Life’s Wild Ride’ finds DB Edmunds reaching further across the musical spectrum than he ever has before.

‘Life’s Wild Ride’s’ musical expansiveness also underlines the loose theme running through its songs — namely, the volatility of existence. Back in October 2019, when Edmunds entered Durham, NC’s Overdub Lane to begin laying down tracks with Plymale, he figured that it would take less than a year to complete and release the record. However, the COVID-19 pandemic intervened, as did some unexpected challenges in Edmunds’ own life; but while it all wound up delaying ‘Life’s Wild Ride’ by nearly two years, the passage of time also imbued the songs with a deeper emotional resonance.

“I definitely wanted to avoid a monochromatic song pallette on this project”

You have a brand new EP out. Tell us what’s the story behind working on ‘Life’s Wild Ride’?

DB Edmunds: I started the project way back in the Before Times, pre-Covid, in the fall of 2019. My idea at that time was to go into a proper studio again and make a record mostly on my own. I’d been writing a lot in the two and half years since I basically decided to put The Stars Explode on semi-permanent hiatus due to burnout. I’d kept that band going for 10 years but felt like it had run its course. Sadly, we had just released a great third album, ‘Too Late to Save the World,’ at the end of 2017, which I remain quite proud of to this day. I think it has some fantastic songs on it, and the band I had at the time were all great players. But trying to wrangle all the members together for rehearsals, and book shows that everyone was available and willing to play and promote the record with no label or publicist wore me down. So by 2019, I had what I thought was a solid collection of new songs, many of which were not as straight ahead “rock” songs that would have worked for the band even had I chosen to reform it then. My idea was to make a full-length album and have some friends help out as needed, playing a few parts here and there but handling everything else myself.

After the pandemic hit in March of 2020 and the studio where I’d been working had to shut down, I paused and — like everyone else in the world – confronted the strange and isolating times we all faced during early Covid. Eventually, I asked my engineer & producer friend, John Plymale, to send me the stems for all the tracks so that I could begin working on them again at home. At that point I got in touch with my other good friend, Brian Dennis, an amazing multi-instrumentalist I’ve known since back in the mid-90s when Gladhands played a few shows with his band, Dag. I asked Brian if he could lay down some lead and auxiliary guitar parts, maybe some keys if he felt like it. It took him a while to get going, but when he sent me back the first track and I heard what he’d done, it blew me away! I told him, “keep doing what you’re doing!” and let him run with it. For several more months Brian and I traded files and I whittled down the 12 tracks I’d started at Overdub Lane in fall 2019 to the strongest 6 songs, and I decided to turn it into an EP. His contributions are, undeniably, a huge part of why the record sounds the way it does, and I’m eternally grateful to him for the time & talent he brought to the project.

Did you approach songwriting any differently this time around?

I don’t think so, other than allowing myself to write in whatever style the songs required. In other words, I wasn’t writing with a band in mind or with a particular sound or style in mind. I wanted to break away from some of the more traditional “pop rock” songs I’d become well-known for, not limit myself in any way. In the end, I might have still ended up with a batch of accessible pop tunes, haha! But I thought at the time that this record might be more singer songwriter in nature, almost like Harry Nilsson or something like Jimmy Webb might do. The focus for me was still on melody and interesting chord structures. I tend to hate obvious 1-4-5 chord patterns and predictable changes! Jeff, my old comrade from Gladhands, who actually knew music theory and was a bit of a genius in arranging, once called one of my chords “C sharp demolished.” Or he liked to refer to some of mine as “Doug chords.” Ha!

What led to your decision to go solo, and on that note, do you feel it gives you more creative freedom that you struggle with when being in bands?

I touched on this in the first question, but yeah, I do think it allowed me more creative freedom, not having to run ideas past a committee of bandmates, seeking their approval or input. Don’t get me wrong, I love collaborating with people. It’s a wonderful process in its own right. But I didn’t want to take the same exact approach this time, after years of playing in bands.

How was it to work with John Plymale (Meat Puppets, Superchunk, The dB’s) who co-produced the EP?

John is great! We go way back, to the mid-90s when Gladhands worked on our two final albums with him and Wes Lachot at Overdub Lane, in Durham, NC. Wes produced ‘La Di Da,’ but John engineered the sessions and achieved that killer guitar sound, not to mention the drum sound and bass tones. It was so wonderful to work with him back then, and while we have done other sessions here and there since then, I’d never done a whole album with him or at Overdub since Gladhands wrapped up recording for our final album, ‘Wow & Flutter,’ in 1998. John’s a very talented musician, not just a talented engineer and producer. I knew I could trust him in the studio, and I was not wrong. Those initial sessions where I laid down all the acoustic guitar parts, followed by most of the drum and lead vocal tracks, John was so supportive and encouraging, but also provided constructive feedback on some arrangements and songs. I loved being back at Overdub Lane and loved working with John again after many years.

“I’ve always admired bands and artists who try not to repeat themselves”

The songs on the EP are quite diverse, was that the original plan or did it just happen?

I definitely wanted to avoid a monochromatic song pallette on this project. I intentionally included a diversity of sounds and vibes, from the straight ahead rocker ‘Side By Side’ to the jazzy slow swing of ‘Wait for The Rain’ to the Noel Gallagher-inspired, more ethereal ‘Higher Ground’. I’ve always admired bands and artists who try not to repeat themselves album after album after album. By doing this EP as DB Edmunds and taking some of the songs in a slightly different direction, I was making a statement of sorts.

<a href="https://dbedmunds.bandcamp.com/album/lifes-wild-ride">Life’s Wild Ride by DB Edmunds</a>

Who all played with you on the EP?

Brian Dennis has to take first mention. Most of the electric guitars other than the uncredited loud opening rhythm guitar on ‘Side By Side’ are his. I played that opening riff and rhythm guitar part but otherwise played acoustic guitar throughout the remaining tracks, which is surprising even to me! Normally I play electric guitar. Most of the keyboard work is Brian as well. He added so many textures to the record. I played bass and drums on all but two tracks. On those, my former Stars Explode drummer Alan McGinty tracked the drums and another locally-based and talented multi-instrumentalist, Roger Gupton, played bass. I sang all the lead and harmony vocals and added most of the percussion; Brian threw on a bit of that as well.

I have to take this opportunity to talk about your previous bands. Would you like to talk about the formation of The SEEN?

Oh wow, man! The SEEN! How did you even know about them?! When I was 14, I started a band with my older brother and two of his high school friends. I sort of just talked my way into the group at their first practice because they didn’t have a drummer yet! We soon became a power trio when the lead singer went his separate way, and The SEEN had a pretty cool run for several years, during which time we became something of a local sensation in our small college town in central Pennsylvania.

We had one of my songs get chosen by Greg Shaw himself (famed owner of Bomp! and VOXX Records) for inclusion on ‘Battle of the Garages Vol 2,’ which was a huge thrill to me at the time. Later we released a cassette; then as soon as I graduated high school we recorded and released an album called ‘Under The Sun/In The Rain’ in 1986. It received a warm reception among the zines of the time, especially among the people who were into lots of 60s revival type bands. But our influences ranged from the Beatles, the Byrds and the Kinks to the Clash, Pretenders, The Jam, Buzzcocks, Translator and many more.

If we would go back to your teen years, what kind of records and fanzines did you have? What kind of gigs did you see?

I remember devouring most issues of Trouser Press, The Bob and – when I could find them – NME and Melody Maker. I occasionally read Rolling Stone or SPIN, but those seemed boring mostly, covering only the big acts of the time. Record collecting started around age 11 or 12 with the Beatles and other 60s beat groups like the Hollies. I also dug the hell out of ‘Get The Knack’ and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumors’ … so my foundation in great melodies and hooks was cemented early on! But I quickly was turned onto British new wave and punk, so I listened to a lot of Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks, Jam, Sex Pistols and The Clash. I loved the Pretenders and was lucky enough for them to be my 1st ever concert, with the original lineup before James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon tragically died the following year. The following year I saw Stray Cats, just before they hit it big with ‘Stray Cat Strut’ on radio and MTV. And I got heavily into the so-called American Underground at the time: REM, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Rain Parade and many more.

What led you to form Gladhands?

I had moved to Omaha, Nebraska in fall 1991 after starting a relationship with a woman there, and I thought at first, “How on earth am I going to find anyone to play music with HERE?!” This was before Saddle Creek Records and Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes blew up, so the Omaha scene was not happening yet. But, within a month of moving there, I met Jeff Carlson while applying for a job at the local record store, this small Midwest chain called Homers Music & Gifts. We immediately hit it off and traded demo tapes. I’d recorded a batch of songs before leaving Chapel Hill that previous summer (with none other than future Ben Folds Five producer, Caleb Southern), and Jeff really dug them. I loved his demo tape, too, so we decided to start playing together. That’s how Gladhands were born.

Listening back to the four albums you released, would you be able to share a sentence or two about each?

Let’s see – first came ‘Brilliant Charade,’ before we got signed to Big Deal. That was a great start to working with Jeff as a true team, bringing out each other’s strengths as songwriters and singers.

Next came ‘From Here to Obscurity,’ our 1st LP for Big Deal. When we recorded most of that material, we had recently relocated to Chapel Hill from Omaha and wanted to lay down a bunch of new songs which we were excited about. We landed the record deal basically based on an earlier recording we’d actually done in Omaha before we left, a song called Sisters; then when Big Deal heard the rest of the material we’d tracked in Chapel Hill, they signed us, sight unseen. There are some strong songs on ‘From Here To Obscurity,’ but I haven’t listened to it in years.

‘La Di Da’ took things to a whole other level, musically and as far as Gladhands getting some national recognition. People “still” talk to me about that being one of their favorite records ever, which blows my mind! But it really is a special album, where Jeff and I were firing on all cylinders creatively, as songwriters and arrangers and vocalists. Add the bass talents of Robert Sledge, whose career was just about to take off with Ben Folds Five, and the mixing mastery of John Plymale and Wes Lachot, plus the incredible mastering of Brent Lambert (who mastered my new EP, by the way), and it made for a very magical musical experience.

The final album, ‘Wow & Flutter,’ which never saw the light of day in America but was released in 1999 on JVC Victor in Japan, was a bit of a struggle to record. Jeff and I had started to drift apart as collaborators, and I think we felt the weight of trying to outdo ‘La Di Da’. I still love some of the songs on that record – Jeff’s and mine – but I have mixed & complicated memories about making it.

What’s the status of The Stars Explode? Are you still planning to play together?

We got together once during the 1st wave of Covid, socially distanced and all masked up before the vaccines, to play through “Apocalypse Blues,” the aptly named cut that kicked off ‘Too Late To Save the World’ from a few years before the pandemic. Oh, the irony! We recorded it on video but I never got around to editing it and putting it up on YouTube, sadly. It was fun, but I had already started work on my solo project and knew by then I didn’t want to reform TSE. Never say never, but at this point I have no plans to reunite that band.

What else lies in the near future for you?

Well, more live shows for the DB Edmunds band, which I’m excited about. We leave later this week for a big opening slot at a wonderful venue in greater Philadelphia, where WXPN has been spinning ‘Side By Side’ a bunch. After that, hoping to do more shows closer to home here in North Carolina, and maybe some in surrounding states. No major touring plans simply because all the guys in the band are busy with family, work, other bands, et cetera. I’m just grateful they’re all a part of my wild ride at the moment. But I plan to make another record in early 2023 and hope to release it in late 2023 or early 2024. I don’t wanna wait another 4-5 years between records this time! I’m still cooking up songs and a concept for that, so stay tuned…

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

Too many favourite albums to name! But lately I’ve been listening to a lot of modern soul and R&B. I love Neal Francis, Durand Jones and the Indications, the Monophonics, and many of the Colemine Records roster. I also love the latest Destroyer album, ‘Labyrinthitis,’ as well as Michael Collins’ work under his band name, Drugdealer. I have my go-to bands and solo artists but am always discovering new stuff that’s great.

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

Thank YOU and the readers of Psychedelic Baby! It’s been a pleasure. Go check out ‘Life’s Wild Ride’ on your preferred streaming platform and visit my Bandcamp page for physical copies and other merch!

Klemen Breznikar

Headline photo: Photo by Michael Benson

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