Brandi Rinks: Thanks, everyone so much for being here. We're here for Dan Reeder's listening event for his new album, Smithereens, which comes out October 4th on Oh Boy Records. Thanks to Dan for making the journey over, and Peggy from Germany. We're so excited to have you. Thank you for being here.
Dan Reeder: You're quite welcome.
Brandi Rinks: Is there anything that we need to know, going into listening to this album? Things that we should be on the lookout for, or anything to keep in mind? Is there anything that we need to know going in, listening?
Dan Reeder: No, but I am sick of listening to it. The challenge making a vinyl record is you've got two sides, and you need to have sort of a variation in there. You don't want to have three songs in the key of G at the same tempo. Because it gets boring and stupid. And you have that problem with a CD too, but with a record, with an album, you've got it twice.
And, what I did was I used a lot of little short songs, put in a lot of little short stuff and wacky stuff like, yeah, it's a pretty wacky record. It goes up and down, it goes sideways, it goes this way and that way, and side B ends with actually something that's danceable. Which I never do, but I was like, yeah, let's put that on there.
I think it works.
Brandi Rinks: So, I think there's three singles. It's a 27-song album. Some of the songs are as short as 27 seconds. The longest one is just a little over three minutes. Most of them are about a minute and a half.
So we're gonna play every song... stop for the single, chat about that a little bit. And yeah, here we go.
Dan Reeder: What do I want to say about "Fuzzyfalafelosophy?" I studied painting. I did not study music. And there are some differences. If you study music, they encourage you, and expect you to practice. And if you study art, which I did, they expect you, and encourage you to do whatever the fuck you want. And that has been my guiding principle for the last 40 years. And that's what this song is about. Just had to clear that up.
Brandi Rinks: The last song that was played was "Hunt a Little," which is one of the singles off this album. Tell us a little bit about that. I know you were born in Louisiana. The Delta... the Mississippi River. Were you feeling a little nostalgic? Or, tell us about how that song came to be?
Dan Reeder: Okay. Yeah, I was born in Louisiana. We lived there 'till I was three, and we moved to Mississippi. I lived there 'till I was six. So I got to see the Mississippi River. And I think it was a little bit wilder back then. There was more, yeah, there were stretches where there were just trees there. And I think, like a lot of American people... men mainly, I have a little bit of a Huck Finn fantasy going on that I could just, if the shit hits the fan, just build a raft and drift away.
I've actually painted it a number of times. And, there've been a few songs about that. Unfortunately, I wish I had waited for a good voice day to do that song, because it was not a good voice day, and I wanted to do it anyway, and it could have been smoother.
It could have been more Elvis.
Brandi Rinks: On "It Was A Party," you said, “it was a party, but only for the cool guys. Nobody you know was there”. Were you just trying to think of like the sickest low key burn that you could say to someone to devastate their self esteem?
Dan Reeder: I was trying to think of the sickest low, what did you call it?
Low key burn. Yeah.
Brandi Rinks: I saw on "Speed King Universal Lifestyle," you two... Peggy, his daughter here, is in the front row. She'll be playing with him tonight. You two were giving each other some little faces. Is there like a back story there?
Peggy Reeder: I have a video of him actually. Lying down on the couch, being like, “Speed king universal!” Yeah, so he's lying there, “Speed king universal!” And, he’s screaming into his phone. So, it's like these little things he sings around the house all the time.
And, to hear it in a song, it just cracks me up. And, he knows that.
Brandi Rinks: If anyone here doesn't know - you probably do know because you're here and you're a Dan Reader fan - he makes his own instruments. And, when I say you make your own instruments, you're not like in a wood shop making like a beautiful handcrafted guitar. You're making banjos out of watercolor paper, and mics out of electrical parts. You're piecing it together in a very artistic way.
What instruments did you make on the parts that we've heard so far?
Dan Reeder: On this record, I think I didn't use any homemade instruments. What I've learned is they make really good guitars in China for about $300.
And you can build your own acoustic guitar. I've built five acoustic guitars, which I sometimes use, but usually I don't. Because the ones you buy are better. No, really... there was a guy in West Virginia who let us use guitars that he had made, and I got these gorgeous things. Some people have a gift for that.
I don't, really. I use the simple fact that if you make a stringed instrument, it will sound like something. You mentioned the paper banjos. These fretless banjos, a guy gave me - a very good watercolor painter - gave me some super expensive, super thick watercolor paper, which is, you can just pour water on it. It never makes waves.
If it's a drip printer paper, you put a little water on it, it makes waves. This thing just, it's like plywood. So I thought, what am I gonna do with this stuff? It's... I don't know, 20 a sheet? So I thought, I'll make a banjo out of it. And it works perfectly for that.
I built a violin, for a song called, "Cowboy Song" on one of my records. My wife told me not to tell this story, actually.
She said, "Oh Dan, that's nerdy and long and stupid." And, it is a little bit pointless, but I built this violin, and I played the solo in this song with a homemade violin. Yeah. And it had two strings on it. Why two strings? If you make two strings, you don't even have to curve the fingerboard.
It can be flat. And, it's not hard to play. Either you're playing this string, or you're playing that string. Like the angle is not critical at all. So, I built this thing and I had a show of pictures at a little gallery in Nuremberg, where I live. And they wanted me to put some of the instruments in there.
So, I put this instrument - this violin in there, standing next to it in this sort of way. At the opening of the show, this sort of bum looking guy walks up to me and says, "Did you make this?" And, I said, "Yes, I did." And, he grabbed it off the wall and started yelling at me. He told me, "You don't understand the violin!"
Three things. Number one, this is a small gallery. There is no security guy who's going to wrestle this dude to the ground. Second off, to say something like that in public, to pull something off the wall and start yelling at the audience so everybody's staring at you. You have to be pretty confident that you're right.
And number three, he was right. What he told me was, my violin, the tuning head was very small and light. What he told me was that a violin works like this. The string, a vibrating violin string, is 400 times stronger in the length when it's vibrating, then side to side.
That power, he says, goes through the tuning head. It's stored in the tuning head. Then it goes up the neck, down, and then up the back of the violin, back up the sound post to the top. Alright. Which kind of makes sense, and doesn't.
Anyway, when the show was over, I took this violin back to my studio. The problem with it was that this thing was too light, too small, to transfer the energy or whatever. And, I took it back to my studio, and I put a seat clamp on there just to give it some weight. It immediately sounded sweeter and louder and better.
I'm sorry, the story really is a little bit nerdy.
Brandi Rinks: Let’s talk about the cover art. You do a lot of the artwork on all your albums. Is there a story behind the scooters on fire?
Dan Reeder: No, actually, I don't hate scooters. I don't love the scooters either. I actually bought one to visit my son. We have to take a bus, and then take our bikes on the bus, and then ride the bike a ways. And, I thought, I can just buy one of those scooters, and I'll take that on the bus, and I'll be able to scooter up there.
About a week after I bought the thing, they outlawed scooters on buses. So I was like, oh shit. And, the thing's pretty much useless, actually. Anywhere I can ride the scooter, I can ride a bike or walk, and I don't have to recharge it. I regret having bought the thing. But, the reason they banned them on buses and subways, is because, apparently the batteries are made to a different standard than e-bikes...
And, they sometimes catch fire. And, the thought of one of these things burning there, it's like made out of metal. How did it burn up? But, apparently the lithium batteries can actually burn up. And I think it looks good, like a burning scooter.
Brandi Rinks: How about the one of someone setting a guitar on fire. Were you having a bad guitar day?
Dan Reeder: I have a lot of bad guitar days. It just was a fun thing to do. Draw a picture of a guy burning his guitar, poking it with a stick.
Brandi Rinks: Could you talk a little about your vocal harmonizing?
I know that you grew up in the church. You were involved in church singing. I've read a lot about your vocal harmonizing. You have a very distinct voice, and you've said, that when you discovered you could work with a computer and sort of harmonize with yourself, that really clicked for you.
Could you talk a little bit more about that and how that works for you?
Dan Reeder: I've got a very quiet voice, so it was difficult for me to sing in choirs. I've tried a couple of times in church choirs and the choir director, he couldn't hear me singing. So, I just disappeared into a choir. So, that wasn't going to be possible to do it live, like that. A friend of mine gave me a computer, an old 286, which I cranked up to be a 386. Still wasn't fast enough, then a 486, almost fast enough. And, my breakthrough as a musician came with the Pentium 100, processor.
With that, I could record audio, my voice over, I could play, do harmony with myself... and, of course, I started off, and I started singing things like, "Angel Band," and, yeah, stuff that. But, you can only record, "Angel Band" so many times, so I started, writing songs to do that.
And, I bought a recording program without telling my wife. It was expensive. We didn't have much money. But, it's paid off in the end.
Brandi Rinks: "52 Years Ago," is the second single off of this album that we've heard. Do you want to tell us about the inspiration for that? Did you run across your ex on Facebook? Tell us about that one.
Dan Reeder: I actually did, yeah. She, contacted me over email. She heard that I was going to be coming to the United States, and wanted to know if I was going to be in California. It's good that she dumped me, actually. It was a good thing. I thought it was a funny idea that you still remember being dumped.
My car broke down that day, too. I had a Triumph TR3. Don't ever buy one of those things. And, it had two little locks on the front to hold down the hood. And, I was doing something, and I forgot to lock them down. I was driving down the street and the hood hit me on the head.
I was like, nightmare. 52 years ago.
Brandi Rinks: You have a great quote that says... I'm probably going to fudge it a little bit, but, ‘Most songs are pretty short once you cut out the bullshit.’ What do you consider the bullshit?
Dan Reeder: Anything that's not to the point. As a painter, you don't put extra stuff in a picture.
When it's done, you stop. You have to, otherwise, you'll wreck it. And, I think songs are the same way.
Brandi Rinks: So you play everything, you record it yourself, you mix it yourself. Is there a reason that you like to work solitary on your albums?
Dan Reeder: Yeah, like I said, I'm a painter.
And as a painter, what you do is you work almost always by yourself. So, I go to my studio, I close the door, and then I lock the door. Because, I don't want people coming in. I've always worked that way. That's just my way of doing it. One of these days, me and Peg will probably make a record, and I'll have to put up with her presence there.
That's it. But yeah, that's just... I think it comes from, being a painter.
Brandi Rinks: "Hungry Heart" is the third single off the album. It's a clear departure from your work on your other albums and this album. Do you want to talk a little bit about what made you change that style on that one?
Dan Reeder: I think that's the correct way to end an album.
I actually do have drum machines. I've got an MPC. But, I don't really have a good sense of rhythm. I also have a set of e-drums. It's terrible when I play a them. But, that one worked, and I felt like singing it. And, the idea is, it's also a rip off of Bruce Springsteen, of course. Because, everybody has a hungry heart, and sometimes I look at people, and I think, he doesn't have a hungry heart.
Brandi Rinks: The title track, "Smithereens..." was there something in particular that made you pick that? I saw a comment on Instagram that said you'd just chose the worst possible way to get blown.
Dan Reeder: No, the song "Smithereens" is about how people lie to each other to keep things together, which I think happens all the time. I think it's an important thing to sing about. It's a little bit of a short song, but that's not the bullshit.
Brandi Rinks: How are we doing on time? Do we want to take a couple questions?
We're going to take just a few questions.
Guest: Did I hear you lean into the auto tune a little on "Socrates?"
Dan Reeder: You're imagining that. I actually use auto tune quite a bit. In fact, somebody asked me on, "Nine Pound Hammer." There's also auto tune on there. I didn't even remember using it, but then I listened to it, and I was like, 'it does have that thing.'
So yeah, I will sometimes use auto tune, especially for the backing vocals, like if there's a in there, I almost always do it because, I thought I sang perfectly. And if you look. If you use Auto Tune, it's got like a little dial that shows how far off you are, how many cents you are off.
Guest (3): Are there any plans to do more tours of the states? And I was, gonna comment that I really appreciate that you're playing more community focused, performing arts venues. Venues now are insane, what they're charging for tickets and the service fees.
So as a fan, I wanna say thank you for structuring the tour to more supportive spaces. But, can we see you again? Are you gonna be coming on tour more?
Dan Reeder: I don't know. This is like the first time Peggy and I have done this. We made some mistakes. For example, you need more than two hours to change planes at JFK. Everybody laughs like, 'you dumb ass.' We didn't know! And, we had to run! We were like, running through the airport to get in the TSA line. And, I think we're almost there, and then you look, and there's like a whole 'nother line! Yeah, we have to survive this one first. And, then we've got two shows in New York.
About the ticket prices, I don't like that either. I don't like that ticket prices are really high. Peggy went to see Adele. It was what, 350 Euros? Yeah, that times, 70,000 people. Times 10 concerts! Because, you're bringing a lot of money, I got nothing against that. But, I actually looked up average ticket prices. Which was, I think about $65. I think that's a lot of money. For me, it's a lot of money, and I don't like that.
I think 25 bucks. They put something on top of that, so it's more than that, but, I was like, 'alright, if it's cheap then they don't get pissed off for a lousy show!'
Guest: How intertwined are your writing and recording process? Like, when you sit down to record, do you have everything you're going to do fully flushed out?
Dan Reeder:
No. Actually, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but usually no. You can use the recording on the computer as a sort of a play toy where you just listen to harmonies or fiddle around and come up with something that way. It's not like I write a song and then record it, it's like it happens all at the same time sometimes, which may explain why this one is really short and a little bit dopey.
Guest: What is the 'Walk to the God House?' We have a standing argument statement. One of us thinks it's the execution chamber, and one of us thinks it's going to church.
Dan Reeder: It's more. It's not the execution chamber. Whoever thought that is wrong. It's not really going to church either, but it's a weird fantasy of mine that you're like, walking to this... to this thing where the gods are, and then they're in this sort of glass house.
I can't explain that. But no, not execution.
Guest (2): About the quote, you said, ‘Some shit you can't paint.’ You started as a painter. I was just curious about that.
Dan Reeder: Some shit you can't paint is true, and it's an important thing. I know a lot of painters, and, some of them really have a feel for the harmony of colors. I don't really. I don't really have that so much, but I have it for music. You can fake it in painting just by making the picture more colorful than it needs to be.
Guest: Your song titles are pretty unique. I was told that you sent him [John Prine] a cassette, and he liked the song titles. Are there any that stood out to John?
Dan Reeder: I don't know. It wasn’t a cassette, it was a CD.
It was one of my self burned CDs. And actually, I had made this CD and I had sold them in Nuremberg. And, run out of people to sell them to. Although, I'll just send them off to people, musicians that I like. I wanted to send one to Bruce Springsteen. I wanted to send one to Emily Lou Harris.
I had a whole list. The only guy who had an address that you could find was John Prine, and so he got it. Thank God.
Guest: Lyrically, your music really makes me smile, and I want to know, whose music makes you smile?
Dan Reeder: John Prine. Besides that, there are many musicians that make me smile. There are many musicians that make me cry. Maybe it's someone that you meet randomly on the street. Like someone you stumble across that, I don't know, with music, it's a weird thing.
We live in Nuremberg, Germany. And, there were a lot of Turkish people there, and I have never understood the tonality, that quarter tone stuff, and I was in a subway, and a Turkish kid, I would say 17 or something, walked past me singing that way, and it just knocked my socks off.
I was like, whoa, okay. And, I understood it then, it was like, 'oh, that's what that's about.' And, it was just beautiful. And. that made me smile. I was like, damn, okay. But, the first time I heard a violin in real life, it knocked me on my butt, too. I was used to hearing violin on a little radio speaker, it's terrible.
And, I was backstage at a... something that my brother was in, and a guy was playing the violin and I was like, 'okay,yeah...'
Brandi Rinks: I think we're supposed to save a couple minutes for signing; in case anyone bought something here and they need to get it signed. So, we're going to go ahead and move to that. Thank you so much for being here.
Dan Reeder: Thanks for the listening event. Thanks for this amazing event here. Thanks to all of you for coming. So much. We're all very excited for the show.
Dig Deeper:
Dan Reeder
Listen to Smithereens, dig into his art archive... or learn how to build a cardboard cello.
The Memphis Listening Lab
A music library decked out with thousands of vinyl, CDs and books. They host listening events and such. Seriously, if you find yourself in Memphis, go here.
Southern Grooves Productions
The cool kids from Southern Grooves invited us in to photograph Dan and Peggy after their show. We are grateful. Check out this swank-ass Memphis-based recording studio, and browse all of their collaborations.
WYXR 91.7 FM
Brandi Rinks of WYXR lead the discussion with Dan Reeder during his listening party at the Memphis Listening Lab. We are instant fans of hers. Also, shout out to non-profit radio. Respect.
Thanks for reading!
