I guess if I'm ever struggling for reasons to be relevant, you know touring 'American Water', etc. I might go lower.
What was the inspiration behind 'I remember me'? Was it based on anything?
It was based on a fear I had about losing my bass player. Purposely a little purple, the song was supposed to scare me in to getting married by painting an awful loneliness.
When you felt low in what way did it affect your lyrics? Did you feel you became more reserved in what you wrote or did you find writing a way of expressing how you felt? Or could you simply not write?
Any depressing writing I've done, was mostly done in 'good times' looking back, mapping the contours of the bad times, delineating them, or extracting them via psychic surgery.
Prior to touring I understand the only kind of gigs you played would be a few songs at parties. Was this true and if so can you give an account of what these performances were like? What songs you would play and who would perform with you etc?
I got trapped into playing in a bar in Houston after it was closed. The owner had a guitar and when I said I didn't remember the chords or the words to any of my songs, he ran upstairs to his apartment and brought down a three ring binder with guitar tabs for all four albums.
It has been 8 years since the publication of Actual Air, can we expect any more of your poetry to be published?
That is something I need to think about more.
With your writing, when you put pen to paper do you know what you're going to write? Or can a lyric turn into a poem into a story?
If I make the decision to write something, it is to fulfil a need I have for a song or a poem. Someone needs a poem from me and I can't politely put it off anymore. I need two more songs to make an album. Dreaming up the content is the second step.
I wouldn't be surprised if I learnt that you had written a novel, Is this something you'd be interested in doing?
No, I think I prefer short forms. I don't consider prose fiction to be relevant anymore, anyway.
Hello David. Can you introduce yourself and your band please?
Hello, I'm David: and this is the band: Peyton Pinkerton and William Tyler on guitar.Tony Crow, keyboards. Brian Kotzur: drums and my bass Cassie who plays wife.
Are the band you tour with the band you are now recording with?
Yes. I warmed them up for six months and then I let them rest a year. Next, I throw them in the studio with no time to prepare, then I disappear with the tapes and screen all their calls for 2-3 months.
The earlier silver jews songs sounded like rough ideas which were quickly recorded, was that the case?
That's it. 'Rough ideas. Quickly Recorded.'
By the time of the time of the natural bridge all the songs were much more coherent and more 'perfectly formed', was there a turning point for you in terms of your song writing?
The turning point was likely the city of Hartford, CT where the album was recorded. I don't want to tear down their city, but I think I was compelled to create these adjunct worlds to which I could flee to under stress.
When did you move to Nashville and do you think moving there changed your music at all?
1998. I think it helped me to decide that music could be a lifelong art. The rock precedence is not promising in that regard.
When recording the songs for the Arizona record, what were your influences? I only ask this because the first time I heard Jackson Nightz I was listening to music on shuffle and I thought I was listening to Sebadoh.
Well, definitely not Sebadoh! I'm sure both songs were influenced by the Daniel Johnston cassettes.