A Conversation with David Mead (continued)

PM: So how have you been touring these days behind Tangerine? Solo, duo, or otherwise?

DM: Well, I'm sort of developing this thing of satellite bands. I figured out there's no way I can make any money on the road.

PM: Yeah, like Richard Julian. That's a really smart way to do it.

DM: Well, yeah. And so for one like me, who spends so much time on the road by themselves and playing solo, to kind of mix it up is actually a lot more interesting at this point. Because there's a part of me--as much as I'd like to be on a bus with a band, again, going back to being 32 years old, I'm somewhat particular about who I want to travel with. It's pretty difficult to find three or four guys you want to spend that much time around for that long a period of time.

PM: Bloody unlikely.

DM: Yeah. I'm a lot more accustomed to just showing up in different towns and having friends there, and then hanging out that night, and then moving on. So I basically have been kind of starting a satellite band out of Chicago. I have one in Nashville, and one in New York. And so--

PM: Who are the guys in New York?

DM: The guys in New York are Ethan Eubanks and Jeff Hill. Jeff plays with Rufus Wainwright usually. And he's played with me on a couple other tours. He was also the drummer on Wherever You Are.

PM: Right. And is there a band in L.A. yet?

DM: No, not yet. L.A. is a tricky one. I mean, it always is in my world, because I don't have enough connecting gigs between like Omaha and L.A. or San Francisco to really--

PM: To really make it pay.

DM: Yeah, so I always got to fly out there--

PM: So you're already losing ground--

DM: Kind of the same deal.

PM: Yeah. Tell me about your ukulele, what spot it fills in your life, and how it affects your composing and your performance.

DM: It simplifies things remarkably. There's only so much sonic spectrum that you can achieve with that thing, so it's really made me economize the way that I play songs. I try to play as many songs as I can on it--not every night, but I try to run through different songs on the ukulele, because it shows you so much about what's necessary and what's not. Like that song on the record, "Hallelujah, I Was Wrong," I've been playing that on ukulele. If you hear it on the record you might say, "Why are you doing that?"

PM: [laughs]

DM: But it actually works great. And it's an interesting thing, because I find people hear it happen on the ukulele, and they know it's supposed to be a high energy thing, and they're almost drawn into this more because they want to provide that energy. It's amazing how, when you play that song on the ukulele, many people start clapping or tapping their foot. It's almost hilarious. But it's so enjoyable to watch that I can't laugh.

[laughter]

PM: It's amazing, how the ukulele puts people at ease.

DM: It does. It's such a non-threatening thing. And it's a really nice. It's not annoying. It's not so quirky that it drives you nuts.

PM: Yeah. And it pre-empts the feeling of "I may not be able to get into this thing," or "Maybe this is over my head"--like a sitar or an oud, or something.

DM: I never thought of it that way. That's really good to hear. I'm embarking on my tour tomorrow, so thank you for the encouragement.

[laughter]

PM: In fact, I was at the Living Room in New York a week or so ago, and I heard a guy who--unfortunately I do not know his name--was playing a very classic Muddy Waters song from the '50s. And he sang it note for note like Muddy did, and he played it on the ukulele, and it was awesome.

DM: Cool.

PM: And it really turned my mind around. It really put the attention--and I think this happens with you, as well--on the vocal.

DM: Yeah.

PM: There was music going on, but you were focused on the vocal, because otherwise it was just this little tinka, tinka, tinka, tink going on in the background.

DM: Yep. If that plays to your strength--and I would definitely say that my voice is probably the best thing that I have to offer--then it works out great.

PM: Yeah, it's an astounding set of pipes that you've been blessed with, and so, yeah, I agree.

So how's the love and marriage side of life?

DM: It's rockin'. I'm about to go out on the road for a month and a half, so it will invariably grow and toughen as it always does. I'm not going to say it's easy, but there's that ecstatic part of it, and then there's that other part, that unspoken kind of sniffing each other out part--you're not even aware you're doing it.

PM: Yeah.

DM: But then those two things kind of come together. And I don't know, I'm in. I'm really in all the way.

PM: Again, I thought Natalie did a lovely job on the illustrations for the CD. And Heather Dryden, on the layout--it's beautiful.

DM: It's great. They actually share a studio space, so it was really fun kind of keeping it in the family that way. I love having Natalie do the artwork, obviously. And then Heather doing the layout was like, oh, cool, we got like a real pro this time doing the layout. It makes a big difference.

 

[Artwork by Natalie Cox Mead has graced the packaging for three of David's CD so far. You can check out more of her work here, and find out more about Heather Dryden's work here (though Heather's site is apparently under construction as this issue is going up).]   continue

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