Kevin Devine Appreciation

Thanks so much to NYCTaper for releasing the recording of the Devinyl Splits show at the Bell House where my brother played this new song that absolutely wrecked me. Lots of feelings, some beautiful sentiments, KD as Paul Simon, a wonderful night, a lasting reminder of why and to what degree you’re lucky to have someone in your life. And now, again, the money photo.

Riot Fest was  heck of a time! Here’s a new super group that formed. Kevin Devine and the God Damn Taking Back Sunday Band.

by Jesse Richman

Devinyl Splits No. 2 with Kevin Devine and Meredith Graves came out a few days ago via Bad Timing and Devinyl Records. In conjunction with each release in the series, Senior Editor Jesse Richman will be taking part in a conversation with Devine and his split partner. If you couldn’t tell by years of reading POZ, I’m a massive fan of Kevin, and it’s an honor to not only release his music, but also to be able to share more about it on this website. This is my disclaimer. Go read the interview!- Zack Zarrillo

[PART ONE]

What do you have coming up after this, Meredith?

MG: I’m strongly considering taking a break from writing for a short period of time, maybe a couple of months, to work on my solo record. I’m not prioritizing it enough, because I live in New York City now. Money is a hateful thing and I’ve been writing a lot to pay the bills. I’m tired of not playing guitar every day. I might go hungry for a little while to write this record, and I’m coming to terms with that. This last week has been really hard for me, because I’m thinking a lot about what I’m going to have to do. Like, what would I have to do in order to write this record? And the fact of the matter is, I’m asking the wrong question, because I have to write this record or else I’m going to go insane.

So I’m planning how I’m going to afford groceries the next few months while I sit and write this record that I’ve wanted to write for a year now, that I haven’t had time to write because Perfect Pussy has been on tour. And I’m running my record label Honor Press: our first release comes out the same week as this 7”, and I’m developing my roster for the rest of the year. I’ve got some 7”s and some full-lengths planned with some bands that matter very much to me that I can’t announce quite yet. I’m writing for the New York Times a little bit now, and I’m also writing for Jezebel a little bit now. I’m still freelancing but going to be cutting back substantially in order to write this solo record that I’ve been talking about for a long time without actually starting it.

Is there more Perfect Pussy on the horizon, or is the solo record the priority now?

MG: Oh, they have to be equal priority, I can’t have one without the other. They’re equally important to me. The solo record is just next. Perfect Pussy needs a break – my voice is destroyed, I can barely sing after a night out, I lose my voice completely and you hear it on the recording. I used to have a four-and-a-half octave range and now I can barely hit notes. I’ve destroyed a voice that was once my meal ticket.

You’ve gone from Mariah Carey to… Mariah Carey.

MG: I’ve gone from Mariah Carey to Harry Caray! [Laughs.]

Do you think the track on the split is an indication of where the solo record might be headed?

MG: Not necessarily. I think this track on this 7” is indicative of what I wanted to do with Kevin at the time. I can say that.

And then Kevin, what’s coming up for you right now?

KD: This year, there will not be a new album of mine. I think we’re going to do these singles, and reissue two older releases and maybe a third. I don’t think I can say all of it yet. That will be summer and fall. There’s going to be a handful of shows through the end of the year. I kind of think I have to go away for a little bit. I’ve also been kicking around the idea of potentially starting another band for some of the stuff I’ve been writing, but I don’t know yet. This kind of feels like another pivot. Every few years, it feels like another culture change is happening in my little world. It’s nice. It’s welcome. It keeps things interesting.

MG: That makes me feel so much better. Because this is, like, my second year, and I’m so scared that any minute it’s going to be over, but I think I need to see it like you’re talking about it. I didn’t mean to interrupt you, but honestly, I’ve been so sad this week and you’re making me feel better.

by Jesse Richman

Today we’re taking the wraps off a new series of feature interviews revolving around the Devinyl Splits, a series of six split 7"s curated by Kevin Devine and released by Bad Timing and Devinyl Records. In conjunction with each release, Senior Editor Jesse Richman will be taking part in a conversation with Devine and his split partner. First up is a chat with Kevin and Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws, who released Devinyl Splits No. 1 on February 28th. If you couldn’t tell by years of reading POZ, I’m a massive fan of Kevin, and it’s an honor to not only release his music, but also to be able to share more about it on this website. This is my disclaimer. Go read the interview! - Zack Zarrillo

Kevin, since this is the first of these interviews we’re doing, I wanted to start by getting a little background from you on how the idea for the Devinyl Splits series came about.

Kevin Devine: Sure. The series is something that gets embedded in you from growing up around hardcore, punk rock, indie rock. Half of my collection of 7” singles from when I was in high school is, like, some band from DC and some band from upstate NY splitting sides. That got in my head early:  that it was a fun and sort of cool way to step outside the continuum of the album cycle, and also outside the continuum of touring. It’s about having an experience where you get to share music with people you like, respect, are friends with, sometimes all of those at the same time… Well, respect all the time, for sure, but sometimes people you know, sometimes people you don’t. “It was a series dense with people I had no respect for and had no respect for me, equal amounts of disrespect.” [Laughter] “Listen, I really don’t like you very much. I thought we could put a record out together and really get down to the nitty-gritty!”

I’ve done [splits] before, but the idea of doing something more serial with it… When we did the self release for the last two records [Bulldozer and Bubblegum]  and coined this label-slash-logo to put on things, I did have the idea that it would be cool at some point to release other people’s music, and that one way that could happen would be to do something like this, where you do a series and you bring other people into the tent in a smaller-scale way. You’re not releasing someone’s album, per se, but you’re still there, and kind of slowly expanding the scope of what this thing can be. That’s where the germ started. I think in specific to Matthew, we’ve been friends for probably about six years?

Matthew Caws: Yeah, something like that

KD: We kind of talked, I think initially it was connected to a Daytrotter thing. There was an idea we were kind of talking about –

MC: Oh yeah!

KD: – doing a split single for that, and as this other group of ideas developed, it was like “well maybe would it be cool with you if we did it this way?” And it sort of moved over here. That’s my memory of how it kind of started.

So the split with Matthew was kind of the genesis of the whole split series project, then?

KD: For me, it was, because the idea was there in abstract, and talking to Matthew about it concretized it, and also it excited me a lot, because – I’ll probably say a handful of things over the course of this interview that will make Matthew blush, but the truth is – as a friend first now, fan second, but fan first before I got to know him, the idea of… Like, [“Inside Of Love” is] one of my favorite songs ever, you know? And that’s not hyperbole.

Do you remember the first time you heard Matthew or Nada Surf’s music?

KD: I do remember that. I think I was probably in Junior or Senior year of high school when “Popular” was happening and all of that. I was a fan of that.

What convinced you to go deeper than “Popular”? Because a lot of people obviously didn’t.

KD: I was playing in Miracle of ‘86, and I remember a friend gave me Let Go. I had kind of lost track of the band, and heard Let Go and went back and heard Proximity Effect and was like “fuck, this is great! This is really, really good.” It was everything I like about music: it’s smart, it’s well-written, it’s lyrically precise, the melodies are incredible. It’s what I want songs to be like. The songs that they write are like a blueprint to me. Smart, good, likeable songs that are also idiosyncratic enough to have their own personality and voice.

Matthew’s music is a big deal to me, and also how the band conducts themselves, how they’ve done what they done over the different chapters of their career. To me, that’s a total success story: a life in music that doesn’t live and die just by the whims of the major label system, and to have an even-more-continually-interesting second, third, fourth, fifth chapter. That’s what I want out of a life in music, and they’ve done it and are doing it.

Kevin Devine

Thank YOU, Stephanie from Portland. I got your note from @sarahsargentpepper. That is my real name. And I’m grateful for your kind words. Welcome.

#Sydney - come see this up close tonight at the Metro.

8:30pm doors 9pm KD @apesofficial & @manchesterorchestra to follow.

Tix on door.

piplups:

Driving with my knees, Driving with my knees

Kevin Devine recently filmed a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Boots Of Spanish Leather.” Watch the video below after the jump. 

Listen and make your ears happy. Then add all of his music to your Spotify. 

watching random videos on youtube related to Touche Amore and saw this.