The Damnwells’ Air Stereo turns 20 this year. It’s not old enough to drink yet, but the band is throwing it a party anyway with two special shows. The first was a sold-out night at Lodge Room in Los Angeles on September 10. The second is at Racket in NYC on Friday, October 9 (get tix). I’m not gonna miss the NYC show, and neither should you.
Ahead of the New York date, Dezen shared some memories about the album.
Looking back at the Air Stereo sessions, what’s a specific memory, sound, or late-night moment in the studio that still feels vivid when you hear the record today?
It will always be David’s solo on “I’ve Got You.” Pure magic. He was trying to dial in a tone on the amp and had his headphones off, which we didn’t realize since he was kneeling down beyond the view of the talkback window. We rolled the tape and he just started ripping this great take. When we stopped the take, he was still going! We all yelled into the talkback that we got something really good and that he could stop. Of course, we didn’t realize at the time that he didn’t have his headphones on for that whole pass. He sits up from the floor, puts on his headphones, and goes, “I think I got a tone I like here. Ready to do it.”
Which song on the album felt like it practically wrote itself in twenty minutes, and which one was a complete grind to get right?
“Louisville.” Wrote that in the hotel in Louisville we all desperately wanted to leave. Took an evening. Songs that took longer were ones like “Heartbreaklist” and “Keep a Little Organ.” They got a lot of rewrites.
When you revisit Air Stereo twenty years later, do you still recognize the person who wrote those songs? Have any of those tracks taken on an entirely different meaning for you over time?
Kind of. Vaguely. But yes. He’s an annoying little fucker.
Is there an aspect of Air Stereo—whether a specific performance, a vocal take, or a sonic quirk—that you used to view as a rough edge, but now appreciate as essential to the record’s personality?
No. The whole process was fairly tainted by the whole label kurfuffle, which is well documented in the doc “Golden Days” that Chris Suchorsky made, so there’s very little that feels naturally quirky. I feel like nostalgic elements of album making are the dubious luxury of normal bands.
Fans usually build their own mythologies around landmark records. What’s a detail about the Air Stereo era—the recording process, the band dynamic, or the songs themselves—that people always get wrong or overlook?
Hmmm. I don’t actually know. We never stopped to assess (or ask anyone) what the fan mythology was/is surrounding that album. We were too busy touring our asses off and trying to make fans. Again, dubious luxuries were never ours.
Playing the Air Stereo anniversary show in L.A. a few weeks ago meant revisiting those songs in front of a room that knew every word. What surprised you most about stepping back into those tracks live after three decades—did any song hit you or the crowd in a way you didn’t expect?
No. I was too busy trying to remember the damn words! Was a lot of fun, though. Those fans really appreciated it. And we appreciated them.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.