In preparation for AURA Music Festival on March 6-8 in Live Oak, we talked with progressive rock collective Dopapod about their performance plans, the making of their forth studio album, and several firsts the guys are looking forward to this year – including a long-awaited Red Rocks appearance. AURA holds a special place in the band’s heart as Rob Compa (guitar) and Scotty Zwang (drums) explain in the interview below. And we’re looking forward to their both of their sets – Thursday pre-party, March 5th (11:45p) and Friday, March 6th (10:30p) – as well as Scotty’s silent disco DJ slot Saturday night (3:30a).
You have a new album out “Never Odd or Even.” What’s the significance behind the title?
Rob: I don’t think it’s about a [specific] significance – we wanted all our albums to be named after a palindrome. Eli is the palindrome guy. All of our albums are palindromes; the band’s name is a palindrome. He just likes them a lot. He came up with the album title and he wrote the hidden track on the album called “Never Odd or Even.” So it doesn’t mean much except that it’s abiding by our palindrome rule.
What are some of your favorite songs off of the album?
Scotty: I’m a big fan of “FABA” because of the drum features. Overall my favorite song – which is hard to say about your own piece of work as a whole – but I’m a really big fan of “Upside of Down.” It’s really well written. The performance came off great. All the aspects that make up a good song are featured on it.
How would you compare the music on this album to the music on others – did you make any big changes or is it the same formula?
Rob: It’s different and I think it’s my favorite one we’ve made so far. It’s a little bit simpler than our last couple of albums, but we still made an effort to maintain the compositional thing we have going on. I think there are only two instrumental songs on the album, which is very different for us. Our last one had four songs with lyrics and the album before that didn’t have any. That’s a big change for us. And it feels more professional for us – it’s a better produced album than we’re used to, with the sound quality, and there’s more attention to detail.
Scotty: For me, I’m not sure if everyone is aware, this is my first album with the band. For the previous processes, I’ve heard about how they did all the different albums. But for this one, I think we had a really good producer who knew all of his gear. He had a lot of it, and it was all top of the line stuff.
Are these songs ones you’ve been playing for a while, or are they brand new out of the studio?
Rob: Almost everything we’ve been playing for a long time. Pretty much all our songs work that way. We test them live for a really long time to make sure they work before we take them into the studio. I mean, I wish we could get away with writing songs right there in the studio, but we can’t really afford to be in the studio for months at a time. We have to complete the songs via live performance. We can see how the audience responds to them to figure out what we need to change. The album before this, there were two songs we finished in the studio, but that’s very rare for us.
Scotty: We were in the studio for about a week tracking and recording. And some going back for dubbing and [tweaking]. We were also in a situation where we were living in the studio – there was an apartment above it that was provided for the artists recording. It was nice to be able to wake up, drink some coffee, eat some food, and go down to the studio. It felt very natural, especially for my first album with the band. Sometimes it takes a long time to finish an album and I think we did a good job of going in there and doing what we needed to do.
Scotty, what were you doing before joining Dopapod?
Scotty: Before Dopapod, I was in Greenhouse Lounge, another Florida band. Before that, I was in a project called Sonic Spank out of Philadelphia. I was also in a side project called BangBang!! with Todd Stoops of Kung Fu and RAQ. That’s how I came up with the name ZwangBang. It’s a play on the electronic stuff I had been doing with Todd.
I was subbing for the previous drummer, Neil, in the fall of 2013. One thing led to another and they needed someone to fill the role. They were happy working with me musically, and on a personal level we all got along really well. So they asked me to stay on full time and I was happy to do so.
What are the long term goals for Dopapod? What would be the ideal situation for the band?
Rob: I think we all just want to be doing what we’re already doing, just for more people and bigger venues. And I hate to say it, but making a little more money so we can live like normal people. [laughs]
Aside from the studio albums, you also have some live recordings you make available for fans. How do you decide which shows are quality enough to release the recording? Do you plan it ahead of time, like ‘we’re going to produce this as a live recording’ or do you wait to see how the show goes?
Rob: Eh, I don’t know, I guess whenever we feel like it was a good show we decide to put it out. It’s pretty casual. It’s funny because sometimes there will be a show one person thought was really good, and maybe I’m like, ‘that wasn’t a good show at all’, but they’ll put it out. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised and it really was a good show; and sometimes I’ll listen to it and be like, ‘God, I wish we hadn’t put that out.’
I think it’s more important to just have new content period rather than only putting out your best material. It’s kinda lame to withhold things, and I think people like comparing the quality of one show to another. I think people like talking about one show verses another. In the long run, I don’t think it matters how good of a show it was, I think people will appreciate it either way.
And it’s allows people who were at a specific show to go back and enjoy the memory over and over.
Rob: Yeah, definitely.
The NYE bash in Worchester video on Youtube looked great. How many people were there?
Rob: About 2,000.
Do you always do a NYE show there? Is it a tradition?
Rob: The last two years we’ve headlined New Years at that venue. We also played there three years ago around the 28th or 29th of December, and we opened for moe. It’s a great place to play. It’s old, and it’s kind of a creepy place. It’s been loved. It’s a cool place to play music.
Last year’s Dopapod performance at The Werkout with Papadosio and The Werks was also pretty cool. What was the preparation like for the cover of “Dark Side of the Moon?” Are you big Pink Floyd fans?
Rob: It was The Werks idea, and it was us, them, and Papdosio. We rehearsed a couple of days beforehand and gave it our best shot. It wasn’t perfect but I think we were all trying to have fun more than make it flawless. I’m a humongous Pink Floyd fan – that was all I listened to in high school. So if it were totally up to me, I would have wanted every note to be in the right place, but it was more important that we all have fun. Everybody had a great time.
So are you still a big Pink Floyd fan? Did listening to them have a big influence on you?
Rob: Yeah – more so when I was a teenager. You get older and find other stuff you’re into. I’ve been playing guitar since I was maybe 12, and I’d find guitarists I thought were my favorite for a couple of years. I was like, Jimi Hendrix is my favorite, now Stevie Ray Vaughan is my favorite guitar player. But when I heard David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, I was like THIS is my favorite guitar player. And it stuck with me my whole life. The music means a lot to me. It had a big influence on how I play music myself.
You recently released the Spring tour schedule with announcements about some big summer festivals you’re also doing like Bonnaroo. Tell us about that.
Rob: I got to be honest, I don’t even know where all we’re playing. [laughs] The reason I haven’t looked at the schedule is to keep my sanity. I try to take it one day at a time. As far as festivals, Bonnaroo is really cool. I feel like any band from any genre would be proud to play Bonnaroo. And we also announced we’ll be playing at Red Rocks opening for String Cheese Incident [in July] which I think is the coolest thing any of us will have ever gotten to do so far.
Scotty: We’re really excited to be opening up for String Cheese Incident. For me, and I’m sure the other guys in the band, it’s always been a dream not only to play music for a living, but to play some of the biggest and best venues throughout the world like Red Rocks. It’s cool to finally tap into that list. I believe this is the first venue we’ve played that The Beatles played at.
Also, myself and Eli both went to our first Bonnaroo in 2006 (separately), and we love the festival. We love the different musicians that perform there. I’ve gone a couple of different years. Before I joined the band, I know the guys performed a set at a campground that people still talk about. It’s really cool to be billed on the same poster with the all the performers.
Rob: I’m sure there are some other festivals that haven’t been announced yet or we’re not able to talk about yet. I’m excited for all of them. And sometimes the little ones are honestly more fun than the really big ones.
Moon Hooch and Mike Dillon Band are joining you for some tour dates. What’s the history behind your work with them? Do you have any collaborations we can listen to?
Rob: We haven’t collaborated with Moon Hooch before, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens. And the last time we were with Mike Dillon was at AURA – we covered “Holiday in Cambodia” by The Dead Kennedys. It was Chuck’s idea, our bass player, but it was really fun. I think Mike Dillon might have a different band this time, but I’m not positive. I could totally be making that up. But yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if some collaborations happen – we usually figure it out as we go.
Scotty, is this tour schedule typical for you? Are you used to being on the road this much?
Scotty: It’s typical for the band. Even before I joined the band, I was aware of the Dopapod workhorse, constantly being on the road doing over 150 shows a year. That’s how it was in 2014. This year so far, we’ve been off the road since January and don’t go back on until the end of this month. I think there’s a few less shows so we can focus on writing and practicing and enjoying some personal time. It’s nice to be able to enjoy time with family, friends, and significant others, but we’ll still be on the road for close to 150 shows.
Let’s talk about AURA Festival coming up here soon. I hear it’s one of the band’s favorites.
Rob: Oh yeah! For the band and our crew and managers, AURA is a personal highlight of ours every year – and I wouldn’t just say that about any festival. It’s almost like a family cookout for bands in the same situation as us – living in a van, busting our asses. All the bands are friends with each other and we’re always on the road so we don’t get to see each other that often. AURA is where we all get to catch up, hang out, see our buddies for the weekend and play music together. We look forward to it every year.
So Scotty, you’ll be doing a Silent Disco set at AURA as ZwangBang. Is this the first silent disco you’ve ever done?
Scotty: Last year at AURA was the first silent disco DJ set I’ve ever done on my own. But once I did a silent disco set with Sonic Spank, which was a live band. It was very interesting.
Is DJing part of your background along with drums?
Scotty: It’s kind of in my background through various electronic projects I did before. I got a lot of experience working with the production program Ableton Live. I had a lot of fun with that. Over the last couple of years I’ve worked with Traktor, which is strictly for DJing. It came natural to me.
What are some of your favorite artists/type of music you like to play in your DJ sets?
Scotty: I have a lot of different music I like to listen to – it’s an eclectic mix. As far as the DJ set goes, I tend to stick to a house, disco, funky kind of vibe. I’m also a big fan of hip hop and drum and bass. I’ve tried to do an 80s set, or a specific genre, but it’s definitely easier for me to stick to house and drum and bass. This year, the silent disco is billed as ZwangBang featuring Chewy – which before Luke Stratton was doing light and sounds for Dopapod, he was a drum and bass producer and DJ. In his teenage years he was big into the rave culture of the late 90s/early 2000s. I had him come up at last year’s silent disco as a special guest to scratch and do special effects. I figured this year it’d be cool to bill both of us and do something we don’t normally get to do together.
AURA Music & Arts Festival tickets are on sale here. For more info on Dopapod’s music and upcoming shows visit:
http://dopapod.com/
https://www.facebook.com/dopapod
Interview by Jen McKinnon
