It's definitely one of the best albums of last year. Honest, mature and an underground momentum that makes you forget time and be immersed in it. So simple. Fabulous work really... The return of Dan Stuart (of course, for years the heart of the incredible Green On Red) was the occasion for an interview with him and all I can say is that I wish to see the SLUMMERS in Athens with the new year to enjoy the 'Love Of The Amateur' up close. Do not miss this album. He has just as much soul.
1/First of all Dan tell me some details about THE SLUMMERS and your NEW album 'Love of the amateur'..Nice to have you back you know..and its a good album really..
The Slummers are a club of amateurs in the classic sense. JD Foster and I write the songs and Antonio Gramentieri and Diego Sapignoli from Italy help us interpet them along with Adrian Olsen. Antonio produced it giving it a very Continental vibe. We just wanted to become invisible again and do it for the sake of passion and beauty if I might be so pretentious...
2/Are you workin on a new project or something (like a solo album) for the new year?We cut a new Slummers record last August right before I moved to Oaxaca, Mexico. It's titled "Love Will Kill You" for obvious reasons and still needs to be mixed. It was produced by my old bandmate Jack Waterson from Green on Red and he brought a very innocent aesthetic to the record. We'd like to bring in a novelist to produce the next one, maybe George Pelecanos...
3/Can you tell me really how do you feel nowdays Dan,looking back,@ the very early days with GREEN ON RED?
Green On Red led a very charmed existance... there were really two bands, the early punk band and the later "studio" band. I love all my brothers from the "real" Green on Red and I imagine that maybe half the records we did have some sort of quality... the rest were pure folly but that's what made it interesting.
4/Is there a chance for a reunion or something in the future?What did you think?
Well we had our fun back in what? 2006? Something like that should be done only once but you never know. We did make a smart decision not to record anymore although I really wanted to cut a batch of songs I had at the time... a lot of them wound up on the 2007 Danny & Dusty record "Cast Iron Soul".
5/And workin with JD Foster..?Was something new (if i may say) maybe..?A new road to travel to..?
Sometimes I forget how long I've known JD... he used to produce the Green On Red demos that were better than what wound up on the records. For The Slummers, I loved encouraging him to sing lead and to take his guitar playing seriously. He has that Dixie Florida soul thing. It's funny, neither one of us wants to be near the studio when it's mixing time... we want people do their thing and to take it to another level. We care enough not to care.
6/Ok,so heres some names..Can you tell me just 2-3 words for each one?Fast & from the heart(laughs!):RAIN PARADE, DREAM SYNDICATE, OPAL, VIOLENT FEMMESRain Parade: David Roback moody genius, Dream Syndicate: unctuous groove, Opal: sexy earth mama, Violent Femmes: over and underrated.
7/And your fav record (or artist) for 2010 Dan?
Oh too many to count, I saw a lot of bands last summer in NYC... two favorite live bands I saw were Avi Buffalo and Free Energy but the best concert was Jimmy Webb at Stuyvesant High School's auditorium. All these uptown black folks came downtown to see the songwriting genius from Oklahoma...
8/And closing the interview..Any memories from Athens?
Just that I wish I hadn't destroyed a very nice Gretsch Chet Atkins guitar there on stage many years ago and that I can't wait to get back to one of my favorite cities in the world. Don't burn it down before I get there...
Thank you very much Dan!
DIMITRIS ANTONOPOULOS