2008 Woodie Awards
'Crispy Critics' talk Dondero
Jason Schueppert
Issue date: 9/17/07 Section: Intermission
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Tales of the wandering troubadour are nothing new to David Dondero.
His previous solo albums have time and again painted lush pictures of lost friends, shady bars from Alaska to New Orleans and the elusive feeling of love.
"Simple Love," his sixth and most recent release, continues the path he's cut, creating an intelligent, curious, folk-blues-rock mash-up.
With another tour right around the corner, Dondero took a few minutes to chat with KVSC for its new weekly music showcase, "The Crispy Critics."
Dondero answered questions about joining up with Conor Oberst of Bright Eye's label Team Love, do it yourself shows in Laundromats, the war in Iraq, shady promoters and the curious pairing of him with the politically charged punk group Against Me! on a future tour.
Q: How'd you end up touring with Against Me!? That seems like kind of an odd bill. They're a fantastic band, I dig 'em, but that's kind of an interesting mismatch. How'd that come about?
A: Well, when Tom was beginning Against Me! he was playing acoustic shows, and I did many shows playing in Gainesville with him. We played laundromat shows and house shows, DIY shows, so I've known him ever since, like '98 or so.
They were coming around this time, and we'd talked about me playing on a Canadian tour, and that didn't pan out, so he was like 'Yeah, somewhere down the road let's try and tour together,' so it just happened to work out this time, so we're doing it.
Q: Laundromat shows? Can you elaborate on that?
A: Well, we used to have these shows where you just do it at the laundromat, and you just cram like a hundred people into this little laundromat, and you just play these folk-punk shows.
We had some pretty amazing times. In Gainesville, we had this cop show up, but the cop was cool about us having this show in the laundromat and said 'Just shut the door' and not to let anyone else in because it was too crowded.
We've done like a gas station show where you just play a show at the convenience store parking lot, and everyone shows up and you play and get out of there.
His previous solo albums have time and again painted lush pictures of lost friends, shady bars from Alaska to New Orleans and the elusive feeling of love.
"Simple Love," his sixth and most recent release, continues the path he's cut, creating an intelligent, curious, folk-blues-rock mash-up.
With another tour right around the corner, Dondero took a few minutes to chat with KVSC for its new weekly music showcase, "The Crispy Critics."
Dondero answered questions about joining up with Conor Oberst of Bright Eye's label Team Love, do it yourself shows in Laundromats, the war in Iraq, shady promoters and the curious pairing of him with the politically charged punk group Against Me! on a future tour.
Q: How'd you end up touring with Against Me!? That seems like kind of an odd bill. They're a fantastic band, I dig 'em, but that's kind of an interesting mismatch. How'd that come about?
A: Well, when Tom was beginning Against Me! he was playing acoustic shows, and I did many shows playing in Gainesville with him. We played laundromat shows and house shows, DIY shows, so I've known him ever since, like '98 or so.
They were coming around this time, and we'd talked about me playing on a Canadian tour, and that didn't pan out, so he was like 'Yeah, somewhere down the road let's try and tour together,' so it just happened to work out this time, so we're doing it.
Q: Laundromat shows? Can you elaborate on that?
A: Well, we used to have these shows where you just do it at the laundromat, and you just cram like a hundred people into this little laundromat, and you just play these folk-punk shows.
We had some pretty amazing times. In Gainesville, we had this cop show up, but the cop was cool about us having this show in the laundromat and said 'Just shut the door' and not to let anyone else in because it was too crowded.
We've done like a gas station show where you just play a show at the convenience store parking lot, and everyone shows up and you play and get out of there.