Swearing at Motorists

…by this point, we’re fairly certain most of you are aware of the pending arrival of one Dave Doughman to the Gem City next Thursday, October 29 for a single performance of Swearing at Motorists at Canal Street Tavern. Along with original drummer Don Thrasher, S@M will perform, in its entirety, the acclaimed 2000 album, Number Seven Uptown. We recently spoke with Doughman about his hiatus, the pending show, and what it all means…

The Buddha Den: It’s been quite a while since we’ve heard anything from Swearing at Motorists. What has kept you silent for the past three years? What drove you out of the US? Do you miss us?

Dave Doughman: well, i’d say Swearing At Motorists kept quiet, but not exactly silent…
there were a couple of tracks on compilations, a few shows in Berlin, but yeah nothing major has happened in the “World of ‘Motorists” since the release of “Last Night Becomes This Morning” and “Exile On Gipsstraße” in 2006.

December 7, 2004, in the middle of a European tour, i fell in love with Berlin. During our set, i asked from the stage if anyone knew of empty flat or room for rent… after the show i ended up with a decent list of names and addresses! so i went to my favorite Berlin after-show drinking spot, 8mm, and asked the bartender which of the addresses was closest to the bar…
the next day i went to that address and gave the landlord a deposit.
finished the tour, went back to Philly to tidy some loose ends, and moved into my flat at Gipsstraße 23 on February 02, 2005.
i needed a change.
of scenery,
of lifestyle,
i needed a new muse(geographically speaking of course, not romantic… )
and to concentrate on just making music…

but in January 2007, my son was born,
my new focus was on being a great father,
i found caring for and playing with my son more enjoyable than creating new music…

now he is almost 3, and in the last year has shown a real interest in music, so i started writing again,
first with him, just for laughs,
then more seriously on my own when he is asleep…

TBD: With all this down time, what projects have kept you busy? Anything new in the works? A new album perhaps?

DD: lately i have been recording demos for a new album, i’ve trimmed my list to about 22 songs. i think a sequence of 14-16 of those will make a great album. hopefully we can finish the proper recording before winter is over…

TBD: After a 3-year absence, it seems peculiar that you would return to Dayton for a one-off show. On a Thursday, no less. Care to elaborate on the motivation behind such a bizarre phenomenon?

DD: the truth is,
i realized my license was about to expire and since i needed to fly from Berlin to Chicago for work Oct 30, i thought i would fly to Dayton a day early, renew my license, then drive to Chicago. so i was looking online, to see what i could do on my one night in Dayton, and noticed, there was nothing i wanted to do, no bands were playing that i wanted to see. so i decided it would be cool to book a show and invite a band i really wanted to see to play with me…

i am really excited about the show, not only because it’s been 3 years since i’ve played in North America,
but because we are going to do something we have never done before.
the idea to play Number Seven Uptown in sequence came from being a fan of the All Tomorrow’s Parties “Don’t Look Back Concerts” , where ATP commission artists to perform their “critically acclaimed” or “classic” albums live in sequence…
i was joking with a friend that the 10 year anniversary of Number Seven Uptown was next year,
so i’d better start rehearsing it in sequence,
you know, just in case ATP wanted us to play it as a Don’t Look Back Concert…
and then i thought, hey why not do this in Dayton?
to make it different than just playing Canal Street Tavern again…

so we will play the album, ATP style as i like to call it,
then if people want, we will play some more songs.

i think it’s going to be a great night in Dayton,
a bunch of old friends getting together for some good music.
it’s going to be a Dayton Rock-n-Roll Family Reunion, ‘Motorists’ style!
i mean cmon, Jay Madewell spinning Fab Gear before between and after!?!
DANCE PARTY!
i’m pretty excited to see Smug Brothers play,
as i am a big fan of the Fortune Rumors Ep series…
and of course anyone too cool to show up early and see the Rev. Davis Kettering open the show at 9pm,
will be missing out on a performance i guarantee will be talked about for ages…
oh, for those of you who will be there, you should be quiet, as he is prone to violence against talking audience members…

yep, it’s going to be a great night

SWEARING AT MOTORISTS 11pm
Smug Brothers 10pm
Rev. Davis Kettering 9pm

Fab Gear 8-9pm
between bands
and after S@M ’til Mick kicks us out…

TBD: What inspires you to continue to create these days? What keeps you motivated? What is your current working method like, now that you’re essentially on your own? Still home recording?

DD: i can’t help myself… i hear this stuff in my head, and i just try to get it to come out of the speakers… i’m very lucky to be on such a great label as Secretly Canadian, but if i wasn’t, i would still be making songs and records, burning cdrs for my friends. i mean this whole “band” started as a cassette i made for a friend… and my son motivates me, because i want him to respect me as an artist, to realize when he is older, that making music is not what i do, it’s who i am. and he has changed my “working habits”…
now i can’t stay up all night drinking red wine and smoking,
waking up the next afternoon in bed next to a guitar and a notebook full of words…
i can’t just wait until inspiration hits…
so i spend a few hours each morning Mon-Fri in my home studio,
trying to write, or at least play guitar, while he is at preschool…

TBD: Having put down roots [at least tentatively] in a number of locations, what keeps you tied to Dayton? What essence do you feel Dayton possesses that keeps those that leave calling it home?

DD: Dayton is where i began making music, it’s where the 2nd phase of my musical education took place. long before i lived here, when i would visit my mother, i would buy records at Trader Vic’s. Mike Justice is responsible for getting me hooked on all the local Dayton bands.
He’s the one who insisted i buy Brainiac’s Smack Bunny Baby Lp, instead of some Pavement import 7″…
i moved to Dayton at an important time musically, and was very fortunate to end up in a supportive circle of friends that made some pretty amazing music. and lucky that some people were interested in hearing my bedroom recordings…

TBD: Will it ever be as good as it was? Was it ever that good? Is now better than what some would say?

DD: it can be as good or even better for someone else, for someone who wasn’t there maybe…

…as a special treat, Doughman has been kind enough to provide an exclusive download via The Buddha Den of the S@M side of a split 7″ with ex-touring partners, Spoon. Grab that goodie while you can, since it’s previously unavailable digitally…

MP3: Swearing at Motorists “Bitch(Idle Hands and the Devil’s Plaything)/Bad Drawing of the Worst Photograph”
Download audio file (Bitch.mp3)