TLOBF Interview // Dust On The Breakers

Dust On The Breakers are an American collective based around core members Jeff Linsenmaier (The Czars), Jeff Davenport (d.biddle), and Tim Husmann (Crooked Fingers) and ably assisted by a rotation of contributors drawn in from The Fray, 16 Horsepower, Woven Hand, Devotchka et al. They formed in 2006 and released the American Reclamation EP through Rainboot records in October 2010.

Recorded in Denver and mixed by acclaimed producer Martin Feveyear (REM / Crooked Fingers / Damien Jurardo / Jesse Sykes), American Reclamation is a triumph of experimental wide screen Americana at its best. Reminiscent of the sweet, blissed out harmonies of Low mixed with the shimmer of vintage Morricone and lo-fi atmospheric interludes that recall Silver Mt. Zion at their most pastoral, American Reclamation is an EP well worth investigating and in this interview the core of this sprawling collective shed some light on how they make a very unique musical set up work with such aplomb.

Stream American Reclamation in its entirety below.

Firstly, how did the collective come about? It’s such an unusual concept compared to so many bands that have fixed line ups.

Tim Husmann: I met Jeff Linsenmaier while he was touring with another band called Carrier. The band I was playing with had the slot right before them. The venue flooded in the middle of their set; literally, a small creek was flowing through the middle of the place. We agreed to have breakfast the following morning and kept in touch thereafter. Jeff L had already started playing with Jeff Davenport, so I came into the fold a little later.

Jeff Davenport: When Dust first started playing live Tim would travel to Denver and we’d put together a larger band for the occasion. The three of us were always crafting a bigger sound than just ourselves could carry, so we started inviting others in to fill things out and bring their own styles to the table. However, over the years the lineup would organically change over time due to others peoples commitments and the sporadic nature of our shows. Except for Patrick Meese who’s drummed for us every show, I think we’ve had a different line-up every time we’ve played out. We’ve always liked arranging both the line-up and the songs to match the kind of venue we’re playing. As far as recording goes, its been a similar thing. There is such a fantastic community of musicians here in Denver, we love bringing in our friends to add their sounds and talents to our recordings. We like our records to be somewhat of a celebration of what we have here in Denver.

Jeff Linsemaier: In the beginning, our goal wasn’t to make a band or record an EP or play out like many groups. We were just people getting together and using music as a therapy. At the time, life had come crashing down on many of us as it sometimes does, and we all randomly ended up in my warehouse wanting to play music… as it turns out, it wasn’t just the three of us experiencing hardships. Friends came out of the woodwork, “My father just died… I’m getting a divorce…etc” My warehouse was full of people who had experienced hardships, and we all just had drinks and talked together and played whatever we were feeling at that moment. After a while, things started to settle into a form.

Does the band model affect how much you can gig?

Jeff D: It definitely does. Quite a bit of work goes into preparing for just one show. Sometimes it will have been 6-8 months since we’ve played out and its like starting over from scratch. We work more as a studio project these days, so we aren’t rehearsing or arranging material for a live setting on a regular basis.

Jeff L: Luckily, it hasn’t been a problem in that there has always been plenty of musicians around when we’ve needed to play a show… We’ve been playing with two brothers (Patrick and Nate Meese) in our live settings most recently for example… The problem with playing live lies more in my schedule and mental state. I’m on tour generally over 200 days a year as it is and when I’m home I prefer to confine myself to the Dust studio and create music with Tim and Jeff rather than go play live more.

Broken Social Scene is a band that comes to mind as a comparison, both musically and in terms of the collective vibe. Are you fans of them?

Tim: I enjoyed their second album, You Forgot In People, a lot. I can’t say that I am very familiar with their other releases.

Jeff D: I was doing college radio when You Forgot It In People was released and it definitely blew me away. However, it was the strength and energy of the songs that hooked me, so the story of them as a collective never really resonated all that much. That being said I did appreciate the inter-connectedness of the music scene in Canada – bands like Do Say Make Think, Godspeed, Silver Mt. Zion, Fly Pan Am… everything Constellation Records was putting out was pretty amazing. That being said, I wouldn’t draw any lines to Dust from that. We never started this band with the idea of being a collective, nor have we only wanted solely label ourselves as that. This band is about first and foremost about songs and secondly about bringing people together to give the songs what they ask.

Aside from all the various other bands and projects the Dust On The Breakers collective are part of, which bands have informed you work the most?

Tim: From a personal standpoint, I would say Philip Glass, M83, Portishead, and Francoise Hardy to name a few.

Jeff L: I truly am pushed and inspired by my relationships with contemporaries, but if I had to take them out of the picture, I’d go back to my roots. My first live music event was a Ride and Lush concert. I fell in love with all shoegaze and that entire genre has played a big role in my life since I became a musician. I also consider Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie as major musical mentors. During my time with The Czars, they really helped me through the metamorphosis from ‘guy who liked to play music’ to somebody who is a musician, both mentally and by trade. Without their encouragement, I’d probably be in an office somewhere wishing I was doing what I do now. Also Brian Eno’s concepts… Nina Simone’s writing and sense of adventure musically… I could go on…

Are you fans of Morricone? There appears to be a cinematic desert song aspect to the record…

Tim: Absolutely, I think it’s great you picked up on that one. We were trying to capture a feeling reminiscent of vast plains in the American West.

Jeff D: As a music fan, I think I was more influenced by “desert” artists like Calexico and Howe Gelb. Morricone isn’t someone I’d just throw on but I love hearing his work. However, you weren’t far off the mark because Once Upon A Time In the West is a film we’ve all talked about as a band. The way the camera captures the landscape in that film is how I think about Dust on the Breakers.

Jeff L: I love his work but really don’t listen to Morricone much. I think that element comes from the way I generally see life, as naturally cinematic, and kind of rough and unforgiving, like a desert really. I’m constantly shocked at how selfish and brutal humans and the world can be, but more so by how much beauty there continues exist within this environment. The resilience of beauty is one of the most prominent themes on the first EP.

What was the process like for recording the EP? Did one person write the basic songs? Or was it a collaborative process between whoever was working on a particular track?

Tim: Often a song would start out with an initial skeleton created by an individual member. The group would then come together and flesh out the idea. It was like shining a flashlight through a tinted window pane. The group acts as a filter, slowly morphing things into a singular, cohesive sound.

Jeff D: Everyone always has songs floating around, some more fully fleshed-out than others. We start playing them for each other and they tend to morph and grow as we play them together. Sometimes it’s hard to remember where they started from. Many of the songs that ended up on EP began from piano parts Tim had written. They spoke to and captured the mood of that period in our lives. On the other hand Charred Metropolis was the very first song Jeff L and I ever wrote together, and the first song we ever sent to Tim when he was living in Austin. It’s all pretty intertwined as far as music and lyrics go.

Who’s in charge? Or is it true anarchy?

Tim: I have always thought of us as a group with no one in charge. I think each of us carries the load more at different times. That being said, I will have to lean towards the latter.

Jeff D: I think it leans closer to anarchy. Well, as much anarchy as you can have with three people. I think we tried using a talking stick once, but Tim and Jeff just argued about how to record it and what drum it would sound better destroying.

There’s a very unique atmosphere to the record, found sound and weird atmospherics alongside the americana led country rock, any particularly interesting recording processes/techniques you’d like to talk about?

Tim: I think we really lived with these songs. They reflect a very specific moment in time that we were passing through. Just take your time, the recording is the only permanent thing you can do as a band. Oh, and watch a lot of films when you’re writing new ideas.

Jeff D: We are always striving to create landscapes with song. We definitely approach things in filmic terms, so atmosphere and texture are always integral in our recordings. We recorded everything on the EP, except for drums and vocals, at Tim’s house which is our rehearsal and recording home base. Tim and I both come from obsessive home recording backgrounds so experimenting with sound and recording has always been a big part of this band.

I’ve always worked on more lo-fi projects, recording records in kitchens, basements and houses in the desert, so it was a lot of fun going down the opposite road. We set out to record the most pristine and biggest sound we could, yet still capture the grit and darkness we tend to float in. We’re rather proud of what we got!

How was it working with Martin Feveyear?

Tim: Marty was great. He really understood the project and was key in crafting the sounds we were trying to create.

Jeff D: I can’t say enough nice things. He taught us a lot and had infinite patience for the millions of tracks we dumped on him! He got these songs immediately and gave them the life we heard in our heads – that’s priceless.

What’s on the horizon? Will our UK readers get a chance to see you live at some point?

Tim: We have four new tracks in the works at the moment. They should start rolling out as singles early this year. I won’t rule out a live show, it’s just a matter of getting everyone’s schedules to line up.

Jeff L: We would love to play some shows in the UK at some point in the near future. I’ve always loved it there and I long to work there more. At the moment, we are working hard on new recordings. The first step is to release more songs, and then we will see what happens! We also just finished scoring a 10min documentary and beginning a new feature documentary, are doing some session work, and doing some remix work for other bands. Expect to hear more from us very soon!