Davenport Rex Interview
Q: You both have formal background in music, in both Music Education and Theory & Composition. How did this formal training influence the style of the band, and did different styles coalesce when the band formed?
A: Of course most great pop/rock music comes from artists that have great creativity, instincts, command of their instruments, but don’t have music degrees. We try not to rely on our training when approaching songwriting – the melodies need to sound good and need to be hummable - the lyrics must convey emotion or tell a story, and overall we’re guided by what we think sounds good. With that said, undoubtedly the background we both have does seep through, because of the kinds of music that inspires us. Our focus on different song forms, meters and motivic development throughout “Deux” are definitely links to our formal training, but at the end of the day we really just want our music to be fun to listen to, and hopefully have the material make a connection with the listener.
As writers, we most certainly have different styles and this comes through in the diversity of the record – we don’t try to melt these styles into one “lane” we just record the songs the way we think they need to be.
Q: Can you talk about some of themes that run through your album Deux?
A: Lyrically, the album covers a lot of ground, and we focus on the universal themes of love, family, loss and the passage of time; really common lyrical topics. But, we try to write about these themes in different & unusual ways; in ways that may not be fully apparent on a first listen.
Q: What was the creative process like? Did your jazz background come into play when writing Deux?
A: There are bands that can go into a studio and write songs while they are there, run down takes and come away with a great sounding record, in essentially a spontaneous process. That is not Davenport Rex. Given that we are just two guys, the kind of music we like and want to produce can be very layered and we have to be really careful about how the layers fit together. So, the overall process usually goes: seed of an idea based on a melody and chord changes – build out the form of the song – rough out in ProTools – then we begin the fun/difficult task of building out the arrangement and orchestration. We do this by finding some musical ideas that we like, using them in different places and in different ways through the song. Then, of course, comes the work to get the right performances and mix.
Our jazz background does influence song forms and harmonic approaches, and comes through directly in places like the horn arrangements in “So Sorry.” Also, our experience in classical music directly influenced the symphonic orchestrations of a number of the tunes - the album presents a lot of different styles from singer/songwriter to “almost” country, to cinematic, to indie rock – maybe too much diversity, but we really liked working on a wide range of styles.
Q: What made you want to focus on “progressive compositions”? What exactly do you mean by that?
A: We both have listened to a lot of old school prog rock, and we really love this material, so the "progressive" descriptor comes from this deep influence. We also wanted the songs to hold up as good compositions with real attention to the forms of the songs and how they are arranged. It may take a couple of listens to hear this but there is a lot of development and reuse of musical themes throughout the songs. For example, in “Day After Day” there is a quiet section before the last chorus where it is just voice, celeste and marimba – the celeste and marimba lines are used in multiple places in the song, like the 2nd chorus and the synth line in the 3rd chorus, and at the very end of the first section of the tune. There is a lot of this type of approach throughout the album, and we hope that this will reward the careful listener.
Q: You recorded and mixed the album yourself but then had it professionally mastered. That’s a chain I always advocate for numerous reasons. Can you talk about that process?
A: As you well know mixing can be a real challenge, and this was true for us, especially with some of the more complicated material on Deux. You change one thing and then some other issue is revealed, etc. We did a lot of “beta copies” and listened in different environments. We did have great guidance from a friend in Florida who has fantastic ears and provided invaluable input, especially when we got to the “we’re too close to this” stage. Mixing is funny too because you struggle for a while and then things just come into place at some point, and that’s when you need to stop. We did the mixing ourselves on both our albums because the ProTools sessions were really big and we thought it would be too hard to ship this off and expect someone to really get their arms around the arrangements.
We sent Deux off to Andy VanDette at The Engine Room in New York for mastering. Andy has worked with a lot of great artists and he really listened, worked closely with us and did a fantastic job delivering the final product.
Q: What else do we need to know about Davenport Rex?
A: We have been playing and writing music for a long time, since our days in the music program at Michigan State University. We had thought for a long time about recording original material, and about ten years ago we decided to actually do it. We embarked on a journey that has now produced two full-length albums. We both have families and day jobs so, we don’t work quickly which is apparent from the pacing of the two album releases. We are both glad that we dedicated the energy and time to the Davenport Rex projects – we think that both albums are high quality products that have unique musical ideas and meaningful lyrics.
We know that everybody is very busy and we tend to all have short attention spans – but if this music appeals to you please listen to it a few times. You will pick up more of the themes and inner workings of the songs this way and we believe you will find this enjoyable.
Q: You both have formal background in music, in both Music Education and Theory & Composition. How did this formal training influence the style of the band, and did different styles coalesce when the band formed?
A: Of course most great pop/rock music comes from artists that have great creativity, instincts, command of their instruments, but don’t have music degrees. We try not to rely on our training when approaching songwriting – the melodies need to sound good and need to be hummable - the lyrics must convey emotion or tell a story, and overall we’re guided by what we think sounds good. With that said, undoubtedly the background we both have does seep through, because of the kinds of music that inspires us. Our focus on different song forms, meters and motivic development throughout “Deux” are definitely links to our formal training, but at the end of the day we really just want our music to be fun to listen to, and hopefully have the material make a connection with the listener.
As writers, we most certainly have different styles and this comes through in the diversity of the record – we don’t try to melt these styles into one “lane” we just record the songs the way we think they need to be.
Q: Can you talk about some of themes that run through your album Deux?
A: Lyrically, the album covers a lot of ground, and we focus on the universal themes of love, family, loss and the passage of time; really common lyrical topics. But, we try to write about these themes in different & unusual ways; in ways that may not be fully apparent on a first listen.
Q: What was the creative process like? Did your jazz background come into play when writing Deux?
A: There are bands that can go into a studio and write songs while they are there, run down takes and come away with a great sounding record, in essentially a spontaneous process. That is not Davenport Rex. Given that we are just two guys, the kind of music we like and want to produce can be very layered and we have to be really careful about how the layers fit together. So, the overall process usually goes: seed of an idea based on a melody and chord changes – build out the form of the song – rough out in ProTools – then we begin the fun/difficult task of building out the arrangement and orchestration. We do this by finding some musical ideas that we like, using them in different places and in different ways through the song. Then, of course, comes the work to get the right performances and mix.
Our jazz background does influence song forms and harmonic approaches, and comes through directly in places like the horn arrangements in “So Sorry.” Also, our experience in classical music directly influenced the symphonic orchestrations of a number of the tunes - the album presents a lot of different styles from singer/songwriter to “almost” country, to cinematic, to indie rock – maybe too much diversity, but we really liked working on a wide range of styles.
Q: What made you want to focus on “progressive compositions”? What exactly do you mean by that?
A: We both have listened to a lot of old school prog rock, and we really love this material, so the "progressive" descriptor comes from this deep influence. We also wanted the songs to hold up as good compositions with real attention to the forms of the songs and how they are arranged. It may take a couple of listens to hear this but there is a lot of development and reuse of musical themes throughout the songs. For example, in “Day After Day” there is a quiet section before the last chorus where it is just voice, celeste and marimba – the celeste and marimba lines are used in multiple places in the song, like the 2nd chorus and the synth line in the 3rd chorus, and at the very end of the first section of the tune. There is a lot of this type of approach throughout the album, and we hope that this will reward the careful listener.
Q: You recorded and mixed the album yourself but then had it professionally mastered. That’s a chain I always advocate for numerous reasons. Can you talk about that process?
A: As you well know mixing can be a real challenge, and this was true for us, especially with some of the more complicated material on Deux. You change one thing and then some other issue is revealed, etc. We did a lot of “beta copies” and listened in different environments. We did have great guidance from a friend in Florida who has fantastic ears and provided invaluable input, especially when we got to the “we’re too close to this” stage. Mixing is funny too because you struggle for a while and then things just come into place at some point, and that’s when you need to stop. We did the mixing ourselves on both our albums because the ProTools sessions were really big and we thought it would be too hard to ship this off and expect someone to really get their arms around the arrangements.
We sent Deux off to Andy VanDette at The Engine Room in New York for mastering. Andy has worked with a lot of great artists and he really listened, worked closely with us and did a fantastic job delivering the final product.
Q: What else do we need to know about Davenport Rex?
A: We have been playing and writing music for a long time, since our days in the music program at Michigan State University. We had thought for a long time about recording original material, and about ten years ago we decided to actually do it. We embarked on a journey that has now produced two full-length albums. We both have families and day jobs so, we don’t work quickly which is apparent from the pacing of the two album releases. We are both glad that we dedicated the energy and time to the Davenport Rex projects – we think that both albums are high quality products that have unique musical ideas and meaningful lyrics.
We know that everybody is very busy and we tend to all have short attention spans – but if this music appeals to you please listen to it a few times. You will pick up more of the themes and inner workings of the songs this way and we believe you will find this enjoyable.