D.W. Burnam

In 2004 he left Dalmatians just as they were getting noticed.
Currently he's avoiding technology and taking music back to basics with Katherine Hepburn's Voice.


Do you know how many bands you’ve played in?

Are these bands that have played shows? Or from the day I decided I wanted to start a band?

Yeah, however you define "band."

(Counting ensues) 11.

11?

Ummm no. I’d say at least 20.

How old were you when you started your first band?

7th grade. We didn’t actually have a name. But it was the first time that we actually got a nickel for a show. We didn’t actually play the show, but we got really close. And the band I played in after that, we played a lot of shows. We ended up winning a battle of the bands in a parking lot in a strip mall in [unintelligible], Delaware. That was in 9th grade and that sold the whole thing for me.

What got you started? Why do you play music?

Because I was raised to play music. My dad is a church musician, he got a Masters in church music. And my mom sang to me before I had any cognition, but I do remember some of that. So it was bred in the bones. And like any 6th grader, I started getting into rock and roll music.

What do you prefer: playing solo or with band mates?

I prefer performing with band mates. I prefer recording and composing by myself.

What makes playing live so different from recording for you?

Live, you’ve got one shot to make it really great. And if there are musicians up there, it’s easier to fill out the sound and make it sound the way you want it, as long as everyone’s doing what their supposed to. But in a studio, or apartment, you have total control and you’re not constrained by time. It’s not a momentary apparition. You have as much time as you want and you essentially can be as many musicians as you want to be.

This next question kind of related to Dalmatians. Do you prefer happiness to success?

Yes. And note the no pause by the way.

How do you feel about your time in Dalmatians though? Because you quit right at a time when you guys were getting pretty well known. What’s the deal?

Without getting into it too much, it’s just that the spark was lost. I didn’t see it going any further. It wasn’t really my, my baby, it was Brian’s, and we just kind of wanted to do different things. I wanted to do something different and it felt like my sticking with it was like dead weight. That’s the way I felt. If he wanted to go do this thing, he should. And I wanted to do my thing and that just wasn’t happening.

What are you doing now?

I’m playing with Shannon [other former Dalmatian]. We’ve got Katherine Hepburn’s voice and we’re inventing a whole new thing. We’re inventing a genre. What I’m trying to do is bring it back to more – like in Dalmatians I played along to prerecorded stuff, it was very techmological. We were kind of at the mercy of a lot of machines and things like that. I’m getting more into making the music with our instruments, with everything we have. Not having that controlled thing. Because I think there is an important distinction to make between making a recording as its own creation, as its own object and then using that same amount of creativity to invent something that you present to someone in a live situation. And not crapping out, being lazy and just playing your CD. You know, just rehashing everything because you don’t want to embarrass yourself.

What do you in the band?

Right now I’m trying to keep it at drums and singing. But every once in a while I’ll throw a bass loop down. I’ll play a bass line and run it through a loop pedal and play along with that, but that’s as far as the technology goes. The rest is – we’re just a duet, you know. She plays keyboard or piano and sings and I play drums and sing, we’re just trying to keep it at that.

How do you write the songs?

Primarily, we just present each other with a recording we made. Or we just goof off and a song comes out of that. But a lot of the real solid stuff has started with a recording. One shares it with the other and then the whole thing gets turned on its head, that’s when it starts getting written.

You’re mixing an album right now, right?

Yeah, it’s going to be a while though.

What are your plans for it?

Once it’s finished, I don’t even know. I want to finish it before I start – I don’t know. I think that the radio could pick it up, that would be cool. And I think that somebody would want to release it. I would ultimately like to give it to a little label and get somebody to do promotion and distribution for me because I hate having to do all that stuff myself. I mean, some people are really into playing the game. But I think for me, personally, it takes a lot of attention away from writing music which is really what I want to do.

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What about non-music art?

I’m doing it. I’m doing a lot of it these days. Some painting, but I’m really getting into just drawing with big hunks of pencil on giant pieces of paper. It’s funny, I’m drawing drums in the backyard. That’s working out really well. Just heavy foliage. And I’m really into this pencil and paper thing, it’s the wave of the future.

Why do you create art?

Man, that’s a good question. I think it’s all that I’m really good at, aside from framing, which I think I’ve gotten pretty good at. I guess you can get good at anything that you do a lot. And I do that a lot, so I’ve gotten good at it. And that’s a good reason to do something.

Because if you don’t do something you’re really good at, people may be missing out on something really awesome.

Downloads

Peeenu.mp3
O'er Your House.mp3
The Reegae Song.mp3

Website

http://www.myspace.com/katharinehepburnsvoice