Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Interviews:: herohill hearts music vs. Dave Ullrich
HH:: It's been ten years since The Inbreds graced Halifax with your presence. What have you been up to, and what made you decide to reunite one more time?
DU:: Well, you made us reunite. Hero Hill asked and we must deliver. Since we packed up in 1998, I got married, moved to Toronto, started working in IT, bought a house, had two kids, and started Zunior. Zunior was actually a domain name I registered to create a website for the kids (pictures, etc), but I ended up pinching it for a music site (sorry kids). Zunior is my nickname from when I was kid.
HH:: It's probably been a while since you spent a lot of time in Halifax. What are you most looking forward to about being back?
DU:: I haven't been back since I left 10 years ago. I look forward to seeing many characters including Mike O and many of the cronies from back in the day. Halifax has some good food and beer, which I'm always up for.
HH:: You guys came around at a great time for Canadian indie rock – Sloan was making waves, Hardship Post was getting catered by Sub Pop and bands like the Inbreds and Thrush Hermit were getting radio and video play – but it seemed after the run you guys made, it was hard times for Canadian music. With you being so close to the action with Zunior – how do you feel about the state of affairs now?
DU:: Digital is just such an awesome opportunity for new artists. Artists should be inspired by Radiohead, NIN, etc. DIY has a new whole new potential for the really smart, really creative bands. It feels like tough times for the old dinosaurs (major labels) but the sky is the limit for new artists. The key is to figure out a way to make money a living for those that choose to need to make a living from music. If you want to just spread your music around the world and live a regular life, you can do that too.
HH:: Do you ever think about how things would be different if The Inbreds were hitting their stride in '06 instead of '96?
DU:: The idea has crossed my mind but I'm just happy we were part of such a great collection of bands like The Super Friendz, Eric's Trip and Wooden Stars. Pitchfork has since changed the game for indie artists and they supported Canadian bands early and often, which was a major catalyst for the strength of the current scene. When we got interviews in '95 in the US, people would try to talk about Canadian music as Loverboy or Bryan Adams. Ugggh.
HH:: You are probably one of the most fitting people to answer the age old blogging question – how do you feel about the internet and how it helps musicians? What advice would you give a band just starting out and wanting to get heard?
DU:: I would advise new bands to leverage the power of the Internet big time. I would say you should have a MySpace and Facebook page right off. If you want to sell music right away, don't even bother with iTunes. Simply create a Paypal link to take payment, zip the files and then send out your albums manually using www.yousendit.com. It's all free and all easy. Once you start selling a few copies on your own, you'll know it's time to get hooked with somebody like Zunior.
HH:: How different is it for to help sell and distribute someone's art, instead of creating it yourself?
DU:: When you do it for yourself, you try really friggin hard. Or I do anyway. When we try to sell it for others with Zunior, we try really hard compared to places like iTunes. We're not as big, but we're better. Like a farmer's market for music. People choose to buy from us because they know who they are buying from, ie as directly from the artists as is possible. Also, we like to be transparent. No cheezy old school obfuscation. If you are on Zunior and you ask a question, I'm the one who will answer it. We like to be open about everything money-related because that's what I expect as someone who didn't get a lot that doing music (unless we did it ourself).
HH:: I know Mike still writes music – The Beginners are going to be putting out a record soon – but I was wondering if you still write songs or if you miss things like getting on stage or hitting the road?
DU:: Well, don't forget about my Egger project. It certainly didn't change the world, but it sure was/is a cool way for me to explore songwriting/recording end-to-end. I love playing live with The Inbreds. Playing outdoors is the best. When you've played as many shows as we have, it's just in the blood.
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