Year Long Disaster Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 8th 2010 12:00PM by Carl Atiya Swanson
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When your dad is already a famous and influential musician, the pressure to produce might seem like an unfair burden. Daniel Davies, son of Dave Davies from the Kinks, is doing his part to keep the musical traditions alive and chart his own course with his Los Angeles-based band, Year Long Disaster. Rounded out by bassist Rich Mullins and drummer Brad Hargreaves (who's also in Third Eye Blind), Year Long Disaster's raw, hard-rocking style evocative of 70s anthems and 80s metal has won them critical kudos and fans. With a 2007 self-titled release under their belt, two years of solid touring and a new record, Black Magic; All Mysteries Revealed out in time for SXSW, we caught up with Davies to talk about growing up on the road, the benefits of being sober and hypothetical brawls between the world's biggest bands.

How did your band form?

Rich [Mullins] and I met in a grocery store in Hollywood, in the liquor aisle of a grocery store and we went to a party and we started hanging out and playing music. That's just how it happened. [Drummer Brad Hargreaves joined] after we played a show in this small club and he was playing with his other band [Hours and Minutes]. The next day our drummer quit and two days later ran in to the bass player of that band in the street and said, "Could we have your drummer's phone number?" So we gave him a call and he said, "Sure let's play" and we played and it was great.

What are your musical influences?

I love ELO and Hendrix and Zeppelin and all that kind of stuff, Buddy Guy, a lot of older stuff. I love ZZ Top, guitar-driven things.

Describe your sound in your own words.

I suppose we are more of an old fashioned hard rock band, it sounds modern but it's more of a classic rock and roll sound, not as schizophrenic as most modern music I suppose. It's quite straightforward, hard rocking.

How did you come up with your band name?

We basically spent a week in a room drinking, trying to come up with a name and I left the room and came back in and Rich said, "How about Year Long Disaster?" And I said, "Oh, that's great." A friend of ours had been in a band and they asked their little brother to listen to this song and he listened to the song and said, "I think that song sounds like a year long disaster," and he had told that story to Rich and he just thought we should name our band that. At the time we were going through a difficult period and it seemed fitting at the time. Everyone seems to have a point when things don't seem to be going their way and everywhere you go, the road seems like there is something in the way.<

You have had trouble with drugs in the past. Where are you at now and what is currently your biggest vice?

I don't know, we just seem to get a lot more done when we're not getting fucked up all the time. I think in order for us to have this band we have to pull our shit together. I don't know what my vice is now, I'm sure they are there, I just don't realize it. We just had to pull it together so we could have this band and get stuff done, it's a lot easier for us that way. At first drugs are great to open windows, you know, but then you go too far. All the time you spend trying to get drugs you can spend in a much more positive way. Those are lost hours. It's amazing how much you can get done in a day.

Your dad is Dave Davies from The Kinks, what was it like growing up with that kind of musical surrounding?

Two weeks after I was born, I was on the road until I was eight or nine when I had to start being in school more. I really grew up being on the road so I enjoy that lifestyle, it seems like a comfortable place to be. Just traveling and being on the road you have worldly experiences, I don't really know how you put it. At first when you're really little, you don't know what the hell's going on, but now I can see that it had quite a big impact on me.

Do you have any festival or tour survival tips?

Sleep, try and get as much sleep as possible, lots of tea and sleep. I don't really have any survival tips, I think everyone has their own routines to stay sane.

Do you have any musical guilty pleasures?

I have ABBA, I like ABBA, maybe the Bee Gees, stuff like that. But those bands have great melodies. Maybe I wouldn't want to admit that to too many people, but you know what, I'm fine with that. Anyone that knows, they know; there are plenty of guilty pleasures out there.

If it came down to a fight between the Beatles and the Stones, who would win?

That's a close one, I don't know, it depends. The Stones seem quite aggressive but I think John Lennon seems pretty angry, I think there's some aggression in him, especially in his later years, you can hear it. It seems like maybe the image that was created for the Beatles was a clean-cut image but maybe they weren't. It's hard to say, I think it would be pretty close. I think AC/DC would beat both of them. Angus Young would take care of that.

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