MUSIC INTERVIEW: DEVOTCHKA

Nick Urata Takes a Moment to Sip Some Wine in the Sunshine

 

Buzzine’s old friend from Denver, Mr. Nick Urata, has been on quite the wild ride over the past decade. His band, DeVotchKa, rose to international fame, partly through the soundtrack they created for the hit movie Little Miss Sunshine, and partly through their fantastically unclassifiable music and immensely entertaining live show. In the week that DeVotchKa’s new album, 100 Lovers, was released, Nick joined Team Buzzine on a sun-drenched roofdeck in the Hollywood Hills for a glass of wine and a friendly chat…

 

Stefan Goldby: It’s been quite a long time since we first saw you play at the Mercury Café….

 

Nick Urata: In Denver? Oh yeah, it’s still there--still going strong.

 

SG: Good to hear - I love that place.  So: five albums and a decade later… Can you talk a little bit about what you think has changed musically for DeVotchKa?

 

NU: Musically…I hope we’ve matured a little bit, but I guess that’s subjective, I don’t know. But I think, when we started this thing, we sort of opened up a can of worms and we’ve been expanding on the same themes ever since, so I think we’re further along in the story, hopefully.

 

SG: It’s hard to put a headline on that story. I’ve seen lots of people who I thought were very clever writers attempt to define what DeVotchKa’s music sounds like, and come up with something complicated with a lot of hyphens in it. Is there a shorthand way that you think about the music?

 

NU: I would just like to think it was romantic and maybe thought provoking, to be boring about it. I don’t want to stick it into any genres, which is probably what everybody says. I’m sure it’s got genres, but part of the fun of starting this band, when we were in our little garage was we didn’t really put boundaries on ourselves to say, “We want to sound like this or sound like that…” We just gravitated toward the music that got our blood pumping.

 

SG: You’ve said recording in the desert can almost take you back to another time - to an untouched era. Can you describe the mechanics of going out into the desert, what it does for you as an artist, and how you think it affects the music?

 

NU: I think part of the aesthetic of it and the wide-open skies and the big red rocks—we kind of make a tradition of driving through there to get to our studio. It’s not like we’re running around in the sand with microphones and stuff, which would be lovely and romantic, but it would probably sound pretty bad.  But there’s just something about leaving the familiar and clearing the cobwebs out of your brain…something about the wide-open skies and a massive canopy of stars always helps that, so that’s been our tradition before we start recording down there.

 

It also has a lot to do with the studio we work in: it’s become like our home away from home, and we gravitated toward it because he [producer Craig Schumacher] stopped using technology that came around after the ‘80s, pretty much, so that’s one of the things that makes it feel like we’re stepping back in time—because we’re actually trying to use equipment from a bygone era.

 

SG: The 1980s.

 

NU: Yeah. [Laughs] It’s a little older than that, but that’s pretty much where they stopped, or where…things started to shift in that decade, away from traditional recording techniques that were more about making it sound good at the front end instead of putting all the bells and whistles on afterward.

 

SG: Analog. Beautiful, crispy analog. [Laughs]

 

NU: Love the analog.

 

SG: Is there a moment that stands out most in your mind about recording 100 Lovers with Craig?

 

NU: There are a few. I’m not gonna say it was easy. It was a battle and there was like a vocal booth in there and I felt like I was going into a boxing ring sometimes. I’d have this great page of lyrics that I thought was just gonna nail it home, and then I’d get in there in front of the microphone and I’d be like, “This is ridiculous.” [Laughs] And then I’d be left with the red light staring at me, like ‘what have I got to say?’

 

So there were a few times where I got through that struggle and that felt good, but I guess the best part was probably listening to the first real playback, like when you do an assembly on a film.  The first real playback was of the track “The Alley” that we ended up putting first, and we had been at it for years now trying to get to this point, and hearing it actually come to fruition and it was actually…it sounded really good. [Laughs] Not to sound conceited. I didn’t mean it that way. I mean like, after all the doubt and trial to get there, it actually sounded like a song, and I’ll never forget that moment.

 

SG: I don’t think it sounds conceited: If you can’t make music you like, what’s the point?

 

NU: That’s a good point. I think that was also our philosophy on this record. Like you said, we have all these outlandish descriptions of us, and it sometimes feels like a pressure we have to stay in one direction, but we made a conscious decision that, if it didn’t sound good to us, we probably shouldn’t put it on the record. And if it does sound good to us, it will be more interesting to record and maybe we’ll get more out of it.

 

SG: Obviously you did get to a point where you are happy with how it sounded—you’d better be. [Laughs] There’s no going back now.

 

NU: I could have kept working on it…

 

SG: You could always keep working on it. But what about the finished album are you happiest with? 

 

NU: [Sigh] That’s a tough question. Do you mean like a song or like the artwork…?

 

SG: That is deliberately vague. You are allowed to say, “I won’t describe the lyrics because I like people to think what they like,” and I’m allowed to ask vague questions that you get to read into.

 

NU: [Laughs] Did I just say that as an answer to you?

 

SG: No, and that is not a personal attack. That’s a general attack…  [Laughs]

 

NU: Okay, because I have used that one before. I think one of my favorite moments is…there’s a song on there called “Bad Luck Heels” that I’ve had laying around the house for years and years and could never finish it. I’d play it with the band and it was never going anywhere, and this had been going on for five years. And  finally…somewhere we turned a corner on it and it actually became this being unto itself, and seeing that one come to life like that was really my favorite part. I think, for me, it’s one of those songs where you could put it on and maybe not know what time period it came from. It’s more just a good song carrying on a tradition of writing love songs.

 

SG: What was it about that song? What was it that you couldn’t get past for five years?

 

NU: I think part of it was that I was so in love with it, I didn’t realize that nine minutes of it was going to be too much for the average listener. [Laughs] So when I got together with the band and stuff, we realized that we could cut it down to three minutes and still have it be enjoyable, so I think that was part of it—just letting go and cutting out some of the more inessential bits.

 

SG: Some musical growth there. Look at that! Maturation. Congratulations!

 

NU: Maturation, yeah. It’s hard to let go of those things sometimes.

 

SG: After Little Miss Sunshine, some things opened up, and you’ve done a lot of work as a composer. How does that process differ? How is Nick the movie composer different from the way that you are with DeVotchKa?

 

NU: You never really realize how much freedom you have when you’re just writing for yourself until you write for someone else. The big difference is you’re working on someone else’s vision, that being the director and the actors, so in that way, it’s rewarding because it takes the pressure off you and you’re following someone else’s emotional cues. So in that way it’s a lot less about you - it’s more about the film and what you can offer to enhance the scene and the emotion that the actors are trying to portray.

 

SG: Was that something that you’d always wanted to get into? Or just a life path opening up for you?

 

NU: I think film music was what - originally, as a kid - got my ears interested in music. Seeing the image married to the sound like that was always very moving, so yeah, I always wanted to work on films.

 

SG: Like who? If you say that was what your first connection really was, what are we talking about?

 

NU: I’d say the earliest one was John Barry and that John Williams made a huge impression on me.

 

SG: What is it of what they did musically do you now know you can do?

 

NU: I think the thing that was so beautiful about the stuff they did, that maybe made them stand out, was their strong melodic sense. There was always such a strong theme, a strong melody running through all of their films, and so I’ve always been crazy about melodies, so that’s what I always go back to. I think that’s one of our strengths.

 

SG: How do you think that soundtrack work came back to DeVotchKa? Did that work inform this new album in any way?

 

NU: It did a lot. We learned more about pitch and maturation and editing, and keeping thing brief, but also, you have to come up with so much material for a film, I had tons of really good stuff that I didn’t use that I got to expand with the band, so that was pretty rewarding.

 

SG: So you found a way to be paid to brainstorm.

 

NU: That’s the great thing about it: you’re writing all the time. For a musician, that’s a good place to be in.

 

SG: With the  “100 Other Lovers” music video, you have amazing animated visuals to match your music: after you’ve been making music to match other people’s visuals; does it make you the worst person in the world to make a music video for? 

 

NU: [Laughs] I certainly wouldn’t want to work with me on that level.

 

SG: [Laughs] Can you talk about that music video a little bit for us?

 

NU: Yes. It was made by Chloe Rodham. She’s out of the UK. It was great because she approached us early on, before the song was even done. And she showed what she did and we thought it would be a great thing, she had been working on this before the song was even done - we were feeding her bits and pieces. And then when the song was done, she was able to put it all together. I love it because it’s not your typical music video at all. It tells a pretty touching story and a strong sentiment about that expression of, “If you really love something, set it free”. 

 

SG: That’s a great collaboration. Along those lines, as a unit, as a functioning thing—how does DeVotchKa work at this point? How does it work as a band?

 

NU: That’s always been the exciting thing about being in a band—you get four people in a room and, unless you’re at each other’s throats, which we’re not, you get four different musical influences and four different sets of chops, and you can have one little spark of an idea and everybody throws gasoline on the spark, and you leave the room with a great composition. So that’s the exciting part about being in DeVotchKa. We’ve got four great musicians…or three great musicians…and me. [Laughs]

 

SG: I’m always interested when one person in a band does all the interviews. What happened to make that the case?

 

NU: [Laughs] As kind of a boring answer, I started this band, a long time ago, with just a vision and a couple of songs, and frankly in…the beginnings…I just had a part-time band behind me. I couldn’t afford to pay them or anything [laughs]; they were off doing other things… I did start the band with just a few songs and just my friends that were fellow musicians, and gradually I found the crew I have now that were serious about making a go at it, so I was always touting this philosophy even before anybody cared, so I figured I would carry it on when I actually talked to people who were interested. And it’s worked out well.

 

SG: I would imagine one of the places it’s most fun to be not sitting up there on your own is on stage.  So when you look around and look at these other great musicians, how do you know when it’s a good show?  What does it feel like on a good night?

 

NU: On a good night, I can usually judge by the audience’s reaction. They send me a vibe. As you get more and more experience, you start to be able to determine those different vibes. But for me, we have all sorts of challenging musical hurdles to go through every night. That’s why it’s still exciting to play in this band. I find the music very challenging, so there are a lot of musical hurdles to make. So when I know we’ve made those successfully and that they sounded good and the harmonies are there, that’s when you let your guard down and you start feeling good about things.

 

 We’re always cautiously optimistic on stage. You don’t want to get too excited. Actually, that happens a lot - I’m sure other people will tell you this. The minute you start thinking, “This is really going great,” something will fall apart. So you have to be careful where you are mentally.

 

SG: The other thing that’s hard to ignore, when you come to a DeVotchKa show, is there’s a guy on stage drinking wine a lot of the time. Did that come from nerves? How did it start?

 

NU: Yeah, I had terrible stage fright, sometimes still have terrible bouts with it, and I thought, for some reason, that would be a good idea to drink them away, but it doesn’t work. But now I use it really to wet my whistle and as a ceremonial thing. It’s a nice thing to drink a toast to everybody… It feels more like I’m having a conversation with friends when I have a nice bottle of wine. I wish I could share it with everybody, but… no. [Laughs]

 

SG: Does it make for an entertainingly specific list of items on the backstage rider?

 

NU: I would try to avoid those rock & roll entrapments.  That’s one of the few demands we have, though - a couple bottles of red wine.

 

SG: Just house red?

 

NU: As long as they have a cork in them, they’re fine.

 

SG: Although now the better ones are getting twist tops again, so your rule may go by the side.

 

NU: All right: As long as it has alcohol in it, I’m on board.

 

SG: You’re here in Hollywood, and you’re spending more and more time here, how do you find it? 

 

NU: I actually have a deep love for it.

 

SG: Did that surprise you?

 

NU: I was always enamored of it, but I think people have different experiences with it, and there’s different myths about it that aren’t necessarily true. I think you make your own experience here. That’s the thing I love about it is everybody is sort of a transient and they are here making their own story, so in that sense we’re all in the same boat.  It doesn’t pay to be an LA asshole, in the typical sense.

 

SG: If you get to write the next couple of chapters of the Story of Nick, what would you like that to be? The last couple of chapters have turned out pretty nicely. Our protagonist has developed rather well.

 

NU: Your humble narrator has made his point, so I’m ecstatic about that, just being here, and being able to make music is great. It sounds corny, but it’s a great blessing in life. And actually having an outlet to write for is also a huge plus and something I hope to keep…just to keep writing with my band and with talented directors, and maybe sit on a deck every now and then in the sunshine like this, with a fine bottle of red wine that you’re going to provide... [Laughs]

 

SG: You’ve been very humble and down-to-earth, which we appreciate, but we want at least one shiny moment to end with: In the last five years, what’s the time where you had to stop and go, “All right, this is pretty great…”

 

NU: I think one of my favorite moments was in Madrid, Spain. We’d never been there before. I’d never been there. I never thought I’d ever get to see it, and we were booked at kind of a famous little rock club. It wasn’t huge, but it was like 400 people, and 400 Spanish people came out to see us that night, and they religiously sang almost every lyric with me. And there was one point where I actually did consciously stop and think, “I could die right now and maybe my life has amounted to something. Here I am in Madrid, the city I thought I’d never get to, and these people are actually singing along with me.” That was a pretty great moment.

 

DeVotchKa's '100 Lovers' is out now on Anti-Records