|
In a few words, how would you describe your "band" The
Pup Pups' new album Another One Already??? But You Just Had One!?
If the first album was an introduction to The Pup Pups (a project I had
worked on on and off for 15 years and only ever expected to make one
album), and the second was the sudden realization that I could make
another, and the third was me trying to make the best The Pup Pups album
possible... The fourth is me just totally having fun with the whole
idea. A totally silly, fun time celebrating my silly pets. Before
we dig deeper into the album, do talk about your project The Pup Pups
for a bit, and how and why did it come into being? I've been composing music for over 20 years now, but the majority
of what I do is very serious, dramatic, dark instrumental music
that is inspired by my film scoring work and my love of 90s alternative
and industrial music... but I'm also a goof and most of the time I can
be found at home singing to my pets. When Harvey was just a puppy and
his sister Sadie (RIP) was young, I started coming up with some ideas
that worked their way into a few full songs, sung either by them or by
me in silly voices that sort of parodied various song styles (there was
a kind of folksy ballad in Covered In Blankets and a
Dylan-esque piece called Big Bright Eyes along with a pair
of techno songs that started it off). I had ideas for more songs in
a variety of rock-adjacent styles, but honestly, as a predominantly electronic
based musician, I couldn't figure out how to play the songs that were in
my head. That's a big part of what took so long to finally make the
first album. But after a long, long time, they finally started coming
together, and once the first album was done... the songs just haven't
stopped coming since. Each song is not only a way for me to celebrate my
pets and all their silly eccentricities, but a way for me to play around
in different music styles that I would never incorporate into my dark,
moody instrumental music. Now with Another One Already??? But You
Just Had One! you leave the dark musical style you've become known for behind - was this at all a
conscious decision, and/or are The Pup Pups a sort of mean to
"let off steam" to keep your ducts fresh as a musician? The weird thing is it wasn't a conscious decision...
it was just something I was doing as a goof but it just really turned into a
way to try new things. And I think it has informed my dark music
and film scoring work too as I needed to get better at guitar to
make these songs, and now II'm incorporating more guitars into my regular stuff. So
what can you tell us about the musical styles employed on Another One
Already??? But You Just Had One!, and how much fun did you have playing
with them? It's honestly all over the place! Getting Old" is a
power-pop rock song, Snack Man! and Fresh &
Clean are both funky. Don't Be A Monkey sounds like
the kind of indie rock that came out in the early 2000s. There's a
falsetto americana track that kinda feels like Neil Young called Heaven and then there's even a Christmas song called
Home Alone. Every little idea I have leads me to a melody
and that melody leads me to some riffs, and then all of that comes
together and I realize "well this sounds kinda a little bit like
this artist or this song or this genre", and then I just start
leaning in to trying to approximate those things the best I can. It's so much fun.
Do talk about your musical inspirations when
it comes to Another One Already??? But You Just Had One! for a bit! They really do come from all over the place. I mentioned those
early 2000s indie rockers and Neil Young... there's also some U2,
The Beatles, Tom Petty... there's even a Depeche Mode inspired track which
is really funny to me because Depeche Mode has always been a big
influence on my dark music... except it's their darker 90s/2000s
stuff that inspired that whereas this song A Race Against
Time is more inspired by their synth-poppier 80s stuff. So
how did you go about writing songs for this project in particular? Most of my ideas start with some random thing I start singing to Harvey
or one of the cats... It could just be one line like "don't be a
mon-kay!" but I'll be like "hey that could be something"
and I record it in my voice memo. I then end up singing it to myself for
days at a time until I kind of have an idea of what the rest of the
music is going to sound like and then start writing out some lyrics. But
once I'm that far along, I just dive right in, and these songs have been
flowing out of me so fast. Some of these songs went from an idea to finished on the same day. You
say on some of the tracks on Another One Already??? But You Just Had One! your pets actually sing - so how did that come about? That's been a thing since the beginning. We've always had voices
for them. Harvey is kind of the lead singer, but then I take over in a
variety of voices to match the styles of the songs. We also have duets.
Trudy also has had a song where she sings on the last 3 albums, but none
of the other cats have gotten in on the singing action... yet. Although
both Millie and Ducklynn's meows and various cat noises can be heard on
some of the tracks (as well as Harvey's dog barko barkos).
So what can you tell us about the studio sessions for Another One
Already??? But You Just Had One!, what was a typical recording day like? While it can vary from song to song, usually I start by trying to nail
down the drum beat. Then the main bassline. Then the right guitar tone
and main guitar parts. Once that main part of the song is set, I'll go
back to the lyrics and start firming them up, making sure they're all
good and I've got some funny and clever punchlines in there and the song
all fits together lyrically. I'll then lay down a first take on vocals.
After that I start building the song up more... changing sections,
layering in synths, keyboards, organs... eventually it starts taking
shape from there. Really, aside from the fact that there's lyrics,
it's not THAT different from how I approach my instrumental music or my
film scoring music. The $64-question of course, when and where will Another
One Already??? But You Just Had One! be released?
At the time of this interview we're wrapping up the pre-order phase on
National Pet Day. I'll be recording the bonus song (every one of these
four The Pup Pups albums so far I've done a bonus song where I take one
of the tracks and do a ridiculously extended version where I work the
names of the pets of everyone who pre-ordered the album into it... some
of these have gone to double digit minutes in length). Once I get that
done I'm sending it out to print and I'll be releasing the album on May 2nd,
the beginning of National Pet Month (supposedly that's a thing). It'll
be available at https://thepuppups.bandcamp.com
on CD, as well as here in Las Vegas at my family's record store Wax Trax
Records. And of course it'll also be streaming on all the usual places as well. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Another One
Already??? But You Just Had One! yet? The first music video for the song A Race Against Time
has had a great reaction so far! Our vet West Flamingo Animal Hospital
even said it made their day and they shared it. I've been posting little
clips of other songs too that have gotten great responses so I'm really
excited for people to hear the whole thing. And I'm hoping to do a music
video for the song Do Wit It, an ode to torturing my cat Millie. Will there ever
be another The Pup Pups album? And/or any other future projects
you'd like to talk about? Well after the first one I said there would probably never be
another one and then there was. After the second one I said that's
probably it and then I made a third. After the third I said I'd love to
do another but I don't know if Harvey will make it that long (he's 17
and a half now) and yet here we are about to release the 4th. Every day
is a gift and we have no idea how long he'll last but if he can make
it... I definitely have ideas for a 5th album... so it might just
happen. I'm also like 75% done with my next David Rosen album which
funny enough is the darkest, heaviest album I've ever put out... it's
quite the opposite of what I've been doing with The Pup Pups... I
should really finish it, but all I want to do is work on more The Pup
Pups right now. Your/The Pup Pups' website, social media, whatever else?
|
|
 |
 |
Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
|
|
 |
|
One thing I was adamant about when finally putting The Pup Pups
out into the world is I am NOT making a whole other social media... I'm
already on social media too much... so you can find The Pup Pups mixed
in with all my dark instrumental stuff on my David Rosen sites and socials...
www.bydavidrosen.com
www.instagram.com/musicbydavidrosen
www.youtube.com/musicbydavidrosen
www.facebook.com/bydavidrosen
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I mentioned
A Race Against Time, but we do have other music videos on my Music by David Rosen YouTube channel for songs from
the previous albums. There's a playlist on there just for The Pup Pups
music videos so you can check them all out. And the names of the
previous albums are Who Wants Din-Din? (2023), Variety
Snaps (2024) and A Boy and His Dog and Three Cats and A
Bear (2024) and they're all available on all of the streaming
services and while the first two are available on CD, the third one is actually available on vinyl! Thanks
for the interview! Thank you! And Harvey says "Barko! Barko!"
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
