Per Jack!
http://popsballot.memphisflyer.com/
Please do a write-in vote for “Shortwave Dahlia”. It would blow my mind to see us actually get written up as an honorable mention.
So get over there and do the Shorty D write-in!
I had a chance to toss some questions to the band, about the new album and their newest member, and here are their replies!
1: Now that you’re heading into your second full album, has your sound changed or evolved since the last album, Illuminated?
Jack: It’s evolved a lot! The process is much different to the point that it’s almost impossible for me to equate the two. Illuminated was an educational experience for me as much as it was an artistic endeavor. I was learning how to utilize the studio, but I wasn’t really trying to stretch myself as a songwriter so I hear it now and think about things I could have done better. In this process, I can actually say “Why don’t we do this instead?” It’s nice to have people to bounce ideas off of.
Mark: Because everyone in the group has the chance to contribute to the songwriting process, the sound cannot help but have changed as we have added more people. I think that the great thing about this particular group of people is that we all liked the sound of Shortwave Dahlia before we joined. No one is trying to strike off on a tangent, instead it is more a matter of developing what we had as a starting point.
4: Mark and Ethan– do you find that your playing for the band has changed since the last album? Have you found a signature sound or are you remaining eclectic?
Mark: Personally, I have some new gear that I am very excited about using on this album. I think that I have the chance to spread out what the bass can contribute song by song. That said, I like to think that each instrument performs different rolls depending on what song you are listening to, so I would have to say that I, for one, am looking forward to remaining eclectic.
Ethan: For the studio stuff, most of the changes, for me, come from knowing the other guys better and what I can do to round out the songs. The live shows have contributed to the evolution as well, in that the atmosphere of where we play can help shape what we’re doing. even tho’ I tend to gravitate towards the same sounds + effects, I believe our influences are too wide + varied to let us settle into any deep ruts.
5: Song for Vara has received a LOT of attention over the past year, most notably getting a nod of approval from Warren Ellis. Did you anticipate this particular track getting so much (deserved) attention?
Jack: I’m certain we wanted it to. Can you ever really anticipate stuff like this? But Warren including it in his podcast was incredibly cool. I sent it to him in one of those “oh, what the hell!” moments, and was chuffed when it paid off.
Mark: This is one of the first ones where I was around for a good bit of the writing process. When Ethan joined, the song took on a very different sound. In either version, I have always felt that this was a very powerful song. The ugly truth is that I thought it might have been just me. It is nice to see that others are being moved by it as well.
Ethanl: I agree with Jack, as great a song as it may be, you can never take for granted others will appreciate it the same way. Had it not been for Jack remixing the guitar parts from several takes, I might have abstained from contributing to it at all, as it was already a thing of beauty without me.
6: Your audience is expanding, with you adding global listeners via the web, shows and additional exposure from MySpace and AmieStreet and other venues. Do you think that this will create more opportunities in the wake of the new album?
Jack: We’re not an average band, so I think we really do rely on what the Internet can do for us. We are able to reach people in countries that we’ll most likely never be able to visit. With the new album, I think it will only build further off what we’ve already accomplished. As far as shows go, shows are good but with the current economy a tour of any kind is pretty impractical. Thanks to the web, we can still reach out to people regardless.
Ethan: we can haz fanbase! Seriously, with the exception of television, internet popularity is the next best thing for a band unable to tour extensively. Sometimes even better. We see all sorts of notoriety gained by people with nothing of substance to offer but receive millions of hits or views or myspace friends. At least we have something to offer, why not us too?
7: Jack, you’ve been making music for a good long time now. Do you find you prefer the solo artist or band experience? And is having side projects beneficial for the band?
Jack: I don’t think I prefer one over the other, but I think both can be educational experiences and can benefit each other. You can try things outside of one that you cannot do in another. And yeah, side projects help the band…the more you do with music, the more you come to understand about it. I do electronic music on the side, and certainly wouldn’t take offense if any of the others were working on something else as well.
8: Okay, whet our appetites! Tell us what you can about your upcoming second album? When can we expect to get it in our hot little hands?
Jack: I’d say the brave souls who saw us in the last third of 2007 already know about a third of the album. I think it’s got some strong themes running throughout but it’s not a “concept album”. When? When it’s finished!
Mark: All I will add is that I am extremely anxious to finish. I think that there is some really good material here and I can’t wait until I can drive down the road listening to the final take.
Ethan: hopefully before spring is over, but we definitely want to be sure it is the best it can be before releasing it to the public. From what we have so far, I’d say we are 2/3rd’s the way there. if I had to describe it to those who heard the first album, I’d say more of the same but really, really different..
Thanks to the band for answering my questions!
More mini interviews to come, so Stay Tuned!
–Heidi–
DJ John Bowles over at One Kind Radio Webradio has “Loose Arrow” on his playlist for this month’s edition of his alternative/Indie radio show.
Click over and take a listen!
He also included a link back to this webpage so “Hello!” to anyone swinging by for a visit! Take a look around to learn more about Shortwave Dahlia and scan back through the blog here to see what the band’s been up to!
Your favorite electronic shoegazing pop quartet from Memphis now has a Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shortwave-Dahlia/9450546977
Be sure and become a fan! The more the merrier…
Love and gourami,
J
The music of Shortwave Dahlia will soon be heard by web-savvy Argentinians (and the rest of the world) on gFM Radio! Feel free to check out this station at http://gfmradio.mesuno.com, or load the following URL into your music player of choice: http://gfmradio.no-ip.org:8000/listen.m3u
As of now, they’ll be adding the Illuminated album and our Arsonist Radio Session to their playlist Friday, but we’ll aim to get them more music very soon!
Love and gourami,
J
I bet many of you are already on this, but what the hell!
Love and gourami,
J
We got together for the first time this year last night. First and foremost, we knew we needed to take some photographs (kinda makes it seem more official that we’re a quartet, plus it was long-needed anyway) so we went outside and, with a flash and the lawn security light to guide us we became immortalized in pixels.
After that, we went inside and pulled up something Ethan had sent over a while back…made ourselves acquainted to it—lots of great variations in the drums and some melodic elements that we instantly endeared to. Threw about a couple extra chord changes and had a good laugh about the chorus…hopefully next week we’ll give it a bit of structure and voila! A new song!
Had a look at the photos as practice concluded, ended up with about five keepers and one really fantastic one of Dana (that I can say with absolute certainty makes her cringe). Fun times…
Love and gourami,
J
Just a reminder, the 2007 EP is still available through the i-Tunes store for download.
Track listing is :
Song for Vara
Automata
Call and Response
Survival
Loose Arrow (Live)
Discontent (Live)
If you never got a chance to get your hands on this EP, and are needing something to tide you over till the new album is finished, take a spin by the i-tunes store and download some high quality mp3s.
You won’t be disappointed. 
Head over to http://www.cafepress.com/catroomrecs
and get yourself a snazzy new Shortwave Dahlia T-shirt, complete with new graphic designed by our own Ethan Grim!
So one New Years Eve, many years ago, I was with a group of good friends. As the clock chimed 12, I felt something needed to be said. “May you all live in interesting times” I said, not realizing then that this was, apparently, an ancient Chinese curse. One of those good friends spent most of that year cursing me.
Cut to a year later. The friend mentioned above is at another New Year’s party in another state - one of those loud and crowded affairs. He happened to be near the stage as those midnight toasts / wishes were going around and, through some irresistable urge, grabbed the mic and wished the entire crowd an interesting year. As he tells it, the room fell into a perplexed silence, except for one irage voice that shouted back “You !!!!”
So if you happened to find yourself at a party this New Year’s where someone was paying this particular one forward, watch out - it could be a wild year.
For my part, I am looking forward to this one. The band has our first album (with this configuration) on the horizon and there are some interesting changes in the old personal life as well. Even the day job is looking up… well, later than sooner, but still this year.
So with that, here is hoping that at least this year does not bore you to death 
