| swearing at motorists |
BANDLIVESTUDIOWEBSTORE |
march 5, 2004 - dayton, ohio - canal street tavern
from dayton city paper
The Gem City's favorite "Motorists," after performing for hundreds of fans throughout England and Japan, will return home this weekend for a special show and to take time to record the last bit of their new album, Last Night Becomes This Morning.
Guitarist and vocalist Dave Doughman and percussionist Joseph Siwinski (originally of Philadelphia) have lived out of their suitcases since they left Dayton in the fall of 2000 to pursue a full-time performance career. According to the duo, writing new music and performing for international audiences has been more than worth it.
"When I quit my last job, working at the International College of Broadcasting, I put all my stuff in storage and went on my first European tour," Doughman said. "We did 150 plus shows in 2001 and then 174 plus in 2002. Being in Japan for the second time just to walk out on stage and have 600 kids screaming and applauding for you is amazing. When you start to tune your guitar, it gets silent. No one talks. I was opening solo for The Burning Brides in Tokyo. Kids would mob me. They wanted picks, autographs and copies of set lists."
Doughman, who began Swearing at Motorists with ex-drummer Don Thrasher in 1995 by recording lo-fi original rock and indie pop songs on a four-track recorder, has matured into a musically adept songwriter.
"It wasn't until 2000, when we were on Secretly Canadian (Records) that we really got started," Doughman stated. "We toured hardcore and played more live shows in 2001 than we had done in 1995 up until then."
Last year, the band's live show schedule dropped to about 40 performances, only three of which took place in North America. Doughman said the reason was due to the extremely positive reception that they receive overseas.
"People are more receptive of our effort to bring the show to them," Doughman exclaimed. "Maybe in North America it feels different because you haven't gone the distance to be there." The duo decided to add an annual Dayton homecoming show to their tour dates four years ago. Although they missed last year's planned show due to scheduling conflicts, the musicians hope to sell out the Canal Street Tavern this weekend, as they have in previous years.
"The Dayton show is the only one I ever get nervous about," Doughman said. "I never know who's going to turn up from the scene. Dayton is like its own little world when it comes to music. Sometimes, it's frustrating being in Dayton and hearing friends ***** about how nothing has happened to them. You need to make things happen for yourself. You've got to take your music elsewhere. A recording company isn't going to send (representatives) out to Jags to sign a band."
For those reasons, Doughman decided to take his act on the road. Accordingly, traveling and performing original music has had its ups and downs.
"The gaps between shows aren't very big. I end up staying where we tour," Doughman said. "I've been staying with friends or at a sublet here or there. I spent the Christmas season in London, and a friend in Berlin let me use his flat once. I haven't had my own apartment since 2000! It gets to a point where unfortunately everything tends to blur (i.e. ‘was that in Baltimore or Belgium?')." But Doughman admits the compensations speak for themselves.
"The most memorable show recently was playing in London on my birthday (December 16) at the Barfly to a capacity crowd," Doughman bragged. "It was being broadcast on a national radio show. Kids were yelling out titles in between songs, and there were people listening to the show on radios across England."
Despite his international progress as a touring rocker, Doughman stays on his feet and down to earth.
"I'm not a rock star," Doughman explained. "I'm a working musician. It's like working a regular job. It's worth it in the sense that this isn't what I do, it's who I am. I've always said I'm not a songwriter, I'm a song editor. Music comes to me, and I perform it. I can't believe that it's been about 10 years that I've been playing under the Swearing at Motorists (moniker). Our image has gone from being some weird Dayton basement band to being this crazy two-piece rock ‘n' roll band that tours the world endlessly."
According to Doughman, his bandmate, Joseph Siwinski, fits the duo well.
"It's been great performing with Joseph," Doughman claimed. "With Don having to step away from the band (to spend more time with his family and on his career), Swearing at Motorists was able to tour more. When I play Joseph a new song, he just plays along to it, and it's usually exactly what I had in my head. We're from similar enough backgrounds musically that we're in the same ballpark." That proverbial ballpark exists as a mirrored reflection of Doughman's personal life and the observations of others he has made over the years, which inspire his lyrics and guitar melodies.
"I've always looked at Swearing at Motorists as the film soundtracks to mine and my friends' lives," Doughman said. "I've been driven. This is what I'm supposed to do. I didn't see any reason why it should (just) be a hobby."
Last Night Becomes This Morning, which the band will release this fall, is the first album that international labels will help release.
"Our records are only available as imports in other countries," Doughman stated. "All of our success has been by word-of-mouth promotion. We're looking at distributing with additional labels, and I'm excited to see where things go from here."
Swearing at Motorists recorded parts of the album on location while touring through Philadelphia, Tokyo and London.
"I went to the studios when I had time off while traveling last year," Doughman said.
The remainder of the album will be recorded in Dayton.
"I hope people listen to (the new album) and want to hit ‘Play' again," Doughman said. "I feel obliged to consider an audience because now there is one."
Swearing at Motorists will perform in the Rock ‘N' Roll Family Reunion on Friday, March 5, at the Canal Street Tavern, 308 E. First St. in Dayton. After the Dayton gig, Swearing at Motorists will perform at Austin's annual South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. Next year, Swearing at Motorists will release a 10-year anniversary album collection featuring out-of-print and formerly unreleased songs. For more information, visit www.swearingatmotorists.com.
--Leslie Benson
for questions or comments contact: webmaster@swearingatmotorists.com