1. We hear you are dressing up as Madonna for your Halloween show. Why did you pick Madonna?
Madonna has always made a scene in pop music with controversy. That is what will be accomplished on Friday at the Hard Rock. The set that we have for you is one unlike any other that you can see in Boston. Yes, I do like to cross dress, but that’s not why this show will be different from just any DCAP show or any Halloween set in Boston this year.
2. How has living in Boston influenced your music and your success?
The scene in Boston with its talented, creative players and front “men” pushes me to be better. If I am not aiming to be better I feel like I am not giving my fans and local music enthusiasts a legit reason to attend. There is nothing more important to me than to put on a show worth seeing twice.
3. What is your biggest challenge as a band, especially one that works independently?
Scheduling. DCAP’s members are in so many other bands like Nicole D’Amico & Friends, The Family Dinner, Ghost of Rory and The Flo. Yeah, so seriously its hard to get practices in. But, we have been practicing hard for this Madonna set since September and look forward to laying it down hard.
4. Do you have any strange/funny hobbies that we should know about?
Wow, I’m likely the wrong person to ask that… I’ll keep this non-sexual this time though. I am super into baseball and softball. I catch 85 mph tosses from a pitcher on Sunday mornings after hard drinking, and I don’t take to losing in co-ed softball very well… there aren’t many rock bands’ who have a front man with decent batting average.
5. How have things changed for you since you first started and what do you like or not like about the way things have changed?
I started playing music in my own band in 1999, so 13 years ago, which is exactly half of my life. To analyze how music is different for me would be to understand how I an personally different from who I was 13 years ago.
I guess to answer the question though, the things that have changed since I started are mostly related to the environment that is around me in this local scene such as local venues and radio stations opening and closing. I have always done my best to change with the times and use the resources, both human, physical and conceptual to adapt and progress my music forward.
The biggest change since starting has been the advent of the internet. When I first started to play it was hard enough to find a guitar tabulature for a certain song on the internet. Now, it is how bands can make a name for themselves through free downloads and vital videos. Our new EP was made for people to download for free of our website. When has that ever been the case in music that a record was made to be given away… certainly not before Nine Inch Nails and RadioHead did it.
6. You recently performed in a show that supported the charity Life is Good Playmakers. How did you get involved with the show and the charity?
I wish I could say that this is something that I am heavily involved in, however it is Dan, the drummer of Moonstone Lady that organized the show that we played at The Regent Theatre for The Life Is Good Playmakers.
I am however now starting to work on a benefit for regional adoption awareness in 2013. My wife, Kristina was adopted from Columbia and has always dealt with the negative connotations that come with the word adoption. In 2013 we are looking to change this with an adaption day awareness rally.
7. If you could switch places with someone in the band, who would it be and why?
I would switch places with Nicole D’Amico, my backup singer. Her life has been filled with interesting trips into the South American jungles to learn about and take Iowaska. She has also traveled America on the hippie festival circuit, which I’m sure has accumulated her a few raunchy stories.
8. You guys post Fancast videos all the time. What’s your favorite part about making the episodes and why is it so important for you to share them with your fans?
The weekly FANCASTS are both great practice for me to talk casually to my audience and also super therapeutic for me as a person. I think it its important to keep giving the people who enjoy my music a little gift ever week. The gift can be either a new song or an insight to how the creative process goes down when writing songs, playing shows and recording. They go up every Friday after 12 noon on our website, dcaprules.com.
9. You guys have recently released a new EP. How have the responses been to the music?
People and fans definitely dig this new EP called, “#m2yi.” That stands for Music To Your Internet. People hear about their new music through the internet these days as if their high speed connection is their ears.
Anyways, I wish I had more to report on the new EP’s success. The guys over at Stone Otis Studios did a great job with the engineering of the record however, DCAP has done little to support the release. Since the records’ masters for the new EP were stolen and never returned by a fox named Frank Fox we were never able to get the mix and master we wanted for these 5 songs.
It was and has been the biggest step back that this line up of The After Party has had to deal with. The CD release may not have been what we wanted, but our fans came out hard and we did get to give them a few CDs that were relinquished by the fox.
We are ready to record again. Hopefully we have luck on or side with this, our 4th effort.
10. Is there a song on the EP that you are particularly proud of?
I am proud of finishing the whole EP. When you go into a studio to record a batch of songs there is always one or even two that come out to different from how you hear them in your head. Often you must scratch these songs of the record you are making. With this EP we were motivated, focused and able to plough through these problems with creativity in the recording process. When instrumental parts didn’t come out how we wanted or expected we worked with what we had.
In the midst of recording this record I came down with appendicitis and production stopped on #m2yi for over a month. It was hard to step away from the project for that long, but in the end the time away gave us the perspective we needed to get the 5 songs to sound how we wanted then to sound.
I am also very proud to have had fine guitar work done by Eddie Konapasek of Faces in the Floor, Will Barry of Four Point Restraints, Patrick McHugo of Ghost of Rory and Aaron Darter of Why I Rise. You can always expect amazing local musicians to be on any DCAP record.
11. Where do you find the inspiration for your songs?
Motivation to write these days comes from forcing myself to write songs on a weekly basis for the FANCAST. I used to write so I could have new material at shows for fans to hear. That is still true, but now its in a weekly basis for our podcast.
As far as the inspiration for the songs’ meanings and feelings, that lyrically and musically will come from who I am. From “Sallie,” off our new EP, which is about me breaking up with my student loan provider to an older song, “Providence and the Guitar,” which is about living life as an independent musician and entrepreneur. All in all, many of the songs tell stories of pieces of my life.
For other songs I have the need to tell a story that I see in my head. Like in the song, “Lowest Lake,” of our first disc, I describe a drug deal gone wrong in the midst of the winter months ending with an addict falling to his death on a iced over lake. Similarly in “Ready Or Not,” off our second effort I wrote a story of a person being stalked, which is something I have been unfortunately dealing with off and on for years now.
All in all, the inspiration comes easily once I am motivated and have my acoustic guitar in hand.