Interview with Theory of a Deadman bassist Dean Back

Let’s just say that at the very least, 2005 was an extremely eventful and busy year for Canadian rockers Theory of a Deadman. After releasing their sophomore album Gasoline, it was pretty much non-stop touring for the band, with no signs of slowing down in the near future. As it turns out, a tour bus can be every bit as noisy and chaotic as people make it out to be, and because of that, it’s not always the ideal place for an interview. Nevertheless, Theory bassist Dean Back and I managed to make the best of the situation at hand. We talked for a brief while before the guys had to go and woo the massive crowd of crazy fans and this is what we discussed.

After roughly a two year period of relentless touring in support of your debut self-titled album you guys headed back to home to take a bit of time off. What was it like being on the road for so long and how did it feel to get back home?
Dean: Uh, it was good to get home, I guess. Two years of touring, it takes a lot out of you. It was our first ever time being on the road, so we didn’t know what to expect but, we also love to tour. It was a great first time experience, and y’know, we met a lot of people on the road and, yeah… now we’re back out again.

How or why did you guys come to tour for two years? It seems like a long time for one album.
Dean: I think it was because we were able to go four singles deep in the album. A lot of the songs had a very slow burn time, y’know? They’d be on the chart for, God, sometimes 8 to 15/16 weeks. So, the album had a great lifetime which kept us busy on the road.

After a few months off, you headed back to the rehearsal studio to prepare your sophomore release. What did it feel like to get back to the studio, or back to making music, after this time off?
Dean: It was good, cause y’know, after being on the road for so long and dealing with basically the industry of music, which can get you down sometimes, we took some time off and got all refreshed and we waited ‘til it was a passion again, and we were very excited to get back together in the studio and start writing again.

Cool. You guys wrote and recorded Gasoline in just a six month period. How did you accomplish this so quickly, and what was the experience like when compared to writing your debut record?
Dean: Yeah, this one… Gasoline just came so naturally. We’d just start jamming and y’know, a riff would come outta nowhere and all the songs fell together so easily. I don’t know… the first album, we had a lot of songs that were sort of half-written, and we went into the studio sort of with half-songs, and it was more of a struggle to try and finish the songs. I think we learned a lot the first time and being on the road, which I think helped us with writing the second album in a short time.

What were some of the major differences with the writing and recording process the second time around?
Dean: Gasoline was… we were… I guess, how do I say it? We had more freedom to do what we wanted to do and we sort of made a conscious effort that, y’know, this was gonna be our album and we wanted to show the people what Theory of a Deadman was all about.

When you guys were ready, you headed over to Bay 7 Studios in LA and began the recording process with renowned producer Howard Benson. I heard he had you practically jumping through hoops, trying new things. What was this experience like for you, and what was it like working with Howard?
Dean: Howard Benson was great. He brought a lot out of us, and when it comes to like, different instrumentation we used, it was our ideas but we would mention it to him and he would get just as excited as we would about it, y’know? He’d be on Ebay searching for a sitar cause we wanted a sitar on one of the songs, and next thing we knew, a week later it got shipped to the studio… we got to play with it… and he really nourished that experimental part of us.

Very cool, very cool. How do you personally feel about the newest slew of songs, and furthermore, Gasoline as a whole?
Dean: I love ‘em, they’re so much fun to play, they carry over live really well and we’re getting such a positive feedback about the album.

Do you have a personal favourite song on the album and why?
Dean: I don’t know, I think “Since You Been Gone” is one of my favourite songs on the album. I like that song a lot. “Hate and Hollywood” is a great one to play live… it’s a real fun one to rock out on.

Gasoline’s fifth track is called “Santa Monica” and opens with the line, “She fills my bed with gasoline.” Where did you come up with the idea for the album title, and what does this signify for you as a band?
Dean: It was kind of a weird thing, you know? The title of the album was the last thing that happened to the thing. The thing was finished and we were just banging our heads together, trying to figure out what this album was gonna be called. We went back to some of the artwork that was gonna be on the album, like the cover with the car, and we did some shots down in Las Vegas with old signs, and one that we had was Gas, and we didn’t really wanna call the album “Gas”…. [laughs] Yeah, plus it’s mentioned in the first line of “Santa Monica,” so it all sort of just fit together.

Your song writing has always been intense and heart-felt, and yet with Gasoline it seems to have taken a dramatic step forward. Where do you guys find your lyrical motivations and what does song writing mean to you?
Dean: When it comes to lyrics, it’s more of a question for Tyler.

Alright, let’s say musical.
Dean: Musical, um… I dunno, it’s just… we were able to… what was the question about music? [laughs]

Where do you find your musical motivations, and what does song writing mean to you?
Dean: Motivations… I guess we went back to our roots. I grew up listening to rock music like Guns ‘n’ Roses… the Seattle scene was a huge influence on all of us, so I think we drew a lot from those influences back in our childhood. What song writing means to me? I dunno… it’s just a way of expressing ourselves and getting our ideas across.

Cool. Gasoline was released in March of 2005 and, naturally, soon thereafter you once again hit the road. What did it feel like to get back to touring after the recording process?
Dean: It was definitely fun, you know? When we had the finished product and looking forward to being able to share it with the fans… we started touring, I think, almost two months prior to the release, so it was a really great opportunity for us to start playing it live and see the reactions from the fans, and we played a lot of different songs off the album and figured out which ones worked and which ones didn’t. So it kept the set pretty tight and just the reaction from the crowd really got us pumped about the album.

How has it gone so far?
Dean: Awesome! We just passed platinum in Canada and it’s doing very well in the States, and we’re really happy about the way things are going right now.

Other than touring, what’s in line for the band in the near future?
Dean: Other than touring? Well, we’ve got probably a three week break around the holidays, so we’ll get back hanging out with friends and family, maybe sneak a couple hockey games in. Dave and I are on a hockey team back home. So, you know, we may be getting a couple games in. But, yeah, there’s gonna be a lot more touring involved, probably right up until about the summer.