Interview with Restorations; Bassist Dan Zimmerman talks ‘LP 3’, Festivals, and Sunburns feat. Guitarist Ben Pierce

A very sunburned Dan Zimmerman, bassist for Restorations, sat down (in the shade) and talked about the band, festivals, sunscreen, and dogs. With Riot Fest 2014 behind them, Dan’s only regret was not wearing sunscreen. “I think we’ve played Toronto one other time, so to be here at a huge festival and have people watching that are really stoked is awesome,” he says of the atmosphere at Riot. Lucky for Restorations, they missed the muddy nightmare of the day before, having played in New York the previous night and driving early in the morning to make their set.

Restorations’ LP3 released October 27th, 2014 on SideOneDummy Records. Unlike LP2, LP3 was less rushed leaving Restorations with more time to craft songs and trash some, while putting others on the backburner. About this time guitarist/keyboardist, Ben Pierce shows up and is unimpressed with the knock-off Labatt Blue us Canadians had to offer. “A lot more time to do it, threw out a lot more songs,” Ben said of LP3, as he and Dan launch into a conversation about the difficulties of song writing and when to give up on a song, and when to keep plugging away at it. Ben likes to put things on the backburner, Dan can go either way, “maybe some of those backburner songs will show up on LP 4, or 5… or 10″ Dan says jokingly. Maybe they’ll come up with something other than numbering their LPs by then, but my guess is that these guys will be around for awhile.

Ben and Dan begin comparing their glorious sunburns, and Ben coins the new term “skinneck” in regards to Dan’s v-neck burn. I’m beginning to wonder how the two of them are still coherent as they tell the tales of the night before, both are riding on no sleep as they played a New York show the previous night and decided to drink until they had to leave to make the Toronto show (don’t worry, there was a sober designated driver), Dan may or may not have forgotten how to untie his boots, but they made it, they rocked and or rolled, and survived to tell the tale to me.

As for festivals and tours, Ben and Dan are stoked that people have been treating them so well, “why are you so nice to us, we’re such a small band! But it’s cool, thanks for taking care of us,” Ben said of their accommodations at festivals across the Summer. This is certainly a band to watch, look out for upcoming tours, they are definitely worth checking out!

Check out the song “Separate Songs”