GENRE: Experimental Funk
HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, NY
ARTISTIC APPROACH:
www.dopapod.com
Boston-based experimental funk outfit Dopapod performed more than 150 shows over the past year, and ended 2012 with some of their most substantial gigs to date, including a New Year’s run that had them opening for Papadosio and Moe.
“Before I toured like this, I dreamed of a day when I could be in a band that toured and had a van. It just didn’t compute to me the amount of time we would be spending in the van and the lack of days off,” says Eli Winderman.
Touring this much alters how a band accesses creativity and composes new tracks. “I write mostly on Logic [using] my Mac in the van from gig to gig. I’ve written at least 20 or 30 new songs this year,” says Winderman. Now that the group is on a three-week hiatus, they have the time to go through their projects, edit them, and make them presentable for the group to learn.
The band’s last two records were done in recording studios. “The process was a bit forced because we only had two or three days to finish tracking basics.” Their recently released studio album Redivider was made using a different approach. “Luke Stratton, our light and sound engineer, has a PreSonus board that we use for every show. We realized that instead of paying for studio time, we could just buy some nice microphones and record the album ourselves.”
The band recorded the album on Tyrone Farm in Pomfret, CT, a property dating back to the mid-1700s. “Every day we would wake up and head over to the barn and track basics until the sun went down. Then, because of sound ordinance reasons, we did overdubs at night. It was a great way to do it. Completely stress-free and incredibly fun.”
Redivider is also the band’s first stab at putting vocals to their tracks. “It’s like adding instruments without adding people. It gives us the ability to relay more than music. Words are a powerful tool, and we love singing.”
photo by Gillian Arndt