Interview: Sunny Day Real Estate
By John Wenzel | September 21st, 2009 | No Comments »That’s no surprise, considering that Sunny Day bass player Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith have also made up the rhythm section of Grammy-winning rockers Foo Fighters at various times. But since Mendel wasn’t part of the late- ’90s Sunny Day reunion, he’s also playing songs he had nothing to do with originally.
“Obviously, when we first wrote ‘How It Feels,’ we wanted him to play on that, so now he gets a chance to learn those songs and turn them into Nate Mendel,” Hoerner said. “We had the opportunity to just stick with the stuff we first did, but Nate was all in immediately. He put this whole thing together, so as far as I’m concerned he can pretty much have or do whatever he wants.”
That carte blanche approach is a far cry from the band’s early days, which more resembled the idealistic, melodramatic ’80s hardcore punk scene in Washington, D.C., than a shy band with its bleeding, tattooed heart on its sleeve.
“In my room in Seattle for like six years, I had one of my buddies make these 4-by-6 posters of Rites of Spring to cover one entire wall,” Hoerner said, referring to the D.C. band responsible for inventing the emo genre. “They were my favorite band for quite a while, and I was definitely hugely influenced by all the D.C. stuff.”
Indeed, in the band’s early years, the members refused to do interviews or play the state of California (for reasons never explained), which only added to their mystique. Their ego clashes, religious conversions and grand visions (rock operas, anyone?) would eventually drive them apart, even as their renown grew in underground circles.
“I don’t think any of us realized our music would have such an impact and lasting legacy, but that’s exactly what we were going for,” Hoerner said. “We wanted to create timeless music, but we really didn’t have a lot of consideration for the future, which is probably why we made so many epically bad decisions over time.”
John Wenzel is the co-editor of Reverb, editor of the Get Real Denver blog and an arts and entertainment reporter for The Denver Post. His book “Mock Stars: Indie Comedy and the Dangerously Funny” was recently published by Speck Press.
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