Dave Clark On the Making Of “America”
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind "America" and the story it tells?
Where can I start on this without going into a 30min rant? I’ll keep it simple. About a year ago I was listening to a certain person using the kind of language you hear in the song to describe a whole group of people as if they were uniformly bad. I wanted to write something about how this is clearly and mendaciously wrong, the intention was to turn a section of society against this group but in fact they are all real, mostly good, people with their own identities and motivations.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for "America?"
So, with this lofty idea in my head the challenge was to find a way in a song to make plain the humanity. It could have been too wordy and boring but the breakthrough was when I decided to lean into the tradition of the “story” song and describe a fictional person against the background of the language used. After that it seemed to click and the song was mostly written in a day or two. To those who might say I don’t have the experience of the person in the song I say “ does Stephen King have to be a supernatural serial killer to write a novel?”. There are also elements of country and Americana in there but it’s not really either of those things, if you listen to the choruses there’s even a hint of a barber shop harmony going on!
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for this song to life?
I have a great Producer called Glenn Kerrigan, the usual routine is I’ll write the song and record at home making the best mix I can with my limited production skills. I’ll then toss that over to Glenn and we’ll move to his studio and he works his magic, we might re-record the vocals, add instruments, work on the percussion etc, whatever it needs. We try to create interesting soundscapes for the songs to sit in and Glenn’s really good at that. It’s also great to have a second pair of ears – being your own musical judge and jury limits you I think.
How did you get started in music, and what inspired you to become a singer-songwriter?
Sounds like a job interview question! Also could be a long answer…deep breath – started playing guitar at a young age like every other kid, got quite good at fingerstyle and played a bit in folk clubs etc, went to college, acquired a career in design so music took a back seat, later (much later!) when I started working from home I realised I was picking my guitar up and crapping out new songs more than working, I decided to indulge myself and took vocal lessons, my teacher Sam Marlow listened to my songs and liked them, introduced me to Glenn and his wife Polly who is my music mentor and bang! Four or five releases later I’m a singer/songwriter, who’d have thought?
Word of warning – don’t do it for money, do it for love!
What do you enjoy most about performing live and connecting with your audience?
I love what you can do musically as a one-man band with all the tools available but tbh it’s a bit lonely, I don’t want to be Billy no mates. I play live quite a fair amount but this year I have vowed to learn to be a proper performer! I may talk a bit too much on stage but I like interacting not just throwing songs out. When I’m writing I always try to make the songs so they can be stripped down and played acoustically, might be nice at some point to play with other musicians again though.
