CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Erik Roldan writes

CHIRP + Coach House Sounds Present: The Dig

New York based band, The Dig , mines the recent history of indie-rock, using their youth to reinterpret the strengths of Julian Casablancas and adding some more control. CHIRP is very excited to present their session for Coach House Sounds, to be released on Tuesday, September 20 at www.coachhousesounds.com . Listen to CHIRPRadio.org to hear tracks from this session be sure to check out The Dig when they play at Schubas on Thursday September 22, 2010.

What the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in a basement?

We’ve done a lot of stupid things in many different places.  The basement question reminds me of an incident that took place while we were on tour this past May.  We had finished playing a show in Arizona and we were supposed to stay at Baldy’s (aka David our guitar/vocals) aunt and uncle’s house.  We typed the adress into the GPS but we were wrong about whether it was supposed to be st., ave, ln, or whatever it was supposed to be.  So we pull up to this house which we think is Baldy’s aunt’s house.  The Basement door happens to be unlocked, just like his aunt said it was supposed to be.  So we start strollin through the basement makin ourselves at home, unloading in the bathroom, that kind of thing.  Then one of us notices pictures of a nice happy Chinese couple and their nice happy chinese kids.  And we say to baldy “oh, hhhmm, I didnt know your aunt was chinese”.  Baldy being a distinctly Caucasian male turns around and says “Huh?, what the fu*k?, we gotta get the hell out of here”.  So we bolt out of the basement hop back into our white criminal looking van and peel out of the culdesac.  Turns out we had the wrong house….

Can you tell me about one time when you realized Chicago was YOUR city?

I think we realized Chicago was “our” city when more people from Chicago started helping us and coming to our shows then in our “actual city”, which is NYC.  In all seriousness though, Chicago has been our home away from home, we’ve made a lot of close friends who’ve been extremely supportive and have really helped us a lot, we love Chicago!

Describe a scenario where The Dig could be someone’s life coach and the top 2 life lessons you’d teach them.

One scenario could be as old men talking to young guys in a band.  The advice I would give them would be to not jump off the top of your van while intoxicated, and if you decide to sleep in your van do not drink from any old water bottles lying in the back seat, they might not be filled with water….

Tell me about your CHS session—what did you like about it? Was there anything that surprised you or was spontaneous that came out in the recording?

The CHS session was a lot of fun.  We liked how you guys encouraged us to play songs that we hadn’t played for anyone or songs that we hadn’t recorded yet.  It was a real relaxed and comfortable vibe.

What’s happening? What are your current/upcoming shows or releases?

We’re excited about our first headlining show at Schubas on Thursday September 22nd.  We’ve played at Lincoln Hall, Schubas, and The Empty Bottle opening for other bands a number of times, so it’s nice to be headlining one of our favorite venues in the country.  We’re also excited to announce that The Joyformidable has invited us to open for them on October 14th in London at the Forum.  It will be our first time over in Bloke country.