Dan Joeright, February 3, 2009. Photo by Matt Sharp. Photo courtesy Matt Sharp and Dan Joeright

The Rentals have returned with Songs About Time: One Year in Photography, Film, and Music. The multimedia extravaganza will premiere at the band's official website, The Rentals Dot Com. The band will add an image to the Photo Diary each day to make up The Photographs About Days. The Films About Weeks will feature a black and white short premiered each Tuesday evening. A new collection of music will also be released every three months. These tracks will make up the audio portion of the Songs About Time, in addition to the film scores themselves. Many other treats and surprises are coming, including a limited edition and deluxe limited edition box set, which will be the only places one can actually own these treasures in a hard copy format. As the Rentals begin the second month of their ambitious year-long project, I had the opportunity to interview their charismatic drummer Dan Joeright.

Dan grew up in Cleveland and formed a band when he was very young. He said that they were quite serious about it, playing in their garages mostly before actually getting to book their first gigs. Dan said, “I played a lot of parties, bars and weddings with different groups all the way from the time I was about 12 until I graduated high school.” These early experiences gave him versatility in his playing, which allowed him to play with a broad range of artists.

While Dan is a multi-instrumentalist, he plays drums the most. I asked how percussion became his instrument of choice, and he said, "My Dad played drums when I was a kid growing up. He played in a jazz band with my Grandfather [his father in law] and he used to bring me along to his rehearsals and gigs.” Dan said that he was fascinated with music, drums in particular. One time, Dan sat at his dad’s feet and a song came on the radio. “I remember thinking, ‘I can play this,’” said Dan, “so I got up on the throne, and with my feet barely reaching the pedals, I started playing along with the tune...” With his Dad, Grandpa, and the rest of the band cheering him on, Dan said that he really thought he sounded great, but it probably sounded like “any other 5 year-old kid who gets a pair of sticks in his hands and starts hitting drums. I'll have to ask my Dad if he remembers that-and if I was any good."

Dan had some favorite drummers in his earlier years. When he was younger, he had influences and favorites like Neil Peart (definitely his favorite as a kid), Keith Moon, John Bonham, Charlie Watts, Stewart Copeland, Bill Bruford and later Art Blakey, Jack DeJohnette, Terry Bozzio and Dave Weckl. Now Dan says, “I'd have to honestly say that I don't have any favorites today, there are so many drummers, half of whom I don't even know the names of, that I love."


Dan Joeright, his first show in NYC, the Village Gate (Slacker film premiere), 1991. Photo courtesy Dan Joeright

While Dan admitted that it "wasn't very romantic" as to how he eventually came to join the Rentals, it still is quite interesting. After arriving in Los Angeles in 1999, Dan played in a cluster of different bands, did some touring, etc. He eventually connected with a man in town who kept a wide-ranging database of musicians and kept relationships with others in the industry who consult him for musicians when they need players for their bands. “He had hooked me up with a few auditions prior to The Rentals that were either with bands that I had no interest in joining, or with bands who had no interest in hiring me, so I had pretty much given up on his process as a means for getting me hooked up with the right band.” He referred The Rentals to Dan, but because of the past experiences, Dan said that he almost did not go to the audition. “I was so disillusioned that I didn't prepare at all.” He was only “vaguely aware of The Rentals music.” When they started playing, however, Dan said it was “pretty obvious we were gelling musically, probably in part because I had no expectations. I was just playing relaxed and musically from what was inspiring me about the music not based on recreating any preexisting parts or trying to second-guess what it was they might be looking for. As it turned out, I was genuinely into the music, so there was a certain ease about it; it just seemed effortless.” Dan said that they later informed him that he was the first one that they auditioned out of about 20 people. While not imagining that it was possible for it to be that simple, the band still went forward with the remainder of the scheduled auditions--even though they wanted to offer him the job immediately.


Matt Sharp and Dan Joeright perform live in 2007. Photo courtesy Dan Joeright

I asked Dan what inspired the concept behind Songs About Time. "We were trying to figure out how to do something memorable, something different and new rather than put a record out through traditional channels, if there is such a thing as traditional channels any more," he said. "This concept gives us an opportunity to create on a different level and to not box ourselves into a 12 track record, all done at once in the same studio.” Doing it this way enables the band to “stretch out musically.” The Rentals do not have to make a record “that is either this or that.” Every three months, the band will release whatever they are “into at the time, not what is needed to tie a record together.” Back in the “good old days,” Dan said that bands crafted “quite diverse records; it could have ballads, rockers, blues based or ethnic stuff, as well as instrumentals-all on the same record-and it was cool. Now it seems you have to make a record that is very limited in range, or no one wants to put it out.” By using this process, through the web site, it allows them to do the music that they want. In addition to this, Dan said, “The films and photographs are an effort to bring a visual dimension to this idea. It won't be a documentary in the traditional sense, although there will be aspects of it that will enable the audience to see our creative process."

As a part of the venturesome Photographs About Days, band leader Matt Sharp is posting a photograph a day in the Photo Diary. In addition to that, he has also taken upon the task of shooting an entire roll of film a day, which is going to be marked with the date and then stored in a safe place. At the end of the year, each individual roll of the unprocessed film will be included in one of the 365 deluxe limited edition box sets. According to Dan, Matt is doing well with this. "So far so good. He's getting to live his fantasy of being a professional photographer...only there's no money or models."

The creative process was fascinating to see during the making of Colorado on the Rentals' website in the January 6 film. I really enjoyed when Dan and fellow Rental Jamie Blake were recording with drumsticks, tapping on the studio floor. While this is not typical of how the Rentals come up with song ideas, Dan said that they are trying to be “more spontaneous and less precious” about their music on this project. He is anticipating much more of that in the upcoming months. “In the past, we'd spend A LOT of time with the full band in a rehearsal space working out every aspect of the song and the arrangement. Now we're working in a looser environment, bouncing ideas around, between my studio and Matt's, but keeping somethings undecided until we get to the final stage of recording, and that leaves an opening for creativity and spontaneity.” It is very liberating when facing the final recording stage and the songs are not over-rehearsed.



Jamie Blake, Lauren Chipman, Dan Joeright, Matt Sharp and Dave Trumfio appear in January Six, one of the Films About Weeks, which is now playing at The Rentals dot com. Film courtesy Dan Joeright/The Rentals.com

Dan said that there were "no concrete plans" as to when The Rentals will tour to support Songs About Time. He did mention, however that he "would imagine that we'll wait until the end of this project [Songs About Time] and until we have all of our new material [including the mini albums and all of the extras] released…before we tour again." While I am looking forward to seeing the band play live the next chance I'm given, I asked Dan if he has any favorite tracks that he enjoys playing more than others. He said that he prefers playing the new stuff that he had a hand in creating, but, “I also enjoy playing Sweetness and Tenderness; it's a nice ballad, and I've incorporated some epic, Ringo type fills into it at the end. Keep Sleeping is always fun to play live as well. The way we do it now is pretty up tempo and chugs along real nice, the crowd usually responds well too which makes it even more fun."

The Rentals played the House of Blues in Anaheim in the past, and so naturally, I assumed that Dan had been to Disneyland. When I asked him about having a favorite ride at the park, I was surprised to learn that he has yet to visit it. "Maybe someday, if I ever have a kid, I'll go. I have however, recently been back to my home town amusement park, Cedar Point, in Sandusky, Ohio. That place is amazing; I highly recommend it to any one who is serious about roller coasters. The ride Magnum Force at Cedar Point will melt your face."



Dan onstage during the 2007 Rentals tour. Photo courtesy Dan Joeright

In the past, Dan worked with Terry Hall and Abby Travis, among many other great musicians as well, and he has his own band called Random AOK. In addition to this, he has other projects in the works. While he is continually writing and seeking outlets to make his work available, he said that he just completed submitting a piece for a Showtime series and wishes to be doing more of that. He also hopes to develop something with Ricky Rasura, the harp player from the Polyphonic Spree, and Ross Godfrey, the guitar player from Morcheeba. “If that comes together,” said Dan, “it'd be fun to do some shows in LA and maybe record some stuff, it'd be interesting to see what we could come up with.” Dan also conducts 'remote' sessions out of his studio (Outer Space Studio) in LA. Dan explained how that works. “…Someone will email me an mp3 or mail me a DVD of a session they need drums on, and I'll do the drums at my place and send them the drum files, and presto, they have my drums on their recording.” Dan said that so far it is going great. He has just completed one of these types of sessions for Debby Boone and said, “Sometimes technology does work.”

I asked Dan what music he is currently enjoying. "Right now, my iPod is in shuffle mode, and the last 10 artists played were: Gogol Bordello, Death Cab, Turin Brakes, Gomez, Ministry, Love, Duke Ellington, Van Halen, Talking Heads, Aphex Twin."

As for future plans, Dan said that besides the things he already mentioned, he will make a series of drum groove recordings and build songs outward from them. He also said, "I plan to finish all of my unfinished songs...keep on plugging away with The Rentals project, and I plan to go snowboarding this weekend." I asked about the collection of unreleased Rentals tour film that Dan has yet to compile. "As far as the tour footage goes: I should probably take that down from my MySpace page because at the moment, I don't see it happening. I have too much going on in the present day to put any time in to tour footage that is more than a year old. I would eventually like to make something out of it, maybe when I retire I'll get around to it."

The first of the Songs About Time, Films About Weeks, and Photographs About Days are available to be enjoyed now. Check them out at the official Rentals website.




Please visit Dan Joeright online

http://www.myspace.com/joeright