Square Peg City - My Enemy is a great song, tell me about the video you made for it.

BD - The song is about comparing yourself to the child you were. Wishing you were as happy as you once were as a kid. We shot the video in Minnedosa. The guys have a cabin that was the childhood home of their grandmothers. It was perfect for the video because the place felt like a memory.

SPC – Let’s talk about Attica Riots

BD -  I met the guys from Inward Eye when I was 19 years old, while I was in Alverstone. We kept in touch while I was in the Bokonists and started playing some cover sets together as Cash Grab.
I’d  been writing a lot of my own songs, and we just gravitated towards making original music.

SPC – Do you do most of the writing for Attica Riots?

BD – Uh yes.

SPC -  I guess it gives the guys from Inward Eye a break and it’s fun to let you take the lead?

BD -It is, that’s another thing, people always wonder if its been tough for Dave not to sing. He’s proud of me and he’s happy for me to have taken on that role, cause I’ve always been a guitar player.

SPC -Does Rene do most of the songwriting for the Bokononists?

BD - It’s evolving all the time, what we’re saying and why we’re saying it… that’s all coming from Rene.  Lyrically, Johnny and I create a mood with our backup lyrics.  Our backup vocals aren’t just a repetition of René’s vocals.  Johnny will often progress a song with what he’s saying in the back. We move and operate in and out of René’s vocal.  We catch the mood of what he’s saying and then we can add to it with what we have to say.

Musically everyone is a massive contributor in that band.  Everyone has had their time in the sun, so to speak.  They, we all have written, and we’ve all barked at everyone else at a practice. Everyone is just really all set to do that, like when johnny goes off, and he’s pointing fingers, play this… play that… he has a train of thought, you just shut up and listen because he’s onto something. Rene will do that as well everyone in that band is pretty easy, it’s like, there some songs where I’m playing guitar riff that was Johnny’s….or written by Rene.  You know the ego isn’t there in that band, we’d just rather make a good song.

Video by Anders Erickson and Brett Dinnin

Photos: Mike Latschislaw