Interview with Dan Zanes of Del Fuegos
After nearly 20 years removed from the limelight, Boston-based band the Del Fuegos will be playing a show at Turner Hall Ballroom this Wednesday. This one-time reunion tour is giving the band an chance to reconnect with fans and each other, as well as presenting their collaborative 8-song EP Silver Star. Before the show, I had the pleasure of speaking with singer Dan Zanes about the band’s career developments and life pursuits, and the lessons of post-rock and roll stardom.
Dan Zanes: Well, our drummer Woody Giessman has an organization called Right Turn up in Boston and he’s helped a lot of people in the last ten years with drug and alcohol problems. He helps them get treatment, and helped a family member of mine and we ended up doing a benefit. My mother asked me if we would do it, I said ok. So we did a benefit last June for his organization, and it turned out to be much more fun than anyone imagined it would be. And we thought, if it was that much fun, maybe we’d have even more fun if we did it again. That’s really it. We aren’t doing it because the world’s been waiting for us, or we have anything to prove, or anything like that. We really just wanted to have fun playing songs and hanging out with each other.
TCD: It sounds like the Del Fuegos are all doing something a little different with their lives — probably not what you expected as far as rock and roll is concerned.
DZ: Everybody’s had much more success after the band than we ever had together. That’s not always the case, but across the board every single one of us has done incredibly well. Woodie started Right Turn, my brother Warren got his PhD and went to work for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but now works for Little Steven’s Rock and Roll Forever Foundation. He’s also working on an authorized biography for Tom Petty. Tom Lloyd, the bass player, got his PhD and for a while worked at NASA as a rocket scientist and he is now working in the financial world successfully. He’s constantly travelling, so we’re lucky to get him for two weeks.
Del Fuegos “Silver Star” EP
TCD: What about you? You received a Grammy for your work with children’s music. Do you have kids?
DZ: I have a daughter, she’s 17 now, and I’ve been playing music for all ages for the last twelve years. That’s been incredible. I’ve made about 12 CDs, a couple of DVDs, and won a Grammy along the way… one I didn’t know even existed.
TCD: I’ve noticed that for the most part, you’ve all kind of taken a turn towards helping people.
DZ: That’s a good way of putting it, yeah. It makes a lot of sense; the band was kind of a self-centered experience for us. I think everybody in the group is a very caring bunch of guys, and we’re very lucky to have had these experiences with this particular group of extremely caring and thoughtful people. We live in complicated times, so it’s time for all hands on deck.
TCD: I think it’s really cool looking into the Del Fuegos’ post-rock experience. You’re writing songs for families, and your brother was working with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but now bringing music into schools and working with kids. And Woody’s AODA program — it’s a really challenging field. You said the band was a selfish experience, but do you think that time helped you all prepare for what you’re doing now?
DZ: I can only speak for myself, but I think it definitely did. There are a number of different ways you can approach any field, but for me, the rock and roll experience was very much about trying to grab the brass ring. I realized though, later on, that you can help people and experience the joy of music-making all at the same time. It’s a much richer life, a much more vibrant experience when I feel like I’m part of the human race. I think everybody in the group shares that.
TCD: Taking yourself out of that compartment and throwing yourself into the turbulence of everyday is a very different experience. With that in mind, you mentioned that this tour is about fun, hanging out and having a good time. How does that play into the tour?
DZ: [This tour] about reconnecting with each other and our fans. We’re doing what we haven’t done before, which is going out and meeting everybody after the show and being more accessible. Real music lovers have been coming out to the shows, and it’s been good to hang out with them for a bit.
TCD: On that question of reconnecting, I have to ask about the infamous family feud. With time, the maturity level and dealing with each other is very different. You’ve seen each other in a business aspect, but you’ve probably also been able to grow together more as a family without that in the way?
DZ: (Laughs) Oh yeah, it’s a bloodbath on stage — terrible. Actually, with or without the Del Fuegos, we talk every day. We’re extremely close, but I think [anticipation of fighting] is good for business. People expect we’re going to start slugging each other between songs. It’s really funny to see the press that comes up from time to time. But we try and do what we can to make it interesting for people on stage, and we’ve worked very hard at our relationship.
TCD: Do you plan on continuing after this, or is this a one-time deal?
DZ: I think it’s a one-time deal, yeah. Unless the Beatles want us to open up for them sometime. Or the Stones.
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