March 2004

As you know, Kevin Devine is not only lead singer in the New York indie group Miracle of 86, but also likes to enter the studio alone. The very nice guy has called his second solo trip "Make the Clocks Move" and rumbles, sings and whispers himself with his singer/songwriter sound into the hearts of his fans.

I've seen you live for three times, at that was only in the last year and not all the shows you've played in Berlin. Have you still got the survey of how many gigs you've played?

Well, I actually know it exactly, because I've written everything down. After that tour I'm going to play two more shows in New York, which means that it will be 170 shows by the end of the year. In any case that's more than I've ever played before.

The last time I saw you was in front of Dashboard Confessional and you seemed to be very nervous. Were you pretending or was it real?

I'm always nervus. I think it would be strange if I weren't. But I didn't feel extraordinarily nervous. Surely I was nervous, because I recognized that I was really trembling during the first songs and my voice oscillated more than usual. But I wasn't scared or something like that, I was just excited. Even if there are only five people in the room I'm excited. But I'm excited in a positive way, not inhibited.

Is there anything you miss when you perform alone?

Actually there isn't, since I did as many solo shows as Miracle 0f 86 shows - or maybe even more solo - in the last five years. I decided to perform alone so I don't really have the feeling I really miss something. At home I just started to play the new songs with a band. The evening before I started this tour we did the record release show together in New York, and the night before that we played together with New Amsterdams in New Jersey. Now, after we played together, I wish they'd come with me. But we just can't afford that at the moment. But however, this is our aim. On the record I played 80% of the instruments myself, but of course this isn't possible on stage.

In Wolf's Mouth you describe how you're alone on stage and scare the people.

Well, you see all these pictures of yourself standing screaming on stage and I do have quite a big mouth. It sounds ridiculous, but everyone has something that makes him insecure. I have about twenty things but this is one of them. (laughs) This picture just came to my mind. I scare the people who paid to see me. It's one of the things you're frightened of but make jokes about the same time.

"Make the Clocks Move" is definitely more well-rounded than "Circle Gets the Square" and sounds absolutely like a band record.

Right, and if I could the band would be on tour with me all the time. But like that it's nice as well and it feels good. I don't have a clue yet how we should call ourselves as a band. At the moment we're just Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band, because we don't have a better name yet, but somehow I like it.

How do you decide, which songs you keep for yourself and which songs become Miracle of 86 songs? Is there a special note?

It is relatively seldom that there's a grey area where I'm not sure. In fact there's always someting like the tune, the lyrics or the sound that tells me for who the song is. And when I'm not sure I go and ask the band. But there were songs where I was absolutely sure that they were made for the band and they told me that it would better go with me. I don't make anything political with the band, because they're not keen on being a political band, which I can understand very well. I don't wanna be Ian McKaye or somebody like him, but there are some important things for me. Nevertheless I won't try to give three other people a special image, just because I write the lyrics. Maybe they don't share my opinion. Moreover it's difficult to sing like Dylan with a punk-rock tune.

Is "Ballgame" for example a more personal or a more political song?

I think "Ballgame" is more about personal politics. It's the clearest political statement I've ever done. Of course the other songs on the record are close to my heart, too, but "Ballgame" is quite a personal song and in the end it's my way to tell that something is going on really wrong here and should not be like that. Together with a basic anxiety it the reason why I and so many people are shocked. I mean, if you are a rational-thinking human and see what happens in this country, you get mad. Seriously, I think this borders on madness. In the end the song is a mix between the two things.

Is there a specific reason why you changed your label in America?

Well..Miracle had left Immigrant Sun and I love the guys and I owe them a lot but I found somehow it didn't make sense anymore. The kind of music I made and the kind of music that was published there wasn't the same kind. If I had stayed on the label in the states, I would have been - at least I think so - somewhere I didn't really like to be. It's not that I have anything against hardcore or want to reduce it but I've never really had anything to do with hardcore and the only ones that would stumple over my records would probably be hardcore kids. The songs have to do with the genre itself to a constantly lesser extent. Not that it would ever have been hardcore, but it had a certain emo touch. I think the album would have been presented to an audience that wouldn't have wanted to hear it. And Triple Crown, to be fair, maybe that sounds a bit ridiculous now do release lots of hardcore as well but they also released the new Brand New. That is something different, because they afford another horizon that Immigrant Sun, for example, did not have. I think my decision was right and that's what the resonances in the press told me in the end.

"Circle Gets the Square" was very frightened, very uneasy and now you get the impression that you've become more settled. Would you say you've become more self-confident?

I think it's just because I'm four years older now. I was 19 when I wrote most of the songs for "Circle Gets the Square." There are still some things I consider as relevant and strong, but there are other ones I would really like to hole up. Well, I'm just a nervous, worried and restless man and in any case I think too much. But when I'm on stage and playing it's balancing again. It's jsut a way for me to cope with it. I also think the record is vey personal. It's more personal than anything I've written before. Songs like "Ballgame," for example. At the beginning, I didn't even want to release it, because I thought it was too direct. There are no metaphors and it's as serious as it can be. I just hope that I've become a bit better as a songwriter, that I know now how to write about special things so that it doesn't sound flat and it's more like story-telling.

It first struck my ears when I listened to "Tapdance," but you seem to like attaching a turn in your songs. The song starts completely innocent and than you put in this image with the knife. Do you intend that or are you unaware when you're writing such things?

There is a bunch of stuff I write in my head, when I'm walking around or sing for myself. The tune and the words are just coming automatically. The beginning of the song has its origin in my living room and one day when I was at my way to the employment centre in NY I sung the part with the Jazzband and the middle part. Actually the song is quite frustrating, because this person has got this wonderful partner and is completely unable to commit himself and is worried to ruin everything. That's like a circle and the part with the knife is the end. It's a really strong image which shows that not everything which is perfect on the outside is already great on the inside.

Do you actually talk to the people that songs could possibly be about?

Especially when it's about romantic relationsships I think that I actually never surprise somebody with something difficult. Perhaps with something beautiful. Then I say "Oh, I've written this and that about you" and then I show it to this person. When it is "Tapdance" for example, that would undoubtably surprise the person who I'm together with in an unpleasant way, I sit and talk to the person and I try to explain why I've written it exactly like that. Generally, I try to be honest towards the people.

Can you understand that people like to compare you to Onelinedrawing or Dashboard Confessional?

I really like both of them and I played a couple of shows with them last year. I think they are awesome guys, but I don't think I do the same stuff as Chris Carrabba. And the music Jonah plays is also a completely different thing. I mean, they are white guys singing about sad stuff. But if that was the case, James Taylor would be like Bob Dylan and like Onlelinedrawing. I think you can draw some comparisons there, and if someone compares me to Conor Oberst, I agree with that. It's crazy, but the first time when I listened to Conor's songs, I thought it was extremely bizarre, because he sung lyrics I had written nearly like him. I mean whole lines, which was terrific! Like his voice, mine is trembling, too, but that's the way I sing. At the moment, Chris is really big with his "The boy with the guitar"-thing, this is undeniable, and I really don't want to offend him, because he's a good guy. Nevertheless I don't think that you can draw this comparison. Actually, I don't own any of his records. I only know the songs from the radio and when we're playing together. But it gives me a good feeling that such a nice guy does something like that. It gives me hope, somewhere.

Ina