True Confessions of a Dashboard

You released two records in quick succession late last year, The Shade of Poison Trees and a covers album, The Wire Tapes. What made you choose to record new versions of songs by artists like The Cure and Afghan Whigs?

"No rhyme or reason really - it's just anything that tickled my fancy. Some stuff was chosen with my audience in mind: perhaps they've never heard this or that because the band broke up years before. I thought I could maybe pass that influence along; maybe it's a unique way to introduce these bands in a personal way."

Going back to The Shade of Poison Trees, there wasn't a lot in your back catalogue to suggest you'd write an album about trustafarians, where did that idea come from?

"I'm writing from my personal experiences. I come from the working class section of a wealthy town - a phenomenally wealthy town - so you're exposed to the best that money can bring out in people, and the worst.

"I went to public school while the kids on the block went to private school and had trust funds. I guess I was examining those kids in my current life as an adult, coming across them now as adults. Growing up around these people, and this real distinct line between the Have's and Have Not's, had an effect on me. But that's what punk rock is about."

Does this explain your roots of playing in punk rock bands like the Vacant Andys?

"Oh shit, I just had a Vacant Andy's practice last night!"

Really? Are we looking at a comeback?

"Comeback...well...no. We never broke up - we're just lazy! Maybe a 'refocusing'..."

Are you still proud of the music you played at age 17, or is it sometimes embarrassing?

"Well, it's a little embarrassing. I'm a little bit of both - I'm proud of it because, for a kid, it was pretty good; and I'm also a little embarrassed because I was a kid.

"On my best days when I'm being less self-critical it's pretty good stuff. We had a lot of fans at the time and a thousand fans can't be wrong! Jeez, those numbers are small, but they were good years, they were fun times and I always thought the band would be where Dashboard is today. These guys are my best friends - my lifelong friends - and playing with them is a different experience altogether than playing with anyone else."

How did you deal with moving from garage gigs to playing private parties in Los Angeles? You're evidently a man in demand...

"Yeah, well, I don't embrace all that. I've done those things; I've been to those parties. But sitting on the edge of a party is not always the best thing."

You said you wrote Poison Trees track Thick As Thieves after you got out of jail, what was that experience like?

"Well... [Long Pause] Jail's no fun."