Dave Brosha recently spoke with Wave's Dave Thomson, one half of the pop duo, about musical success, pop music and his overall influences.
DB: Why a pop duo? Had you ever considered emerging as a full-blown group?
DT: We actually started writing original music in a rock band…it was a five piece. It was everybody's band, but then we met a producer and we were working with him in his basement. He suggested that maybe we should just keep it as the two of us. We were like "…uumm", because it was a rock outfit and we wanted to head more into the pop direction. We thought about it and we said "yeah!, let's do it" and it ended up working out for the better…
DB: …You've enjoyed it so far?
DT: Yeah! No wrong decision there. And we're still friends with those guys (that were in the band). The bass player used to be my boss in a record store and I still see him on a regular basis.
DB: Do you think duos are easier, as far as group dynamics go? The fact that you don't have to worry about three or four clashes of personalities and opinion…
DT: It's a little different but ultimately it's the same. In a band you usually have your main song writer, and the drummer does what he does and that's what happened on the record: we wrote the songs and the drummers that we had play came in and did their thing. It that sense, it's pretty similar…it's a total band. Ultimately the only egos or creative differences that we have to deal with are Paul's and I.
DB: On the album you were backed by some pretty prolific instrumentalists. What can you say about being surrounded by such talent?
DT: It makes you want to be a better player. I play guitar when we go on stage and I'm playing stuff that Tim Pierce played - he used to play in Crowded House and with the Goo Goo Dolls, on their most recent record - and I'm playing what he's playing! He came on the record and played all of the electric guitars, so I get up on stage and I do that. It's a good feeling to know that I can play that (laughs).
DB: What did you enjoy most about the process of creating an album?
DT: That was an enjoyable part, having these guys play; the history of what they've played playing on your record. Being in those big studios was a great experience too. Everything! It's all fun.
DB: Did you decide right from the beginning that your album was going to be strictly a "pop album"?
DT: Yes, we were aware of that, but at the same time we were open-minded and left songs to take different paths. The song "It's A Drag" can almost be considered country, I think - it has a total country flavour to it. "Think It Over" has this almost '70s or '80s vibe happening…
DB: "Pop" is the overall feel of "Nothing as It Seems". Do you think that the pop scene remains strong compared to five years ago?
DT: I think it definitely does. The band we are touring with at the moment, O-Town, have their own TV show and all of their records have gone platinum. We're playing with them and when we hit the Molson Amplitheatre we get to be in front of 15,000 people. I'd have to say "yeah, the pop world is definitely strong".
DB: What can you say Wave offers to this pop scene that differs from the others?
DT: I think that we get "up there" and don't use any loops. We get up there with our band and go for it. Nothing's choreographed and each night can be different from the others…when you watch the O-Town show it's all rehearsed and all choreographed. That's their deal; it's awesome…I love watching it.
DB: Do you think that Wave would ever go that route?
DT: If we were ever in the position that we were headlining and there's five thousand people, I'm sure that it would be more of a theatrical thing….
DB: …do you think that day's far off?
DT: I hope not! I for sure hope not. We take it day by day…that's the goal and when we get there we'll set another goal.
You list some pretty diverse influences. If you had to pick one, a single artist that has lent a subliminal hand to your music creation, who would it be and why?
DT: Vertical Horizon, I have to say. I find a lot of artists when asked this question always say an old band, you know what I mean? Somebody that they grew up with as a kid; they'd say The Beatles or Michael Jackson…something like that. I love new music, I love hearing what's there and what the newest thing is. There's something in that that's going to push everything forward. When I hear a band like Vertical Horizon it just blows me away. It changed a lot of the way that I write and influenced me in a big way….and it was only about a year ago that I first heard them.
DB: Bands like Vertical Horizon, did you discover them through the radio, through friends…
DT: A little bit through the radio, but more so due to the fact that I was working in a record store. The record store sort of shaped my life (laughs). Before Vertical Horizon was big, this record was released off their first single. We had this record in the store and I saw it. Sometimes I just walked around the store saying "who's that band?"and I'd just open it up and put it on and listen to it. I did that with Vertical Horizon and found out "wow, this is wicked!" and I took it home. It was four months after that that "Everything You Want" was a big hit on the radio…and I had already had it for four months before that. Also with Lifehouse; that record came out in about February and the girl that I worked with was like "you gotta listen to this band". I took that record home too (laughs).
DB: Have you recently discovered any older bands?
DT: Yes, actually…Elton John. I like "Tiny Dancer". I've been kind of living with that song for awhile now. The "Almost Famous" soundtrack gave it a little bit of life. I have some friends that are big Elton John fans and we cruise around in the car cranking that song.
DB: What are your goals with Wave?
DT: The same dreams that I had when I was thirteen: to headline an arena or stadium and sell millions of records.
DB: Well, you sing in "California": 'dreaming of the moment when everything is right'. How close are you to that moment?
DT: That's a good question…wow! Well, I'm going there…I'm still on the first line of the chorus, "going to California". We're definitely going there, getting to that line of the chorus!
Interview with Dave Brosha, 2001.
