David Driver: The Loser's Lounge regular presents 60s pop star Scott Walker.
David Driver should be going off to England for some long walks in the rain. That certainly seems like the most useful way for a singer to prepare for an upcoming concert of Scott Walker songs. Walker was a true pioneer of mopey 60s UK pop. Cute English girls swooned as the Poor Little Rich Boy literally moaned out pop hits, first as part of the Walker Brothers and then as a solo act.
Maybe youve even heard "The Sun Aint Gonna Shine (Anymore)" on a few oldies stations. Otherwise, Scott Walkers not very well-known in the States. Except, that is, to guys like David Driver. In fact, Drivers the classic Walker fan. He started out in the 90s fronting the forgettable rock band Meow, but went on to grow with New Yorks cabaret-rock movement. Hes performed on any number of rock-oriented theatrical evenings while establishing himself as one of the most reliable figures in the regular Losers Lounge concerts.
Driver, incidentally, isnt going to England before his Feb. 22 concert at Joes Pub. Instead, hes heading to the glamorous beaches of Belize. Its a well-deserved break for a guy in the midst of several projects.
Whats changed so that David Driver can charge $18 for an evening of Scott Walker songs?
Umm Whats changed is that were all getting older and wiser. Is that too much? What do you think the price should be?
Hey, I think youre worth $18.
Thank you. And I think people should know that Ive put together a fairly large ensemble for this show. Its not just me with a guitar. Those Losers Lounge shows are like $20, right?
Ive never paid to get in.
Well, I think its like $20 or $25. You know, this show has a lot of people. Its a lot of work and we want to do it right. Charging $18 means that I can afford to underpay the musicians, instead of radically underpaying them. If there are any dirt-poor Scott Walker fans out there, Ill be happy to cut some kind of a deal.
Im just saying that you couldnt have charged people $18 to hear Scott Walker songs in this city 10 years ago.
Oh, yeah. Im very happy about that. I feel very lucky to have found that sort of niche here. Im happy to have a place where I can fit in with what I want to be doing with my life. Its very exciting to be with a group of people doing something on the same level as what I do.
You mean the Losers Lounge?
Sure. And 10 years ago, personally, I wouldnt have known how to do this. I wouldnt have had the wherewithal to figure out the mechanics, and I wouldve been too scared, because Im so reverent of Scott Walkers material. A lot of what I know now comes specifically from working with Joe McGinty at the Losers Lounge.
Its partly the confidence Ive gained, but also the joy. Those Losers Lounge shows really helped me connect to what was just the frigging joy of doing it. Its a warm and receptive attitude there, and you can maybe look like a total asshole or maybe look cool.
Some would say that you Losers Lounge types have lived up to your name, while the true gutter-rockers have enjoyed a minor explosion in the local scene.
Maybe. Ive learned theres no obvious benefit in trying to figure that kind of thing out. Ive spent a lot of time focusing on what I wish was different, but, in the end, I did what I had to do. If it didnt connect, its still not the end of the world. And for the New York rock scenewell, I was with my niece and her boyfriend the other day, and they were listening to ska. I was like, what the fuck? Clearly, the cycles will keep going around.
Is it even fair to think of Losers Lounge types?
Theres a Loser type, in a good way. Its kind of like being in a club. Maybe the glee club, or some high school group. Theres some camaraderie in doing it. It feels like a group of people who really dig each other, and theres a shared sensibility. Its a shared love for music.
But theres no way that all of your projects came from networking at Losers Lounge.
Id say that Im one of the most unstable people in terms of work. Once in a while, I get session stuff, which is cool when it happens. Some of the theatrical projects get left off my resume. And Ive done some jingle work thats turned out well, like the "Pride of America" theme that closes The Daily Show. Sometimes theres a residual deal.
Is this evening of Scott Walker kind of an indulgence, or something you hope to keep doing as a showcase?
Its both an indulgence and something I think is very viable. My fantasy from one drunken evening a long time ago was to cast myself as a latter-day sort of young, gay, male Ella Fitzgerald. In that scenario, I would sing a series of songbook records. Not doing Rodgers and Hart, but doing Jimmy Webb or Burt Bacharach. Thats the seed that was planted some time ago.
Ive never been much of a Walker fan, myself. He always seemed like the Liza Minnelli for gay guys who didnt get asked to the White Party.
What I love about these songs is that theyre all so atmospheric. They represent such a specific journey, and such a specific place and time. Thats why the songs are so inhabitable. In particular, his later stuff is really visceral. Youre taken on a journey to strange places, and you emerge five miles from where you thought you were.
Are you taking us on some kind of musical, er, journey?
Its not going to be a therapy session. Thats a cabaret cliche that I seek to avoid. Im always interested in someones personal relationship, but only if theyre self-aware enough to realize when its not interesting. But, yes, the show is definitely a journey.
Did you pull Walkers name from a hat, mixed in with Serge Gainsbourg and Lee Hazlewood?
You know, Im not being strategic here. Maybe I would have chosen one of those names if I was approaching this from a different point of view. I couldve done something even more accessible, like a Bacharach show. I was just thinking that Ive done so much shit and work that I didnt enjoy. Like my experience on Broadway wasnt that satisfying when I was in Rent.
But youve also got a slew of other projects.
After the Scott Walker show, theres more productions of the new musical entertainment People Are Wrong. Its really a great show born out of the Losers Lounge. Its definitely still a work in progress, but the songs are catchy, and its funny in a painful way. Thats at P.S. 122 for the second half of March.
And then I go to Texas and probably the west coast, because I have a record coming out with my friend Gretchen Phillips, formerly of the lesbian group Two Nice Girls. We met at SXSW and became friends. Oddly enough, both her girlfriend of many years and my boyfriend of many years are professors and Victorianists. We started playing around together and Bar/None picked up our record, to be released in mid-March. So that takes me through to the end of April.
You know, it doesnt strike me as that odd that a gay male and his lesbian pal would both have lovers who were professors and Victorianists.
Really? You think its that common?
Well, I mightve guessed.
Uh-huh. Interesting. Well, then, you sussed it out. n