Singer-songwriter Mike Dunn took
a markedly different approach when he set out to make a band. After crafting
enough songs for an EP, he headed to
My senior year of college I got an apartment by myself in Winter Park and it was really one of my more… inspired periods, I guess. And I just had time to be alone in my apartment and write songs. A bunch of these songs I showed to my friend Lou, who used to be in a band called The Kick. And it was this song “Get Up” and he just dug it, he thought it was cool and I was happy that he liked it. He was like “Well, we can actually do something with this.” And he decided to play bass for us and just kind of put a band around it [and] convinced me to dump a little money into recording [it]. We recorded a record in, like, four or fives days, and it came out and we just couldn’t believe how good it turned out. I really kind of fell backwards into it, fell backwards into a band, fell backwards into making a CD, and then the band really started to solidify after I had this product. Did a CD-release party in June. That was really our first show, our CD-release party. It all moved really quickly, at least to my experience. I guess quickly is relative. But from then it’s been, you know, touring, getting out of town, for me like, daily, it’s trying to write the best songs I can. And trying to be the best band in every way that that means, whether it’s recording or playing live, or just being better musicians.
You seem to be pretty prolific in writing songs. How difficult is it to stay original?
I think songwriters in general get worried that they’re not repeating themselves almost too much. Because, for instance, to make a little extra money here I’ll play little acoustic shows all by myself. I’ll learn three or four hours of different material. I’ll learn Bruce Springsteen, and Petty, and Dylan, and all that stuff. And you just realize how much is the same. Because, musically it’s the same progression, 1-4-5, over and over again. And I think you get too hung up on that, and what you have to be hung up on is whether you believe what you’re singing. And whether it makes sense to you. And as long as you believe what you’re doing musically and lyrically I think it’s gonna work for you.
What do you think of people who say you sound too much like a band that
may be an influence of yours?
Every time I hear that I really
feel complimented. I mean if the worst thing someone says about us is we sound
like The Replacements or Bruce Springsteen or Tom Petty or something, then I’m
like, well, mission accomplished! I think writers use that as either a
complimentary term or a derogatory term. They say you’re “derivative” if they
don’t like you, but they say it “hearkens back to the days of Tom Petty” if
they do like you.
So does your own identity show through?
Without a doubt. I’m sure that
every song I write you could find a song that sounds close to it. But every
word I write is from me. Every sentiment I have in a song is from me, even if
that sentiment’s been said before I’m saying it now, and I feel… you gotta feel
like you’ve got something to say. Once you’ve run out of things to say you’re
not a songwriter any more.
On your MySpace page you put out a call for more permanent members of
the band. Has there been a shift?
Always. It’s been a bit of an
illusion on my part. In naming the band Mike Dunn and the Kings of New England
there really was no Mike Dunn and the Kings of New England. So I wanted it to
be a self-fulfilling prophecy, and I still do. Just the way I look at The
Heartbreakers and The E-Street Band as a gang with a guy that writes the songs,
and they bring it up to another level. There’s a lot of people who’ve connected
with our music and kind of see something that was missing for them. Hopefully
by the time we tour in the summer I’ll have guys that are ready to go for it.
