HEAD TO HEAD w/ Dan Garvin of
SR-71

Music Head spoke with Dan Garvin (Drums, Background Vocals) of SR-71 over the phone while they were on the road on Friday afternoon, January 5th, 2001.

So, where are you calling from right now?

Garvin: We are in north Virginia. We have a show there tonight.

How are things going for you guys?

Garvin: The tour is going pretty good. We just started back up. We had off after the holidays. We played a few shows between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and had a couple of more days off. Now we are back out, pretty much straight through January. We’re home for a couple of days and then we head off for Europe and Japan for most of the month of February.

How was your New Year’s Eve show in Baltimore?

Garvin: It was completely out of hand and great. It was a sold-out crowd and it a big venue that we played. Kind of our Baltimore home. It was just really great because it was full of friends and we were each within fifteen minutes of our homes. We had been at the 9:30 Club down in DC a couple of nights before and that’s like our other kind of home. Kind of have one in each town, but both gigs have been great just because we have our share of fans and friends that have been with us since day one, plus lots of new fans.

Did anything special happen on New Year’s, did you do anything crazy at midnight?

Garvin: Midnight, it was pretty chilled out. We played about 45 minutes before midnight then we came off stage and they had the local radio station doing the countdown. Then we went back out and played another set after midnight. So, it was pretty low key this year.

Any New Year’s resolutions for you or the band?

Garvin: I don’t think there is any for the band, except to just bare down and keep doing what we are doing. Actually, I think our New Year’s resolution is to go platinum. We went gold just a little bit before Thanksgiving and we really want to turn it up a notch and get it up to platinum.

You named your group after the stealth aircraft. Who’s idea was this and why did he choose it?

Garvin: It’s actually not a stealth aircraft, it's been kind of misrepresented. It was a spy plane, like the fastest and highest flying. All our dads were in the air force and we were looking for a new name. Actually, Mitch was going through some old air force plane playing cards from when he was a kid and came across the SR-71. He thought it was really cool. Not just because it’s a cool plane but, because it's nickname is the Black Bird, which is a Beatles song off the White Album. It's one of our favorite bands and it just seemed to fit. So, we went with it.

You mentioned that your dads were in the air force, did you live on a base and is that how you met?

Garvin: We didn’t meet that way. My dad and Mark’s dad both went from the air force into the National Security Agency. Our dads actually worked together but, Mark and I didn’t know each other until we met for the band. We pretty much met through the Baltimore music scene; playing with different groups and having some mutual friends. And it just kind of came together.

What was it like being on Baywatch Hawaii?

Garvin: It was great. We were only on there for one scene, but it was a lot of fun. We’re not going to complain about having to go to Hawaii. It was a free trip to Hawaii and it figures the day we shot it rained. We were shooting outside and it was kind of misting on and off and we were right up against the water overlooking Diamond Head. But, it turned out alright. It was fun and we got a chance to play a club while we were over there. We were trying to make the most out of it and we got a little bit of a vacation time in Hawaii. So, not a bad deal.

How were the crowds over there? Were you pretty well known?

Garvin: Yeah we did pretty well. Really the kids seemed just like the kids on the mainland. They are pretty much the same. We were in Honolulu and they just don’t get as many acts coming through; just because of the nature of the fact they are out in the middle of the Pacific.

As far as TV appearances, do you ever consider acting, films, or other TV shows?

Garvin: No, not at all. The only thing we do is late night talk shows. We were on Craig Kilborn and we’d like to do some of the other shows as well. But, no, we don’t really have that desire. You know, it’s like models and musicians want to be actors and actors want to musicians. But, I think we are going to stick with what we’re good at.

I noticed the band bounced around between '95 and now, what made you stay the course and not get a “real job?” What made the difference this time?

Garvin: Well, it was just kind of a faith in what we were doing; kind of believed in the music and listening to the music that we were creating back in '95. It’s a lot different from what it is now, except that it still kind of has the same elements melodically, but we really had a chance to grow up. And I think that time period there is where we really found ourselves musically and really crystallized the vision of what we wanted to be. What made it happen this time is that we were finally ready and we found the right manager and that’s what really started to make things roll. We had all the elements coming together and he met us at the right time. Andy Martin is his name and he got us in front of the right people and it just rolled. Actually, from there it was almost easy in a way because there was just a whirlwind of label interest.

Is that Deep South Entertainment?

Garvin: Yeah.

How did you guys end up meeting him? At a concert?

Garvin: He puts out compilations of unsigned bands and we submitted to be on one. He heard it and he put us on, we were like the last. The CD was Deep South 2 and he was just about to go to press with the new one and we got one of our songs, "Toxic," which is on the new album, in front of him and he flipped and he put in on the record. Not only that, he put it on as the first track to get it in front of people. He came and saw the band. We did a performance where a lot of bands from his compilation come to Raleigh and play. Raleigh is where he is based out of. And he just really dug what we were doing and he got it. He understood what we wanted to do and where we were going. He drove up to Baltimore the next day. We drove home and he drove up and said, 'Ok, here is what I want to do. I want to be your manager, so let’s do this.' Fortunately for us we accepted.

Speaking of your music, how important is it to you that the band writes it’s own songs?

Garvin: We like to write our own music because that comes from us. But, we don’t like to limit ourselves to just writing from just the four of us. We have a few friends, really close friends, that we get a chance to write with like Butch from Marvelous 3. He had some co-writing on "Right Now", which ended up being a great single for us. And John Shanks from Melissa Etheridge’s band, he co-produced her last record. He co-wrote "Fame" and "Empty Spaces" and it’s just a matter of taking something we’ve done and working with someone we really admire musically. Just kind of seeing where that creative partnership goes. So, I think it is important that the band is involved creatively, as all four of us are. But, we don’t like to just say, 'well, we’re not going to work with these great friends of ours that are also amazing songwriters just because they aren’t in the band.' We did most, 8 out of 11 songs are ours, and we’re proud of that.

Do you have a message or cause you want to voice through your lyrics?

Garvin: We don't want to overthink ourselves too much. I don't think we take ourselves that seriously. We just want to bring back the rock! I think rock is really starting to make a comeback and we are really fortunate to be a part of it. And we want to do our part to bring back real people playing real instruments.

Do you take any credence in what the critics think of your music? Do you read the reviews?

Garvin: Not really. Because the critic's job is to say something about music and it is a lot easier to say something negative about it. So, you already know that when you see a review that it doesn’t really mean much. You know, we’ve gotten great reviews, we’ve gotten bad reviews, and the fact is we just went gold so we must be doing something right.

If you had to define your sound, could you, or would you?

Garvin: Just rock. We don’t like to pigeon-hole it much more than that because I think we’ve gotten a lot of elements from different aspects of rock in there, but the best way to describe us is rock.

How is SR-71 different from other groups out there today?

Garvin: We just have our own sound. I mean you hear a few bars from one of our tunes and you know it’s us. Mitch has got a very distinctive voice and I think we all have distinct ways of doing our thing musically. So, I think we’ve been able to forge our own identity just like Papa Roach has their own identity. That’s just one example. I think we have just been able to form a strong enough identity that I think we don’t get lost in the shuffle, which we’re real fortunate that that isn’t happening.

Any plans for your next record yet?

Garvin: We’re thinking maybe in the fall starting to work on it. We’ve got a lot of touring to do and we’ve got plans that are going to take us into and through the summer. Hopefully after that we’ll be able to take a little time off and get our heads back into writing. I mean we’re always writing. We have a little portable studio here on the bus, little 4-tracks and things like that to work on ideas. And hopefully we’ll have a chance at the end of the summer to sit down and start working through them and see what we come up with.

Where do you see SR-71 in the future?

Garvin: I think that we are going to be a very different band, musically. I think once we’ve covered a certain amount of ground, we're not going to cover that again. We’re going to be looking to stretch ourselves in new ways. So, I think that if you were to jump ahead five years and buy the latest SR-71 CD, you’re going to be surprised at how different it sounds. Sure it’s going to have the same singer and it’s going to have a lot of the same personality to it but, I think it is going to be a little more developed. I think it is going to be a growth from where we are now.

Do you have any other comments or anything you would like to mention?

Garvin: That people can visit our website at sr-71.net. It has tons of info on us there and we’re reachable there. That’s basically it.

Dan and SR-71 are currently on tour and will be opening up for Bon Jovi this spring. -Todd Wojtowicz