ComfortComes

D.Sazter/Atomsplit

D.Sazster (Doug Davenport) the lead singer from indie pop rockers ‘Atomsplit’ has taken on the challenge to write 52 songs in 52 weeks and broadcast them via a Podcast on a weekly basis. He is now over half way through the project and I caught up with him to find out how it is going.

What was your inspiration behind this project?

My inspiration has been the tons of musical snippets and songs I’ve made through the years that never made it to the band or performances. I have 100’s of cassette tapes from the past 10 years all labelled “song sketches”. Sometimes I’ll go back and listen to them and say “Wow, that was a cool melody and song possibility. Wish I’d finished it!”. So I started checking out podcasting and was brainstorming for a way to do something with ORIGINAL content. Not just commentary and criticism and “thought leadership” like so many Podcasts out there are. It occurred to me I could sit down and write a song and record it with ease in Apple’s Garageband and then Podcast it. But I figured that these new songs would be only demo quality so I’d need to add some studio recording quality tracks. Luckily with 5 Atomsplit CDs through the years I have enough of a catalogue. The one per week thing came out of the fact that I felt like hey if someone can make a TV show a week, I can make a Podcast a week. It was also kind of a challenge.

How has it been so far, has it been what you expected?

Pretty much. I knew some weeks it would be challenging. And some weeks would be easy. And that is certainly true!

Which is your favourite song so far and why?

My favorite song always seems to be the newest and latest one! Probably “Thick2Thin” for an acoustic song and “Stretch Your Love” for an electric drum machine song. Those both have good lyrics and performances.

Which is your least favourite song and why?

I came up with this tune “Lunacy Now” like early on that really pretty much sucked. I was just getting my feet wet at the time with the recording process and writing on demand etc.

Have there been any unexpected perks/difficulties along the way?

Unexpected difficulties have mainly been equipment issues. My iBook went berserk and I almost lost everything. I have a new MacBook Pro I use now which is real nice.
Also, using PodsafeMusic.com other podcasters have been regularly spinning Atomsmplit songs on their show. So that is cool!

Are/have any of the other members of ‘Atomsplit’ going to collaborate with you on any of the tracks?

Not yet. They’re all busy with other things right now. I did have an idea to have a “collaboration” month of tunes, but it hasn’t happened yet. One guy even emailed me and suggested we send tracks back and forth to build a song remotely. That would be cool.

Are you planning to release any of the songs?

I am planning a “solo” record of the best of the acoustic songs I think. That would be easier than a full band record and a lot of fun. Then after that I’m toying around with taking the best of the “electric” songs for a possible new Atomsplit record in 2007. We’ll see! Recording is darn time consuming and expensive.

Which Podcasts have you been listening to?

I listen to some business ones like Marketing Live Online. Then the Onion. And I check out the video Podcast cartoons from Channel Frederator.

What can we expect over the next 21 weeks?

Hopefully better performances and recording techniques! And overall better songs. Along with some home made videos of the songs.

Any last words?

I’f I’m not strumming – I’m bummin’!
I will be talking to D.Sazster again at the end of the 52 weeks to see how the finished product turned out and if there were any disasters along the way

By Alice Roth