After a 12-year gap between albums, Santa Barbara alternative rockers Dishwalla are releasing their first full-length LP since 2005’s self-titled Dishwalla. The band is best known for their 1996 hit single “Counting Blue Cars,” which propelled them to the top of the charts thanks to its unforgettable lyric, “Tell me all your thoughts on God / 'Cause I'd really like to meet her,” and its song’s infectious post-grunge chorus. (The tune was also included in the film Empire Records, a box office and commercial flop that was dubbed “a soundtrack in search of a movie” by Variety magazine.) Dishwalla took a break in 2005, then reformed three years later with a new leader signer Justin Fox, formerly of Tripdavon, and the band’s original drummer George Pendergast, who had left the group in 1998, and founding members Scot Alexander (bass), Jim Wood (keyboards), and Rodney Browning Cravens (lead guitar).
In between instructing teenage rock musicians in collaboration and music industry expectations at the Rockshop Academy on De la Vina, or co-producing and engineering tracks at studio maestro Sylvia Massy’s RadioStar Studios, let alone the responsibilities of family and everyday life, the members of Dishwalla have had little time to come together and create new music. However, a makeshift Mojave Desert recording session in the secluded home of a rock ’n’ roll legend was enough to re-ignite the Santa Barbarans' creative chemistry, resulting in their most recent album Juniper Road. I caught up with the band in their Rockshop Academy rehearsal space.
Do you spend most of your time working in Santa Barbara when you’re recording albums?