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They were killing it in Hollywood, not just somebody's garage band. The name Spud Davenport was a small moniker for a stage name. If you saw it and didn't come up with the joke, I'll spell it out for you: Spud = Potato, Davenport = a sofa/chair/couch. So, "Couch Potato". If you didn't get it, don't feel bad ... our guitarist/engineer Andy had to be told that after 6 years of knowing Spud.
What do you come up with first, the lyrics or the music and who does what in the writing process?
You waited til Question 7 for the biggest cliche in music? I'm teasing. Do people really care about this stuff? My answer is boring for Leaders In The Clubhouse, it really varies. I had some songs up on their feet that Spud helped finish & vice versa. 21/8, Trophies & LawnChairs are things we labored on together. Two songs we just brought in 1 finished, unrecorded song each.
But generically, you with any song with words it seems like a good idea to have some exciting strand of music whether it's a melody, riff or chord progression, and have some subject matter of what it's about. Once you marry those two, then you're off and running.
We write all kinds of ways together - from scratch in a room, one guy bringing in a title or progression, one guy bringing in a song he can't finish himself. Always different, but in a collaboration it's great to have the other one there to put some psychic pressure on you and make you accountable to finish songs.
How long does it take for a song to go from an idea to a recordable song?
It varies. I think Spud came up with "Awkward Town" in a few minutes, brought it to my house for input and we could have recorded it that day. "She Gets Loud" "21/8 Bar Song" and "LawnChairs" were 90% written their first session, then we took on and off of a year to keep tightening up the words; there was so much internal rhyme boxing us in, it was like doing a really tough crossword puzzle together. And "Trophies" was intentionally a prog-rock song, like early Genesis or something even though it just sounds like more traditional rock. We had so much patchwork to do of little pieces, like Side 2 of Abbey Road, I think it wasn't even all decided/finished when we went in the studio for that. Us editing and mixing the track was technically still writing it.
There are 10 tracks on your debut album “Won” My favourite is “Those Goddamn Devices”, as I can relate to all the lyrics and “Law of the Jungle” as I know a few people that I would like to see survive when confronted with a tiger! What one is your favourite?
Sorry for boring answer but it varies. "Law Of The Jungle" keeps surprising me how well it expresses something we both specifically wanted to say (ie "people stink", or as some reviewer said of it, "Rage Against The Millenials"). "She Gets Loud" tells a story of a purely physical relationship well and with so many fantastic rhymes in a tight structure, I'm proud of that. And I like the way that one plays - I just played it when in Nashville last week & brought down the house, which isn't easy for a first-time hearing of a song. But I think "LawnChairs" I'm most proud of, because I know how hard we worked to make that work.
It's a complicated song that hopefully listeners don't even notice how complicated it is. And it expresses something I've always said about Los Angeles; if the nuclear sirens or something were to go off, there's no point even trying to get out of town - I'll just play 18 holes of golf instead with nobody else on the course. And the rhyme scheme seems simple but really hard to fit everything in there with those rhymes without feeling forced.
The first song on the CD “She Gets Loud” a very catchy tune that is obviously about an overly sexual female lol Was it based on real person that either one of you knows?
The funny thing on that one is that we both had real people or experiences of our own during the writing. For me there might be a couple of people who might think it's about them but it's really just one girl (my personal "You're So Vain" I guess).
The one who it's about for me will probably never know it; I'm not completely confident she knows my last name.