Writing for this album has been a long process spread over a long period of time. Since Christmas 1996, he has been collecting songs, writing and recording. The actual recording was spread over three ten-day sessions. Most of the album was recorded the kitchen of his apartment in the Plateau Mont.-Royal (Montreal). They unplugged the refrigerator and phones and told people in the room to be quiet. Though they were making quite some noise, his neighbors were generally supportive (although they did bang on the ceiling at times), they knew what he was up too. Paul Northfield produced the album (you may recall he also produced Creature). Of this album, David says it was built very differently than a Moist record, in terms of instrumentation. The songs have a smoother side to them and have a wide range of various instruments.
The songs he wrote are very personal and that’s partly why he wanted to do this as a solo. Manly because he wanted to keep the songs intact (moist has a tendency to bring to song together by ripping it apart & he really didn’t want to do this)
The album is described as organic sounding for the exception of the drum machine. He enjoyed using different sounding instruments but at the core of all the songs is the acoustic guitar. The songs were layered from it.
He tried not to censor himself with his lyrics. The words were carefully chosen and are meant to express his ideas as clearly as he could. At this point "Unholy, dirty and beautiful" is his favorite, but like most of us his everything changes depending on his mood.
The song titled "St.-Lawrence River" has a lot to do with living in Montreal. The album was very much influenced by this city, it’s energy and divers climates. This is one of the most personal tracks on the record.
Montreal is definitely home for the time being. His father grew up here and David, as a child, used to spend summers in Montreal visiting his grandparents. He enjoys the creative vibe of the city. He chooses to live in the plateau because it’s smooth (?). He is quite happy to be here, saying it rains a lot in Vancouver and he dislikes it. Montreal is also a lot more cultural. And right now he predicts living there for a while.
David is an early morning riser (6 a.m.), he likes to write for about 2 hours everyday [the importance of keeping practicing his craft]. His clock wakes him up early no matter how later he went to bed the previous night (it’s been a ritual for the last 10 years). His whole family gets up early so it’s in his genes.
His family is very supportive of him (his mom is an artist). At first, they were concerned for his safety but the success has help reassure them.
He has lived many places including: New York, Vancouver, England, California, Malaysia, Thailand and Kingston. He has a very close nit family, although presently they are spread over the globe, his sister being in Norway and his Mother in Thailand. At the end of the month they will all be meeting in Norway.
On how he is dealing with the solo attention (without the band), "it’s a little odd and strange, because I’m so used to having to guys with me everywhere." If he had to make a choice between your solo career and the band… "It’s not really a choice, I don’t think I have to choose and so I’m not going to. The and is the band and they’re my family and you cannot leave your family".
The cover of the album… The fish was alive when he was holding it. David and the Photographer were running around New York’s Chinatown, they grabbed a fish and started shooting. He liked the picture and kept it. On the cover the fish is in focus while his face is not. This was partly done on purpose because he wanted people to focus on the music and not his face. David didn’t want a picture of his face on the cover at all but the record company was against it and in the end they won.
On Sarah’s video… Sarah was looking for someone to be in it, and David was in New York (they share the same record label, Arista, in the states; he also knows Sarah from the Junos….) So Sarah’s people asked and David accepted.
more to come it's long to type.... most of the info here comes from: Jam!, Chart, Much Music and what not.