“A change is coming, it’s set into motion,” Adam Dale croons in his song “Snowglobes” off of his album, “The Sun Rises, The Sun Sets,” and it’s a perfect precursor to his newest album released on iTunes yesterday entitled “Cats & Dogs.” The 11 tracks on his new album, which although the title is a play on a line in the final track of the album, also stands for C-A-D, the initials of his new daughter, represent a sea change in the attitude and ambitions of this veteran singer/songwriter.
“Cats & Dogs,” as a whole, (I encourage you to buy it and listen to it in its entirety; it truly is one of “those” kinds of albums, and not on those goddamned ear buds! Grow up and spend $50 on a nice set of headphones!) is a compendium of the changes that have taken place in Adam’s life over the course of his musical journey.
I recently had the honor of sitting down and chatting with the man about his upcoming CD release show here in Shreveport on Jan. 3 at Strange Brew. Although I have known him a while (he’s one of the only musicians locally that remains on my “bucket list” to be able to perform with), I found this time that the maturity that comes with being a husband and a new father, for a man who was already one of the nicest, most humble dudes I know, makes him even more compelling of an artist.
You mention “Cats & Dogs” being your most personal and heartfelt album, I am guessing that Stephanie and your lovely new daughter have something to do with that?
Absolutely. The album title is actually my daughter’s initials, CAD. Having a baby really brought fragility to the forefront for me. Some songs reflect on my childhood and earlier years and others speculate about the years to come.
I am a huge fan of your songwriting, what keeps you here in LA? And why not make the move to Nashville (where a few Shreveporters have had very successful careers) to get into songwriting and publishing there?
I have a family and I have the freedom to write the music I want to write. There are times when a place like Nashville will influence your writing until you sound like “Nashville.” At that point you’ve lost what was and is uniquely you. After we had a baby, it was a done deal. I don’t feel the need to stress about how “successful” music is. I definitely would like to have a better publishing situation because I could work from home but I’m grateful for what I’ve got.
You should be absolutely applauded for your work ethic, I know you write and record all of this material yourself (with the help of trusted friends and musicians), you are notorious as a “road dog” putting in the miles and playing the shows to get your music out to your fans and to people yet to discover you. How many miles did you end up with on your truck? I remember some ridiculous number of miles like multiple hundreds of thousands of miles!
Ha! I had a red Nissan pickup with about 300,000 miles on it. That was a great truck. I sold it for $500 to a guy and I still see it from time to time.
This year you wrote a song called “Keep Your Eyes on the Road” that is in a scene in the movie Horrible Bosses 2, how did that come about?
Honestly, I work with a company that does custom placements and they needed a song that sounded like an older famous song but couldn’t afford the famous one, so we wrote enough of a song to place into the slot. It’s not even a complete song and not nearly as good as a heartfelt original song would have been, but that’s what they wanted. I’m just thankful for the opportunities.
How do you manage your social media presence, you have a very strong one, and I am always checking to see what you are doing and where you may be playing, do you do that all yourself? With the release of Cats & Dogs and having a song in a major motion picture, I would guess your social media traffic has increased?
I do most of the social media stuff. I always feel like I could do way more… but then you run the risk of being obnoxious. My band’s page Adam Dale and the Sad Bastards is multi-managed by me and the rest of the band. Everything else is word of mouth… and miles on a truck!
I have lost count of the number of albums you have created, it seems like Cats & Dogs is either number 6 or 7?
I made a cassette tape when I was about 16 so I won’t count that, but since then I’ve made 5 Tragedy albums (Adam was the front man and founding member of the extremely popular Shreveport band, The American Tragedy), an acoustic cover album, four solo records, and an electro pop record. “Cats & Dogs” is my 5th solo album.
Tell me about the CD release show here at Strange Brew January 3. Who are you bringing along and what can your fans expect?
There will actually be 2 bands on the bill (along with Adam). Startisan from Baton Rouge is a powerful pop/rock band that has been making waves all over the country. I like playing with them for a bevy of reasons. One of the main ones is that if you remove their lead singer and put me in his place, you have Adam Dale and the Sad Bastards, Ha! This will be a full band show for me with the members of Startisan backing me up. And opening the show is Lish Starshine and the Spirit Animals. I’ve never seen them play but the band is made up of former members of Tyler Read including the front man and chief song writer. They were one of the influential bands in this area when I was coming up, and honestly those guys can do no wrong as far as music goes.
–End Q&A–
“Cats & Dogs” is available now on iTunes, and I highly recommend you pick it up. The album is solid from start to finish. “Midnight” is a devastatingly honest track about the mysteries involving the miracle of child birth, “Quiet” is so powerfully descriptive, you absolutely will connect with and then remember times past. I did not get a chance to find out who the young lady is who accompanies Adam on his song called “Here at the End of the World,” but she’s amazing, and the harmonies they create are a study in the beauty of the human voice. “Got it Right” straight up gives the middle finger to the judgmental society we seem to have been breeding lately.
Dale, with Startisan and Lish Starshine and the Spirit Animals opening the show, is set for Saturday, January 3, 2015 (yeah, I know. That was hard to type.). Come see one of the most honest and engaging, also one of the most talented musicians and singers Shreveport has ever seen.
And P.S. Adam, I may be the greatest left-handed, red-headed bass players that you’ve never played with before!
-Chris Campisi