A Conversation With The Dig’s Emile Mosseri

The-Dig-Band

The Dig has come a long way since its first album, Electric Toys, back in 2010. In the last two years, the New York-based rock quartet has spent the majority of its time on the road, supporting bands like The Editors, The Walkmen, and Portugal. The Man. Aside from touring, the four-piece also wrote, recorded and released its sophomore effort, Midnight Flowers, this Spring. The Dig is currently on its first ever headlining tour with The We Shared Milk, and amidst the chaos of life on the road, bassist/vocalist Emile Mosseri was nice enough to chat with me about the current tour, releasing the new album, and the craziest thing that’s ever happened to the band on tour.

Katrina Nattress: You are currently on tour with The We Shared Milk. How’s that been going?

Emile Mosseri: The tour is going great. Traveling with those guys is awesome. They’re our best buds and an amazing band. There are seven of us piled in one van, we’re about half way in.

KN: What are you most excited about with this tour?

EM: Most excited about getting back out west. We lived in L.A. for the summer and had a blast. It’ll be good to back out there [this] week.

KN: This is your first headlining tour. How does that feel?

EM: Headlining this tour has been great. Even on the quieter nights it’s great to be playing our own shows. It’s a new thing for us. The crowds are generally smaller but all there to see us, which is exciting.

Black Water // The Dig // Midnight Flowers (2012) by The Dig Music

KN: You have toured with some great bands like The Walkmen, Portugal. The Man, and The Editors just to name a few. How does it feel to support bands like this?

EM: Supporting bands like that has been an amazing experience. Traveling around the country and meeting people and all that. But it’s nice to headline a national tour of our own to see where we’re at.

KN: What’s been your favorite tour so far?

EM: Our favorite tour would have to be the Portugal. The Man tour we did about two years ago. They were just starting to blow up and all the shows were great and all the bands became close. Port O’Brien was on that tour as well. On The last tune of all three sets all three bands jumped on stage and played together. There was a strong sense of community and I think that translated to the crowds.

KN: What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened on the road?

EM: Craziest tour story would have to be when we were in Arizona a year ago. We were staying at David [Baldwin]‘s aunt and uncle’s house after a show in Scottsdale. We’d never been there before and we rolled in at around 3 AM. We let ourselves in and went down to the basement, raided their fridge, stunk up the bathroom, made ourselves at home, then Erick [Eiser] noticed there was a bunch of pictures of Chinese people on the wall. He asked David if his uncle was Chinese and he said no, then we realized we were in the wrong house and bolted out of there and set out to find the right house.

KN: You’ve been on tour a lot this year. How many days would you say you spend on the road each year?

EM: Not sure How many days exactly. It’s usually 6 or 7 months out of the year.

KN: Do you like life on the road?

EM: We love touring. When we’re home for more than a few weeks we get antsy. It has its ups and downs, but overall is I’d say we’re really lucky to be able to do it.

KN: What do you miss most about home when you’re on tour?

EM: Privacy and cleanliness probably. Also being tied to three other people every time you want to go somewhere or do something. There is a freedom that you lose that’s nice to get back when we come home.

KN: You recently released your sophomore album, Midnight Flowers. Tell me about the writing/recording process.

EM: We wrote all those songs together as a band. Bryce Goggin produced it. He came to a bunch of shows and our rehearsals for the months leading up to tracking the record and was involved in arranging the tunes. We recorded a batch of tunes in the winter and another batch in the summer and released it in the spring.

KN: How do you feel this album differs from your freshman effort?

EM: We definitely feel that it’s a different and a better record than our first. We had gotten better at writing tunes and singing and playing as a band after a year and half on the road.

KN: Your song “Black Water” has been placed in TV shows like Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries, as well as Seth Rogen’s feature film For A Good Time Call…, if you could have your music placed on any TV show or movie, what would it be?

EM: That’s a good question. Probably Breaking Bad. Or Eastbound and Down. Those are sweet shows and they seem to always have great music on there.

KN: The year is almost over, what’s on your “Best Albums of 2012” list?

EM: Best albums of the year list would have to include A Different Ship, by Here We Go Magic, Father John Misty’s Fear Fun, Tame Impala’s Lonerism, The We Shared Milk’s History of Voyager and Legend Tripping, and Daniel Rossen’s Silent Hour/Golden Mile EP is amazing as well.

KN: What’s next for The Dig?

EM: Were gonna finish up this tour and start working on writing a new record . Hopefully record and release something early in the new year.

Check out a list of The Dig’s tour dates here and if you live in the Los Angeles area, catch them playing with Here We Go Magic at Bootleg Theater this Wednesday, October 24.

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