Q&A: Digital Leather frontman derives inspiration, advice from deceased musician, friend

To preface, let's simplify a fictional concept and say horcruxes are merely pieces of one's soul, created intentionally. Let's also take the real world and superimpose this fiction upon it, for what are songs if not pieces of one's soul, forever representations of personality and creativity that live so long as the memories that hold them. Let's say, in other words, dead is not dead.

Jay Reatard, for instance, lives in the memory of Shawn Foree, whose band Digital Leather has a new record that exists mostly because of Reatard, a punk rock pioneer who died on Jan. 13, 2010. Heck, Reatard's ghost even handed Foree one of the EP's seven songs in a dream. While awake, Foree considers Reatard to be his moral compass, there in times of need when record labels try to have their way with him and he wants to curl into a ball.

This Thursday at the Slowdown, Foree might be supported by three talented musicians, but the one you don't see is perhaps going to be the loudest one of all. In light of Digital Leather's spot alongside The So-So Sailors, Fortnight and Millions of Boys, the Daily Nebraskan took the chance to talk about Reatard, the pros and cons of smaller record labels and how Foree spent his college loans on music gear.

Daily Nebraskan: You've said before that when you were moving from Arizona, it was either Omaha or New York that you'd end up. Why do you consider Omaha to be in the same league as New York?

Shawn Foree: Of course, they're different sizes, that's naturally obvious. But there's a sense of community in both cities, even though the flavor's a little different. A lot of cities I've lived in have no community whatsoever. Everybody just does their own thing, nobody cares about what other people are doing. In Phoenix, there's no community, and that's one thing I really didn't like living for so long. And I'm not just saying a music scene as a community, I'm saying different people doing different things together.

DN: And I understand you used your college loans to pay for gear when you were starting Digital Leather. Have you paid those loans off yet, and was it worth it?

SF: Yeah, for sure. I could've borrowed less money and had less of a debt, which I still have. But that's one thing I would totally do again: borrow extra money so I could get gear. And it's not like I spent a lot of money on my first gear — everything is pretty cheap. I still to this day spend a lot of money on gear if it's something essential. So yeah, if there's an opportunity for someone who wants to do music to buy the things they want or need, they should take it because they won't regret it.

DN: Now that your new record's been out for a bit, what kind of reception has it been getting?

SF: The people who have heard it seem to like it. It's not meant to be a big commercial record or anything. I wanted to put out something that was a little more underground, and that's why this record won't be on Fat Possum or any of the other larger labels I have worked with or will work with in the future. I wanted to do something that I wanted to do. I'm not the kind of artist who bends to please a record label ever, but this record is too weird and dark for even some labels that are willing to accept that. It's an EP, it's only seven songs. So being let go from our record contract allowed me time to do what I want for awhile and find myself again. I think people are responding to that. A lot of my original fanbase appreciates it because it's progressive in the songwriting but the style is also a throwback to some of my earlier stuff.

DN: Why did you choose Volar as the record label for this release?

SF: I had a few choices, naturally, but I've had some friends who put out records with this guy at Volar in San Diego. I'm always interested in smaller, newer labels, so I thought, why not? There've been some problems pressing the record, but that's not his fault. Some people have been wondering what's going on because the record is actually for sale on the blog, but that doesn't mean they're going to get it right away. The Kickstarter fundraising people are all wondering where the record is. Everyone's confused because he chose to go through a larger pressing plant that does a lot of big orders. They push smaller orders like this to the side, so it's taking extra long to get done. It's about a month overdue right now. So I was happy to work with Volar, and I don't mind going smaller every so often especially if I have no record contract to adhere to.