Mike Donovan Interview: “It’s all down to a moment”

Some may consider Mike Donovan the unsung hero of lo-fi, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

Not only has Donovan been an integral part of a San Francisco scene that included Ty Segall and John Dwyer, the leader of the now defunct Sic Alps has been a part of the Drag City furniture for decades. In fact, the label would look quite different without his involvement in it.

There’s a lot to unravel in the Mike Donovan story. Not least his involvement in the era-defining Sic Alps. Also during the ’00s, Donavan played in The Hospital alongside Dwyer – the pair also formed Yikes shortly after the ’Alps called it day.

Most recently, Donovan has spearheaded psych-rock purveyors, The Peacers, the band that also features Sayde Sartin of The Fresh & Onlys, former Oh Sees drummer Mike Shoun, and Bo Moore.

Dovetailing with The Peacers’ is the small matter of Donovan’s understated solo oeuvre. Following his recent stint as touring member of the off-the-wall kraut-punk voyage that is Prison, Donavan kept the flame with Mike Fellows burning. The end result? His latest offering, Meets the Mighty Flashlight.

Prison Interview: “Everyone in the band has something that only they can bring to the table”

Donovan has always blurred the lines between Lennon and McCartney, and with some added slacker and subtle echoes of Big Star, Donovan produces the kind of rustic, lo-fi psych tailor-made for the back porch and watching the world go by.

Whilst undoubtedly inspired by the classics, Donovan spins his own gold, with dry humor and sharp turns of phrase (after all this is a guy who started a song with the line, “There’s a ghost of a motherfucker”). There’s plenty more of that on Meets the Mighty Flashlight (led by The Godly Orator). It’s an album that crackles like a campfire one minute, sways like husks in the breeze the next. You never quite know where it’s going to end up, but that’s always been the hallmark with a Mike Donovan record.

Take the fractured psych-rock of the opener, Planet Metley. A fever dream jam of White Album-era Beatles and Hendrix, you wonder where Donovan will take us next. From here it becomes easier on the ear, starting with the honky-tonk-inspired A Capitol Pitch through to the effortless majesty of Total Devastation and John the Alarmist and the loose campfire romp of Wild Strip / Beeline Subway. With Fellows’ bombastic percussion, Our Liberty isn’t just the logical conclusion to Meets the Mighty Flashlight, it’s a song that encapsulates the experience of AM radio. It’s simply beautiful.

Fellows’ involvement adds a new layer of warmth to the Mike Donovan canon and, oddly enough, listening to Meets the Mighty Flashlight following the radical escapades of Prison’s Upstate, and together the two records make for interesting bedfellows.

In the lead-up to the release of Meets the Mighty Flashlight, Donovan took some time to answer our questions about the record, the history of lo-fi, his creative process, and more.

Sun 13: Listening to your work over the years, and I get a sense that you grew up in a very music-oriented household. Do you remember the first time you heard music?

Mike Donovan: “My dad is a big music fan. He’s always kept a list of his 50 favorite songs, revising it when something new comes along and makes the cut – ‘RJD’s Top 50’. Used to be on graph paper in his wallet. I think it’s a playlist now. He travelled for work, and back then a lot of bars had DJs playing 45’s, so he’d roll up with his list and see what they had. Eddie Floyd’s Knock on Wood has been number 1 since I can remember. Killer tune.”

S13: Can you tell us the process behind Meets the Mighty Flashlight?

MD: “I knew Mike Fellows from living in DC in the ’90s and when I heard he was doing sound at the Half Moon in Hudson, it led to me booking a show there and seeing him again for the first time in 20 years or something. That tour stop in Hudson opened the door to us moving here, in a way. Later that year we found our spot outside of town and made the move. So the process began there, ha!

“After moving out, I got a solo rec going, and had a few songs recorded for a next record when I connected with Mike. My signal path at that point was pretty unconventional, sending the signal through an old two track, then a Tascam 388 channel, some dirty delays and a cheap pre, using cheap, old mics. Mike convinced me to upgrade some things like digital interface, preamp, mics and to bypass the old wandering signal path. From there the process was pretty similar to my usual way, building a song one track at a time, starting with a guitar, followed by a voice. The big difference was Mike. He played bass, guitar, piano and other instruments throughout the process. He also engineered a lot of the sounds and mixed most of the rec as well.”

S13: The thing I like about the album is that it’s not immediate, and it’s because there are so many influences floating around in your songs. Once it sinks into the consciousness, though, it’s hard to shake! Did the songs feel like they came differently in comparison with your previous solo releases?

MD: “I think the tunes came the same; when they were ready. There are a few exceptions though – Mike wrote the music for A Capitol Pitch, and I came up with the words. And there are two songs on the rec – Amalgam Wagon and Laurel Lotus Dub (which my wife Laurel sings on) that were made with a different, improvised process where I’d work a drum machine while Mike played bass and then we’d overdub on that. Those were fun to make. More free and loose.”

S13: You also play live with Mike’s band, Prison. Having known him for many years, you can almost sense the ease and enjoyment through these songs. What was it like working alongside him on these songs?

MD: “It was cool. Mike is a legend. He’s always coming up with cool stuff, and he pushes hard for quality. Playing in Prison, which he brought me into, is also a lot of fun. In the end the title Meets the Mighty Flashlight, which we came up with early on, took on a deeper meaning. It’s a reference to old dub recs like King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown but ultimately it came to represent how our thoughts on recording evolved in order to make the best rec possible.”

S13: I like the line in The Godly Orator, “If you’ve got a system erasing your system”, which really underlines your unique approach and style as a songwriter. Can you tell us about this song?

MD: “Lyrically it quotes that voice which judges from within – the “Godly Orator”. This version of that interior voice is salty and sarcastic, saying things like ‘Mike, can you play us a pile of old words from a can?’ It’s me having fun with self-criticism. ‘If you’ve got a system erasing your system, then give us a shout you old man’ references a song on my previous rec – My System while commenting, rather rudely, on my increasing age. It later asserts that as a songwriter I ‘just piss in the rain’ and ‘mimic solid plans’. It’s nice to have that voice show up in a song, really. It’s freeing in a way.”

S13: A Capitol Pitch and Sadfinger Meets the Might Flashlight really zero in on that honky-tonk vibe that has slightly echoed on your previous works. Are you always looking at different ways to present your songs?

MD: “Not consciously. I think those kinds of sounds just evolved on their own. And it has a lot to do with how long it’s been since my piano has been tuned.”

S13: Can you tell us about your general writing process. With so many releases under your belt, are you working on something every day?

MD: “In general it’s all down to a moment. Usually, I’m playing the guitar when I realise something is happening and I’ll hit record and try to stay out of the way as the song gets written. Then I go back to that recording to figure out what I was doing and build lyrics out of the jumble of words.”

S13: Does it vary from your solo work in comparison to your work with the likes of The Peacers etc.?

MD: “My process of writing is the same in The Peacers, but I get a lot of help from the band in putting the songs together. Which is satisfying, especially on the last rec, Blexxed Rec. That was a real group effort. Bo and Shayde both contributed songs and Mike played synths, recorded all his own drums and otherwise helped record a lot of the record.”

S13: Alongside Ty Segall and John Dwyer, you’ve been an integral part of the lo-fi scene over the years. Out of all guitar-based music since the turn of the century, I’d say that lo-fi has held the test of time more than anything else. Would you agree?

MD: “I don’t know, but I do like a lot of music from that era, when textural considerations came to the fore. It’s similar to painting. I like when the artist clearly believes in texture and that becomes a strength, when the paint itself has content.”

S13: During your time in Sic Alps and later with Yikes and Hospitals you’ve been at the forefront of seeing physical demand for music through to the current day of streaming culture etc. Did you ever foresee the way we would engage with music change so much in such a short space of time?

MD: “I didn’t see it coming but it’s not surprising in a way. If anyone is going to revolutionise the long-standing practice of screwing over musicians it would be the breadheads of the tech community. They really knocked it out of the park with streaming. Most people (especially those who have never heard LPs, CDs or cassettes) don’t realise how bad streaming sounds compared to physical formats. I just toured with Prison and we kept hearing streaming music played loud in bars over half-decent sound systems and all the songs I knew sounded like garbage. Often I’d think it was a cover version. Blondie’s Heart of Glass for example, which is an incredible recording, sounded like it was re-recorded on a Triscuit.”

Meets the Mighty Flashlight is out now via Drag City. Purchase from Bandcamp.