I first came across Placerville’s Pregnant AKA Daniel Trudeau when I initially began attending Acrobatics Everyday shows at UC Irvine. When I saw the Liquidation of Swans tape on the merch table of Life’s Blood, I was struck by how confusing the album artwork was. However, it wasn’t until the winter of 2010 that I actually checked out Pregnant’s music online and after listening to a few songs, I knew I had to set up an interview with him. We kept in contact for a couple of months and finally set a date for a GChat interview. A few weeks later, Trudeau was down in Los Angeles with his family for his mother’s birthday. While in town, he played a show at Origami Vinyl and did a dublab session. We met right after his session and snapped photos for a grand total of 5 minutes; quite an amazing feat.
In the following interview, you will find that Daniel Trudeau is a very, very busy man. He’s currently balancing his musical endeavors with fatherhood and working full-time. Luckily, Trudeau can write and record songs at an incredibly rapid rate. Just recently, he released an album through Life’s Blood entitled Regional Music to much critical acclaim. Trudeau also has another album lined up called LIFE HARD: I TRY coming out soon through Terroreyes.tv.
Brian Vu: Dude, so how old is your daughter?
Daniel Trudeau: She is 7 months now. She just learned how to wave.
B: Whoa! That’s awesome. What is it like trying to balance everything at once?
D: Yeah, it’s a really rewarding experience, but it’s really hard also. I have such an insane schedule man, insane!!! I don’t tell the different parties what I do with the cooperative part of my life so they have no idea. My work doesn’t even know that I play music. My music buds usually have no idea that I’m a father working 5 days a week. It’s a double life, but it keeps me very busy.
D: Where are you from?
B: I’m in Orange County, CA I live near Irvine. Where are you living right now?
D: I live 30 miles east of Sacramento in a little antique town called Placerville on the way to Lake Tahoe. I lived in Sacramento for almost 3 years before so most people still think I live there.
B: Awesome! How long have you been living there for?
D: I’ve been here most of my cognitive life, and I say that because my memory of being a child is pretty off until something triggers it. I’d have to say probably for about 16 years. It’s funny here, this is the capital of Thomas Kinkade, the painter of light. It is a gold / miners town. Placerville (moniker), hang town.
B: It’s nice to be in between SF and LA isn’t it?
D: Yeah, I’m a little down the track but California treats a musician well.
B: California just has so many different parts. Love it here.
D: I know I love it here, I’m really proud of California.
B: Proud to be Californian too, amen.
D: I heard that California is going to get blasted by a huge tsunami in 2012… it might just be some hippy dippy bullshit though.
B: Oh well, I’m excited to see what happens.
D: They’ll probably just make up another date after it’s all said and done.
B: I want to do something cool on December 21st, 2012. Maybe drink a lot of coffee… and stay up all day to see what happens. I wonder if people are gonna sleep on that day…
D: It’s all here man.
B: Haha, that’s the honest truth! I need to see that movie, and take plenty of notes just in case.
B: I forgot to ask you, how was your set at Open Melody Festival? Apologies for missing it…
D: It was really hard to pull off, I had to get up at 6 in the morning, and tuck it down there, I watched a few bands including Holy Ghost Party, which I was supremely stoked on. Then I played, and I had to leave right after too because I had to work the next morning. It was insane, but I at least got to see a bit of Foot Village. I’m good buds with Religious Girls so it bummed me out that I couldn’t see them play.
B: For sure! I was really stoked on Foot Village. They’re incredible live.
D: It was good seeing Sam Farzin, but he was so busy making sure everything ran smoothly. Were you at Open Melody?
B: Yeah I was, I got there pretty late though. Did you play before them?
D: I played right before Foot Village. I like Irvine and it’s folks and the scene around your guys’ area.
B:Yeah Sam Farzin is doing great stuff. How do you know him?
D: I know man, I’m so thankful to have that dude in my life, he is really genuine, his heart is in what he does. He doesn’t care about anything but having music around for people. I met him when he played with railcars. I played a show with him and Christian Megazord in Sacramento. Him and Aria.
B: So how has life been since the release of your album? You’ve been receiving so much buzz!
D: I’M REALLY STOKED ON THIS ALBUM, I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET IT INTO THE EARS THAT WANT TO HEAR IT AND AT THE SAME TIME CREDIT LIFE’S BLOOD AND GET THEM THE MONEY THEY NEED TO CONTINUE DOING WHAT THEY’RE DOING. THIS ALBUM MEANS A LOT TO ME, IT’S THE MOST WORK I’VE EVER PUT INTO A RELEASE AND I FEEL LIKE MY SOUND IS EVOLVING IN A DIRECTION THAT I’M COMFORTABLE WITH. Sorry for the capital letters…
B: Haha NO PROB.
D: The album is about what has been going down in my life lately: having a kid, a family, and living in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. It pegs down a lot of feelings that I’m sure young fathers have when they have a child, and I feel like a lot of the listeners can appreciate a different perspective.
B: Was it natural for you to write the album around being a father?
D: It was a hard time to write an album, I’m sure my girlfriend was having a constant headache trying to get ready to bear a child while I was writing in music form how I felt about the whole thing. But yes it was super natural. I usually write lyrics not knowing what they’re about until I listen to a finished recorded version, it’s a kind of sub-conscious song-writing technique.
B: What was her response to the finished album?
D: She loves it and she was proud enough of it to put her pregnant self on the back of the album. It’s an ode to our daughter and i’ll have the album forever and i’ll be able to use it as an heirloom of sorts and say “Look Juniper, daddy made this for you when you were coming into the world.”
B: That’s what I love about music, it really documents a period in a person’s life. And not to mention it will last forever.
D: Yeah man, it doesn’t matter what kind or if it’s released or whatever, even if it’s just some home made 4-track recording you’re always gonna be stoked when you hear it again.
B: For sure! How is Regional Music musically different from previous releases that you’ve had?
D: Well, it’s the same in the fact that I really cranked it out compared to most of my other musician friends, but it really is quite different from the other albums. I inherited Ableton 6 from my friend Andy and let it sit around for a long while before tapping into it. It opened up so many possiblities for me. I can’t for some reason make music with other people, so I have to resort to sampling other artists. I sampled and wrote tunes over the top of these samples and it gives the music a much more accessable vibe which I’m very stoked on at the moment. Regional Music is very different from Ike Wimin in this way.
B: Would you say it’s more on the pop side?
D: Yes, definately, but I try and keep the wierdness there, the wierdness is so important to me. It’s a must or else i’d just be making pop.
B: Yeah I really enjoy the balance between the two! Does it take you a while to write the music? And how long did Regional Music take to make?
D: My process is usually starting with a riff on guitar, I do a lot of finger picking. Then i’ll go into Ableton and steal from Miles Davis, Biz Marquee, Bjork, and any other random artist (both tape samples and wavs), then i’ll go into Reason 4 and throw the composition together, the very last part of the process is writing lyrics. It takes up to 5 months to write a record which i’ve found is short compared to most.
B: Lastly, what plans do you have for 2011? Planning to live it up before 2012?
D: I’m done with a new record called LIFE HARD: I TRY.
B: What! already?
D: It needs to be mixed and mastered, I recorded two of the songs with Sacramento native Robby Moncrief and all the rest with my woods brother Arthur Echternacht. I’m really stoked about this album, it’ll come out in March on the video blog/site label Terroreyes.tv, which may have a different name by then i’ve heard.
B: Terroreyes.tv releases music also? That’s crazy! I really enjoy their live videos.
D: The big plan is to go on a full US tour in August of next year with our daughter (my girlfriend plays music aswell under the moniker : ALAK). We have big plans for this tour, we are going to do a Kickstarter and we plan on impressing our daughter’s hand in paint and marking sites around the US so she can find them later on in life. A prolonged easter egg hunt for her.
B: That’s going to be insane! You must let me know how that goes down.
D: Yes, Terroreyes.tv is worked really hard on by it’s creator Sean Stout. He’s trying to do everything he can creatively, a really hard working dude.
B: Sick! I’m going to let you get back to your day. Any last words?
D: Yes, definitely. That same record will be released on tape by Icecapades Records out of Manchester and possibly a US label called Crash Symbols. Thanks Brian!!! so nice to talk, and thanks Rebel mag and all it’s peeps.
