Drag the River
Drag The River is Jon Snodgrass and Chad Price. Their songs and stories conjure up a great mix of Uncle Tupelo, Mats, and Waylon, and yet they’re unique to these two gifted voices. I’ve had the pleasure of being on the road for a couple of tours with DTR when I was in The Enablers, and it’s always good to talk with them. Jon made some time for a chat while playing Mr. Mom, and some of it went like this…
Dan: Where and how did you and Chad meet?
Jon: Hm, Chad and Karl (Descendants/ ALL) came to an Armchair Martian show in Fort Collins (CO). I think we talked a little bit. Then he came by the record store that I worked at. He made me a mix tape, but when I tell this story he likes to say, “I didn’t make you a mix tape.” So, he didn’t make me a mix tape. He recorded this Ted Hawkins. It’s called “The Next Hundred Years.” It’s like this compilation of older songs that he’d done, but had rerecorded it for David Geffen label. It’s kind of at the end of his career, and he’s just an old singer and awesome. It’s one of the best records I’ve ever had. So, that’s how we met. We both said we wrote our songs on acoustic guitars and then we turned ‘em into these rock songs. We got together, played a bunch of our other songs and started recording music.
Dan: When was this? Around what year?
Jon: I want to say that we’ve been together for 20 years now, ‘cause it was February of 1996. I thought I’d seen the notes from The Blasting Room, but I couldn’t find anything that actually dates back to when we started. Yeah, it’s been over 20 years. [There are some different claims to DTR’s age. The person who made Jon’s Wikipedia page claims 21 years, due to some credits that Jon hasn’t looked up himself. Their timeline also seems to coincide fairly closely with Lucky Joe’s, the bar they started playing open mic nights at soon after it’s opening, while getting served all the way up to minutes before closing.]
Dan: Tell me about your feelings on duo DTR and band DTR.
Jon: That’s the thing. That’s how the band started, you know, just me and Chad playing. So, I like doing both things, but I gotta be honest. I mean, I don’t wanna take away from playing with the band, but I don’t know, I kind of prefer being able to play just about any song that we’ve ever played. I like it when people ask us to play songs. However, in our later years, we’ve gotten to where I don’t really do that as much. I always used to try and attempt any song that someone would request. And maybe I’ll still do a little bit of that, but we’ve decided to just try and play as good as we can. You know what I mean? We would rather play 50 or 60 songs. I mean, we have a shit load of songs that we can play pretty well, but it always seems like someone asks for some pretty deep cuts.
Dan: What sparks a song for you when you’re trying to create? Is it a lyric first, or music, or both, or phrase, or progression?
Jon: I don’t know. It’s changed. It’s kind of evolved over the years, I guess. I mean, I’m not as prolific as I was ‘cause I kind of pulled the reigns back a little bit. I have a ton of half-finished things, things that are just on deck that I don’t wanna finish myself. Because I know the types of songs that I can write and I wanna be inspired by other people to help me finish these songs, you know? So, I don’t know. A lot of things start just the way they always did, with just a line, just a thing. I’ll pick up a guitar and you know, strum one chord, and just start singing out words. I’ve always done that. I’m gonna work on 2 different things in May right before I come see you guys. In between our shows in Minneapolis and Wisconsin, we have 10 days off and then we come down there. I go straight from Minneapolis to San Francisco, and I’m gonna work on a Scorpios record. [Jon mentioned working on Scorpios songs with input from each of them, working with Chad on finishing Drag songs, and sending some songs to Bill Stevenson for notes and his possible producing, depending on how busy he is.] I know how to finish a song and I write a ton of them, but I’ve kind of already done that. I like the idea of someone else kind of putting their input in there.
Dan: Have you noticed new faces at your shows after opening up for Social Distortion?
Jon: Maybe. I think you need to do that kind of thing several times, you know, which we’ve never done before. I think it was definitely helpful.
Dan: Was it enjoyable for you?
Jon: Yeah. Oh yeah. I liked it. I didn’t know if I would or not, but I did. Just ’cause we’re used to playing our own show and doing whatever we want to do, playing for a long time. So, it was great letting someone else have the pressure of bringing all the people to the show. Just show up and play. It was kind of nice just being told what to do and what time to be there. That’s great. I can do that!
Dan: Is there another tour like that you’d like to be on?
Jon: Well, sure. Anyone that I respect. We just played with X last week. I had met them before as a fan and stuff. They were so kind and they were real genuine about the whole thing. They said some good stuff and I know that they meant it. It was cool. I would absolutely love to do that type of thing with them because they were great. Plus, they’re one of my all-time favorite bands.
Dan: Would you tell me about a shoot-yourself-in-the-foot moment that Drag had?
Jon: There have been some of those. One of them, a guy from Mountain Dew asked us to do something. I think it was just because I was so young and I didn’t want to do any commercials or anything for anybody, so I said I would do one on my terms. And I was like well, I don’t wanna really give you any of our songs, but we could recut the classic “Dew It to It” Mountain Dew song. He loved the idea. I told him, it would be so cheap for you guys. Just get the old footage of the dudes swinging on the ropes and shit and going in the river. Just do that and we’ll recut the song. So, the guy loved the idea and I was really adamant that I wouldn’t let them use one of our songs. ‘Cause I liked the idea of the Mountain Dew thing! But if we had used one of our songs we actually would’ve made a lot more money. You know what I mean? Because I didn’t write “Dew It To It” Mountain Dew, but I just didn’t know a good song of ours that would work in a fucking soda commercial, and that’s just not what I wanted to do. So anyways, the guy loved the idea and then when it went up the ladder, no one else liked the idea. But, I just stuck to my thing, “Dew It to It” Mountain Dew. So, it didn’t happen. The “Dew It to It” Mountain Dew thing bums me out ’cause I used to love those commercials and I loved Mountain Dew when I was a kid. I thought it would’ve been great. Actually, it’s probably good, because I don’t feel embarrassed about anything that we’ve done. I don’t drink fucking mountain dew. I drink sparkling water and iced tea and that’s it.
Dan: Is there anything you would want people to know about DTR?
Jon: I’m proud of our band. I think we’re good. You have to have a little bit of cockiness to do what you do, to think you’re good enough to be able to go out and do these things, but at the same time be pretty humble. I realize we’re just another band out there. We’re better than most, but we’re not the best.
Drag The River, Dan Bonebrake, Keith Welsh at The Lion & Eagle Pub on May 31st. Doors at 7:30pm. $10. For advanced tix, email: fadeittothefrontproductions at gmail dot com
~ Dan Bonebrake
