XOXO: VOCAL DUO DEAD ROCK WEST SHARES MORE LOVE

BY: JIM VILLANUEVA

PHOTOS: FRANK LEE DRENNEN AND MASEN LARSEN

“All I had to do was hear her voice for about, oh, 12 nanoseconds and I was like, ‘Man, I’m gonna sing with her.’”

That Is the succinct yet speaking-volumes-version of how Frank Lee Drennen and Cindy Wasserman first entered each other’s orbit before eventually giving birth to the California alt-country rock vocal duo now known as Dead Rock West. The duo’s fourth album More Love is available now, and it contains a dozen tracks about the subject no songwriter or soothsayer has or will ever be able to fully explain. Luckily for the rest of us, it’s a sure bet neither songwriters nor soothsayers are likely to ever stop trying.

Produced by John Doe of X, with whom Dead Rock West has toured on numerous occasions, More Love serves as the follow up to the duo’s universally lauded 2015 tribute album to the Everly Brothers It’s Everlys Time! This time, Wasserman and Drennen spotlight their solid songwriting and seamless vocal harmonies, and end the collection with a stirring rendition of the Sam Cooke classic “Bring It On Home To Me.” As Doe explains, “Somehow Cindy and Frank connect the dots between ’70s country and ’60s soul music,” which is more than an apt description of where this duo’s sonic sweet spot lies.

Good, how are you doing?

I’m great, thank you. So, you have what I would describe as a couple of quite literal X factors going for you on this record, More Love. X band member John Doe is handling production duties, and (X) drummer D.J. Bonebrake keeping the beat. Give me a sense of what John brings to the recording sessions that perhaps other producers might not.

You know, it was really amazing with John because I personally have worked with him since 2003. I sing with him and his band as well, so I know him that way. I didn’t really know what was going to happen with him producing, but I said to Frank, “Well the worst-case scenario is he’s just good energy, and it’s John.” We just went in with open ears, eyes and arms, I guess you’d say, and he went above and beyond my expectations. Basically the day we started we tracked, pretty much, everything live, and he was running a little late from the airport, so we decided just to start in on a song. So, he showed up and said, like, two things, and we all look at each other and said, “Oh my gosh, he just made the song so much better.” And it was the smallest adjustment and it made the biggest difference. So, it kind of went on and on like that. He just took everything to the next level. And D.J. we’ve played with for quite some time now, and he’s just really special. He’s so focused and he puts so much into everything he does.

Frank, the new album is called More Love, and I guess we can certainly use a lot more of that these days. How do you even begin to tackle the seemingly unsolvable Rubik’s cube that is love?

Well, thankfully you can’t. Otherwise there would be no more songs, poems, paintings, prose, love notes, etc. There’d be no need, would there? Love is always changing. We all know that the older we get. Cindy had this conversation with (blues legend) Willie Dixon once, and he made a comment that everything is about love. And he’s probably one of the greatest rock and roll songwriters that ever lived. He said to her, there’s nothing to write about except love. And there’s so many facets of that that you can take many, many, many different roads.

A never-ending fountain of material, that’s for sure. So, the album opens with the title track, followed by “Boundless Fearless Love,” which after a few listens, reminded me, sonically, of the Big Head Todd and the Monsters’ song “Resignation Superman” [off the 1997 album Beautiful World]. To me, it has that same vibe. Cindy, let me ask you – how do you define boundless fearless love?

I guess it’s simply just that you’re just jumping in and going for it, sorta speak, and you’ll accept the consequences after the fact. You’re just going into something fearlessly and you know that no matter what happens it’s gonna be a great learning experience. So, maybe that would be my definition.

Frank, let me get back to you on these: track three “Stereo” and four “Radio Silence” touch on a topic near and dear to my heart – radio. “Stereo” is a great track, and it’s co-written by some character named Patrick Dennis (laughs). For those who don’t know, tell everyone who this dude is. Spill the beans (laughs).

Well, I mean, what can I say. He’s just another songwriter that I wrote a song with. He’s a terrific musician in his own right. He’s been in a bunch of bands, and I don’t know what else to say.

Cindy, do you have something to add?

(Laughs) Yeah, I happen to be married to him, but actually Patrick and Frank have known each other a lot longer than I have known both of them. They started writing a long time ago, and then just on and off over the years have written stuff together.

Cindy, you may know that I actually spoke with Patrick for his 2015 album Furst in the Dirt.

Oh, wow! That’s right, I didn’t remember that.

For both of you, what are your earliest memories of listening to the radio? Frank, you wanna start?

I didn’t really listen to music. I didn’t get in my first band until I was 25. Late bloomer all around. Probably in junior high is when I started listening to the radio, casually. I was into sports.

Cindy, what about you?

My brother, [bassist] Rob [Wasserman, 1952-2016] (Jerry Garcia, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Neil Young), I really loved hanging out with him. There was a big age difference. When I was little I would beg my mom to let me go wherever my brother was going, and so he would drive me places and we would always listen to the radio. Just whatever he played I was excited about because I was pretty infatuated with him – he was like my be all, end all. But yeah, I was pretty little. I remember being five or six maybe when I started listening. So, that’s my first memory. Mostly in the car with him.

So, was the sequencing of these songs on the album just coincidence, or calculated?

Cindy: Calculated.

Frank: I would day calculated. Right there is how you have our formula.

In what sense, Frank?

Well, I mean, I approach it artistically. In other words, I get a feeling, and then I approach the feeling. I don’t give that feeling a name and I don’t define it, I just let it be and I keep writing. In time that stuff begins to come into focus, if I’m paying attention. And then it begins to take shape and have a kind of a base. Then I just follow it. I don’t really decide what I’m gonna do. I try to be a true artist that way. I try to be honest with myself, and I think this record just naturally leans to the theme of more love.

Well, as I said earlier, obviously I think we need more and more of that. So, Cindy, to me, your blended vocals are echoes of some other outstanding duos. When I listen to a record in preparing for a conversation like this, I listen to it, like, five times…

Cindy: Yeah!

Frank: Thank you for doing that.

The vocals reminded me of other duos like The Civil Wars – unfortunately no longer together. And then there’s a great record that Pink and singer-songwriter Dallas Green released in 2014 under the name You + Me called Rose Ave.

Cindy: Really? I never heard that. Wow!

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I highly recommend it. It’s really a beautiful record. Frank, let me ask you about the track “Singing On the Telephone,” which has one of my favorite lines on the album: “You might have come from stars/now you’re here in my heart.” Tell me a little bit about this song.

As a writer, I’m coming at it from one point, singer Cindy is coming at it from another point, you know, so I can only speak for myself. It’s a reflection on something lost. Someone lost. Someone very close to one’s heart. I write from personal experience, and it’s just about that, but not lamenting it, but cherishing the fact that of all the billions and billions of people that we have in this world, that that person happened to spend a period of time in your life, and that’s significant. And it’s about not being as much sentimental as it is reflective on the fact that you had something really special. And to hold that in your heart. When someone comes out of nowhere and changes your heart, it’s as if they come from stars.

Cindy, from the singer’s perspective, do you have anything to add?

As Frank said, I’m sort of interpreting his words, where I’m trying to make it my own. So, for me, my dad died, so I think of my dad when I sing that line because we loved to talk to each other, and I just think now he’s in the stars. And now that my brother’s passed away, it works for both of them for me. I love singing that line because I really get to sing it out to them.

Frank: Ooh, boy. That’s beautiful.

So, you guys are both based in Los Angeles. Frank, the brilliant X song aside, how much of  – if any – a role did the city play in the songwriting for the album as a whole?

Well, for me it’s more just Southern California.

So, I’ve argued for years there wouldn’t be a Steve Perry of Journey or a Rod Stewart if not for Sam Cooke. I first heard Rod’s version of “Bring It On Home To Me/You Send Me” in 1974, before I heard Sam’s original. Who suggested covering Cooke?

Frank: Cindy! We’re gonna be moving more in that direction on the next record. She’s the one. She’ll come to me and go, “Here, you need to listen to this Sam Cooke.” And I’ve just been getting so turned on to it. To the rhythms. To the beat. I love it!

Cindy, you have excellent taste!

(Laughs) Oh, thank you, thank you! I start becoming obsessed with sort of periods of time, and we were on the road a lot last year, and so, Sam Cooke was something that just kinda kept me going a lot. I just really dove into it, and I was so excited and obsessed and I said, “We just need to do this!” Even if a million-other people have covered it. I get really excited about finding fun cover songs, and we always try to have one cover, so I just talked him into letting that be the one cover.

Frank: She didn’t have to talk me into too hard (laughs).

Well, from me to you guys, thank you because Sam Cooke is a huge favorite of mine.

Cindy: Yay!

His song “Teenage Sonata” is Steve Perry’s voice. I’ve often said that if Steve Perry is ever gonna come back, it would be great for him to do a whole album of Sam Cooke songs because I think those two voices are very similar.

Cindy: I agree, yeah.

Final question for you guys. So, More Love is the follow up to your 2015 tribute album to the Everly Brothers called It’s Everlys Time!  Every track on this new album clocks in at a very Everly Brothers-like three minutes or so. Frank, how much harder is it to write a three-minute song then, oh say, “Free Bird,” or whatever?

Frank: A lot! And it’s also much more freeing. For me, initially it started with The Byrds, and that’s probably my ultimate all-time go-to. Listen to (1967’s) Younger Than Yesterday. It’s a perfect album, in my opinion, and it clocks in at something like 28 minutes. By the time you get to the end of it, you just want to flip it right over and start again. In the age of digital land, I think going back to the shorter record is way cooler, anyway.

Cindy: Yeah, I agree.

His song “Teenage Sonata” is Steve Perry’s voice. I’ve often said that if Steve Perry is ever gonna come back, it would be great for him to do a whole album of Sam Cooke songs because I think those two voices are very similar.

Cindy: I agree, yeah. It’s more challenging to do it in three minutes, but more satisfying.

Alright guys, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

Cindy: Thank you so much for your time, and it’s great to meet you on the phone, and thanks for doing this.

Frank: Thank you, Jim.