See our other photos from the show: Day 1
On Thatās the Price of Loving Me, āWeāre Not Finished Yetā is a love letter to Warehamās 1968 Gibson ES-335.
The singer-songwriter, 61, has crafted many such momentsāmost famously during the late ā80s and early ā90s, helping cement the dream-pop genre with cult-favorites Galaxie 500. Take the tenor saxophone, by Ralph Carney, that elevates the back half of āDecomposing Treesā from 1989ās On Fire, or the Mellotron-like atmosphere that bubbles up during āSpookā on This Is Our Music from 1990āboth of which, notably, were recorded with journeyman producer Kramer, whoās part of Warehamās rich sonic universe once again with the songwriterās new solo album, Thatās the Price of Loving Me.
Following This Is Our Music, the final Galaxie 500 album, Wareham and Kramer went their separate ways. The former founded the long-running indie-rock band Luna, formed the duo Dean & Britta with now-wife Britta Phillips, worked on film scores, and released a handful of solo projects. Kramer, meanwhile, grew into a hero of experimental music, playing with and producing everyone from John Zorn to Daniel Johnston. They stayed in touch, even as they drifted apart geographically, and always talked about working together againābut it took the weight of mortality to make it happen.
ā[Kramer has] been saying for years, āItās crazy we havenāt made a record together,āā says Wareham over Zoom, his shimmering silver hair flanked in the frame by a wall-hung cherry red Gibson SG and a poster of Rainer Werner Fassbinderās 1975 drama Faustrecht der Freiheit. āHe was living in Florida, and I was living elsewhere and doing other things. But I did lose a couple of friends over the pandemic, and it did occur to me, you canāt just say, āIāll get to itā forever. Not to be morbid, but weāre not gonna be here forever. Weāre not getting any younger, are we?ā
Dean Wareham's Gear
Wareham was a member of the early indie dream-pop trio Galaxie 500. After their split, he formed indie rock stalwarts Luna as well as Dean & Britta, with wife and Luna bandmate Britta Phillips.
Photo by Laura Moreau
Guitars
Amps
- Lazy J 20
- Mesa/Boogie California Tweed
Effects
- EAE Hypersleep reverb
- EAE Sending analog delay
- Dr Scientist Frazz Dazzler fuzz
- Danelectro Back Talk
- Joe Parker Raydeen overdrive
Strings, Picks, and Accessories
- Curtis Mangan nickel wounds (.010ā.046)
- Dunlop Nylon .88 mm picks
- Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS12
In 2020, Dean & Britta recorded a covers album, Quarantine Tapesāthe perfect opportunity, amid the agony of lockdown, to finally get Kramer involved. The producer mixed their hazy version of the Seekersā āThe Carnival Is Over,ā which planted the seeds for a bigger collaboration on Thatās the Price of Loving Me. At first, though, Wareham didnāt have any songs, so he gave himself a hard deadline by booking some time at L.A. studio Lucyās Meat Market.
āWhat is it in a song that makes people cry? What is it that moves you? Itās something unexpected.ā
āI donāt write songs every dayāsometimes I donāt write songs for a whole year or something,ā he says with a laugh. āThe only thing that gets me to do it is booking studio time. Then I have to write some songs because itāll be embarrassing if I show up with nothing.ā
The space itselfādecked out with a jaw-dropping amount of vintage guitars and amplifiers and keyboardsāhelped animate his sleepy-eyed and gently psychedelic songs. āI thought I had a few nice instruments,ā Wareham says, ābut I showed up, like, āOh, your Les Paulās from 1955? I think Iāll play this one. Your Martin is from the ā40s?āā Speed and spontaneity were essential: They worked six full days, with Kramer guiding him to capture every performance without overthinking it.
Warehamās latest was produced by Kramer, a former member of Shockabilly, Bongwater, and the Butthole Surfers who owns the legendary underground label Shimmy-Disc. He produced all three Galaxie 500 LPs.
ā[Thatās] how I worked with Kramer back in the day too,ā he recalls. āMaybe it kinda spoiled meāhe was always like, āYep, thatās it. Next!ā I got lazy about going back and redoing things. Weād make the decision and move on: keep that drum track and bass track. Maybe Britta [bass, backing vocals] would change a few things. Sometimes youāre with people who think every single thing should be replaced and made perfect, and you donāt actually have to do that. When it came time for me to overdub a guitar solo or something, Kramer would just allow me two takes generally: āDo it again a little differently. Thatās it. Thatās good.āā
āI thought I had a few nice instruments, but I showed up, like, āOh, your Les Paulās from 1955? I think Iāll play this one.āā
The material itself allowed for such malleability, with ringing chord progressions and gentle melodies often influenced by the musicians who happened to be gathered around him that day. āYou Were the Ones I Had to Betrayā has the baroque-pop sweetness of late-ā60s Beatles, partly due to the sawing cellos of L.A. session player Gabe Noel, who also added some boomy bass harmonica to the climax. āItās an instrument youād mostly associate with the Beach Boys, I guess,ā Wareham says. āIt kinda sounds like a saxophone or something.ā
Wareham, his 335, and Mesa/Boogie California Tweed at a recent Luna show, with bassist Britta Phillips in the background.
Photo by Mario Heller
Itās easy to get wrapped up in the warm hug of these arrangements, but itās also worth highlighting Warehamās lyricsāwhether itās the clever but subtle acrostic poetry of āThe Mystery Guestā (āIād never done that before, and itās not that hard to do actually. Sometimes itās just to give yourself a strange assignment to get yourself thinking in a different wayā) or the hilarity of āWeāre Not Finished Yet,ā which scans as carnal but is actually a love letter to his semi-recently acquired 1968 Gibson ES-335.
āSometimes itās just to give yourself a strange assignment to get yourself thinking in a different way.ā
āI read this poem about a guy polishing an antique wooden cabinet or something,ā Wareham explains. āI thought, āThatās funnyāitās vaguely sexual, how heās like rubbing this thing.ā I thought it would be funny if I wrote a song not about a piece of furniture but about the guitarāthe experience of buying this. The lyrics in there: āI waxed you; I rubbed you; I reamed you.ā It all sounds like a dirty song, but itās like, āNo, I had to get the peg holes reamed!ā It works kind of as a love song, but thatās what itās really about.ā
Which brings us back to that idea of the unexpected. The most beautiful touches on Loving Me, crafted with his olā producer pal, are the ones that appear out of nowhereālike the blossoming guitar overdubs of āNew World Julieā and āDear Pretty Baby.ā Kramer, he says, liked to ārun two or three guitar tracks at once, where it becomes a symphony of guitars.ā
These surprises, indeed, are the moments that stick with you.
YouTube It
Lunaās four-song performance on KEXP showcases Dean Warehamās sparse, low-key indie rock vibe as well as his simple and sweet guitar embellishments.
