Music

Murray Lightburn on The Dears and Degeneration Street

by Ciaran Thompson

Before my interview with Dears frontman Murray Lightburn in Montreal, a colleague pointed out how scary she thought he always looked, whether performing on stage or walking down the street. The mental image of Lightburn scowling at the camera like he is in so many band photos (see above) is one many people, even fans, have encountered. As we started talking I mentioned what my friend had said earlier in the day and his response alluded to the type of person Murray Lightburn actually is.

“I think there are prevalent misconceptions about my personality and what it would be like to hang out with me,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this reputation precedes me and in some situations it works and in some situations it doesn’t. Sometimes I’ll use it as a shield and other times I’ll purposely let my guard down if I really want to befriend someone.”

“I do everything in my life at 10 instead of five,” he continued. “I don’t do anything half-assed so I guess that’s the scary part because not everybody lives their life at 10 all the time. If you’re going to have an idea you should see it through, in many aspects of life. Even if you’re cooking dinner. Don’t microwave a fucking Tofu Dog and that’s it. Let’s eat something nice, drink something nice, do something nice.”

Lightburn’s wholeheartedness towards his music career can be witnessed first hand by the amount of lineup changes the band has undergone since forming in the mid ’90s. Currently they have six members and although some include friends of old, the singer/songwriter said he doesn’t plan on changing his approach to anything nor does he foresee himself going anywhere.

“For me personally I expect a lot from people because that’s what I expect from myself, which sounds like a total asshole thing to say and I know it,” he said. “We’ve just recently hit the reset button and we’ll be here for another 15 years easily. I’m in a band now with some of my closest and oldest friends. Our bass player Roberto, we’ve been friends for almost 20 years, which is crazy. That’s what ties us all together and makes the project really fun.”

With four studio albums to their name and another due out in February of next year, along with various EPs and live recordings, Lightburn said the Dears are only now starting to hit their stride in terms of what defines them and are beginning to discover why they and other Canadian bands like Stars are still around and performing today.

“Now we’re really getting into the detail and fine tuning exactly what it is,” he said. “When I look back it’s just funny how we’ve been fairly consistent all the way through. We have a strong identity and that’s important and I think that’s why we’ll be around forever. It’s becoming more and more common that bands will only put out one album and then they’re gone and do something else. You’re kind of finding out who the lifers are.”

“Those guys (Stars) are lifers,” he added. “They’re not doing anything else but that. As long as those motherfuckers are alive they’re going to be Stars. I could never see Stars not existing, which is what I love about them. I also see the Dears as a bit of a duty, that I have to do this. That’s what I was put here to do since day one, I just didn’t know it till I was 28. Once I knew that that’s what my purpose was then I was just like that’s what I’m going to do till I die, I’m going to be the Dears.”

While in Montreal the band set up shop at Santa Cruz Mission Hall where they played their new album entitled Degeneration Street front to back for three consecutive evenings before heading to Toronto a week later to do the same at the Garrison. Currently the band have a couple more shows playing the new record in New York. Lightburn spoke about the recent live shows as well as the album saying it was “probably the least amount of drama making any of our albums.”

“For us it’s pretty exciting, but we’ve also been living with these songs for almost a year,” he said. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like to go and see a show of a band that you’re familiar with all their other material and you hear only new material for an hour, that’s kind of fucked up. I like the idea and I think that’s the kind of music fan that we’ll attract and that we’re attracted to as well.”

Lightburn and his band have built up a huge following from performing worldwide tours to late night talk shows like Letterman. They’ve consistently put out albums that are as emotionally driven as their live performances, drawing in fans looking for an escape, soothing words and musicians dedicated to the music as much as they are.

“If you’re getting into the Dears it’s kind of a bit of an investment, but that’s kind of how it should be,” Lightburn said. “When I was growing up and I was a fan of music…there was so much excitement around going to the store and buying a record and listening to it a fucking million times and learning the chords and going to the shows, reading about them, I loved it.”

“I feel like the supporters that we have out there…there’s definitely a few that are casual, but I would say the core of it is pretty fervent and we’re fervent for them. When you get emails from people that are like ‘this music is saving my life right now,’ I know what that feels like. I know what it feels like to have music save your life and that’s what we’re trying to do I guess in some kind of way without really knowing it. It goes back to doing everything at 10 because you have to see it through, all the way through.”

Photos by Joe Fuda, AUX TV