Interview and photos by Scott Preston
One of the most fun and entertaining bands in Cincinnati , The Screaming Mimes will be releasing their latest cd titled “Tragedy Comic” on January 18, 2008 at The Southgate House in Newport, KY. The Screaming Mimes have assembled hundreds of hours of interview footage, live clips, and special behind-the-scenes & making-of segments for a spectacular video presentation. Their song “Super Dave”, which can now be heard in Cincy Groove’s Audio Lounge along with their song “More than Ever”.
Dave Storm (lead vocals and guitar) took some time out of his busy schedule to fill us in on whats going on in the world of the Screaming Mimes:
Cincy Groove: Where was the Screaming Mimes first show?
Dave Storm:Screaming Mimes first played at Head First in the Fall of 2002. We were really loud and the barmaid hated that she couldn’t talk to the regulars over us.
Cincy Groove: Do you remember the first song you played?
Dave Storm:I remember when we first work jamming together, full band, we played songs like “TV”, “Wedding Day” and “Man On The Phone”. Those were the songs that I’d brought to the band already written…
Cincy Groove: How did the Screaming Mimes first get together?
Dave Storm:Preston, Randy and myself worked together in 1997 at a local production house, doing corporate videos and commercials. During downtime I would bring in my guitar and eventually we started jamming on a couple of XTC songs we all liked. Then I showed them some of my originals and they really liked them. We knew we like hanging out and we had similar taste in music.
Flash forward past a few acoustic shows and we decide to get a drummer and plug in… this would be Spring of 2002. Jim answered the ad on cincymusic.com (RIP) and we immediately rehearsed and recorded a 7 song demo that summer. From that we got a lot of positive press & started gigging. Jim left the band for a couple years to pursue some other musical interests and we bounced around between drummers until he came to his senses and rejoined.
Cincy Groove: Whats the bands writing process like?
Dave Storm:I write the majority of the material, although we all have a hand in arranging it. Typically I’m driven by two things – melody and a good idea. The lyrics have to have something fresh to say, even if it’s just a different perspective on something relationship-based that’s been done a thousand times before, for example. How the song turns out, and if it’s something we haven’t tried before, determines if it gets presented to the other guys in the band.
On our last album everyone had a hand in writing sections of “Twister” and some lyrics as well on another song. We’re working more and more on developing the jams we do into songs as well, which is really cool.
Cincy Groove: So I take it you are a fan of Super Dave Osborne?
Dave Storm:Huge fan. He used to be on HBO a lot in the summer of my youth and I’d always try to catch his bits along with Not Necessarily The News. He was a great over-confident oaf… very funny stuff. I didn’t realize his brother was Albert Brooks, another genius. That full-of-himself attitude and inevitable physical harm informed a lot of the lyrics of “Superdave”
I was thrilled when he was on Arrested Development… thanks to my wife for turning me onto that show.
Cincy Groove: I understand you made video for the song “Super Dave”, how did that go? how long did it take?
Dave Storm:It’s in-progress… we did the filming for it on November 3rd, which was such a blast. A lot of good friends in the video production community pitched in to make sure we had a top-class shoot. We danced around in front of the camera like rubes for several hours. Preston it editing the whole thing on a concept he and I came up with, sort of an animated comic book. Andrew Kauervane is working on this incredible animation for it – it’s hilarious. We’ll mix it together with the live action and hopefully have it out next month. You can read about the shoot on our blog here:
Making of Super Dave the video
Cincy Groove: Whats the story behind the title of your latest cd “Tragedy Comic”?
Dave Storm:This album turned out a lot more personal than the last one, and seemed pretty split between happy and sad songs, in the most simple terms. I kept thinking that half the album contradicts the other half and pulling that thread led me to a lot of opposite terms. “Tragedy Comic” seemed to suggest a lot of different things, like contrast, drama, theater, pulp comics, silliness, heartbreak… which pretty much covers the themes of the CD.
Cincy Groove: What do you do when you are not playing music?
Dave Storm:I work for the Cincinnati Reds, which is awesome. I spend a lot of time with my family. When I have some free time that’s not taken up by those things, I paint, write, garden or work on the never-ending project that is home ownership. I love entropy!
Cincy Groove: I see you have done some voice over work, where has your voice appeared?
Dave Storm:My proudest project was something I worked on with Randy back in 1998 – those Silly Slammers made by Gibson Greetings. They were little plush toys and they had a sound chip in them and if you threw them against the wall they screamed or said something goofy. I probably did the voices for 80% of those. It was such a thrilling moment going into a toy store and hearing those.
Beyond that you’ll hear my voice and music at every Bengals & Reds game, lots of commercials on air… but I won’t tell you which ones, I don’t want to break the illusion.
You can get your very own copy of the cd “Tragedy Comic” at cdbaby.com – http://cdbaby.com/cd/screamingmimes2
Screaming Mimes CD Release Party
1.18.2008
Southgate House
24 E 3rd St.
Newport, KY 41071
859-431-2201
9:30pm show
http://www.screamingmimes.com
