The South Wing

Run Dan Run is Dan McCurry on vocals and keyboard, Ash Hopkins on guitar, Nick Jenkins on drums.

I first met Run Dan Run in Jackson, Mississippi in spring of 2007. I was driving back to the film office from my lunch break, when I glanced at the Rainbow Co-op and saw three unfamiliar, stereotypically scrawny guys in jeans and thrift tees loping across the street. Because I didn’t recognize them right off, I knew they had to be playing somewhere that night. Jackson being what it is, it didn’t take me long to find the show.

Run Dan Run was promoting the (then) recent release of their first full album, Basic Mechanics. The technical precision of Nick’s drumming and the occasional, achingly pretty guitar bits reminded me of old Sunny Day Real Estate. Meanwhile, Dan delivered vague narratives of emotionally awkward experiences in his whispery tenor. Every once and awhile he veered slightly off-pitch, rendering his songs all the more heartbreakingly endearing. Other tunes were poppy and danceable, loaded with catchy hooks and looped keyboards. The show was so much fun that the next night I drove two hours to catch them again in Oxford.

Now with new songs, new arrangements of old songs, and a new EP (27 Coming Street ????? ???? ????? ), Run Dan Run is one of the busiest bands in Charleston. In addition to working with the Hearts and Plugs Art Collective that they helped found, thus far in 2009, Run Dan Run has managed two New York tours (funded by Dan’s full-time gig as a piano teacher), not to mention Nick’s other bands and solo work, his bevy of visual art pursuits and the Brooklyn-based marching troupe, Asphalt Orchestra, that he’s currently involved with. And the band played Ash’s wedding—which means, of course, that (in between tours, I guess), Ash got married. I caught Run Dan Run last month at Lit Lounge. One of the show’s most interesting songs was the acerbic, low-fi “Anonymous Girl”—as yet, unreleased, so keep an ear out.

A quick Q&A with the band:

Q: Where did Run Dan Run come from?

Dan: It really started as a recording project between Nick and myself.  I had a spring break approaching and a few songs I wanted to record.  Nick and I had just done a show together the month before playing songs I had written…[so] we spent a week recording 3 songs.  After that, we needed to figure out what to call it so we could make some EPs …Run Dan Run was created. The Safety EP was released amongst friends.  In the mix of all this, we gave it to Ash to clean up the audio and he was really into it.  Several months and one house show later, we decided to play out as Run Dan Run.  Between January and September 2006, the stew stewed, and our first official (club) show happened at The Map Room in September 2006.  I would say it took as long to make as it does a human baby.

Q: Where do the songs come from?

Dan: ????????? ??????? ??????? ??? They typically come from my attraction to the modern world and its impersonal operational tendencies.  Songs such as “Your Name Escapes Me” and “Withheld Information” deal with this kind of subject matter.  Some songs are more optimistic and deal with life/humanity, such as “The Turnover” and “Points of Departure.”  Some songs are like love songs but from a different angle—”Anonymous Girl” and “Enough for Crimes.”  I really try to write about things that I feel people aren’t writing about.  I try to keep songs open and non-specific specific so that the listener can relate to the song.  If you use a specific name, time, or place, I think you tend to cut listeners out.  To say 1969 to someone who was born in 1989 doesn’t make much sense to me.  But as a collective, I believe we all have generally the same experiences (perhaps on a emotional and general situational level).  I try to write songs in this collective realm we all operate in.

Q: What is the most successful Run Dan Run song?

Ash: It’s hard to say which is your favorite song out of a set of songs that you play all the time with a band… at this point all of them are so burned into my head that I don’t have much perspective.  I think that “Your Name Escapes Me” is the best song Dan has ever written from a purely critical perspective, but my favorite might be “Multi-Colored Lights” because it captures the essence of what it wants to say really well without grasping for it; it gets at the post-modern condition in the same way that “Your Name Escapes Me” does, but in a more freehand collage sort of way as opposed to the tightly balanced formulas of “Your Name Escapes Me”.  I also like “Search Engine” a lot, just because it’s really weird.

Nick: I think the most successful Run Dan Run song is “The Setup: The Blackout” only because it’s my favorite song. It’s also very successful because it is one of those songs that has “stood the test of time” and we have learned to play it in a few different styles and have it continue to have the same spirit…as it is with a lot of Dan’s songs.

Dan: “Your Name Escapes Me” is probably most successful because it’s fairly catchy/poppy.  It seems to always be the one that can move a crowd.  I believe “Wasted Love” is also similar in the same respect because who doesn’t feel like they wasted love on someone?  I believe many of the other songs are also successful but [need to be contemplated over] a few more listens and some hot tea. There seems to be a general consensus in some areas, but I always hear something different from everyone.  My girlfriend’s favorite on “Basic Mechanics” is actually the “Science Intro” instrumental song (track 11).  Some people like things slow, some like it rocking, some like it depressing (that’s me).  But honestly, I would like to believe that they are all successful as they relate to someone.

Q: What projects are coming up?

Dan: I will be doing a year-long covers project that will be called “Cover Me Mondays.”  It will be myself and my piano (mostly) playing covers I like, as well as some requests.  I’ll release one (video) cover a week every Monday beginning on August 3rd for the next year, so 52 covers total, and posting them on youtube.  It’ll be interesting for me because I’ve never spent much time playing covers and I seldom play solo at the piano (or anything).  Having to rethink songs I like and know well will be a challenge and putting them in my own terms is the goal with this project.  I’ll be taking requests after the first few months.  I’ll have a “submission form” on the website.

Other than this project, we’ll be doing some recording.  We haven’t had a proper studio release since Basic Mechanics (2007) so we’re due for an update in the studio… We’re planning on sticking to regional shows for the rest of the year and working on our fan base close to home.

Ash, what are you doing when you’re not playing music? And what’s the best part about married life?

Ash: When I’m not playing music, I never really leave the house.  I spend most of my time on the internet. The internet is primarily a way to engage with the world whilst in one’s pajamas and it’s also the best self-educating tool there is.  I spend as much time as possible watching video lectures, it’s amazing how much content is out there.  You can get several degrees worth of education by just digging around a little bit.  You can also attempt to come to grips with the current state of the world, but that gets pretty frustrating.  Fun!

The best part about married life?   Not being alone.  I don’t think most of us are willing to admit how lonely we are most of the time, and then you get married and realize that the way you were living before was… well, I feel like I was just kidding myself before into thinking I wasn’t lonely.

Nick, What are the five things that give you the most pleasure in life?

Nick: 1. Drawing what is in front of me 2. Listening to music that is so beautiful that I wish I was the one who made it 3. Seeing my family in a good mood 4. Walking with music in my ears 5. Writing music

And, since you’re reading this in the manner that you are, Dan on-the-internet:

Dan: It’s more and more important that a band these days be #1 on the internet than anywhere else…because you’re on the internet (everywhere) 24/7/365.  The internet doesn’t seem to know time or physical boundaries.  It might the answer to immortality…

See More Run Dan Run here.