Interview: David Drake extends a hand to a burning skyline

David Drake paddles across the water. The lake’s surface is like so many million diamonds scattered across time and space. Sharp rays bounce to the rocky shoreline and penetrate the eyelids, yet there’s such a tranquility you get lost in blissful rejuvination and don’t really notice. Drake’s “Touch the Burning Sky,” co-written with Michael Wolpe, takes flight into the ether, in much the same way as Harry Style’s “Sign of the Times,” lingering on the soul-depleted exhaustion and desperation of mankind. Each song snapshots the there and now, but it’s Drake’s eyeline that is most haunted.

“Close your eyes, touch the burning sky,” he sings. Considering the West Coast’s skyline is literally a fiery hellscape this week, such a song feels prescient, apocalyptic, and devastating. “I think somewhere I lost my way / I think I lost the words to say,” the singer-songwriter continues his sandy warble. He could certainly be speaking on a much larger scale; perhaps humanity has, indeed, lost its way, and he’d be totally right. “Perhaps it is a sky in turmoil because it’s not being fully understood,” he offers an explanation of the song to B-Sides & Badlands over email. “Or a sky wrought with the most beautiful and majestic colorings…. like a sky on fire.”

Drake painst with a classic brush, musically swiping through throwback textures and color palettes. And in that way, “Touch the Burning Sky” feels irresistibly timeless, as he tugs the listener into an ambient, rose-colored blackhole. “I am very proud of the idea of putting something with reverence and scope far beyond myself out there. If it means more today to someone, then it is a success,” he says. “As the artist, my emotion is wrapped up in the creation. Now that its out, I would hope that it moves others, emotionally.”

“Touching the Burning Sky” anchors Drake’s forthcoming solo debut, Imaginary Movies, a vignette-sewn collection ripped from real-life stories. “I’ve lived a bit at this point. I’m probably older than most artists releasing their first solo record. So, I was able to pull from a lot of deep places and depths that I have traveled,” Drake explains of the record. “The concept definitely led to an ability to dig as deep as possible, emotionally and intellectually. At the end of the day, it’s music, though. So hopefully, there is a surface level enjoyable factor, as well. That can even be the hardest part to capture, but I think it’s there.”

Below, Drake discussess his fixation with nature, songwriting, the world’s tired state, and his classical background.

Having mounted two alt-rock outfits in the early ’10s. What led you to go solo? And what’s that journey been like in defining not only your sound but who you are as a person?

Really it just became easier to work alone. I have always been the primary songwriter in all of my bands. So at this point, conceptually, I had an idea and did not feel the need to have other cooks in the kitchen. That being said, I do have talented friends that played on it and helped form what the record is. I just needed to be the only musical director and songwriter at this point. It’s always tough in bands, and I never was lucky enough to find one that jelled on a profound level.

A classic background in Beethoven and Mozart certainly lends itself to this kind of sweeping, cinematic kind of music. What freedom have you found over the years in dabbling in pop and rock music? Does it give you a kind of energy that classical does not?

Yes, they both have a unique energy. Classical music has a compositional depth that Rock and Pop could never have. But in Rock music you can use your own voice and combine poetry to soundscapes and interesting rhythms. I’m no opera singer so a voice in classical music isn’t an option for me. Taking a classical approach to rock can really open up the arrangements on a five-chord progression. I think that is why there are so many profound British bands. A lot of them tend to combine American blues/rock with classical arrangements.

Have you always been so transfixed by nature?

Indeed, I have. As a child, it was perhaps more a way of life than a choice. I grew up in Michigan and my grandparents had a home on a lake in the north. My grandfather was the type of man who liked to live off the land, so he had his own garden and would often hunt and fish for food. I would spend a lot of time up there with him and was taught the ways of the land. After high school I moved to California, which is definitely a nature lovers paradise. During this time, I was a pretty avid reader, and I was especially interested in books and poetry that were philosophical. Stories like Walden, or poetry by Arthur Rimbaud and Walt Whitman. My cousins have some land outside of Tahoe which is one of the most beautiful places I’ve known.

I can recall an evolutionary moment where my depth of understanding of nature occurred around this time, near their property. It was the first time I had magic mushrooms in a valley aptly named “Pleasant Valley” by Mt. Raymond in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I’m not a proponent of drug use. In fact, I have seen it ruin many people’s lives. But occasionally, in the right circumstances, I do believe that psychedelic drugs can enhance your understanding and depth of field. I felt connected to the Earth on a deeper level. I felt rooted like the trees, and my blood was flowing with the river by my side. The clouds were majestic pink monuments of the heavens, and the mountains were gasping for air. From that point on, I have looked at nature in a slightly different way. I am always open to seeing the interconnections between human life, my life, and the natural world.

How has nature itself been a conduit for understanding for you?

We are nature. Our consciousness is interconnected and driven by this world and its natural form. I believe that nature can work through you, as you work through it. It is a symbiotic relationship and needs to be respected.

Do you find it means even more these days?

Personally, I’m not really sure that these days matter more. I tend to think that we are getting affected at a more intense level because we are affecting at a more intense level. The human population being higher than ever is certainly one cause.

It seems we are truly fighting a “man against nature” battle right now. Where do we go from here?

I tend to think that nature is going to show us where we have to go eventually. We will listen or be forced to listen. I have a song that has the lyric “Send the fear into the future / The one that we won’t have to see.” There’s a lot of that going on now. At some point, economic consequence will be meaningless as we stare into the eye of the storm.

How did you arrive on an album called Imaginary Movies, in which you piece together various vignettes (from WWII to Shakespeare to Van Gogh, etc)?

‘Imaginary Movies’ has multiple meanings to me. I grew up in a household that was always interested in film. As a family, we talked about movie concepts, and in fact, my brother has written a number of screenplays. I grew up watching a lot of classic films and probably much younger than I should have. But more importantly, I named the album ‘Imaginary Movies’ because each song plays out as a particular vignette, as you say. I picked a group of nine songs where the stories were very strong and painted distinct, vivid pictures. For instance, the WWII song is about my grandfather’s real life story when he was in a German prison camp in 1944 and made to walk 330 miles across Poland in the middle of winter. And yes, there is a love story that is tragic and sacrificial like a Shakespearean tale. And there is a song about Vincent and his love affair with the Moon.

Did you come to any greater appreciations through making this record?

Sure. I came to appreciate modern technology more. I was able to get great analogue sounds with only a few key pieces of outboard gear into a DAW. This enabled me to produce and engineer the record myself. I came to appreciate being open to key advice from some very wise friends of mine. I came to appreciate hard work and a dedication to a craft, without expectations. I also appreciate every single fan of the songs more. It’s not about some mass sweeping success. And It’s not about me and some therapeutic way to log my emotions. Its about that person that hears it and feels connected. They want to dive in to the deep water and find the hidden treasures. You can hope that happens many times over, but even if its just a handful of times, it was all worth it.

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