Interview: Brody Dalle’s New Beginnings, New Album, and Collaborations

What did your collaborators bring to this album that may not have otherwise been present?

I don’t know. That’s a hard question to answer because how would we know what it would sound like without them, you know? Michael Schuman [bassist for Queens of the Stone Age] is one of the best bass players around. His bass line on “Carry On” is just so sick. It’s so cool and different and inventive. That song would be drastically different if he hadn’t played bass on it.

His band-mate from Mini Mansions, Tyler [Parkford] played piano. He played the chords I gave him but he did this cool Liberace thing in there with the scale. So that song would sound really different without them on it.

“Meet The Feotus” wouldn’t be the same without Shirley [Manson of Garbage], Emily [Kokal of Warpaint] and my vocals mashed together in this ethereal choir at the end.

Was it a blast to record “Meet The Feotus” with Shirley Manson and Emily Kokal?

They couldn’t make it together on the same day. So I got to hang out with them individually, which I do with Shirley a lot anyway, but it was really fun. I had never hung out with her in that kind of setting in the studio where we were working together. I just love both those women. They’re just incredible. Really cool, special women.

You weave in and out of punk rock with this record. What’s encouraging you to experiment?

What’s the saying: “if you stay the same you die,” don’t you? You have to evolve. I don’t think about it. You’re only hearing these records, it’s five records now, when they’re done and finished. You don’t see or hear the editing or the process of it. Where I’m in my room, in the studio and I’m tinkering, or I’m in my car and things are changing and I’m going in this direction or that direction, until I get to the finished song. There is a whole process of experimenting going on.

Did you like the experience of producing the album?

Yeah, absolutely. I really enjoy that aspect of it. I’ve always had a hand in producing, but not like this. This is different. The way the record sounds is mostly Alain [Johannes], but we did it together. When the possibilities are endless, it just gets really exciting.

Do you feel like Diploid Love signifies a new beginning for you?

I think the last eleven years of my life I really felt like I’ve been through the ringer. I came out and I feel strangely, more in-tact, more in-tune, and more inside of myself, you know? I’m more present, than I ever have before. It’s only natural that it would come across like that. It’s real. I’m having more fun playing than I ever did in The Distillers, ever.

Catch Brody Dalle at Festival d’été de Quebec this summer on July 10th on the historic Plains of Abraham. Buy your tickets here.