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Meric Long is the lead singer and guitarist of the two-person indie band, The Dodos. On March 6, he performed a sold-out show at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall. I was able to interview Meric before his show about touring, the inspiration behind his newest album called Individ, and what it’s like to be experiencing The Dodos’s ten years as a band.
Pearl: What’s your favorite part about being on tour so far?
Meric: Just playing shows every night. It’s been a really good tour. It’s been consistently really good shows. I get to shut of my brain for the time I’m on tour. It’s fun.
P: You’ve been a part of this band for a decade now. How has it been like to be a part of this band and making music for so long?
M: It’s good. I never thought or pictured that we would be playing for this long. I’m not looking at how much time has passed. It’s been my job for the last six years. It’s been rewarding. Hard at times, but it lasted longer than expected.
P: Have there been any memorable milestones for you during your career?
M: There have been some pinch me moments, like when we got to play on David Letterman a couple of times. And we got to play some big festivals and things like that. But I think that some of the lasting events that occur are the records that we make. Just being able to look back and being able to sort of document life in the last ten years by the different records that we’ve made as a band. Each record is a sort of bench mark of where I was at at that point in my life, where we were as a band.
P: Do you remember all of the thoughts and emotions that you felt while making each album?
M: Yeah definitely. Making records are like real snapshots. I definitely remember making an album more than actual shows.
P: Has it always been your dream to have a career in music?
M: Yeah. It’s sort of changed over the years. When I was younger, I just wanted to be in a band. And then I wanted to be in a band and tour. Once that happened, I wanted to be able to live off of it. And now it’s become more like wanting to make records that are really good. So far, that’s been the continuous goal.
P: Your newest album called Individ recently came out. What was your creative process like during the making of the album?
M: It was a lot of fun. It was marked by a lot of energy and a lot of fun. There has been some records that were sort of more like work and tougher to get through. While making this album, there was no moment that was moving very slowly. Ideas were coming really fast. I could just feel the energy. There was no part where we had to search for the inspiration.
P: Do you have a favorite song from your new album?
M: Probably the last song on the record. Pattern/ Shadow is probably the one I’m most proud of. I think it’s different from our other songs. And it was sort of a song that I had in my head. I had an idea for these different parts, but I didn’t know if it would work. It goes from one thing to the next. It ended up working, but I’ve had my doubts whether those different parts would come together.
P: Do you ever think about what the future will hold for the band?
M: Yeah, I think about it all the time. I don’t really have an answer to that, but we’re going to finish this tour, I’m going to write some more, and we’ll see how it goes. There was never a ten year plan for this band. It was always year by year. This year we’re touring, we’ll have to see what the next year will bring.
If you liked the interview with Meric, I’d definitely recommend that you check out the band’s music as well. Also check out this fun video by The Dodos for their song “Competition”. You’ll see that the band members are not only good with their instruments, but also surprisingly good at dancing.
(Photos taken by Pearl Shin)
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