Daniel Lidén : I read that Woven Hand came about, basically because your band mates in 16 Horsepower, Mr Tola and Mr Humbert, wanted some time off while you wanted to keep being active musically. Is this correct?

David Eugene Edwards : Yeah in a way. 16 Horsepower had been touring for 8 years… like non-stop, you know, summer, winter… and all of us have families, wives & children. Jean-Yves has a horse business. He raises horses. And his wife was kind of taking care of it. But it was too much for her, so he had to go deal with that. And Pascal was building a house and yeah… we just needed time.
Both of them have other ways of making money, other than playing music and I don't, so I had to keep playing. I just started to write songs of my own and I just planned to play small shows around Colorado, where I live, just to keep playing and keep making money and it just kind of turned into something bigger. Made a record and it did okay, so we toured for it. I just found some friends in Denver that I could play with. And many things happened one after the other where it just kept going and going and going. So yeah, that's how it started.

DL: Did the songs on the first Woven Hand album already exist and were meant for 16 Horsepower or did you start writing material for what you knew would be a new band?

DEE: No, I wrote them all during this period.

DL : In Woven Hand you write the songs, often play all the instruments -and- produce. Is producing something you enjoy or do you just feel you haven't met someone you feel will do a better job?

DEE : Well, I don't really think about it as I'm the producer. I mean when we finish the record and I'm making the credits I have to say "Who produced the record? I guess I did", you know? But I don't think about it, I just make the music and then I make it sound how I want to and arrange it how I want it, and I guess that is producing. But I don't consider myself a producer.
I think it would be difficult for me to have someone else, to be able to communicate what I want. I've worked with producers before and it's always difficult even if you like what they do and you trust them, it's still difficult to communicate what you want, so sometimes you just have to let them do what they do - you have to trust them of course. And also, they cost a lot of money [laughs], so why spend this money if I feel like I can do it myself. So I just do it myself.

DL : Ever felt you couldn't quite get a song like you had visualized it in your head? Like there was just something missing but you couldn't put your finger on it?

DEE : Well, I'm always at the point where I'm happy with what I've done and I finish it. Then I listen to it maybe one week later, two weeks later and... I don't like it anymore [laughs], you know what I mean? But during the process I usually work it out till I'm happy at that time. I don't put something out that I'm not happy with at the time, but later on I will always be unhappy with it.

DL : Is there any particular producer/artist you've always wanted to collaborate with?

DEE : Uhm, no, well… producer, the only one I really like is Brian Eno, I think he's fantastic. I like everything he does and that would be fantastic to work with him. But other than that I really don't know any producers that really stick out in my mind and that I'd wanna work with.
The producers I've worked with in the past, I really liked - Warren Bruleigh with 16 Horsepower and John Parish, they were both great to work with. But as far as people to make music with, usually it's just people that I meet. People, not people that are well established, just people that I meet; on the road, people in bands, just people that I meet and have a friendship with and I like what they do. More like that.

DL : Now when you write songs, do you write songs with one band in mind or do you just write and then see which band it fits best?

DEE : I'm always kind of writing and I don't really say "Okay, this is gonna be for Woven Hand, this is gonna be for 16 Horsepower". I don't separate it like this, it's just who ever I'm recording with at the time. Whatever I have, gets used for that. I never save something, say for 16 Horsepower, save something for Woven Hand. Whoever I'm working with, the music goes to that.

DL : When it comes to lyrics, is it important to you they get interpreted the way you meant them when writing or are you open to people interpreting them freely and finding their own meaning in them? Making them their own, so to speak.

DEE : Well -I- don't even know what I mean a lot of times so that's too hard to say. And everyone interprets them differently. I get many mails from people and they're upset about a certain lyric or they're very happy about a certain lyric for a certain reason and you know. I try to be responsible with my lyrics and not just like blab my mouth off and I try to take care with my lyrics, but I can't control how people will respond.

DL : Okay, but I was thinking more about the fact that some lyricists actually get upset when people interpret their lyrics differently from what they had in mind when writing them.

DEE : I mean it's… within one song maybe the first sentence and the second sentence have nothing do to with each other, nothing to do. But at the end after the song is finished it becomes something, becomes something else and maybe when I listen to the song a year later it means something different to me, so it changes.

DL : Any particular countries you prefer touring? Do you ever get the chance to actually see the countries you play in?

DEE : Yeah, fortunately I've been able to spend a bit of time in each of the countries.

DL : I read somewhere that you really like Belgium?

DEE : Well, in Belgium I have a lot of friends. I was just there for two weeks and stayed at different peoples houses. It's very comfortable for me there. But it's also very comfortable for me in Scandinavia as well. I have some good friends in Norway… and yeah… I love to play Scandinavia.

DL : Ah good, please do keep coming back.

DEE : Yeah, I really like it. And certain countries are more difficult, like Germany or even France. Paris is always good but outside of Paris it's very difficult for us. I mean, difficult in the sense that you have to keep going back and touring and touring and touring so people will know who you are, because you don't get played on the radio or on the television. So it's just touring, touring, touring… .

DL : When it comes to playing live, do you prefer large or smaller venues?

DEE : It depends. I mean, I've had good shows in huge venues - 6000 people or something and then I've had bad shows at this type of thing as well and then the same in a small club. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad. So, it doesn't really matter to me if it's a big crowd or a small crowd.

DL : From my own experience I prefer small venues, it's easier to get that intimate vibe -which I like- in smaller venues.

DEE : Yeah it is. But sometimes I like to play a big hall where everyone is sitting down. I just played a show in Belgium and it was in this huge opera house and the people were very far removed, up in the seats and I liked it, I enjoyed it. I just think it has a different attitude, a different feeling. It's less intimate but at the same time it's a different experience for the people and for me. We just played in Berlin, very small place and people were right in front of me and that was fantastic as well.

DL : I kind of feel stared at when playing larger venues.

DEE : Yeah… Well, and I spit a lot when I sing, so if they're standing too close… [laughs]

DL : Yeah well, that can happen. [laughs]

DEE : [laughs] Yeah.

DL : Any plans to release the Ultima Vez performances on DVD?

DEE : Yeah, not the performances, but they've made a movie of the Blush programme and it's not filmed directly from the stage, it's on locations all over the world really and we're in it and playing live certain moments and also we're just kind of acting as well within the movie, but that comes out next year… I think?

DL : The next 16 HORSEPOWER album, is there any material written?

DEE : Yeah well, I mean I have already started to write some lyrics and I know the other guys are writing some music and we plan to get together next month for maybe a week or something and then in February again and just whenever we have time to get together. But we plan on recording again.