Feature Interview: Into the Abyss with Deep Sea Diver

Deep Sea Diver // June 17, 2009 // The Black Sheep // Colorado Springs, CO

The lovely and talented Jessica Dobson almost stole the show with her project, Deep Sea Diver. Her music has a light and cheery feel, with undertones of grunge rock. Dobson has a fantastic melodic voice which carries over the guitar. I’d liked the album version of her work, but was doubly impressed by the live set. Jessica has a dynamic stage presence, which the crowd really responded to, and her compelling sound is completely filled out by the talented musicians who back her.

Last year, Jessica Dobson went on tour with Beck as a guitarist. This was followed up by her EP, New Caves, which she released as Deep Sea Diver. We really hope to see a full length album from the project soon. Keep an eye on Ms. Dobson; you’ll definitely be seeing her around (and go see a show if you can; the performance is captivating).

Before her show opening for Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band, Jessica answered some questions for me:

Why did you choose the name Deep Sea Diver and what does it mean to you?

Deep Sea Diver was actually the name of a song that is now called New Caves. I wrote it when I was up in Seattle. For a long time, I had been going under my name, Jessica Dobson, and after awhile I just ended up not liking the ring of my own name for what I was doing as a band. I guess it was just a solo project for so long then I just desired to play with other people. So, Deep Sea Diver was the name of a song and I decided that sounded good. As far as the importance of the meaning, I don’t know. It’s a little bit tied to my childhood in terms of a story that I heard when I was very young about the very, very old school deep sea divers who would put on those incredibly heavy suits and just kind of dive into the abyss however many thousands of feet and literally risk their lives because they didn’t know how far it would go. There’s something a little bit dark about it and mysterious and I think it fits the music quite well.

What is your favorite part of being a musician?
I would have to say being able to use it in so many different fashions, whether it is just playing with my friends. I live in Long Beach and I live around a lot of musicians who are out on the road a lot. It is just the different situations you can be in with the music, whether it is playing out on the road with a friend, writing a song with a friend, playing a song for my mother, or playing on stage. The fun never stops, I guess.

How would you describe your music?
I think that actually the song New Caves fits that very well in the terms of in a cave you walk in and unless you have an insanely powered light you’re not going to be able to see farther than a couple feet in front of you. I think it’s adventurous. I like the mystery of the music, of not giving too much away.

Tell me about your EP.
What’s fun about the EP is that it was recorded half in Seattle with Phil Eck who did The Shins, Modest Mouse, and Built To Spill records. He just brought so much to the table on it. The other half was recorded with a friend of mine, Matt Wignall, who did the Cold War Kids stuff. I was a bit afraid of it sounding like completely separate recordings, but somehow it worked out where it just sounded extremely cohesive. Also, the reality of it is that I had to wait a couple years to put something out because I was tied to a label that wouldn’t let me release anything, so there are a few years that these songs have been sitting, some of them, there’s a couple new ones. The New Caves EP is such a blessing because I got off a label and I finally got to do something of my own. I self released it and I’m really proud of it.

How hard or easy has it been for you to get media exposure?
Doing things on your own is always going to present a ton of problems because there’s only one of me and only so much I can do during the day. The band really helps out, but what’s really been of help is that I played guitar for Beck on tour and that was a definite boost. Just hearing back from people that saw me with Beck that came to my EP release show. Beck fans are extremely loyal. The most loyal are the Japanese fans. They already knew who I was when I went over there and played with Beck and my own band, Deep Sea Diver. They’re so cute. They send these darling Facebook and MySpace messages. Somehow they find every personal page I have on the interweb. I’m looking forward to becoming more business savvy and finding the right publicist and getting the right manager and all of that.

Do you ever get nervous before performing?
I’ve never really had a nervous bone in my body. Since I was a kid, I was just kinda always running wild. It’s more in the middle of the set if I feel like something is…something has to be feeling pretty wrong for me to get nervous. I get pretty excited to play. Especially on tours like this. I thought I was going to get nervous with Beck. It’s really not numbers that makes me nervous. What has made me nervous is that if there was somebody there that I thought was cute, but that’s out of the equation because I’m taken now.

What have you been listening to lately?
Lately, I can’t stop listening to Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Definitely his cover record, Kicking Against the Pricks. I just got Echo & The Bunnymen‘s Crocodiles on vinyl, that’s an amazing record and definitely a heavy influence of mine. My drummer Evan [Trine] plays Dr. Dog nonstop in the van. I love those boys, but I don’t think I can go another week listening to them. I love Dr. Dog. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them many times on the road.

If you could go on tour with any band, who would it be?
It is a pleasure to be on tour with Conor [Oberst]. I would love to go out with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I just think Karen O’s a badass. The Walkmen, my friends Delta Spirit. I haven’t toured with them yet. We’ve played a handful of shows together. I’d love to go out with Cold War Kids.

What is your favorite film?
8 1/2 by [Federico] Fellini as of right now. I saw that last year and I couldn’t believe that nobody had told me or that I was so ignorant of Fellini’s films. I’ve pretty much seen every one now. He’s such a mastermind. I can’t say enough about that film.

What about book?
My favorite book is East of Eden by [John] Steinbeck.

What do you do with your time when it isn’t music?
When I’m not playing, I’m giving lessons or something else. I have a motorcycle. I bought a 1964 Honda Dream and it was fully renovated and I got it for dirt cheap. It was an old man who was taking ballroom dancing lessons on a whim and he needed money to take the lessons, so he decided to sell his newly renovated classic motorcycle and I took it off his hands for a good price. I’ve been riding that and I just got a sweet helmet. We were touring in Europe and everybody had these MOMO Helmets and those are so fresh. It’s kind of funny, driving on PCH and seeing all these kind of burly Harley dudes. My motorcycle’s pretty small and you wouldn’t think I’d get any respect from the chopper riding boys, but they’re always like, “I used to have one of those when I was eighteen.” So they’re very friendly to me.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
We’re working on an album, a full length. The New Caves EP just came out on iTunes, which is cool. I’m excited to play the shows apart from Conor as well. Look at the tour itinerary and come and see us!

You can find Deep Sea Diver on MySpace and iTunes.

[We have a copy of New Caves autographed by Jessica Dobson for giveaway. Comment with your e-mail address and you'll be entered for the drawing.]