Larry O. Dean, the irrepressible rocker-poet, has a new album entitled Gentrification is Theft coming out this month with his new band The Me Decade. A veteran indie-pop performer, Dean has played both solo and with bands such as the Fussbudgets, Post Office and Malcontent, releasing 14 albums on top of numerous volumes of poetry. When it comes to this artist first impressions can be trusted: Dean is literate, humorous and most importantly, prolific.

Beginning in San Francisco, Dean cut his teeth and established himself as a creator of fine solo acoustic and avant-garde rock. With a style comparable to such divergent musicians as Neil Young, XTC and Jonathan Richman, Dean finds himself currently in the windy city of Chicago working as a paralegal by day and plying his art by night. His tours are impressive whirlwinds of readings and musical gigs.

Larry O. Dean talked with me recently regarding his creative process, the value of a college education and those two most important muses: coffee and Flint, Michigan.

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Cosmik: Larry O. Dean, thanks for giving this interview. First off, how many cups of coffee do you consume on any given day?

Larry: Is it really that obvious? Or are there enough caffeine references sandwiched between lyric lines, poetic stanzas and stray thoughts as to be impossible to miss? To answer, anywhere from -- oh, 4-5 is normal. I'm an irascible coffee addict, but it's as much the social and sensual aspect of drinking it as the pick-me-up aspect I enjoy ... in fact, more the former than the latter. I can drink coffee (and often do) right before bed and it doesn't affect me. Blame my high school teachers; when I was just getting accustomed to coffee's sweet allure, they looked the other way when I would sneak into the teachers' lounge to drink their far superior potted stash. Oh, coffee! But I digress.

Cosmik: You're a successful poet as well as musician. Talk about your approach to creating music and verse. Is it drastically different? Or does the line between the two tend to blur?

Larry: I'm in a completely different state of mind when writing poetry versus lyrics. On occasion, words that have started out as poetry have been absorbed into the lyrical mode, but that's rare, and in those instances it was maybe a line or two as opposed to a complete poem, and the more I looked at it the more it made better sense to me as lyrics. I also don't have to be in a rarefied situation to do either kind of writing, so whether it's one or the other watch out if inspiration strikes while I'm driving! I have to pull off the road to finish the thought.

Cosmik: Is there a difference in approach to a live performance? Reading versus Concert performance?

Larry: Yes. But the one thing that binds them is relating to the audience. I used to disdain the idea of "performing" anything because to me, with my particular philosophy, that smacks of stagnancy; have you ever heard someone in concert use the same tired shtick to introduce a song? Or over-explain a poem's meaning? If you have to do that, something's wrong. Then I came to realize that performing, to me, meant putting yourself on the spot and being ready for anything -- such as breaking a string, or muffing a line and making the most of it. As an audience member I like coming away with a sense of the person behind the work and so I strive to present myself that way. If it's a song or a poem, the biggest difference in approach is usually the venue, and then with poetry you really are all alone, even more alone than if you're accompanying yourself on guitar in a solo situation -- you have the guitar, at least, to take some of the pressure away. Playing with a band is both the laziest as well as the most satisfying conduit; lazy because you have the others as back up, satisfying because of what unexpected interrelations happen in a band, even in playing material you know backward and forward.

Cosmik: A concern for most artists is how to balance creative work and work that puts the food on the table. Talk about balancing your professional career with your creative career?

Larry: Like most musicians and poets I've done a lot of jobs over the years, some fun despite the wage-slave status. Then I stumbled into paralegal work, initially for private law firms and now for a non-profit agency. I like being able to spend my day helping people who need it, and since we're unionized we have great benefits to offset the low pay; however my vacations are usually working ones, because that's how I'm able to tour. I must add, however, that I have no abiding interest in "the law," and in fact despite being a college graduate I am very anti-academic. More people should question going on to college; I wish I had!

Cosmik: You've been in Chicago, Illinois since 1996. What is the scene like there, as compared to other cities where you've worked?

Larry: I came to Chicago kind of on a whim. I've always liked it theoretically, but had never spent more than a week or two here, bumming around; I had no friends to show me around, you know? But I was burnt out on living in San Francisco, and if not Chicago it would have been New York. Between the two cities Chicago is cheaper so there was no contest from a purely economic standpoint. Since the move, I've decided that Chicago is a great place to be a musician or any kind of artist, although I've felt a little constricted lately. Too many people are coming to that same conclusion and consequently the hipster quotient has gone up uncomfortably; paralleling that is Chicago's rapid gentrification, which is irrevocably changing the look of the city, and I don't like that one bit.

Cosmik: You've been with a number of bands throughout your extensive career. What is different about working with The Me Decade?

Larry: The Me Decade grew out of solo shows I was asked to put together to support my first solo album, Throw the Lions to the Christians. I assembled it on a whim, and that group coalesced into a more unified whole while recording Sir Slob, my second solo album. A friend pointed out that I seem to be working backward -- instead of leaving a band to have a solo career, a band has emerged from my solo performances! I still do just as many solo dates in a given year, and those arrangements are informed by what we do in The Me Decade, but I like messing around with arrangements too, I have no fealty to them aside from the basic structure of the songs. Everyone in The Me Decade has a say in playing their own parts, I never dictate anything, I think that's distasteful, but we do talk as a band about what we want to accomplish. If everyone doesn't like a song, we don't work it up. I guess it's as democratic as a band with a singular writer can be.

Cosmik: For people already familiar with you as well as those just getting familiar, talk about what they'll find on Gentrification is Theft?

Larry: As with all of what I do, it's a lyrically-driven album. I start with the lyrics almost every time and write the music from there, so it's an album that's word-friendly and hopefully evocative of ideas, emotions and opinions because of it. I also hope it's funny, because I am a funny guy, but often I look at the songs as a body of work and they seem rather grim. People won't find much in the way of musical showboating; we try to keep the material interesting and varied without resorting to tricks. It's a good sounding record, largely unadorned by studio sleight-of-hand, although when you do any multi-track recording it's an illusion. I think it rocks!

Cosmik: Reading your bio sheet, I see you're from Flint, Michigan. Isn't Michael Moore a native too?

Larry: Indeed. I used to work with Michael, I was the arts editor and a writer/reporter at The Flint Voice. I knew him too when he was in San Francisco, because a friend of mine was working at Mother Jones during his tenure there. This was right before Roger & Me hit big. I still see him from time to time, but not socially since San Francisco.

Cosmik: By the way, I love the portrait with the guitar. Where'd you get it done?

Larry: Target! The guy who was the photographer -- at first he didn't know what to make of it, what I wanted, but he quickly warmed up and did a stellar job! You're only the second person to directly address the issue of the portrait, and both of you got the joke.

Cosmik: Can I get an 8x11?

Larry: It's in the mail!

Cosmik: Signed?

Larry: Hold on -- let me grab that from the outgoing box...

(C) 2002 - Erick Mertz