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Dave Broekema of Numbers

Power with Numbers

by Matt Crawford on Sep 13, 2007
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With seven years under their belt, San Francisco’s Numbers is on the road again promoting Now You Are This, the trio’s fourth LP. Guitarist Dave Broekema gave SF Station an update on the tour and new album from the road near Niagara Falls.

SF Station (SFS): Someone said the music on your new album is more mature than previous albums. Do you feel more mature?

Dave Broekema (DM): We are constantly all maturing, growing and becoming more whole as beings, and our record reflects that fully (laughs). That is kind of a joke, but our sound changed a lot on the album before this one. The first two albums were kind of spazzy and no wavey and kind of harsh. On last album [2005’s We’re Animals] we decided to change it up because we got tired of the whole disco punk thing. We got into more drone-y, full sounds and no disco beats. This album is a continuation of that development.

SFS: Has the song writing process changed within the group or was it more of a philosophical change?

DM: The way we go about making up songs has not changed; it is really democratic. I think we just played our old stuff to death and needed to try something new. It was a conscious decision, but the way we go about it hasn’t changed.

SFS: Were there any challenges with the new record?

DM: It is always a big challenge for us because our songwriting is so democratic that sometimes it takes us months to make one song that only lasts three minutes. It is kind of a constant challenge and struggle to get stuff together. But, it was a fun process too.

SFS: So you have to worry about not stepping on anybody’s toes?

DM: No, it’s not that. If someone comes up with an idea and we don’t all like it, it gets rejected. Someone’s toes are constantly getting stepped on to get something that everybody is happy with.

SFS: You just started a tour that is about two and a half months long. How do you prepare?

DM: We practiced a bit, but you don’t really get into tour mode until you play a few shows. It’s really fun to go on the road, so it is not really an ordeal. Getting the time off of work is probably the most difficult thing.

SFS: Any interesting tour stories, so far?

DM: Well, we just saw Niagara Falls, which was nice, but pretty pedestrian. We have had a pretty mellow tour, so far. We have had some adventures in the past. Our tour manager got shot one year and we have some other crazy stories.

SFS: Where did you manager get shot?

DM: He got shot in South Carolina, I think. It was a weird thing where we went to these peoples’ house and there were guns there. Someone was playing with the gun and it went off and ricocheted through a window and a wall. The bullet hit him when he was three rooms away. I spent the night in a police station and the hospital. It was nuts, but he is fine now.

SFS: Is there a big homecoming bash planned for the end of the tour?

DM: We don’t have any shows booked in San Francisco right now. We are not sure if we are going to do one or not. We are going to take a break after this tour, but we might do something that is totally underground, like a party.

Numbers' latest CD, Now You Are This, was released on Kill Rock Stars on Aug 21st.



by Matt Crawford on Sep 13, 2007
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