G: How would you describe what people can find on your CD?
Patrick Krief: It’s very intimate, is one good way of saying it. It changes direction, yet [it’s] uniform at the same time. People shouldn’t expect to hear who we are live, [it’s] something different.
I’m a huge Beatles fan. I don’t think that shines through our music, but the influence can be seen somewhere. [The album] has been compared to Led Zeppelin and Radiohead. Every time I hear a comparison I’m always surprised.
G: Is the outcome what you imagined and hoped for or [is] it something completely different?
PK: It’s a little bit different than what I expected. It might be better than what I expected. It wasn’t a record that I set out to sound a certain way. I just went into the studio and [got] the right musicians together and just [made] the album whatever it could have been. All my past records have never sounded quite like this one, which was a nice surprise.
G: How did you come to the decision to depart from the Dears? Can you give some insight into your decision?
PK: I recorded on the Dears album Missiles and [Dears lead vocalist] Murray [Lightburn] had his mastering tape and finished records literally days apart. We had a discussion of “can we do both?”
The Dears were looking at a pretty hard touring schedule and I didn’t think it would be fair to this album to put it aside for another band. So I decided to put everything I had into this band, BDB. At least until it gets its own identity and its own strength and then I can consider other things.
G: Why is Black Diamond Bay a more desirable option?
PK: It’s new and it’s my baby. I just felt like I needed to give it its legs. Give it its strength, let it stand on its own before I can think of doing other stuff. And the only way I can do that is by devoting my whole life to it. It’s what I do everyday. At least 8-9 hours a day [are] involved with BDB. There is just no way I could do both. I write a lot of music, more than one band can keep up with, so I would like to do other stuff eventually.
G: Some say the Dears and Black Diamond Bay sound alike, some don’t. What is your view on the two sounds?
PK: I find them similar. I think it’s funny when some people say it sounds just like the Dears, I find that absurd. And when they say it sounds nothing like them, I think they are wrong too. There’s two guys in this band that were in the Dears for five years.
We have that sound that is in the Dears. It crosses over, but not that much because it is different writing. After five years of touring with the Dears and playing those songs, it is obviously a part of what I like and how I think of musicians. It is going to come through a little bit.
The bottom line is it is different enough, but people will want to say it’s similar to the Dears because it’s a quick, lazy assessment.