Oh now, what is it?
Dale’s not scary.
No, he doesn’t.
Given you’re not exactly a lady, what’s the problem?
Oh well, I will just have to interview Dale on my own. What a shame when he’s a guy and you love interviewing dudes. Flint anyone?
Well, then there’s hamstahs week….
But there. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. 
And what this girl is doing today is welcoming to The Spooktacular the very special, the wonderfully talented, the ONE and ONLY……
But you don’t want to do them, or mention our other Spooktacular guests. So.
Dale–music man extraordinary, you’re originally from West Virginia, have been homeless in Nashville, oh and there’s Trenton.
Any truth in the rumour you faked your own death?
DALE. I was born and raised in “extra-rural” West Virginia yes, I did ten years in New Jersey’s state capital. A month before a well planned move to Nashville TN, I had a house fire that complicated the move and therefore left me without housing before my departure and well into my arrival, that’s the long and short of that, stay tuned for a book on that whole “chapter”…whooo.
I’ve never had enough spare time to fake my own death. No.
Shey. Seriously Dale–as we get here anyway–how long have you been involved in the music biz?Dale. I first started recording when I was nine years old, 
got an actual musical instrument around fifteen, wrote, recorded on various tape machines, did several albums in high school. I played guitar in a bar band when I was sixteen up until graduation. I first recorded an album in a studio when I was eighteen, did all the art work, pressed it, sold it. DIY ever since.
Shey. Oh and then, the next year …obviously…..you got in tow with John Rapp from The Chris Brake Show.
No. He’s not. How did that happen and what’s with this biz of you being the ‘dreaded frontman of the grunge band, Pats!e.’ You’re not dreaded are you?
Dale. I met Chris and John while they were touring through the Northeast, been friends ever since, that was 2008 I believe. PATS!E was a band that I started in high school, it ate and spit out many members over many years since 1999, lots of recordings and shows and stories and gray hairs, stay tuned for a bio pic. Dreads?…..Ah, those were like the bell bottoms of my generation a few years back, I still pull em’ out of the closet to show to company sometimes, “If those dreads could only talk….”
Shey. Seriously…I do like to be serious..not….how many albums have you recorded since starting out?
Dale .I really cant give you a straight answer or number, Yes, there are many albums and recordings, bands and short lived collaborations over the years. Its best to leave this in the air for now.
Shey. Can it. Not you Dale…Sylv. The man don’t want to talk, the man don’t
want to talk. What’s been your main musical influences?
Dale. A. W.H. Auden, Miles Davis, Mark Twain, Robert Johnson,The Dead Boys, Captain Beefheart, The Butthole Surfers, Franz Lizst, Tom Waits, Billie Holiday, Black Sabbath, John Prine, Jim Carrol, Nirvana, Suran Song in Stag, Bill Hicks, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Murphy, Malcolm X, Frank Zappa, Howlin’ Wolf, Blood Cow, The Melvins, Neil Young, Mack Lindsay, J.T. Habersaat, Doug Stanhope and (early) Alice Cooper (the band)……I’ll stop there for now.
Shey. Wow-how-how.
I’ve been listening to a few of your tracks–courtesy of the fab John Rapp and your equally fab self and I have to say in addition to totally agreeing about your ‘soaked in booze and cigarettes’ amazing voice, it’s hard to pin down your style, which is brilliant. You say Americana but it’s far more than that. It’s a touch of just about everything.
For someone who has never heard your work, but say may like a certain type of music—they like Zappa, for example, or maybe they like Tom Waits, which album would you suggest they listen to? I ask cos I urge you folks reading this blog, to give Dale a try. His voice, words and music are something else. And there really is something for everybody in his work.
Dale. Oh, For a Tom Waits fan I guess “Ghost Candy”-2008 would be a good start.
Shey. Suitably spooky.
Dale. For a Frank Zappa fan “White Trash Jazz”-2011 or “Digital Wiccan”-2010 may suffice.
Shey. Honestly though I haven’t heard two tracks the same in your work. Is it a love of various music genres that means you like to write in different ones, or do you do it cos you like a change, or being hard to define?
Dale. I have a very varied musical “diet” so I suppose that it shows up in my work. Sometimes I may run with a certain style for a while, perhaps for the duration of an album, other times it seems that every other song could be considered a different genre, I also have always enjoyed doing instrumentals and “sound collages” and skits. I’m sure there is a doctor out there who would say “Now, thats ADD if I’ve ever seen it” But it really is second nature to me now, to change and adapt when and where I see fit.
Shey. Oh don’t come crawling out the pumpkin now dudes cos you’re worried about Hamstah week. Dale, tell us about your new album?
Dale. This album will be mainly acoustic guitar and vocals, A very stripped down, straight to the point type sound to properly represent the live show ; I’m sure I’ll manage to make it “strange” somehow. Hope to have it out and about by early 2015.
Shey. Dudes……what did we just say? Where does your inspiration come from?
Dale. Ah, Thats more of a “the question” than “Will you marry me?”
Reptiles, bugs, mammals, family, friends, contemporary artists, performers and bands. Bookers,
history (in general), de-construction, disection, photography, film, sanity/insanity, the wee hours of the mornin’, and coffee of course.
Shey. Are you still between jobs, girlfriends, haircuts and houses?
Dale. No,No, I have ONE good job after having worked two jobs for nine months, FINALLY found a flat here in Nashville after quite an exhausting hunt, Not sure that what is on top of my head constitutes as a hair cut but it seems to be getting the job done just fine thus far. That between jobs bit was the opening line for my stand up act just so ya know, not entirely rooted in truth.
Shey. What’s next for Dale J Gordon?
Dale. Explore Nashville, Press this album, Play lots of shows, hit the road, keep writing, and try to learn how to “take it easy” every once in a while.
Shey. Sounds good to me.
