ZSW [C M Y K]E12 Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017

E12 • STAR TRIBUNE VARIETY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2017

Dave Simonett in the woods surrounding Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minn. “Furnace,” his new album with Dead Man Winter, was recorded there. JEFF WHEELER • [email protected] Simonett takes a winter break

ø SIMONETT from E1 Dead Man Winter Even though “Furnace” is With: The Pines, Erik Koskinen. loaded with the electric gui- When: 8 p.m. Fri. tars, drums and organ hardly Where: , ever heard on a TBT record, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls. there’s no hiding behind a Tickets: $20, eTix.com. band here, and no doubting the meaning of the songs. and even “a lot of fun.” Just as “I’m lonely and tired/No surprisingly, he said he has no will left to fake it,” he sings qualms about playing these in “This House Is on Fire,” hard-fought songs live now, too. the album’s stark opening “A fter you work on songs as track. “You know it makes long and as hard as I did — and no sense/Where all the good it was longer than any album times went/This house is on I’ve ever worked on — you fire/A nd I’m not getting out.” kind of build up a tolerance Sitting near the unlit fire- to them, and the mechanics of place inside the house at the playing them kicks in more,” legendary Pachyderm Studio he said. “That’s the fun part.” in Cannon Falls two weeks He and the Dead Man Win- ago — a place that became a ter crew are ready to have more home away from home over fun. They have several different the past year — Simonett, 36, tour legs booked through April, appeared way more upbeat and they plan to keep going all than he sounds on the record, year. As excited as he is about which he made at Pachyderm. the solo project, Simonett also He regaled listeners with a admitted of Trampled by Tur- story about fishing for trout tles, “I definitely miss it more in Pine Creek, which cuts and more. Which is what was through the refurbished 7-acre Simonett performed with Dead Man Winter at First Ave in January 2015. BRE McGEE • Special to the Star Tribune supposed to happen.” property where Nirvana and Playing music may have many other alt-rock bands played a destructive role in recorded in the early ’90s. He left to attend the University of do is no way to try to calm it we’re dudes, you know — we “Obviously, we all knew Simonett’s personal life, but also proudly discussed the Duluth but took to down,” he said. But he stopped didn’t really talk about the what Dave was going through, in the end, “Furnace” reiter- work he has been doing at the music there instead. “I had no short of blaming the end of his songs or what all was behind but we didn’t quite know ates an idea that’s even more studio of late, serving as pro- business being in college,” he marriage on his band’s never- them,” Simonett recalled. where he was going” with the obvious than making a divorce ducer for Wisconsin’s most admits now. ending tour cycle, except to Initial recordings at Koskin- songs, Saxhaug said. record: Music saves, too. happening string band, Horse- When his electric say, “I’m sure it was more than en’s studio in 2015 were thrown Nichols explained further: shoes & Hand Grenades, a job and amp got stolen in 2003, just a small part of it.” out. In the interim, Simonett “Before Pachyderm, the songs Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658 he hopes to do more often. he agreed to sit in with some Instead, most of the blame holed up in a cabin last winter sounded very desperate, like “I love being in the studio friends for a couple of acoustic lands on himself. He spends near Finland in northern Min- he was still drowning in it. By ® environment — especially this free-for-all gigs in Duluth. And much of “Furnace” looking in nesota to refine the songs and the time we got to Pachyderm, ACADEMYAWA RD studio,” he said. Trampled by Turtles was born. the mirror with a pointer fin- write new ones. though, it was more like he was NOMINEE Brightest of all, he talked Within a decade, the band ger raised on one hand and a Talking a day after the getting on with life.” best foreign languagefilm about leaving early that day to was playing 100 shows a year middle finger on the other. Pachyderm interview at an Said Bates, “That’s when PETER SIMONISCHEK go sledding in the fresh snow at festivals from Bonnaroo to “I’m a disaster/I’m fad- Electric Fetus in-store per- we were able to do our thing: SANDRA HÜLLER with his kids, Lucy and Jack, its own Palomino, and packed ing from your young life/I’m formance — presumably not give these songs more of an up- ages 3 and 5. amphitheaters from Denver’s growing pale and ghostlike the first time a flask has been tempo groove. I think the jux- TONI Referenced a few times on Red Rocks to Duluth’s own with X’s on my eyes,” he sings passed around the break room taposition between the subject ERDMANN the record (“more beautiful Bayfront Park. “We really never in “Destroyer,” a fiery rocker at the record matter and the music is great.” AFILM BY MAREN ADE than heaven”), the children stopped,” he said, “until now.” picked as the first single. In shop — the other band mem- Simonett agreed. He NOWPLAYING are the main reason Simonett After a part-time break last the twangier “Red Wing Blue bers recounted how well the described the final sessions at moved back to Minneapolis year, TBT is on full hiatus this Wing,” which RollingStone. songs on “Furnace” evolved Pachyderm as “very therapeu- a few months ago. He spent year. There will be no Festival com advised “finds Simonett during the cabin stay. tic,” “exactly what I needed” WWW.TONIERDMANNMOVIE.COM the previous year living 45 Palomino in September, no taking stock of himself,” he wea- minutes away in Red Wing, Bayfront show in July (at least rily bellows, “I’m full of charm/ PRESENTED BY STUDIO GHIBLI 3HOT SPOTS UNDER 1ROOF THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU an exile covered in the songs not for TBT), and nothing else I’m full of whiskey/A nd I’m full Ev SPIRITED AWAY, PONYO AND THE WIND RISES “The Same Town” and “Red is on the calendar except an of [crap] most of the time.” ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE Wing Blue Wing.” informal plan to “maybe throw BESTANIMATED FEATURE “I just wanted to move some songs around in the fall,” Banding together Award-winning Dining Stay &Play Packages “GRADE A!” somewhere I could walk out Simonett said. Simonett’s troubles and -Joe McGovern,ENTERTAINMENTWEEKLY my front door and not have to “In my mind, I had to com- self-doubt may have gotten the EVERY answer, ‘How is everything?’ ” pletely turn the lights off for best of him when he first tried Saturday Night is he explained. “But that got to be a while,” he explained, point- to record these songs with the like Valentine’s! too hard logistically. And hon- ing to professional reasons full Dead Man Winter lineup. estly, I kind of got too lonely first. “It’s like anyone who has The band formed in 2011 “...you’ll have — which is what I thought I a good job but wants to try around the release of his first agood time!” Every wanted, but it wasn’t.” something else for a while. I Dead Man Winter album, SaturdayNightis Inspired –Cherry & wanted to operate without a “Bright Lights,” with Erik by the Spoon DateNight! THE RED TURTLE best-seller AFILM BY MICHAEL DUDOK DE WIT Tamping down Trampled safety net to get fully behind Koskinen on guitar, J.T. Bates Growing Up Twopasta selections, WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM Born in Germany while his this record.” on drums and Bryan Nichols Lutheran abottle of wine and dad served in the U.S. Army, There were personal rea- on keyboards — can you say “Charming, two tickets to the show. STARTS FRIDAY Simonett said he and his sis- sons for sidelining Trampled “A-team”? — plus his TBT funny–simply A$40 savings! entertaining.” ter had “a pretty terrific child- by Turtles, too. bandmate and harmony part- —St. Paul Pioneer Press hood” in Mankato despite “Things got too chaotic in ner Tim Saxhaug on bass. their parents splitting up. He my life, and touring like we “We’re all good friends, but TIX 763-553-1600 plymouthplayhouse.com FREE PARKING WWW.THEREDTURTLEMOVIE.COM