The original line-up of legendary rock band Sunny Day Real Estate have reunited for the first time in 15 years and are gearing up to visit Australia in 2010. Nate Mendel, who also plays bass for the Foo Fighters, speaks to yourGigs on how the reunion occurred, the mix of emotions tied up in the band and the possibility of future releases.
yourGigs (yG): So how does it feel to have Sunny Day Real Estate reunited?
Nate Mendel (NM): It's been a pleasant surprise. I was the one who cooked up the idea, told everybody to dust this thing off ... I had a certain vision of what I wanted it to be but I haven't played with this band in 15 years, I don't even remember most of the songs! It was actually one of those rare things though that turned out exactly as you'd envisioned it.
yG: What was the catalyst for getting back together?
NM: Somebody said, "I think we should do a Fire Theft show" which was a band [made from] three-quarters of Sunny Day ... So I was like, "Well if we're going to do a Fire Theft show, and that band's defunct ... well, we have another defunct band that actually has a lot of fans..." But [Sunny Day has] a lot more baggage so it took a couple rounds of floating that idea with the other guys in the band before it made sense to everyone.
yG: The band reunited back in 1997 but you decided not to rejoin them at that time. Why now in 2009 is the time right for Sunny Day Real Estate?
NM: Back then those guys wanted to do a band in the conventional sense where it's basically your full time job. I was playing in Foo Fighters too and there was no way I could do both so I had to choose ... But now everyone has something else that is the main thing in their lives. We're all more on the same wavelength.
yG: How does it feel to play songs again that you wrote more than a decade ago? Do the songs still hold the same meaning?
NM: There's a couple that don't really stand the test of time but we've found enough off just two full Sunny Day records to make a set's worth of music that we all still connect to and feel passionate about.
yG: Will you mainly be focusing on those first two records when you play live?
NM: Mainly on the first two. Part of it's because I wasn't around for the second two records. But a lot of it has to do with Jeremy [Enigk]'s voice maturing and the first two records were in a different tuning that's more compatible for where his voice is now.
yG: Is it kind of nostalgic being back together again?
NM: For me it was a really turbulent period, it was a great productive period musically but my personal life was a wreck. I've got all these emotions wrapped up in the music but it's not like, "Oh I better not put on that Pearl Jam record because it's going to remind me of that girlfriend I broke up with" - I can't escape it because I'm in the band! There's just a lot to take in.
yG: People tend to mention Sunny Day Real Estate as being one of the forerunners of the emo genre, but the word "emo" has taken on a radically different meaning over the past 10 years or so.
NM: It's hard to put your finger on what exactly this "emo" thing means. [In Sunny Day's music] we put these more tender passages in with parts that could be really crushing and very heavy and almost like hardcore music. That was kind of a novel idea back when we were doing it and came to be a little more popular. So perhaps we had something to do with that particular dynamic.
But I think most people are sophisticated enough to look at what our band was and look to what people call "emo" now and not draw a direct line ... And that's not to disparage the bands that somebody could categorise as emo. The worst part about emo is the term, because it just sounds goofy! For us it was just the music that we just wanted to play at the time.
yG: So now that you're all together again, can we expect to hear a new record or some new material soon?
NM: We're trying to be really careful about what we do and not be pessimistic but at the same time not get too carried away with a bunch of big ideas because we all have other commitments in our lives ... I think we are going to write some music but it's going to be very tentative and just for our own private enjoyment, at least at first.
yG: Do you think the writing and recording process will be any different this time around?
NM: From the one song that we've written so far I think it's going to be really similar, as far as the roles that everyone plays in the band. We basically just get in a room and start playing and someone will go, "Ah! That's cool! What you did right there is cool!" and that's a really fun way to write songs.
yG: Will you play any other gigs while you're in the country for Soundwave Festival next year?
NM: I think so! I think most of the bands are doing sideshows. We haven't figured out which ones we wanna do yet but we're definitely going to try and fill in as much time as possible and keep ourselves busy.
yG: So what does the future hold for Sunny Day Real Estate? Is there a future?
NM: Well, the test will be when Dan [Hoerner] needs to go home and spend more time with his three kids, when Jeremy feels like putting out a solo record, when William [Goldsmith] wants to play with his other band or when it's time for me to do another Foo Fighters record ... Then we'll see how cohesive we remain with those other commitments.
yG: But there's definitely something that keeps bringing you together.
NM: I think so. At the very least I think we'll end up doing some more touring because it's been going pretty well so far! I think we'll play in one scenario or another for a while.
Bella Crea
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