EXTENDED CUTS: The Daniel Blue Interview

By Volcano Staff on February 25, 2011

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As part of this week's special Music Issue, an annual Weekly Volcano tradition, we've included a Q&A conducted by editor Matt Driscoll with one Daniel Blue, frontman of Motopony, a band recently signed to TinyOgre. (To be clear: the Music Issue is annual ... Blue interviews only happen when it's been too long since people called us names. See the comment section here.)

Tacomans know Blue well. He really needs no introduction.

Read the full interview here.

And, below, enjoy a couple "Extended Cuts" we saved specially for SPEW.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: What do you feel and think about when you see the 253 Heart? Has that thing made you rich yet? I see people at Target with those stickers on their hatchbacks all the time ...

DANIEL BLUE: That is a strange shape.  I struggle in the thinking that you can own a symbol. I mean, who has the copyright on the cross or the pentagram ... Are they rich?  It came out of the sky and passed through my hand.  I believed in its power and it fed me and kept me alive.  I have passed it on to Steve Naccarato because he loved Motopony, and believed in us, and we love him back, and it felt weird collecting a 253 Heart check when I lived in the 206.  I love that the idea of loving the area you live in is something Tacoma understands and wants to display. This delivers joy to my heart.   The heart of the 253 Heart is to Love where you are.   Today I am on Capitol Hill, and I love it here too!

VOLCANO: How is Seattle treating you? What do you miss about living in Tacoma?

BLUE: Seattle is a great place to be a professional musician. Would you believe that no one complains at the door when they have to pay to see a show?!?!?.  (Seattle's) scenes are diverse and (it) has a rad history and a national reputation.  As we travel it's a great "outlier" city to be from...and I think it helps people understand our music.  I miss the slower pace of Tacoma. I miss Wright Park and the empty streets to long-board (I've been nearly run over here a few times....long-boarding with traffic is like level 8 shit).  I miss Oliver Dorriss telling me he wants to punch me like a big brother.  I miss all the people...and the potential....Seattle is saturated.  It has no empty buildings to dream about what you would put in there.  It has no ghosts. Here everything is alive and has a story going...one that may or may not include you.  In Tacoma you get the feeling that there is so much that is yet to be written, and it's easy to see yourself as an author and a character in the story.  Mostly, I miss sharing meals with my loved ones there.  Eating alone is a bitch...but I'm making some friends now that I have settled here on the Hill (I moved around a lot when I got here). There are a few Tacoma transplants near here that I have made dinner for...so we will get that ball rolling, don't worry too much about me, OK?