After their Popped! Festival set, Street sat down with Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott — better known by their unique band name, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. We talked to the Detroit indie pop duo about NASCAR, Stevie Wonder and the future of technology. And maybe a little about music.
Street: You guys have really interesting costumes. Is that always something you incorporate into your performance?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.: Oh no, you know, we just really like to dress up, and I’ve always done that, so this was a project that allowed for it, having the name that we have. The name sets a ridiculous precedent.
Street: So about the name, I know that you guys wrote Dale Earnhardt Jr. Did you ask for his approval? DEJJ: No, we were just letting him know that we were doing this, that we weren’t trying to mock his family or anything else. I was only really worried that he would think we were making fun of him. We really weren’t, but he was really cool. He responded and was really nice about it. I will always have a lot of respect for that guy, because he didn’t have to be as cool as he was about it.
Street: Are you guys NASCAR fans? DEJJ: Now we are! He could have really fucked us over though. It would have been his right, but he could have really fucked us over. We could have ruined their lives. You know there was a science experiment they published yesterday, where they were actually able to make a video–picture of your thoughts? They just now did it, they’re perfecting it, but within five years you’ll be able to think movies.
Street: And it’ll just happen as you think it? DEJJ: Yeah, do you know scientists, for the last 50 years, have been trying to figure out how to cure AIDS and all that? They went on this website and made video games for kids to attach different molecules together, different DNA strands, and these kids did it in two weeks. They figured out the stuff quicker than the scientists trying to do it for 50 years. Still funny, that video game stuff.
Street: You talk to your parents, and it takes my dad three minutes to compose a two–word text, and for us it’s intuitive. DEJJ: There are some advantages to us being so savvy with computers. There’s a lot of really amazing geniuses when it comes to that. We visited my friend, and he just had a kid, and this kid was two and using an iPad. He fully knows how to open it up, and all that.
Street: We wanted to ask you about the Detroit scene. Did bands like Private Traders, Electric Six and The White Stripes have big influence on you guys? DEJJ: I was too young to know of The White Stripes when they were into trouble. I think when I learned about them they were kind of not there any more. I followed Brendan Benson a little bit more; I used to go see his solo shows when I was in high school, before the Raconteurs. Electric Six, you know I’ve never really seen them play, except for when they’re playing the same show as us. I never really knew they were so popular until we went to Europe. They’re really nice guys, and talented.
Street: You guys just played Austin City Lights, right? DEJJ: Yeah, we did. It was fun. Very hot, but I think we delivered the goods.
Street: How do you guys feel about festivals versus smaller shows? DEJJ: I think it’s easier to do a festival, you know the more people the better. I can go over here and look at these people, and they react. I think we have a lot of performer in us, and the crowd makes it easier. If we just got up there and played, and that’s all we did, then I think that would make us more nervous, make it harder. But we feed off that, man. What’s up with that mob mentality when a group of people pretend to be more excitable? If you’re at a small show people will tend to get nervous about jumping up and down, but if you’re in a big one, they just go nuts.
Street: Did you guys happen to catch Stevie Wonder? DEJJ: No, we really wanted to man, but we were doing a sound check.
Street: I heard he started humping his Keytar… DEJJ: What? Oh my god. That’s one of my lifelong goals though, to see Stevie Wonder. He’s another example of pop songs that technically are just crazy. You don’t see it that often anymore, but I just envy that man. Like weird time signatures and amazing chord changes and funky melodies and that’s considered pop?
Street: Would you say any other artists like Stevie Wonder had any influences on you? DEJJ: A lot of the Mo–Town stuff. He did Mo–Town when he was a lot younger obviously, but I think that stuff, it just seems like Mo–Town sounds have just always existed. Like, you hear, and it doesn’t seem real. There’s something weird about those songs. So catchy. They never get old though. People are still singing those songs, and it’s something to shoot for instead of just being so concerned about being in fashion. 50 years ahead is really a legit goal.
Street: So you guys have one EP under your belt, one full length — is that a really awesome feeling? DEJJ: It is, like I don’t really know what people think about the record because I refuse to read anything. If it’s favorable, then it’s praising something we already did and that’s not helpful to me. I mean, I’m really grateful when they talk about us, but it’s not helpful for me to dwell upon it, and if it’s bad it just gets in the way.
Street: And we saw the music video you guys just did, can you talk a little about that? It looked like so much fun to make. DEJJ: We love paper basketball, and when we first met we played [it], and as musicians we all tried to play every Tuesday or Thursday night, and as we played it just seemed like a good idea for later.
Street: Did you guys have any help laying it out at all? DEJJ: My friend Travis came up with this idea, of us playing basketball as kids. We had this game going on, and we took it and ran with it.
Street: Are there any specific plans for future works? DEJJ: We’re going to start recording another album hopefully after this tour, but we don’t really know when it’s going to end. Right now we’re trying to work as hard as we can, so that next time we do an album we can be a little more focused on ourselves and right now we’re just trying to be everywhere, so we’ll see.
Street: What do you do for your hair? DEJJ: I took a shower today, and let it just air dry. I think people shower too much, they wash their hair too much. You just have to let it be. That’s what I do — I don’t put anything in. I had a gay boss when I worked at Brooks Brothers, and he was always mad at me, saying “if you just spent a half hour everyday you’d look so much better, you’d be a beautiful looking man.”
