BOSTON
METRO
6/12/2003
HEYTHERE:
MIKE DENNEEN
Album producer, owner of Q Division recording studio and label
Mike Denneen started Q Division nearly 17 years ago with high school chum Jon Lupfer. Countless acts have recorded at the studio and his producing credits include Howie Day's "Australia" and more recently Fountains of Wayne's third album "Welcome Interstate Managers." Here Denneen chats with Boston Metro about his ultimate passion, music.
METRO:
When and why did you start Q Division?
DENNEEN: My best friend from high school, Jon Lupfer and I started
Q Division in 1986. We started it because we're musicians and the studios
at the time were sort of corporate and sterile and we wanted to start
a studio that was run by musicians and wasn't worrying about being slick
and corporate.
METRO:
Where does the name come from?
DENNEEN: The James Bond movies. Q Division is the place where that
guy Q has all the wacky gadgets and neat toys so it seemed kind of appropriate.
METRO:
What is your musical background? What bands have you played in?
DENNEEN: I played with a guy named Jon Brion who is a well-known
producer [Aimee Mann, Rhett Miller] now in a band called the World's Fair
a very long time ago, and I played with a band called the Walkers. For
a while I played with Aimee Mann.
METRO:
Your first big gig was doing the Pixies' "Surfer Rosa."
How did that come about?
DENNEEN: As I recall there was some problem with the studio they
were at, which doesn't exist anymore, and we got kind of a panicked call
from their manager asking if we had any time and because we were a new
studio, we had plenty of time [laughs]. "Yeah, I think we can squeeze
you in somewhere."
METRO:
What
other acts have recorded at Q?
DENNEEN: Aimee Mann has been in lots over the years. James Taylor
recorded "October Road" with us. Let's see, who else? Guster,
Howie Day, Destiny's Child, Peter Wolf, the Gentlemen, Mary Timony, the
Gigolo Aunts, Letters to Cleo, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Morphine.
Too many people to remember.
METRO:
You're also a record label but you didn't start out that way.
DENNEEN: Yeah, it was a long time after starting the studio. We
got the label started in '95 just as a way to start putting out stuff
we like for people who didn't have record deals. We put out a bunch of
records for a while and we kind of slowed down but we're revving it back
up again right now. So'll we'll have some more stuff out next year.
METRO:
What do you think of the current Boston scene?
DENNEEN: I felt like it kind of dipped for a little while but it
seems to be coming back, and that's a good thing. You know there was a
big rash of signings and then a lot of people got dropped and they got
kind of bummed out and depressed, but people are getting signed again.
People are getting more excited which is great.
METRO:
And why do you think we haven't given the world another Pixies or Cars
in the last 10 years?
DENNEEN: I mean, it's like why haven't the Red Sox won the World
Series since 1918 [laughs]? Not for a lack of trying.
METRO:
You produced Fountains of Wayne's latest album, "Welcome Interstate
Managers." How did that come to you?
DENNEEN: I mixed their last album, "Utopia Parkway."
The Adam [Schlesinger, the bassist] called me up and said "Do you
want to do the next Fountains of Wayne record?" They came up, and
we did a couple of songs to see if it was gonna be fun and we had a blast
so that was that."
"Welcome Interstate Managers" out on S-Curve/Virgin Records, is available at fine record stores everywhere. For more information about Q Division, visit www.qdivision.com.
- Selene Angier