Dan Boeckner Sheds Light on His New Operators Project

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Aug 7, 2013

Divine Fits have a handful of dates to get through this year in support of their recently released "Ain't That the Way"/"Chained to Love" single, but guitarist/vocalist Dan Boeckner is getting ready to unveil a new project called Operators.

Speaking with Exclaim!, the Wolf Parade alumnus confirms that he's already begun demo sessions for the previously hinted-at project at his current home in San Jose, and he's recording the material on a recently acquired Tascam 8-track from the '80s.

"I found one in the box for $100 with the original manual — the manual's explaining tape technology. It's pretty great," he says.

Though he doesn't offer up too many song specifics, or who else is involved in the project, Boeckner hints that Operators appeals to his punk roots.

"Operators is becoming more and more a combination of everything I've done since i started playing music professionally," he explains. "There's elements of punk rock, which I've always loved, though that's a pretty broad genre."

More specifically, Boeckner tosses around touchstones like Unwound, Fugazi and Sonic Youth ("The stuff that was translated into early Wolf Parade records"), while admitting that Operators still flirts with the electronic pop direction he took in Handsome Furs.

"It's a nice blend of these two styles and things that I've been able to develop and mess around with in the course of my very lucky professional music career."

While a timeline wasn't given as to when to expect an LP, presumably it will pop up during Divine Fits' time off. But though the Fits have no dates booked past a couple of this weekend's appearances at the Squamish Valley Music Festival and a pair of gigs during the Austin City Limits festival in October, Boeckner promises that the supergroup will be back eventually with a follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2012 debut A Thing Called Divine Fits. Not, however, before Boeckner's Fits band bud Britt Daniel completes the reportedly R&B-flavoured new LP from Spoon.

"After Spoon finishes up [their] album cycle, we'll get back together and make another record. That's the plan."

As previously reported, the songwriting sessions for the Spoon LP has yielded new tracks "The Rent I Pay," "Naff Bag," "Millionaires," "Let Me Be Mine," "Modern Girls," "I Ain't the One," "Fresh From Your Pages" and "Give Me It." Daniel previously reported that "the shit is sounding good," which is about as swell an endorsement as any.
 

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