Dave Ullrich (interview)

Like most people involved in record labels, music magazines and other forms of music promotion, Dave Ullrich has seen the business from both sides. He has spent time behind a drum kit playing for The Inbreds and working in a singer/songwriter vein as part of the collective Egger, and has been publishing the music blog Thick Specs for the past year. Nowadays, Ullrich is tapping into the digital music market with the creation of Zunior, the self-proclaimed “Source For independent Music in Canada.” Burnside Writers Collective’s own Matt McKechnie had a chance to interviews Mr. Ullrich about life as a musician and now as a music businessman. [Full disclosure: Matt McKechnie has contributed to the Thick Specs blog]

BWC: As a musician, how did you get involved with the business aspect of music distribution?

D: Well, with The Inbreds, we just started doing our own stuff (production and recording) naturally from the beginning. I was always naturally into computer stuff so the business side was an easy transition.

BWC: What are some of the greatest accomplishments with Zunior so far - and on the flipside, what are some of the biggest roadblocks you’ve encountered?

D: Accomplishments…Ya know, I think with Zunior, the goal has been and still is to be fully representative of Canada and fully digital. I can safely say we have done that thus far and I think we’re one of the first, if not the first, true independent digital platforms within Canada. So the segue from just being a digital platform into a full store has been pretty natural and really good. As far as roadblocks, in the beginning anyways, I think it’s been tough for a lot of people to understand why they should buy digitally but I think that’s changing in the music marketplace, for sure.

BWC: Switching gears a little, and to help people understand not just your business sense but your affinity for music, how did you first get inspired to play and create music even before The Inbreds?

D: I think the beginning for me was really watching other great bands perform live. Actually, there was a battle of the bands that was being advertised at my high school that I really wanted to be in so Mike and I started to play together on weekends so we could enter. But I remember seeing this one band play…I can’t even remember their name, now…but these guys were like loud punk rock, but true punk rock in the sort of loud and heavy way. They were just awesome and I thought “Wow - I love everything about this.” Anyways, the contest actually forced Mike and I to learn three songs from end to end, and in learning all the different parts for those songs, that’s where it all kinda began.

BWC: Just out of curiosity, do you remember what three songs they were?

D: (laughs) Yeah man, they were…oh, let me think…U2 - “Two Hearts Beat As One,” ZZ Top - “I Thank You” and Led Zeppelin - “Whole Lotta Love.” I think it was “Whole Lotta Love.” Anyways, there you have it - my musical taste in high school.

BWC: Okay, random question: How does it make you feel that Winning Hearts by your old band, The Inbreds, is Dave Grohl’s “favorite Inbreds album”?

D: Love it. Love it. You know, we were on sort of a tour with Foo Fighters way back at one of those Edgefest things and I actually used to find different ways to get our music into the hands of other musicians who I liked. So I used to make up these brown paper bags full of cassettes (cassettes were the big deal in those days) and I remember getting some to Sloan back in the day. That was like 1992. But with Dave on the Edgefest tour, I actually got him one of our CD’s and left it in his dressing room. And then he actually talked to us (Mike and I) for a while because that was right around the time we released a video for …”Attitude,” I think it was? And he saw the video and told us he loved it.

BWC: With The Inbreds and their very beginnings, what was the end goal that you and Mike O’Neill had in mind when you started down that road back in Kingston and Oshawa?

D: In some ways, it was more of a joke in the sense that we didn’t really see ourselves…you know…getting a record deal. We sort of had it in our minds, from day one, that neither Mike nor myself were really of the same calibre as other great bands of our time. And really, major record deals are pretty much bullsh** for the most part. We wanted our stuff to be more about the heart and not the rest of the crap that gets in the way.

BWC: A two parter - With your most recent musical project of Egger, what made you decide to get back into music after The Inbreds and what can listeners expect from Egger in the future?

D: You know, I really saw Egger as a chance to connect with some other great musicians (Don Kerr from Ron Sexsmith’s band) and create a full album from end to end. With The Inbreds, I wasn’t ever really involved in the songwriting so this was a chance for me to really get into that. It’s been tough to find the time with two young kids but Egger is my baby, for sure. You can definitely expect to hear a lot more in the future.

BWC: In the digital age of music distribution, what made you decide to offer the FLAC or lossless sound file option on Zunior.com?

D: Well, the way I look at it is in the same vein as DVDs. As soon as DVDs became marketed, they inevitably found a way to take them to the highest possible format and quality (i.e. Blu-Ray, HD). So in regards to mp3’s and wav files, the FLAC option is the same thing. A little bit of a bigger file but the sound quality is premium. Over time, it will definitely become the luxury or premium option for digital music files so we’re happy to offer that on Zunior.

BWC: How does your experience as a musician benefit what you’re doing with Zunior and how does Zunior benefit the artists involved?

D: I understand the importance of getting paid, and transparency in business dealings. Music is a business even at the most modest level. Digital is a model that allows artists to get paid right from the first sale, and they have direct access to review details. On top of that, I’ve put in the road miles to understand recording, touring, living at a true indie level. You can’t put a price on that experience and it informs every single thing I do with Zunior.

BWC: How do you feel about the success of other artists you’ve collaborated and played with - specifically artists from Murderecords like Joel Plaskett and Sloan?

D: You know, Joel - for the age that we are all at - and the fact that he’s stuck with it, and the fact that he’s hardcore with touring and making it as a solo act, I say he deserves all the credit he gets.

BWC: Being in The Inbreds as a power duo (with only two of you in the band), how do you feel about other bands that have since been made famous the two-man style (i.e. Death From Above 1979) and do you feel like they’ve ripped you off?

D: Ha. No. I mean I’m sure we weren’t the first to do it but it’s a tough style to pull off. DFA 1979? No hard feelings against those guys. We actually offer their music on Zunior. I would say their style is definitely different from ours but you know, they had their own niche. One band that I would say really does the two person thing well is The White Stripes - there’s a real sincerity about that music style because it’s so simple and raw and I think they pull it off well.