The Dough Rollers Interview

The Dough Rollers have  finished up their new EP and are expecting it to be out and ready for the world to hear this spring. The extended play includes their new track “Gone Baby Gone,” which was featured in Rolling Stone. Their first album (self-titled) was released in 2009, followed by their second called Someday Baby, and then in 2013 they released a 7” through Third Man Records (the same label involved with their upcoming EP). The band features Jack Byrne, Malcolm Ford, Josh Barocas, and Kyle Olson. We caught up with Byrne (lead guitarist) to talk about their newest material and what has shaped them into the artists they are today.

Congratulations on the upcoming release of your EP. That must be really exciting for you.

Yeah, thanks. It’s nice; it took a really long time. It was a long time coming with this one, so you know, so it’s good to have it be done and out of our hands. But it’s almost like postpartum depression or something; I don’t know what to do with myself now.

Wow! Well, how long from start to finish did it take before the EP was ready?

I don’t know, honestly. We went back and did final edits on it maybe a month and a half ago. It was a long time.

In the song “Gone Baby Gone” you’re sort of mourning the loss of past flames, right?

I don’t know, that’s what they said in Rolling Stone. But [laughs] I didn’t necessarily say that, Rolling Stone did. Maybe, maybe not!

Do you sometimes or always use personal experiences as the foundation for your music?

Yeah, I mean it’s kind of hard not to. I guess sometimes you try not to but it always creeps in there somehow.

During the beginning, while you were still finding your musical identity, were there artists you were inspired or influenced by? Artists you listened to growing up?

As long as I can remember, I guess it’s always just been trying to take in as much as possible. Growing up, rock music was everywhere. Blues, country, reggae, the whole deal; we try to pull from as much different stuff as we possibly can.

You all had the opportunity to tour with Bob Dylan; do you have a favorite memorable moment from that time?

We were driving out of Montana or something at night, and there was a guy throwing spears in the middle of the highway.

Often times you hear about musicians who, after a long period of working really hard to make a name for themselves in the industry, they get their “big break.” What was yours?

I think we were just lucky; it was the stuff along the way. We’ve done some pretty cool tours and we’ve just been working pretty hard for a long time.

Obviously you’ve done a lot of live performances, and as we all know, everyone’s bound to make the occasional mistake during a live performance. Has that happened at all so far, and if so how’d you handle it?

We fuck up all the time! I mean, it’s impossible not to. I don’t know, you just deal with it. You try to do the best you can, but I’m always fucking up. Everybody’s always fucking up.

Do you ever get nervous before a show?

No, that’s never really been a thing for me. I don’t know, I’m just happy to play, I guess, so I don’t really think about it.

As my final question, I have to ask… who came up with the band name “The Dough Rollers” and what’s the story behind that?

We were just sitting around–we had started doing some recording and were trying to figure out the name–and we sort of just came across that one, which is an old song. I mean, there are a few different versions, but it’s called “Rollin’ Dough Blues.” So we just took it from there, and it’s just an older expression for either the physical act of making love, or just the person you’re sort of seeing.

Interview by Amy Shull