Peter Stuart

Better known as the founder of Dog's Eye View, Peter Stuart has been busily crafting memorable songs since he was a film student at Northwestern University. Honing his on-stage presence by touring with big ticket acts such as Counting Crows and matchbox twenty, Stuart knows how to entertain - both through song and story. Catching Stuart during a recent solo gig in Chicago, we learned about his new CD project, experiencing the ups and downs of writing a hit song and how Stuart likes to "bring the rock."

PS:

It was and they left me lying by the side of the road weeping. Bastards! I hate you Counting Crows. Did you hear that?

WC:

Were you there as a guitar tech, roadie, opening act?

PS:

Opening act. For the first two weeks I was just out opening for them and they were starting a tour with Cracker. I was going to get thrown back home. They needed a guitar tech so I made a deal with them that I would guitar tech for them if they let me open the shows. So, it started as just being the opening act and then I became their guitar tech. It was a choice between going home and playing one show a month or staying on the road and playing every night which I knew would be better even though I knew I wouldn't sleep for a year.

WC:

How long did that tour last?

PS:

Five months, six months. A long time. I hate you Counting Crows!

WC:

You've played as "Dog's Eye View" and made a couple of albums...

PS:

I played solo with Counting Crows. I was just "Peter Stuart" for all of that stuff. Then, when I signed to Columbia, I made the Dog's Eye View record. And then did two Dog's Eye View records, one solo record and now am back to Dog's Eye View.

WC:

Why the switch? Why did you go from Dog's Eye View to Peter Stuart?

PS:

Originally it was Columbia Records saying, "You're doing a solo record now. We're tired of the band." But, it (Dog's Eye View) was their idea in the first place. I was always a solo guy. So I was like, "OK." So I made that record (Propeller) as Peter Stuart and didn't even think about it when I got off the label with it. Didn't think of it being a Dog's Eye View record because it wasn't. It was a solo record. For this (new) record, I sat down with my new manager and he said, "It sounds like a band record, lots of people know the band name, not so many people know your name. Do you have any problems with using the band name?" "No." And it's cooler t-shirts.

WC:

You can dig them out from 1995...

PS:

Yeah, pull out all the old shirts and try to make some money. That's a good idea.

WC:

So you went to Northwestern for film? Why did you decide that and how does it work with music now?

WC:

What venues did you play when you were first starting out?

PS:

Everything. Coffee houses, libraries, student unions, fraternity parties. I've played every janitor's closet.

WC:

Was it just something that you noticed people responding to?

PS:

Yeah, it just kept naturally developing. And I kept following it. I asked a guy to help me book some shows and all the sudden I was playing Park West. I played Park West, then I was playing the Metro. I put a band together and it just kept moving forward.

WC:

At some point you decided that this was going to be your career.

PS:

Yeah, and it hasn't shit me out yet, though it's trying.

WC:

How did the success of 'Everything Falls Apart' affect your career? What has it meant for you personally, as well as professionally, to have that one hit song?

PS:

Luckily it's made me fabulously rich beyond my wildest dreams so I don't have to be here now, talking and playing shows any more. And, I don't even traffic with humans any more. I'm not even here now. So, in that way, it's changed everything.

But, aside from that...obviously it was great. It was a weird thing since I had just been on the Counting Crows ride, so I didn't really have any other experience other than: you release your first record, you have your first single, and it goes on MTV and it's hit! It happened to them, it happened to me, and I thought, "OK! Let's go!" In terms of making my life strange, it was great. There was obviously some money and I've been able to build something of a career on it. In terms of that being the thing that brought lots of people out to shows and created a base of an audience for me or Dog's Eye View, it didn't really happen because people knew one song and kinda went, "Alright," and it didn't really progress past that. If I want to look at the negative side, it's "Yeah, it was a one-hit wonder." If I want to look at the positive side, I've had a 12-year career in music because I had a hit song and I've been able to keep going in one way, shape or form.

It screwed up my writing as well because it was a 15-minute throwaway song that I really didn't give a shit about and thought, "This will be funny! Ha, ha, ha." Hit single. What about all the ones I put time in? If anything, it taught me that you just don't know what people are going to respond to. Songs about disaster and being a drunken fool might be the hit and the pop song about ever lasting love...oh, I don't have any of those. But, you know what I mean.

Damn you matchbox twenty! Damn you Madonna!

WC:

And who's your touring band going to be?

PS:

What are you guys doing? To be honest, I have no idea. Maybe Alan from Dog's Eye View. Maybe Tim. Maybe just smelly people. Maybe high school kids. For what I'm paying, probably junior high and high school kids. Probably the learning disabled ones.

WC:

How do you feel about people requesting your older songs now that you have new songs to play?

PS:

Good. I wrote them all, so I'm cool with it.

WC:

Do you have any lost songs that you don't know how to play anymore?

PS:

Oh yeah! A lot of stuff from 'Daisy' I wouldn't know how to play like 'Shallows,' 'Did You Get Hurt?' I probably would only know how to play half of 'Daisy.' I could probably play all of 'Happy Nowhere' with a little refresher. So, that's about it. Just a couple songs from 'Daisy' that were band/rock oriented. I just haven't played them in 5 years.

Then, there are a bunch of songs that I've written for records that didn't make records that I've never played out. Then, there are songs that I've written for records that didn't make records that I play all the time because I like them and I wish they were on records.

WC:

Did 'Seven Wonders' make the next record?

PS:

Yeah, with a lot of disco dancing. And Mraz is on that one. He sings on that.

WC:

Is the new CD an electric CD? Do you play acoustic?

PS:

You know, I barely played guitar on this CD. I did a lot of singing. My ideal version, this version, of Dog's Eye View has me wearing a suit and just singing up front and not really playing guitar. Obviously we're a little short of the ideal as I was wearing a t-shirt and playing all of the guitar. We all have our dreams...

But, I did a lot of singing and played guitar on, maybe, half of the record. I played piano and organ on a song or two, but it was really about the other musicians and letting me sing. I can sing differently and really focus on the meaning of the song if I'm not also playing guitar. There was a lot of me saying, "Why don't I play and sing?" And they'd say, "Yeah. Why don't you just sing." "Am I playing bad?" "No, no, your singing is just so good!" There was a lot of that going on.

I'm really excited about this record, though! We started out making an album not unlike 'Happy Nowhere' or 'Propeller,' sort of singer/songwriter with a band. We started that and then realized a couple of days in that we weren't very excited about that idea. I really turned it over to the producers and said, "Alright, whatever you want to do. Let's make it exciting." I know what I'll do if I have my hands on it the whole time. I'll make a folk-rock record. If my hands are off it, I'll be surprised by it. So the first song on the records is lots of high tones and background vocals that are really pop sounding. Yesterday, I played it for somebody and they said, "You're fucking with me, right?" They totally thought I was just straight out lying to them. So it's a little different, but exciting. I'm excited about it.

WC:

You've written a few songs about the loss of your dad.

PS:

It's a recurring theme.

WC:

How have people responded to those?

PS:

Really well. It's one of those things where I get a lot of people coming up to me and talking about losing their dads or parent. It's something a lot of people have gone through.

WC:

How old were you?

PS:

Eight. For me, it sort of completes a circle. The first song I ever really related to was a song about a father and son by Cat Stevens. It was a dad/son thing, even though the dad wasn't dead in that one. But, that was the first thing that really affected me as a listener of music. So it's weird that I later went on to write about that stuff. To me, that's what songwriting is. You deal with things in your own life and make sense of that. People then listen to it and relate to that on some level, whether it's 'Everything Falls Apart' or things getting in your way and fucking up your own life or whether it's a girlfriend or boyfriend leaving or your dad dying. Obviously, not everyone relates to everything, but people have written about weirder things.

WC:

Even if you can't relate, you can still feel it in the song.

PS:

It's just something that keeps coming back to me. It's just something that has shaped who I am so deeply.

WC:

On a little lighter note, your voice has a very addictive quality. Who does that for you? What singer or voice hooks you?

To find out more information about Peter Stuart, visit his website at www.dogseyeview.com.