I hadn’t even finished a sentence when the guys from The Dad in Common started cracking jokes. The conversation that followed showed how much this instrument-swapping, name-sharing
union of musical forces feeds off each other’s humor. But strong bonds over a shared love for music underlay the laughs.

The Wake: Alright, so—
Andrew: I’m gonna need that blouse today. (laughs).
Jesse: That’s a good way to start.
Joe: Yeah start recording. (laughs).

The Wake: So you guys are The Dad in Common.
Joe: Oh, and Andy couldn’t be here.

The Wake: Are you serious?
Jesse: There’s another Andy who’s home having his fourth anniversary.

The Wake: Aww…
Joe: He’s a married man, so…

The Wake: Well, first I want to ask how you guys got your name.
Andrew: We didn’t really search for a name…One of our friends, who’s kind of turned into a conservative libertarian, he says a lot of absurd things; he blurted out one night “what if you had a dad in common?”
Joe: That was the funny thing: the name was a joke but it turned out later to be true. (laughs).

The Wake: How did you guys start playing together?
Joe: We all grew up in Stillwater.
Joe: [We started playing together] like 5 1/2 years ago. When
the war started. (laughs).
Jesse: Our first show was because of Matt St. Germain, who runs Freedom From Records. He told us we had a show.

The Wake: So was it hard to start getting shows at first?
Andy: No.
Andrew: It was nothing.
Andy: It was all Matt St. Germain. He got us shows, really bizarre shows, mostly with noise bands. He gave us an interesting way to keep organizing shows.

The Wake: So is he still helping you guys get shows?
Andy: No, we’re able to do that on our own now.

The Wake: How does the writing process work for you guys?
Andrew: It’s changed quite a bit. It’s been pretty collaborative. It basically comes down to a guitar part and we all play around that. And we’re not at all afraid of giving input to each other; generally we trust each other enough to where the input that each member does put in is going to be right, and it is right.
Jesse: It’s very rare that we come in with a song that’s like actually a full structure. It’s usually just a little part and someone else gets an idea and goes from there.

The Wake: So no big clashes when you write?
Andrew: Writing, there are very few clashes. We probably have 30 something songs that we’ve written together; which, writing a song isn’t that easy. And the fact that we can do that and function well is pretty great.

The Wake: What are you guys listening to right now?
Joe: Deerhoef…
Andy: The Red Crayola is something I’ve been enjoying.
Jesse: Jim O’ Rourke.
Andy: Fog, a lot.
Joe: Samuel Beckett.
Andrew: I would say our influences are about half music and half other media.

The Wake: So how does that stuff spill into your music? Lyrically?
Andy: It can, lyrically. Also, in making decisions about album art, the sort of—aesthetics
of the band.
Andrew: I think it gets complicated how a filmmaker like Godard influenced music but you know its there.

The Wake: What’s been your favorite place to play?
Andy: The Ritz was the best place ever. The Main Room; we opened for Built to Spill.
Andrew: And then we played at the Triple Rock right after. So we basically went from playing in front of 1500 people to playing for 10 people and some girl who was freaking out in front of us. (laughs).

The Wake: Alright, I’ve got a heavier one for you. Why do you do what you do?
Andrew: I mean…Yeah, we all love each other quite a bit. And, in a way, this is our love affair, making music together. It’s not easy; it’s a relationship that takes work.

The Wake: I guess my last question is: what direction do you guys want to take this in?
Joe: I think anyone who knows us knows we’re not trying to make it big. But I think it’s important for us to keep it sustainable.
Andrew: But we’ve been really lucky that we get to play shows all over town, that people come out to our shows, too.
Andy: Sometimes. (chuckle.)
Andrew: Yeah sometimes. I mean ultimately, if we’re not trying to make it big, it’s ultimately pretty personal. And we’re able to expose that to whoever wants to listen to it. And I mean, that’s great; that’s amazing.