David Knudson talks Botch's new song, 20 years of Minus The Bear's 'Highly Refined Pirates' & more

David Knudson‘s been having a busy year. He put out his first solo album, The Only Thing You Have to Change is Everything (including a song with his former Minus the Bear bandmate Jake Snider on vocals), his beloved ’90s mathcore band Botch put out their first new song in over 20 years alongside Sargent House’s new reissue of We Are The Romans, he’s been posting tons of guitar playthrough videos of old Minus The Bear and Botch songs, and he’s got another new solo EP that’ll be out before the end of the year (which will feature Cursive’s Tim Kasher). With all of that, plus the upcoming 20th anniversary of Minus The Bear’s classic debut album Highly Refined Pirates, we decided to catch up with Dave for the latest episode of the BrooklynVegan podcast.

Dave shed more light on how the new Botch song and music video came to be, how it felt for him personally to get back in a room with those guys, how it’s been seeing all the reactions from fans to the song, and seeing how Botch has gotten even more popular post-breakup. And as for live shows or a continued reunion of any kind, he maintains that the band has no plans for that, but also that he won’t say “never.” (Our fingers are crossed!) He also talks about reunion tours in general, how he can’t wait for the upcoming Unwound shows, how he enjoyed the recent Karate shows, and how he’s still bummed he had to miss the Drive Like Jehu reunion.

With Highly Refined Pirates turning 20, Dave reminisces on Minus The Bear’s early days, the influences that went into that album’s unique sound (including Daft Punk, Don Caballero, and Built to Spill), and the making of that record, as well as other classics Menos El Oso and Planet of Ice, and why the band decided to break up.

Dave also talks about his solo record and his upcoming plans for more solo material, other collaborations he’d like to do, and much, much more. Listen to the interview on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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