Dusted’s Brian Borcherdt Talks Strapping On A Tool Belt And Getting Stoned In The Pool

Something is pretty adorable about a powerhouse musician admitting that he is “just pooped.” But then again, Brian Borcherdt is Canadian, so maybe that maple leaf sweetness simply had to corkscrew into his exhausted banter.

Borcherdt had arrived back to his Toronto home only hours before our phone conversation. Previously, he and bandmate Leon Taheny (Final Fantasy, Rituals, Bruce Peninsula) had been pounding the West Coast, peddling Total Dust, the debut album from their latest project, Dusted.

The two let LA play homebase during the tour leg, spending off-time floating in Flying Lotus’ pool and sampling “merch” from a dispensary owned by an old friend. I ask if all the doggie-paddling and THC shared birthed a new bond between himself and the producer God. “Yeah,” he says. “I call him FlyLo. No no no. I call him Steve.”

Borcherdt says Brainfeeder tunes almost exclusively played backdrop for the California drive between stops and crappy traffic. In explanation of the latter, he offers, “Everybody’s stoned.”

Dusted’s tour rebirthed Borcherdt as a rookie. “I’ve toured a lot with Holy Fuck. When we’re not doing festivals, we’re usually headlining, and that’s great because we already cut our teeth touring before.” Opening as a duo, he says they aim to “make sure [we] don’t fuck it up and send [the audience] home disappointed.” He’s, simply put, stoked. “This is the first time I’ve been on tour as a two-piece. It was more of a buddy-comedy than a tour.”

The two banded together for the project and recorded Total Dust in Taheny’s garage-gone-studio a year ago. Only earlier in 2012 did they decide to release the material to non-friend folk as “Dusted.” “There was a lyric reference that led me to [the name]; it implies a state of mind,” Borcherdt elaborates on the all-important band name. “Even though it’s these moody—maybe you can call them “folk songs?” They’re a little droney and folky, but they’re still filtered through a bit of a hum, distortion, played through small, blown-out amps. I’m always trying to pursue something hazy and psychedelic. I like the idea of being somewhere mentally unfocused, a little distracted.”

Ironic to the endeavor’s sound goal, he says other projects will have to take a backseat for a bit. “I still love playing with Holy Fuck, we just don’t do it as often because we all have families, except for myself, which is why I get to keep living and reliving my adolescent goals. I would lament choosing one single thing to focus on, but logistically, it’s difficult to do everything at once. Right now, I think it’s smart to streamline.”

With his nonexistent free time, Borcherdt tells me he plans to tackle some home renovation projects with his wife. “[It] is crazy. I can’t even believe I have a house,” he gushes. “There’s momentum to [keeping busy] and sometimes the hardest part is stopping. I’m pacing in my house, drinking coffee, on the phone. I give the illusion of being busy. I hope I look like that, because that’s kinda cool.” I agree, but am anxious to get back to the DIY woodwork chat. So, is he any good at carpentry? How is this supposed to happen?

“I’m certainly not a handyman,” he continues, “but I’m learning. The goal is to have a studio—a think-tank for me and my friends.” I asked if he had any name ideas in mind, assuming he did, given the careful thought to the Dusted title. “‘Mildew?’ ‘Rotten?’ ‘Dank Basement.’ I wanna call it that.” I wonder aloud if the name might be a tribute to his new buddy FlyLo. “I don’t know if I could convince him to come to Dank Basement.”

Yeah, but I’m sure the rest of us are game.

@becagrimm

Dusted played our Jansport Bonfire Session in Toronto with Smith Westerns. Don’t miss our mini-doc on the performance here.