#175 – Birthday with guest Dave Depper (guitarist, Death Cab for Cutie)

Leave it to Paul and the lads to come up with a classic song from conception to mix in just under 12 hours. That’s the story of “Birthday,” the storming rocker that kicks off side 2 of The White Album. Inspired by the rock and roll of their youth, courtesy of the 1957 rock film “The Girl Can’t Help It,” the Beatles put together an absolute barn burner of a rock tune, and captured a track that shows just how great a rock and roll band they could still be, at a time when working individually was increasingly becoming the norm. A strange topic to sing such a shouter about, the song has more than stood the test of time, becoming a multi-generational standard, a constant feature of Paul’s live show, as well as at….well…just about every birthday.

Joining us this week is Portland-based musician Dave Depper, who’s worked and toured with musicians from all over the place, but found a home in indie rock titans Death Cab For Cutie (one of our fave bands). Since joining in 2017, he’s been on their most recent full length, Thank You For Today, 2019’s Blue EP, and most recently, The Georgia EP. This year, he completed and released Europa, a long-gestating instrumental album of guitar loops, improvised and recorded live while on tour. It’s a fantastic, soothing, dreamy, melodic record. Also under his belt is his 2015 synth pop album Emotional Freedom Technique (also rad AF), and if you need to be further convinced, in 2011, he released The Ram Project, a complete note-for-note recreation of Macca’s classic, Ram. It too, is rad. We chat about all manner of things, including, but not limited to committing to Covid hair lengths, joining an established band with a history and finding a new future, the Beatles being part of your DNA, and why Birthday may succeed where other rockers fail. We highly recommend doing yourselves a favor, and checking out all of Dave’s work (you can get it all at www.davedepper.com), as well as that of his day job. You can thank us later. 

What do you think? Too high? To low? Or just right, like Baby Bear’s porridge? Be sure to follow along, leave your comments, and join in on the discussion on the rankings at Facebook (facebook.com/rankingthebeatles), on Twitter at @rankingbeatles, and on Instagram @rankingthebeatles. Enjoying the show and want to show your support? Check out https://anchor.fm/rankingthebeatles/support to drop a coin in the tip jar!

Songs featured in this episode:
Dave Depper – Munich Six – Europa
Dave Depper – Manchester Two – Europa
Dave Depper – Too Many People – The Ram Project
Dave Depper – Anytime, Anywhere – Emotional Freedom Technique
Death Cab For Cutie – Waterfalls – The Georgia EP

Reviews

Judge Timbers

Ranking the songs of the Beatles? What could possibly go wrong? But somehow this podcast gets it just right thanks to the wit and charm of the co-hosts and their guests. The listener quickly discovers the rankings are used not to incite heated arguments but rather as a starting point to spark a positive deep dive into every Beatle song. Put simply, Ranking The Beatles is a welcome addition to the Beatle podcast universe.

spazaru

Required listening if you like The Beatles at all. Great guests every week and Jonathan and Julia are fun and genuinely funny (even the tired Mike Love jokes). I listen every Tuesday morning as soon as I wake up. One week around Christmas they took the week off so I just slept the whole week until there was a new episode. It was worth the wait.

finfan64

Nice to see a truly excellent new Beatles podcast. This one is hosted by a very appealing young couple, who along with their well selected guests, have a winning combination of professional musical knowledge and the enthusiasm of fans. It’s an interesting format that by definition promises to only get better as it goes along. If they can make the “Only a Northern Song” episode good then they’re unstoppable

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