I was on the phone for a few hours with Matt Legard of The Colourflies on September 1st for a piece I was writing, where we talked about our musical influences growing up.
Zoe Dune
As a kind of "test", I brought up a California band from my early '90s called Dig.
Matt knew about them so he easily passed that test but then, a few hours later while I was drifting into my memory of their past work, I saw the "Nothing is Forever" (2021) single?
"Wait, what?"
"No... it can't be!"
Their first album in over 25 years (i) had been released only days earlier!
What are the odds of that happening?
Hits play*
“Believe Again: A Conversation with Dig in the Comeback Age”
The album opens up, appropriately so with "Yesterday, Forever Ago" and within the context of it being the first track on their first album in 25 years, it's a big deal.
But going back to their primary single, which is the second track on (i), "Nothing Is Forever" – all things being linear here – ramps things up on the album.
The chorus is signature Dig and I get chills as the arrangement around the verse growls, reminding me of why I've always loved this band.
Going off the first two song titles, they uncover their self-awareness about how long it's been since they had an album to lean on.
Then, it occurred to me that it wasn't too late so I reached out and connected with front man Scott Hackwith, who was more than happy to help catch us up on their goings on.
I've been a big fan of Dig since their debut album Radioactive dropped. The video for their single "Believe" was in heavy rotation on MTV, a track I still blast to this day.
I still have a VHS tape of their live performance of the single on The Jon Stewart Show from back then.
The front cover of debut album Radioactive is Dig's favorite chew toy.
Z. Dune: What are your memories of the time around that album?
Scott Hackwith:
"At that moment we were in the whirlwind of attention because of MTV Buzz Bin video. We were non stop touring and one day bled into the next. My memories are a blur. However, I do remember that performing on shows like Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien were a bit nerve racking because we were totally out of our element in a tv studio. Jon was awesome. I’m still his biggest fan today! That night after the taping, we opened for the Ramones in NY and Jon came and hung out with us at the show. Those were some exciting times. It felt like it would last forever."
Since this period, Dig would release two more solid records, Defenders of the Universe (1996) and Life Like (1998).
Why was there such a long hiatus since Life Like?
"That was a weird time in music... they were focusing on their boy bands and pop music. We were definitely the odd guys out. By the time we started touring for that record we were getting zero support from the label. I was disappointed and I wanted off the label but I was stuck. They gave us no support but they also wouldn’t let us out of the deal. I needed to support my family..so I started doing music for film. I started a music house in Hollywood. Making music for film and TV, which I ended up doing for the next 30 years and to this day. However Dig was always in the background and on my mind. I felt like we weren’t finished yet. We love to play live and tour and we really wanted to make something happen. However life does get in the way."
This is the typical story where it usually comes down to the label.
Leaving Radioactive Records, they had signed with Universal for their third but without the support from the label, the band was forced to go into survival mode.
Hackwith shifted gears to producing and composing other works but during the post-Life Like period before (i), up until recently, Dig has played some low-profile shows in local spots around Los Angeles and other places setting their creativity to simmer.
Allow me to time travel again to say that, despite having listened to Dig since Radioactive, I never got a chance to see them live.
It's only based off of the footage of their videos, I saw that they were working with Gibson SGs and Fender Telecasters.
Scott says that they were still rocking the "classics" with (i) and, "in fact, a lot of the guitars used on this new record are the same as the ones used on our 1st LP."
And I've always been drawn to bands who write-in more guitars to their sound.
Especially since I grew up on minimalist stripped-down-punk bands.
It made a difference to hear The Smiths being held together with ease by Marr's guitar, only to get overshadowed by the layers of guitar on a record by The Cure I would throw on moments later.
Are you a band/artist looking for promotion?
Actually, I could just use The Cure as the primary example because they would evolve from that primordial punk ooze themselves.
Instead, to make another comparison: In listening to the new album (i), I'm reminded about why I've always loved Dig. They work in the realm of the enharmonic, which offers a cinematic presence I also associate with another favorite, Ken Andrews.
"Nothing Is Forever" is again, another example of these layers.
Since Life Like credits two guitars, I wondered if three guitarists in the meantime had just evolve out of necessity?
This is because, In 94, Scott was asked about this by The Virginian-Pilot, and said"
"It came about because I couldn't play and sing at the same time. I played guitar in all my other bands, but this was the first time I'd ever been the singer. But in rehearsals, I just started picking up the guitar and incorporating it into the songs. It just became a really important part of the sound.''
Just over 31-years later:
"Well the 3 guitars came out of when I wrote the demos that became the 1st
album. I would layer guitar parts and there was always at least 3 parts. There was a cleaner Strat type part (which ended up being my parts live) and a heavy Marshall part (Jon) as well as a drone ambient parts (Johnny). I wrote all those first demos at my place in Hollywood in a room that we called the green room (hence the song). Simply because the walls were painted green."
When "Great Things" starts, I wonder if there's a linear narrative here, a common question I have for bands because the message – if there is one – can often be ambiguous and/or open to interpretation.
"No linear narrative to speak of. My lyrics are a reaction to what is going on around me. Most of the time they come out of a stream of consciousness and the meanings change over the years. I like to keep it cryptic. When I get too literal I end up trashing it."
When "Shorebreak" happens, I notice a punk element to this album and think about the time they spent around The Ramones, as Dig was starting their career, and the Ramones were ending theirs.
If you to ask me why, the only thing I can figure, as the album goes into "I'm Not Afraid", is that, unlike The Ramones; there's no conflict among them but rather, a united spirit among bandmates after all these years. To me, these tracks sound like anthems of unity.
"J A F A" is when the tone changes on the album. Up until now, the songs have been very Dig heavy, or Dig as I remember them.
Not wanting to let the big gap of time go, why come back now?
"Well, for one the '90s seem to be “in” at the moment. Also, we have a pretty dedicated following of long time fans that we call the Squishy Heads.. (Which references my dog Dig’s chew toy on the front cover of the 1st LP). We have been promising them a new record for over 20 years! We really feel like we can have some fun doing some touring with other bands from our era or even newer bands that are influenced by the 90’s sound. At this point we’re in it for the adventure. I don’t think we’re going to get TikTok famous, but we will have some fun."
We've all seen the '80s retro wave before us and in light of that, I've been waiting to see when the '90s would follow and it's good we get the confirmatopm that it's already here.
The track to follow is "Trees" which is perhaps the biggest, most cinematically epic track on the entire album.
It stands big somewhere between '60s psychedelia and arena rock, but from here on, the album quiets down significantly which to me appeals to Dig's new approach, leaving the '90s behind them. This is that breakaway point in the album.
And Scott's Cassette.la label is also a sign of looking forward into the future where:
"I do plan on releasing more new artists and future Dig releases…as well as music placements in film and TV."
I had my share of records in the '90s but because CDs were a big deal and I could walk out of a CD store with a stack of them, it never occurred to me get them on vinyl.
If I might literally, wax nostalgic one more time, I missed out on getting Radioactive on vinyl and in the context of that:
"Yes! That was the catalyst to this making this record. We were approached by a label out of New York called Den of Wax to do a run of exclusive vinyl. They are known for crazy cool art for their releases. That’s what gave us the motivation to get the record finished which we have been messing with for over 20 years! Hopefully the vinyl will be out soon.
Den of Wax
Scott had to be referring to the new album because, last year, the Radioactive label did reissue Dig's debut on vinyl, just as I had given up ever having a chance to get a copy.
It only makes sense to expect a tour with (i)? I mean, this is a pretty DIG deal. See what I did there?
"Yes, it is a DIG deal for us :). We do want to tour. Most likely it will be in 2026. However, we are planning some special events in the next couple of months. We will keep you posted!"
It's good to learn that I could very well be considered a "Squishy Head" for as long as I've been into these guys, and feel that sense of community.
If you would like to help build this indie music community, become a part of it and subscribe to this site to get exclusive access to other content, and direct commenting. If you're a independent artist and would like to advertise here, check out our "Your music deserves a cult following!" ad in this article for details!