I first met Dan Burton at a sparsely attended show some nine or 10 years ago at Dottie’s in Atlanta. The band was Ativin, Burton’s instrumental “post-rock” unit whose sense of space, detail, dynamics, texture, and unadulterated rock gave any of those late 90’s Chi-town bands a solid run for their money. Since then I’ve tried to keep up with this prolific Hoosier’s project oriented and ever-evolving body of work

Aside from his many collaborations and engineering credits, the vast majority of this work has been under the moniker of Early Day Miners. Over the past few years they have released five stellar full-lengths and a slew of EP’s, all unique projects with rotating casts tied together by Dan’s signature guitar style and production.

It’s fair to say that Burton and Co.’s brand of experimentation and songwriting reached a culmination in the shimmer and heft of 2006’s Offshore, a 35-minute suite developed from the song of the same name from their 2002 album Let Us Garlands Bring. It’s a thematic development of a single motif rivaling Sleep’s Jerusalem and Keith Jarrett’s Survivor Suite in sheer captivation and focus, with swirling sonic texture vivid enough to make Daniel Lanois and most of the 4AD roster envious to the core.

I’ve been eager to speak with Dan for some time now, especially knowing that a new Miners LP is getting the final touches at his Grotto Home Studio in Bloomington. We were finally able to catch up on his way to Chicago to engineer the forthcoming On Fillmore project at Wilco’s loft studio. Nice…

Dry Ink: Thanks for talking to me today. How’s the drive so far?

Dan Burton: Cold, foggy, snowy. Not a lot of traffic though so I can’t complain.

DI: Then I won’t tell you that it’s like 65 degrees and sunny here. So what’s this record you’re doing in Chicago?

DB: I’m working with the drummer from Wilco. His name’s Glenn (Kotche) and he has a side project called The On Fillmore.

DI: With Darin Grey (Dazzling Killmen, Grand Ulena), right?

DB: Exactly. It’ll be Darren, Glenn, and me at Wilco’s studio, which is… pretty nice (laughs), very pleasant compared to working in my basement. Always a treat. They’re working on a new album. I’m running the cables and mic’s and mixing… I’ve worked with them in the past on a few records, we just did a movie soundtrack back at my place in Bloomington.

DI: You get some nice sounds out of that little studio.

DB: Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

DI: Yeah, man. It’s inspiring to the rest of us who record in our basements. Saw the photos on your Myspace. I can’t believe you got those drum sounds in that space.

DB: (Laughs) Yeah, we did that at a few different locations. Kind of misleading… We recorded drums at an old church just outside of town.

DI: Aha!

DB: It was all recorded in Bloomington between that church and the Grotto, and then we mixed it at Soma, John McEntire’s place. We kind of maxed out our gear and needed to move up to a bigger system. It worked out well that he was able to do it.

DI: Well it worked. Amazing album. Heard the new stuff on Daytrotter.com. I love it. Is that my boy Marty on drums?

DB: Yeah.

DI: He’s doin’ it.

DB: Haha, yeah, I like his drumming. It’s really clean, lets the guitars ring out. We’re having a lot of fun. We kind of did a 180 from Offshore…

DI: No kidding…

DB: …We’re writing all these pop songs right now which is really fun. There’s a different energy to the music that’s been really cool.

DI: It still has all of the Early Day Miners elements, but some of it’s almost, well, fast! Is this what we can expect from the whole record?

DB: Definitely. In fact most of it will be more “up” than the Daytrotter stuff. It’s cool- I’m really excited and we’ve been having a lot of fun writing it. When we get back from tour we’re going to finish up the last few overdubs and get it mixed, with the idea of having it out this fall.

DI: Secretly Canadian?

DB: Yeah. I can’t imagine not working with them at this point. It’s always been so pleasant.

DI: They seem to really take care of people.

DB: They’re good people. Definitely in it for all the right reasons. It’s awesome watching them get so much success. I’ve been watching them grow from a dorm room to having an office and all. Well deserved.

DI: It’s a good thing too, because it seems y’all have a very hard working, prolific group of musicians there in Bloomington.

DB: I think part of it is because you can have a part time job and the cost of living is so cheap, so it gives you a lot of free time- and there are not a lot of distractions. There’s not a lot of fun nightclubs to go to or anything so you end up hanging out in your basement drinking and playing rock n’ roll. Making your own cocktails. We don’t have a club like the EARL where there’s always an option to see a touring band every night. It kind of leaves us having to entertain ourselves, which creates rise to a lot of local bands.

DI: So what do y’all drink at practice?

DB: Bourbon. Always bourbon. Sometimes tequila, Beam and coke, Beam and soda…

DI: I played there once a while ago and was impressed with how attentively people listen. I can imagine that you have to step it up knowing that people are listening that way. Do you agree?

DB: Oh, yeah. People are genuinely curious as to what you’re doing. With EDM, we’ve always approached local shows with the thinking that it’s an opportunity to try new things. We’ve played shows with just a keyboard and bass, or tapes and guitar. You know, stuff we’d probably not take on the road, but maybe should.

DI: Yeah you should. (For further evidence of why they should, look for the out-of-print collaboration with Unwed Sailor “Stateless” on The Great Vitamin Mystery.)

DB: There’s a real willingness in Bloomington to be freaked out. John Wilkes Booze, Family Vineyard started here…

DI: We going to have some new beats on this tour?

DB: Yeah, got some keyboard songs, guitar songs, some rippin’ guitar solos from John Dawson. It’ll be pretty upbeat for now- This tour is a celebration of getting out of the bleak Midwest winter, and playing some places we’ve never played before. We’ve never played Florida, Atlanta…

DI: You’re going to have a blast.

DB: Haha, I’ll rest up beforehand.

DI: Probably a good idea.