Mug, Dolph Chaney’s new album, is one of the best of the year,  and probably one of the most meaningful. It rocks too, uproariously.

Dolph was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

Andrea Weiss: Hi, Dolph. What do you see as the differences between your debut, This Is Dolph Chaney and your new album Mug?

Dolph Chaney: Hi, Andrea! A few things come to mind. First, it's the material. This Is was a collection of songs written from 1991-2007, while Mug was mostly written after This Is came out in 2021. So while the last one collected cherry-picked standouts from a huge span, on Mug there's more of a consistent perspective in the writing because of that. There was also greater confidence and familiarity among those who worked on it. Though This Is wasn't my very first album (I've been recording since 1987), it was my first time partnering with Nick Bertling (producer, drums, miscellaneous other instruments). So when Nick and I reconvened to work on Mug we had a full album's worth of working history. We knew we could rely on each other, and we were confident we would get great results - because we already had once. The third aspect I'd call out is a tighter and more disciplined approach to arrangement and performance. We worked very hard to get the rhythm guitars locked in to the drums, in particular, and we used very little of the psych/ambient production touches that This Is includes. From the start, Nick came to the new songs wanting to get them as direct, clear, and approachable as possible – in part because we wanted arrangements that my new band, Dolph Chaney and the Phins, would be able to deliver live.

AW: This is a kind of good guitar rock album that really doesn’t seem to be made much today. Why do you think that is?

DC: What I'd say is unique about Mug is that there's better balance between brain, heart, and muscle, while being easy to take in, than I've ever been able to pull off before. It wasn't planned this way, but listening back to it now, Mug does call to mind albums from my coming of musical age, circa 1987-1998. That may be what you're noticing. Why aren't there more like it? I'm grateful for the compliment behind this question, but between being on Big Stir Records and being part of a vibrant scene in Chicago, full of bands making compelling tunes that rock, I hear a lot of terrific guitar rock records coming out all the time! Guitar groups are on the way in.

AW: These are meaningful songs about love, troubled and good. Did the music just seem to lend itself to these lyrics?

DC: Thank you! It felt right to write about love – family, friends, furchildren ("Mr. Eli"), those that are gone, even myself – as recent times have been turbulent (like for most folks), and so I've clung to those loves even harder than usual. The songs that ended up on Mug were the ones where music and lyrics hung together best. I tend to start with small pieces – a riff, a set of verse chord changes, a couple of lines of lyrics – then once there's a core verse or chorus I sit with it until intuition takes me to the next section and the next and the next. So when it works, the song's elements have naturally grown together into the finished version. It doesn't always work, but I try not to bother people with those anymore! (laughs)

AW: Do you prefer writing happy songs, or troubled ones that really try to say something, which these songs do?

DC: I honestly just like finishing them, either way – especially when they're good! I'm the most satisfied when a song feels honest and earned, not too contrived, whether it's a happy song or one that's got some angst in it. Plus, I like there to be some humor in a serious song and a little darkness in a silly one. That feels true to life to me. And it's especially fun when there have been some twists and turns along the writing process, when ideas that initiated the song weren't necessarily the primary ones by the end of writing.

AW: How was your show in L.A. for Big Stir?

DC: SO MUCH FUN, thank you! The Hotel Café second stage was very intimate, and my local friends came out in good number to celebrate with me and my buddies in sparkle*jets u.k.! I had the pleasure of ending the show with one of my Nilsson favorites, "I'll Never Leave You," and sharing that in a room with several big fans of his was a particular treat for me.

AW: Who was in the band?

DC: I played solo, Billy-Bragg-style (thanks to Rex for loaning his Yamaha acoustic and Christina for her thinline Telecaster). sparkle*jets u.k., with six members on stage, were more than enough band for both sets!

AW: Did any one person or band influence you during the making of Mug?

DC: I wouldn't say there was a single influence over the whole record (after all, stealing from one is plagiarism; stealing from many is research). Song by song there definitely were, mostly along that 80s-90s college rock / alternative axis I was talking about before, like Neil Finn, REM, Aimee Mann and Michael Penn, Squeeze, the Replacements... And of course, particular songs had more specific reference points, which I'll let the listener find. But I've also soaked up a lot – energy, if not actual words/music – from the current artists with whom I've gotten to share airplay and stages, at individual gigs and at International Pop Overthrow Chicago.

AW: Do you plan to tour?

DC: It’s been my most active gig year since the early '90s, and I have three Chicago-area shows left before it closes. And yes, I want to keep that going! I intend to do some short runs in 2024 along with continuing to play all around Chicagoland, with the Phins when I can, and otherwise on my own. It's been amazing to get out and see the songs connecting, and to meet people who are so thrilled to have live music back as a regular part of life again. I didn't realize how much I missed it!