Dave Tree interview 2026

Everything in red is me, the black is Dave. I'm sorry if my questions are shitty, it's my first interview but he was awesome and didn't care my questions were bad and was very supportive 🙏

1. I know you guys have been around for a good while in the Boston area, originally from Westwood Massachusetts but you're known for the whole Boston thing, what bands inspired you into starting TREE? were you like "I don't really want to work a normal tiring job, i want to be in a band." Or did it happen organically?

I have seen you supporting the band Acid Crash and i thought that was dope, it's nice to see you be supportive for the younger bands!

Gang Green and The Freeze were big inspirations to me back in the early 80's when punk rock hardcore was brand new. I was kicked out of 4 highschools, arrested 13 times by the Westwood, i beat every case but the damage was done. I felt kicked out of society, the chance of getting a normal job had already been taken from me. I started TREE with 2 brothers Jake and Yuk with a younger guy Skinny on drums to do something, be creative, critical and funny. It was not a career move, more of a survival tactic.

2. Touring and having a band for this long comes with crazy/funny experiences, what is the craziest thing that has happened to you guys? and if anything led up to that, what was happening to cause the incident?

Lots of crazy things happen on the road, some good, some bad. We always tried our best to be friendly to everyone, you never know who you might meet. After a show in Spokane we had no place to go so we crashed out at the People's Park, a beautiful park with a beach and stream we found out the next day it was also a nudist colony. We camped out with the local Hobo's until we met some kids from the show who invited us back to their house to play for their buddies Bday. In the middle of our set, guy covered in blood shows up with a rifle, what a sight, turns out to be the older brother who just shot a deer , so we stopped, helped him hang the deer in the backyard and finished the set.

3. You've played plenty of shows over the years, what exactly is the worst show you've ever played in your opinion? and why was it horrible?

We have played shows to no one, we played because we were there. Its really bad but we play anyway. We have played shows and it has erupted in violence, not just fights but full blown riots, we always stop and try to break it up, but people have seriously hurt, those shows are the worst.

4. Now for the opposite question, in your opinion what's the funnest/coolest show you've ever played and what made it so fun/cool?

We loved playing the Freedomfest on the Boston Common for the legalization of Marijuana, a historic site to make a difference with music. The cops could and would arrest you but we always pulled it off.

5. Being in the same band forever obviously means you're there for everything. Do you still have any TREE merch that would be considered "Rare" Or "Vintage" that you keep for yourself? Do you have any old/rare physical copies of demos or releases? Do you like keeping everything or are you one of those people who are like "ah just toss it."

I design and print all the merch with a few exceptions. I have some cool stuff left but most of it i have given away

6. What was your child-hood like? Do you think that affected the way you grew up and eventually incorporate it into your music?

As a little kid life was good, as a teenager life was bad, got bullied, got beat up, got into tons of fights.The teachers sucked, parents sucked, police sucked and most of the kids sucked. They all kept telling me I would never make it to 21. I stand up for anyone, that gets put down, I'd say it affected my music.

7. Has your music taste grown as you've aged? Or have you stuck to the same genres/bands? I'm always trying to widen my taste and make sure i have a broad range of genres so i don't eventually lose my mind.

My taste in music, art and culture has always grown, it's good to have an open mind, open eyes and ears and and open heart to appreciate what's new to you

8. I figured you guys out through the band Clutch, i seen Neil and JP wearing Tree merch and i checked y'all out and i was amazed, you guys have a unique sound i hadn't heard and then i realized you guys ended up doing shows with Clutch as-well. (I did find some photos of y'all and some of the guys from clutch that i can attach below) How was it to do shows with Clutch? I know their shows used to be rowdyyy. How did you feel about another band who didn't wear other bands merch much wearing your band on their shirt as they played shows? And you covered "I" by The Bad Brains with Clutch in 1997, do you remember how you felt during that? Were you friends with any of the Clutch guys and do you still talk to them?

We loved Clutch, still do, great guys making amazing music, we were psyched to be friends and to tour with them. We kinda had a similar approach playing heavy groovy riffs with the vocals going off. It's always awesome when other bands wear your gear on stage, we used to always wear bands we liked gear on stage to help promote them. I loved singing the Bad Brains "I against I" It was an honor, and culturally significant to where they were from and where we were at. We are still all friends.

9. What hobbies do you have outside of music and if you weren't doing music, what would you be doing now?

I make a lot of art, i go on adventures in nature, always evolving.

10. What's your favorite movie of all time? and whats a movie you REALLY hate?

'One flew over the Cuckoo's nest" I don't hate anything but most modern movies are awful.

11. Now, one day i was on the way-back machine on pro-rock.com in the year 2001 and there was a photo with you and Neil, but they called you River, and Neil also called you River in the '97 show, why did you use to go by River but now you don't? Was it just that you wanted to change it up with age or you just got bored?

When i was about 13 years old i drank a bottle of whiskey and fell in the Charles river and almost died. The older kids called me River to insult me and it worked i go into a fury and fight them, as time passed they started calling me River in a kinder way so i didnt fight them over it, but no one my age or younger was allowed too or it was a fight. When we started the band we thought going by our nicknames was a way of being friendly with the people so i went by River. I still do. You don't get to pick your real name it has to be earned.

12. What's a pet peeve of yours when it comes to music?

Snobs.

13. Cats or dogs?

Both.

And if you could recommend one band, it doesn't matter the genre, I will listen to whatever album of theirs you tell me to.

Check out the band Neighborhood Shit from South Boston.

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And that's all, everybody should go listen to Tree.

Kudos: 4