The band won an award not too long ago -- Best Modern Rock Band awarded by the Cleveland Free Times, if I'm not mistaken.

Dave: Yeah, we also took in "Best Rock Band" by the Cleveland Scene. Something like that. But the Free Times just went under with that whole New Times Media/Village Voice Media thing.

Right, right. That had to do with the two of them agreeing to close down a publication each in a competing market so other papers they each owned could become the dominant publication in that respective market. Coy bastards.

Dave: Yeah, I think that's it.

Didn't the New Times agreed to discontinue publishing New Times Los Angeles so VVM's LA Weekly could claim that market, and in return VVM shut down the Cleveland Free Times so NTM's Cleveland Scene could gobble up that area's readership? Wasn't there an anti-trust investigation launched against the two companies?

Dave: Yup. Hey, I gotta apologize if I'm slurring or not making sense. I had a couple of beers earlier tonight and am feeling it a little. Not that I'm wasted, but I'm not thinking like a surgeon, either.

[Laughs] But you never know how some surgeons might think, or what they might drink to steady the hands.

Dave: True. I'm not drunk, I just haven't eaten much today and have had a few beers, I'm struggling with completing the sentence that I'm in the middle of rather than thinking ahead as I normally would.

So did you get trophies at all for the awards you won? Coupons to Baskin Robbins? Or did VVM steal the trophy off your fireplace mantle after closing down the Free Times?

Dave: I think with the Free Times award we got some pizza and a glass trophy. The Scene award I happened to be doing something else that night, so I don't know what we got exactly. I'm sure there was some varnished wood involved.

Or some wood varnish, perhaps.

Dave: Ha!

Getting back to your drummers... Was there a reason that Rob left the band?

Dave: The way Uptown Sinclair started was just a handful of friends coming together to write songs. At the time I was doing Cobra Verde and he was in Sense Field. Have you heard of them?

I don't think so. Are they considered geniuses in Canada?

Dave: Well, they're on Nettwerk Records.

There you go!

Dave: So Rob was doing Sense Field at the same time. That band had a single that did pretty well and he went and toured Europe, opened for the Goo Goo Dolls and stuff. When all that kicked in, he decided he wanted to go and do that, if only for the experience. Our schedule was such that he couldn't justify turning it down. It was a bad vibes situation, he just had an opportunity he didn't want to pass up.

How's Bill Watterson's side gig, Dakota Floyd, doing?

Dave: He's staying pretty busy with that. I'm not sure what their future plans are -- they're not touring at the moment.

I really, really like that three-song single they put out about a year ago.

Dave: Yeah. They haven't really broken out of the Ohio scene yet, but they're doing good.

I realized before I phoned you up that I was introduced to Uptown Sinclair through your e-mail newsletters. They are some of the funniest tour diary-type writings I've read. But I haven't received in for some time now, so I'm wondering if you gave that up.

Dave: No. It's just been sheer lazyness. I started writing one awhile ago, but haven't finished it. I'm totally overdue on that. I started one and then I started writing for the T.V. show and got sidetracked.

By paying employement. I totally understand.

Dave: But it's good, though, because now I can talk about our conversation in the next newsletter. So it works out for the better.

I can see it now: "Then that asshole editor from eP phoned me up and wouldn't stop peppering me with his asinine questions!"

Dave: [Laughs]

What's the near future hold for the band? You have been writing some songs. Is the plan to record them sooner than later? Put out and album? Finally do a west coast tour? Where would you like to see the band headed?

Dave: Besides doing an arena tour? A modest arena tour?

Right. Besides the bevy of silicone starlets and mountains of Bolivian marching powder...

Dave: [Laughs] Yeah...exactly! I just really want to make a record I would to listen to. I know that's probably the lamest answer ever, but it's the truth.

And it's sincere.

Dave: All else aside, I just want to make a cool record that, as fans of music, we'd want to listen to. That and to travel, which is one of the great parts of being in a band. You get to see places in a way that you wouldn't see if you were taking a normal vacation.

Where would you like to tour to that you haven't been?

Dave: I would love to do Japan. Actually, I just want to eat the best Chinese food in every town I play, regardless of where it's at. What would you like to do?

A rollercoaster tour.

Dave: Really?

Yeah. I'd love to go on a rollercoaster tour; travel around the country -- hell, the world! -- and ride the best rollercoasters. Anyway... Do you have a timeline for the upcoming album?

Dave: I had hoped we'd have it done already, and now I'm hoping we get it done in the next few months. I really think we need to write some more songs. Our first record we did gradually with just a handful of songs at a time, so we might just end up recording this one the same way. Do five songs here and there and see how it turns out.

How would you describe Uptown Sinclair's sound?

Dave: I dunno... I guess... Er, I dunno... It's melodic, it's... I'm sure if I...

Okay, fair enough. If it had a smell, what would the sound of Uptown Sinclair smell like?

Dave: Hmmm... Tangerines. And sausauge, maybe.

Tangerines and sausage? Interesting.

Dave: Maybe some ginger thrown in.

Ginger from Gilligan's Island?

Dave: Maybe. Definitely a citrous quality to it. Maybe some steak. And sausage. Steak and sausage. Bacon.

Actually, I take it all back. Just bacon. Nothing else.

Not Sizzlelean, but bacon.

Dave: Bacon -- the real thing. Maybe Canadian bacon.

Is bacon considered genius in Canada?

Dave: Good question.

On the web:
Uptown Sinclair

Inside Earpollution:
8 Songs album review