Dave Pirner's Been Delayed

The Soul Asylum lead singer discusses the band's new album, "Delayed Reaction," in the My Spilt Milk podcast. 

What does a band mean to its members after more than 25 years? After it has taken time off? After it's followed the traditional narrative arc of the band growing from a scruffy regional band to being big enough to play The White House, then returned to a more human scale? VH-1's Behind the Music would usually end those narratives with a hopeful "They're making another run" tag that nobody believes - not back to the band's previous pinnacle of fame, anyway.

Soul Asylum's recent release Delayed Reaction raises these questions. There's no question - the world wasn't wondering what was holding up the next Soul Asylum album, but it's an honest album that reflects where its members are now. Dan Murphy and Dave Pirner remain the heart of the band, but they're older now, and they have different musical priorities than they did when they released Clam Dip & Other Delights in 1989. They're a better band now, Pirner insists, which doesn't mean the songs today surge and lunge the way they once did, but they do what they do intentionally.

I recently sat down with Dave Pirner to talk about the state of the band, the album, and what it was like to be as big as they were at the height of Grave Dancer's Union's popularity. Here's the conversation: