This is from SLAMM (a free San Diego area bi-weekly mag), April 1994

A Digable Planet

By Mark Habegger


There's really only one place to catch up to Dig these days and that's on the road. The band has criss-crossed the country for the last year and a half playing shows with Bad Brains, The Ramones, Julianna Hatfield, and The Posies.
For our conversation, SLAMM found Dig in Grand Rapids, Michigan about a week before the band made its way to San Diego for a show with Blind Melon at UCSD's Price Center Ballroom.
Lead singer/guitarist Scott Hackwith calls their current outing with the criticaly-acclaimed alternative rockers "The Weird One". "People are actually lighting lighters between songs and stuff," Hackwith said from his hotel room. "I haven't seen that in years; but it's a lot of fun."
Dig is currently riding the wave of popularity unleashed by their single and video of "Believe", which has become a major radio hit and MTV Buzz Bin favorite. All the notoriety has caused many to wonder if this is the same band that played the May Day festival last year along with some of San Diego's best unsigned bands.
Hackwith confirmed that this is indeed the same outfit, but he has also mentioned that Dig is not what he would call a San Diego band. "Three of us are from San Diego, but the band came together in Los Angeles," he said. "The first shows we played were in San Diego because we had friends down there that got us shows (at) the Casbah and Dream Street."
At May Day, Dig was one of the few bands that had already secured a record deal. They released an E.P., Runt, on the small Wasteland label before issuing their self-titled, full-length debut on MCA's Radioactive label. "When we signed the record deal we were going to start off with a full-length album", Hackwith explained, "then one day the president of the lable asked if we wanted to do an E.P. on the little recordcompany he was just starting. It sounded like a good idea, so we went ahead and did it".
Hackwith said that Wasteland's independent distribution through Caroline Records may have given the band an unforseen boost in recognition. "Going through Caroline definitely got us into different stores that we probably would have missed if we had gone right out with Radioactive. So it was just getting our music to different people".
A lot of people are getting into Dig's music thanks to MTV's heavy rotation of the "Believe" video, which was directed by Hackwith and friend Graeme Joyce. The two had worked together on other film and video projects when Hackwith was working in Los Angeles as an art director for music videos. As HAckwith's music career took off, he watched Joyce become a highly sought-after music video director (his credits include Stone Temple Pilot's "Wicked Garden" and "Creep"). "It's weird", Hackwith began, "I used to hire him for jobs when I was an art director! But I always thought he was very talented".
Hackwith's own talents are both strong and varied. In addition to handling duties as Dig's singer/guitarist/songwriter/video director, he managed to find the time to produce the newest Ramones album, Acid Eaters. The album features the legendary punk band's covers of psychedelic '60's songs. The project is said to have evolved from modest plans. "We went in the studio for two weeks, and that was from start to finish. So it wasn't some grand production going on".
Dig co-produced their own album with famed producer Dave Jerden, best known for his work with Jane's Addiction and Alice In Chains. Hackwiths is enthusiastic about doing more production work. "I'm working with a band called Wood Pussy in L.A. right now", he said. "So it's something that I want to do, it's just finding the time to do it".
It seems that Hackwith is very good at utilizing his spare time. He and the rest of the band have have just finished another E.P. called Soft Pretzel. This recording probably won't be available in stores. though. "I think we're just going to sell it at our live shows and give it to college radio stations and that's it," Hackwith said.
Meanwhile, "Unlucky Friend" is scheduled for release as the second single from the current album. Although the song lacks the accessibility of "Believe", Hackwith said it was actually the band's choice for their first single, but they were "overruled" by KROQ when the L.A. radio station picked up "Believe."
The band plans to stay out on the road supporting its debute album through the summer. After they finish as openers for Blind Melon, they'll head to Europe for a month with Henry Rollins as well as headlining some shows in select cities. Then it's back to the studio. This whirlwind of activity seems exhausting, but the band is realistic about hard work paying off. According to Hackwith, Dig has always looked at its career path one way: "We thought we'd go out and tour, do an album, go out on tour and support the album, and then come home and do another album".
He paused for a moment, then added, "And then go out on tour".



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