NAME: David Jerkovich
LOCATION: San Pedro, CA
BANDS, PAST & PRESENT: Novi Split. The Real Diego. Kind of Like Spitting. The Cherry Chans. The Sexy Sexies. Sexplosion.
LYRICAL INSPIRATIONS: Records. Smart people with great ideas. I can't think of one inspirational moment that sent me over any edge though. I wish I had a Purple Rain moment to talk about. I wish I had a basement with a piano and a purple bike. You bet your ass. I write and record everything in a bathroom. It's what I've always done at the end of my nights. I swear to God, I sit on the can and play guitar all night.
When I was younger I remember this kid telling me he wrote songs on a cliff outlooking the ocean. He said he felt some "real shit" out there. It was nice to think that it happened that way for people.
The inspiration for the Novi Split songs comes from my friends in Split, Croatia. I go there sometimes to spend the winters. We get drunk wherever we are and play songs shitfaced on a five-string guitar. We usually know half of the lyrics and get too drunk to pull off the changes, but there's a spirit to it that I cannot describe. There's a real love for singing and playing.
All the Novi Split songs are usually written and recorded in about an hour. Not much editing is done. My writing and studio technique are equivalent to point & shoot. There's a flavor to it.
The joy of doing it rather than the joy of revising it is what inspires me.
Hearing some dude with a thick Croatian accent singing "Lovecats" inspires me.
Mike Dutkewych giving a damn inspires me.
FAVORITE SONGWRITERS: I think we can all agree on the greats. People like Springsteen, Roger Waters, Phil Ochs, Tom Waits, KRS-1, Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrie, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Billy Bragg, David Berman, John Lennon, Willie Nelson, etc. They all have the ability to make you and your whole crew say, "damn." But what really intrigues me are the questionable songwriters. People like John Prine, Raekwon the Chef, Robyn Hitchcock, Randy Newman, Rod McKuen. The people who seem to hit you in a way that even your crew can't understand. The songwriters you're almost embarrassed to love are the best.
FAVORITE LYRICS: There's this song called, "Wake Up" by Woody Guthrie. It's a children's song he wrote. There are just a few simple lines in the song and three chords. "Wake up." - that's the first verse. "Open eyes." - that's the second. But the best part is, it's a children's song that he wrote for HIS children. Here's this great folk singer with amazing things to say about society, politics, love, and he's writing a song in which the focus is making it easier for his children to wake up in the morning. It's simple and written in a language that his kids could understand. That's fucking rad. So there's this song about getting up in the morning and it says more about who that man was than any other song he's written in my opinion. It's not intentional, it's fucking rad.
ONE ARTIST YOU'D LIKE TO ASK ABOUT SONG LYRICS: I'm not sure. I like the mystery of great songs. The gaps you fill yourself can sometimes raise the song to a different level. It's like when you hear a song and you have a certain vision of what it's about and then you see the video and all you can think about is the computer animated dragon they used. Maybe I would ask Billy Joel. I heard he's not a soft cock kind of guy.

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