Here’s the next installment of My First Time, the interview series that gives a little peek into the musical firsts of some bands I’ve been crushing on as of late. This go-around it’s Joel from the Nashville pop group De Novo Dahl, whose new record Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound is out now in stores everywhere.

MP3: De Novo Dahl - Shout

My First Time …with De Novo Dahl

First record you bought
I think it was Betty by Helmet or Bleach by Nirvana…. although I used gift certificates two years earlier for Phil Collins’ greatest hits and MC Hammer’s first album. I remember buying Ugly Kid Joe at some point too… I hope I never hear that band again.

First record that changed your life
I would have to say Simon and Garfunkel’s greatest hits. My mom played it a bit and I eventually made her put it on anytime we were in the car together. She also gave me a steady stream of Neil diamond and Billy Joel, some Willie Nelson and the Oakridge Boys. The first cd I bought for myself that changed my life was Mercury Rev’s See You on the Other Side. It made me understand that pop can still be fun and weird and quirky.

First concert you attended
Petra — pure Nashville Christian rock. I went to a lot of Christian rock shows as a kid. I grew up in church. My father is a pastor and I was bombarded with Christian and country music since I was a little boy. When I was 14 or 15 I started going to punk shows at Lucy’s record shop on Church Street in Nashville. That really changed me. I saw a show where the singer was being shot with a dart gun by his buddy while piercing his own nipple. Some of my friends were older, so I had rides out to all age shows at Lucys any night of the week. Me and my friends would usually spend the entire weekend there; it didn’t matter who was playing. I did see Cat Power there on a very early tour. Lambchop. Daphne’s Operation. Bert. Brazen Youth. Methadone Actors. All sorts of people for 15 and 16 year old to see night in and night out. We didn’t even socialize much… just went to lucys…. $5 and a front row education 3 or 4 nights a week.

First concert that blew you away
Spiritualized at the cotton club in Atlanta. Amazing songs, sound, and lights. I was totally into the British shoe gazer creation records sound and it was the next best thing to getting to see my bloody valentine.

First time playing live
I sang in church choir and in school musicals and stuff. I loved to sing and volunteered for a anything I could sing in. I think I got busted singing to myself while daydreaming a thousand times as a kid. So I guess I have been performing since whenever.

First tour horror stories, unexpectedly great shows, etc
The first long tour with the nudie suits presented many strange smells.

First instrument you learned and/or first piece of equipment you loved
I still have barely learned guitar. I banged on pots and pans until I was 9. I am still pretty good at playing kitchen wear. I love my bright orange Roland cube sixty guitar amp from the 80’s.

First band you were a part of
Hi-ya Phonics - we kind of tried to be Sonic Youth meets the Ramones. I was 15 or 16.

First song you wrote and/or recorded
Gibvic or nurses for nuns - with Hi-ya Phonics

First awesome thing that happened solely because you were in a band
Chicks started talking to me.

First horrible thing that happened solely because you were in a band
Got hassled by cops and teachers. You saw footloose…. it was kind of like that.

First reactions from your family when you played them your music
My mom said something charming in a sweet southern accent I’m sure and my father stood with a stoic soft grin of encouragement and acceptance.

First musical obsession (band, song, singer, genre or otherwise)
Air Supply around age five or six. I would take my mom’s tape and play it in my room and sing along to “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” in the mirror with a spider man cape and cowboy boots on… not much has changed I guess.