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DA: Well, forming a new band was actually not difficult at all [laughing]. It came together pretty
quickly and easily. After we made the decision to part ways with Moreland and Arbuckle because
Aaron was kind of just done with the road and it was sort of time for everyone to move on, but our
drummer, Kendall Newby and I, had a conversation around that time, “do you want to keep playing
together?” And we agreed that we did and there were some shows that had originally been on the

books for M&A that for one reason or another as we played out our schedule, there were a few
shows that weren't going to work to play with M&A, but I didn't want to let those shows just go, so
Kendall and I decided that we
would try to get a new band
together as quickly as possible so
we could cover some of these

shows, and so we called Brandon
Hudspeth, who's a guitarist who
I'd known for several years kind
of casually. I had actually met
him because he would play with
Lee from time to time, and we

had gotten to know each other
around the regional scene.
Brandon's a great guitar player,
very versatile. Great blues guitar
player but has a strong jazz Dustin Arbuckle and the Damnations
background, and he's from

Oklahoma originally so I think
somehow, he just instinctively understands country music [chuckles]. I called Brandon and asked if
Dorothy Moore with Teeny Tucker
he'd be interested in getting together to do some shows and try it out and he was, and I called a
friend of ours named Mark Foley, here in Wichita, who had actually done some bass session work
on the last Moreland and Arbuckle record and who I had played with for years in kind of a side
project, well what at the time, was kind of a side project band called Haymakers which was more of

an acoustic Americana string band, and Mark was interested in getting down with this new band,
and so the four of us got together and got to have about three rehearsals and one tune-up gig before
we had to go open for George Thorogood in front of about a thousand people, but the band just
worked. It worked and pretty quickly we felt like we had something good and something special
and that's how the Damnations came together, and three years later, we're still working to grow
the band and build and try to get ourselves out there. Now what I will say is that there are

challenges that come from starting a new band and having to kind of rebuild your fan base and your
following and just kind of get the word out there. Even though there are still a lot of people out
there who know me and Kendall and remember us from Moreland and Arbuckle, obviously it's
reaching all those people again and getting the new music out to them while also trying to get out
to a new audience because it is a different band with a different vibe, and we want to try to catch
new and different people as well.

BiTS: And you've done so far two EPs, and then this latest album of yours; all of your own music or
do you cover any other stuff from other people?

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