By Glenn Ito

GI: Can you recall the first time you were attracted to music?

MD: My parents sent me to a religious Jewish day school in 4th grade ‘til high school. I rebelled against almost everything in the school, with the exception of the music, I eventually learned Hebrew by singing the songs.

GI: What convinced you to become a producer?

MD: At summer camp, a socialist Jewish camp in Wisconsin, called Interlocken, my closest friends where all musicians. Everyone seemed to be able to play an instrument except me. After 2 years of guitar lessons, I gave it up, I did not have the patience, skills, or whatever it takes to be a musician. BUT, my pals were gifted and I started doing "lights" and "sound" when I was twelve. I jerryridged a light board as a science project in 7th grade, so I could do disco lights for all the Bar-Mitvah parties. I always wanted to be around the fun, the music, the coolness of the events, but clearly I was not going to be the one on the stage, but the one behind the stage making it happen.

GI: Would you mind revealing some key elements to your label’s 'sound?'

MD: I think the Knitting Factory brand stands for eclectic "outside" the mainstream sound, hard-to-classify music. It does not fit easily in the jazz bins, the rock or alternative bins, or any bins for that matter. We try to be a reflection of what is happening in the downtown scene, what is the musical manifestation on the minds of the artists. On some level, I have always tried to be the "stage" or platform for the artist’s to define the sound, let them use our machine to advance. Of course, over the years, that supportive open style has come back to bite us in the ass, because it was effective, perhaps too effective. We became very known to represent the scene in the media, in the eyes of outsiders, and many artist’s themselves then came to resent our institutional status. This has become painful and has all been quite disappointing of late, given we are trying so hard just to survive and grow at the same time in order to create a better economy for the scene. It is the swim hard or drown syndrome. So we have grown in order to create a business that can support the machine. We get no non-profit funding, so it takes quite a balance to draw from the commercial worlds and support this non-commercial music. But this is our sound, and I don’t want to disassociate ourselves from what we have grown out of. However, overall, when I take my personal feelings out of the business, and look at the macro market, the New York scene is healthier that it ever was with more venues to perform, more labels to release material, and a growing customer base. There are more places to perform in the United States, and Europe has remained at least flat in terms of places to perform. Overall, more artists are working and making a living from our community, so the 30,000 foot view does look promising.

GI: What is your most memorable musical moment to date?

MD: Man, that is tough given we have 4 shows per night, 365 days a year, for 13 years just at the New York Club. Then add our festivals, tours, and all the shows I have gone to, outside of what we produce. Very hard. If I was to pick a major turning point that I will always remember, it was John Zorn’s Hu Die at the club our first year. Packing the club was intense then. We had every square inch filled, with really interesting people. But the music was so different, so artistic, creative, absolutely unique, and a blend of different sounds, not just music, but spoken words and text, that I was blown away. It was Bill Frisell and Fred Frith on guitars, with words by Ruby Chang, of an Arto Lindsay text. It was by far the coolest thing I have ever seen and it represents the genius of Zorn. It was what turned me on to him, what made me put him on the pedestal of creativity which made me a follower and supporter of what ever he did. For 10 years, I saw so much of his work, perhaps 200 shows and 50 different line-ups and projects. But it was Hu Die that opened my eyes. Of course, not to mention the first Lou Reed show at the Knit would also be a lie, in terms of how excited and cool and amazing it was. But it was not the face slapper of Hu Die.

GI: What is your most memorable non-musical moment to date?

MD: Either the fire department closing the club 7 years ago for a glitch in our alarm system, or the fights I am currently having with the contractor in the building of our Hollywood club. The later has made my life a horror show for the last 6 months, but we finally open on August 12th and it will be the most advanced performance space in the world. Not just an amazing place for an artist to perform, for the customer to enjoy the show, etc., but the technology we have built into the woodwork, will make it the first "smart" club and allow us to broadcast on a nightly basis, record shows for CD release, digital downloads, or whatever format we can deliver the music.

GI: What's your favorite food, and can you give some recommendations for fine eating establishments when on the road?

MD: I am not a picky eater and like all foods. When travelling, I like to eat as much indigenous food, go to the small, divey, local joints which I usually seek out once I am there. I also very much enjoy fine wine, which usually requires going to some fancy restaurant, which is also cool, if you bring the clothes or get some corporate sponsor to pay for. In that case, La Colombre D'Or outside of Cannes is always fun with impressionist art on the walls. I happen to love Montrachet wine, and in Puligny, there is one small hotel/eatery there with a great wine list.

GI: Any final thoughts or special announcements?

MD: This question could keep me typing for a while, so I will try and keep my pontification a minimum. Since the first day I started the Knitting Factory, I have always tried to bring an audience to the music. The more I learned about the avant-garde scene, the artists, the more I loved the feeling of bringing a new and larger audience to what was considered underground. As a conduit, I really got off on my role as the medium point. To continue the growth, we have looked at other mediums which can facilitate this process, being a label, being a festival, moving into new and old media such as television, internet, etc. Our club was the first club in the world to build a website and start webcasting as much as possible. Our enthusiasm has been met with criticism along the way, with unfounded allegations that we are making money at the expense of the artists, or that we don’t respect those who we work with. This is simply not the fact, we continue to struggle to keep our head above water. If I personally, was not fortunate to have parents who still help me out (I am 38 years old and still need to ask for a hand out, it gets embarrassing), but my folks are very supportive of what we are doing. But if it was not for that, I certainly could not have continued building our company. The one thing that depresses most of us working here, is when we work our ass off, like in producing a festival, where all 40 or 50 of us work 20 hours days for 2 months straight, get no sleep, work for hardly any money, and still get shitted on by the people we are helping. Of course, it is not everyone, not even a majority, but even a few people who we work so hard for and try to meet every request and it simply is not enough. This takes the wind out of our sails and challenges our tenacity. But I try and remind the team, remind myself, that as producers of challenging music, we ourselves must be challenged since we are presenting the most creative and eccentric artists in the world. If we wanted to present widgets or something else, it would certainly be easier, but we do not. This spark keeps me, keeps us at it. And I hope we are at it for a long time.