Catching Up With Rob Compa Of Dopapod

Over the course of the past year, Dopapod has gone from on-the-radar-up-and- comers to joining acts like Papadosio and Twiddle as established Next-Gen jam bands. Between their first appearance at Bonnaroo and a sold-out three-night run in Cambridge, 2015 has been a banner year for the quartet of Berklee grads. To bring the year to a close, Dopapod will be performing alongside Kung Fu and Turkuaz at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts on New Year’s Eve.

We caught up with guitarist Rob Compa to give JamBase Nation the lowdown on how the night stands to unfold and what they can expect while ringing in the New Year with Dopapod and friends …

JamBase: How did 2015 treat Dopapod?

Rob Compa: It was awesome man. We had some great experiences, some of the biggest shows we’ve ever played. Like any other year there were highs and lows, but overall it was awesome.

JamBase: What were some of those highs and lows?

RC: Bonnaroo is the first to come to mind. It was crazy and fun and definitely the biggest crowd we’ve played for. We did three nights in Boston followed by two nights in New york and musically those were some of our favorite shows in a long time, so that was great. I’m excited for New Year’s Eve. But it’s like everything else, you go to work some days and have bad days and good days.

JamBase: You guys are playing with Kung Fu and Turkuaz on New Year’s Eve. What’s the history like with those groups?

RC: They’re some of our closest friends. Turkuaz, we’ve known longer than any other band because we all went to Berklee (College of Music in Boston) together. Their drummer is our original drummer and on our first album, and [keyboardist] Eli [Winderman] also used to play in Turkuaz so there is a ton of crossover between us over the years. Kung Fu feel like our big brothers. They’ve all been on the scene a long time and for me, as a guitar player, I admire Tim [Palmieri’s] playing a lot and we’ve done a lot of collaborations together over the years. It’s close knit, our three bands. It’s going to be a hang.

JamBase: With regards to the on stage lineups, will there be any interweaving?

RC: Definitely. Right now we’re ironing out some special treats and I don’t know if it’s going to be literally going from one band to the next because that’s logistically tricky, but there will be changeovers and collaborations, no doubt about it.

JamBase: Halloween and New Year’s Eve are the two biggest days of the year on our scene. Does Dopapod in particular have anything special planned for NYE?

RC: Yes, but I can’t say ‘em so that’s all that I’ll say.

JamBase: Anything you’d want readers knowing about what you have in store if it sways them to come?

RC: Yeah, it will be fun and part of the fun is not knowing everything that’s going to happen. We don’t even know everything yet anyways so I don’t want to give anything away. We’re still working things out over a few email chains.

JamBase: Anything you want your crowd to do or know ahead of time?

RC: Dress like they’re going to a 1915 New Year’s Eve party.

JamBase: You want flappers?

RC: Flappers and penguin style tuxedos. Top hats, cigars on long plastic little pieces, little eye glasses on chains, Timepieces. Go for it! The sky’s the limit! I want you to shave part of your head so you look like James Darmody from Boardwalk Empire.

JamBase: Worcester, Massachusetts is a notoriously classy place – as is The Palladium [laughs].

RC: We used to play at a bar with an abandoned speakeasy and the story goes that Babe Ruth used to beat women down there. That’s what they told us.

JamBase: That sounds more like a Ty Cobb story …

RC: I don’t know if it’s true but it’s a crazy story they used to tell bands. I don’t remember what the place was called …

JamBase: We’ve talked about 2015 and New Year’s Eve, what should JamBase Nation know about 2016 for Dopapod?

RC: There will be a lot more music because we’re taking an ample amount of time off the road – about three months – to write music. There will be a shit load of new music and after that and we’ll start working on a new album in May. Aside from that [the plan is] more shows [and] more playing.

Tickets for Dopapod’s NYE show with Turkuaz and Kung Fu are available here.