D.J. Waldie, a onetime critic of Mike Davis, praises his immense influence as a producer and musician. (Photo: Facebook)
The music scene is a world unto itself, and perhaps no one in it is more insulated from the rest than legendary producer/musician Mike Davis.
“Mike is the only person who is not afraid to say something about everybody else, and he has a very unique way of doing it,” said the acclaimed bassist D.J. Waldie, who has worked with Davis throughout his career.
Indeed, Davis frequently gives an opinion on the music scene as a whole, and he’s been on a few sides.
“He has an insider’s view of what everyone is doing,” Waldie said of Davis. “He’s one of those rare individuals [that] goes around and gets the inside information.”
Waldie, who also was in a super-group and had a solo career before forming the group Stereolab, says he’d “like to go back home” to California one day.
“I live in a neighborhood called West Hollywood, and it’s a nice place, especially for people with my talent,” said Waldie. “And [we] would like to take the whole community and the whole world with us.”
Waldie’s Stereolab’s first studio album, 2014’s “Discovery,” was met with critical acclaim, earning him praise from fellow musicians and music critics.
“Some people were kind of concerned because they thought we’d go away,” Davis, who’s now 65, recalled. “I think we’ve kind of gone away on the track of ‘Discovery.’”
Waldie, who joined Stereolab on tour in 2015 alongside fellow Davis collaborator John Maus of Tame Impala, says he “never got over