Some interview snippets in this trio of local reports about Stu’s new album and tour, from Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press-Citizen , and Shepherd Express Milwaukee.

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Des Moines Register
March 26, 2008
Davis much more than a singer
by Joe Lawler
There are a lot of layers to Stuart Davis.The singer-songwriter is a multimedia renaissance man, a practicing Buddhist and, according to him, an “unknown rock star.” He also shaves his entire body, and sometimes covers it in paint. Davis, who was born in Des Moines, returns home Friday for a show at the Vaudeville Mews. He talked with us about some of his many ongoing and upcoming projects.

THE STUART DAVIS SHOW
Last year Davis started his own comedy series on the You Tube and the Integral Naked Web site. Davis co-stars with his wife and two clones representing the Buddhist and hedonistic natures of himself. Each episode also includes a new music video.”I had reached a point where I had been touring nonstop for 10 years and wanted to spend time with my wife and kids,” Davis said. The second season is filming right now.

MOVIES
Davis’s song “Already Free” is featured in the upcoming Owen Wilson film “Drillbit Taylor.” Davis wrote the song as a favor to Steven Brill, his friend and the film’s director. Brill became a fan of Davis and originally tried to get a TV show based on him on the air. Davis wrote the song based off five minutes of footage.Later this year, Davis plans to make his feature-length directorial debut with the film “Twisted Mystics.”

“The premise is kind of like ‘Fight Club’ meets ‘I Heart Huckabees,’” he said. “Characters from the mythical traditions of the world are frustrated with fundamentalists and start an underground group to kidnap key figures in the world to force them to evolve.”

BOOKS

Davis is finishing up his autobiography, “Sex, God and Rock and Roll,” which he admits from the get-go is a fictional memoir. The book will be published through Random House’s Shambhala imprint.

“It’s all written, except for the end,” he said. “That’s tough to figure out in an autobiography. Should I die at the end? Maybe I’ll live forever.”

MUSIC

Davis’ new album, “Something Simple,” is released in stores next month. He plays a CD release show at the Maintenance Shop in Ames April 26.

Davis made an interesting admission about what he has been listening to lately: the ex-Mrs. K-Fed.

“I’ve been working out to Britney Spears lately,” he said. “She’s really popular in my house, thanks to my 4-year-old daughter. She’s really into the song ‘Toxic.’”

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Iowa City Press-Citizen
Thursday, March 27, 2008
CD reviews: Stuart Davis “Something Simple”
by Jim Musser
For the past 15 years or so, Minnesota native Stuart Davis has created some of the most intriguing, provocative and uncompromising pop music on the planet. A dynamic, spell-binding performer with a powerful, elastic voice, dazzling guitar chops and rapier wit, Davis applies an imposing intellect to lyrical constructs which reconfigure (or bypass altogether) traditional forms to bring Zen-informed spirituality to the subjects of life, death, love, God, sex and — in small doses — even pop-culture.With the release of “Something Simple” (his 11th full-length disc), the singer/songwriter seems poised for a larger profile. Heavyweights Ryko-WEA are distributing the CD nationally, with the same planned for re-issues of his entire catalog this year.Easily his most accessible and hook-laden album yet, the Alex Gibson-produced “Something Simple” is packed with heady, danceable tunes, mixing taut reworkings of the hypnotic “Nothing In Between,” the sassy “Sugar Bullets” and longtime crowd-pleaser “Universe Communion” with new gems like “Already Free,” “The River,” “Wand,” the Talking Heads-flavored “Deity Freak” and the Elvis C.-inspired “Twisted Mystery.”Emotionally generous and intellectually challenging, this is great pop music that’s actually good FOR you.(Stuart Davis will perform at his CD-release party at The Mill, 120 E. Burlington St., March 29 — 9 p.m., $11 cover.)

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Shepherd Express Milwaukee
Monday, March 24,2008
Stuart Davis
Tonight @ Shank Hall – 8:00 PM
By Shepherd Express Staff
Like Moby, power-pop singer-songwriter Stuart Davis has a prominent bald dome and a propensity to share his philosophical and religious musings with anyone who will listen. Go to his Myspace pageand you’ll find curious videos of him debating himself. “I don’t observe Christmas, I’m a Buddist,” he tells himself in a video titled “Zen and the Zen of Zen.” “Dude, being Buddhist doesn’t preclude participation in common social ritual,” he responds. The video continues for another 11 minutes. A one-man Waking Life, Davis requires a certain amount of open-mindedness (and patience) to appreciate, and the fact that he’s working on inventing his own language called “IS” won’t make him any more popular with the masses who just want to have a beer and hear some music. Davis plays an 8 p.m. show at Shank Hall tonight.