The Dibs’ Chris Hamlin comes home happy

On Saturday, Chris Hanlin returns to Long Beach, the city he left two years ago after acting for years as a fulcrum for its music scene. The founder and driving force behind The Dibs, Hanlin and his band are performing at “Schooled in Song,” a benefit at the Carpenter Center for music-focused programs administered by the Arts Council of Long Beach.

It’s great to have Hanlin back and playing on the same bill with the likes of Jay Buchanan, Deccatree, Chris Paul Overall—formerly of Wonderlove—not to mention a reunion of, well, Mention; though it’s kind of a bummer they’re brought together to raise money for something our tax dollars used to handle.

Still, a gig’s a gig, and if anyone knows the value, power and heartbreak of music, it’s Hanlin, who says that “when you decide you’re going to be an artist, you’re setting yourself up for a life of difficulty.”

That difficulty was, for years, reflected in Hanlin’s songs; songs of longing, betrayal and disappointment which were not only achingly beautiful but emblematic of a ridiculously talented musician most people assumed would be big—Tito Puente big.

It didn’t work out that way and in 2005, Hanlin and his wife, Kelly, left Long Beach and moved up to rural Sonoma County where they live on 75 acres with “a pond in the backyard.”

We talked about the upcoming show, being happy, writing happy and writing naked.

The District Do you have any other gigs planned while you’re down here?

Chris Hanlin No, we’re putting all out energy into this one and it’ll be the biggest production event we’ve ever done. We’ll have the normal band members but we’ll augment the songs with horns, strings, even a sitar. On “Spanish Light” we’ll have a whole bunch of percussionists, a string section from Juilliard, I think we’re even going to have a harp player.

A harp player? That’s big.

You bet.

Why do you think we’ve stopped offering music, and art, in schools?

No one wants to pay for the qualitative things in life. Everything has to be quantitative, you have to be able to measure it, test it. As a culture we’re squeezing out art, all kinds, visual, dance, music—hey, that’s the stuff kids show up to school for. They show up because they’re going to get to paint. That’s one of the reasons all these musicians are coming together for this. No one’s making anything off this; we just believe in it that much. Plus, it’s a chance to play with all the Long Beach brothers again.

What do you think distinguishes the Long Beach bands?

It’s about soul, about songwriting chops. I really admired all those guys.

So why did you leave?

It was the end of The Space [a co-op industrial performance space] and all the Long Beach clubs were closing and they tore down our loft. I told my wife, “Well, if we’re going to move, let’s move.” And right now, life is pretty bitchen. All this land, no neighbors arguing or guys playing the trumpet next door.

Has living up there changed your writing?

I still write the way I always have. I dream most of my songs. “When a Man Loves the Moon,” I dreamed I was listening to that on the radio. “Spareland,” I dreamed Stevie Nicks was singing it to me. I dreamed “Complicated” and I woke up and ran over naked and starting writing it—freaked my wife out. But I think I’m a lot less frustrated now, I think there’s a lot more hope in my songs. “Tall Trees,” I wrote it about living up here. We live across from 200 acres of redwoods, I’m looking at them right now. My early stuff was all about heartbreak, frustration, anger. Now, I love my life. Marriage is good, bro. Life is good.

You sound—can I say it? Happy.

If you were standing in my kitchen, looking at what I’m looking at, you’d be happy, too.

“SCHOOLED IN SONG” CARPENTER CENTER | CAL STATE LONG BEACH | 6200 ATHERTON ST | LONG BEACH 90815 | 562.985.7000 | SAT 6 PM | $10-17 | ALL AGES

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