Jeff Berman cut his teeth playing in bands in the punk scene. As he got older, he transitioned into being more of a singer-songwriter. Sometimes, he’s solo. Other times, he’s got a backing band with him. His current solo project is called Divided Heaven. Performing in that incarnation for a little over a decade now, he’s amassed quite the portfolio. Not counting EPs and comps, the group has released four full-length albums.
Each of Divided Heaven’s full lengths have a different persona – almost a road map of Berman’s evolution as a solo artist. The latest offering was Oblivion, which he released in February 2022. The songs showcased a more chaotic, political, and unsettling side to Berman’s music, but he definitely put his all into it.
However, most musicians record more than the ten or so tracks that actually make the album. They write a lot, more than most music fans realize. And when you’ve been writing and recording music for over a decade, you unlock a new achievement: “the retrospective.” Think of it like a network television show can go into syndication after 100 episodes. Artists choose whether to visit “Greatest Hits” or “Singles Collection” territory. Divided Heaven chose the latter.
V – The Singles Collection is one of the most thoughtful pieces of art I’ve listened to in a while.
Berman dedicated a lot of time to carefully curate the album, painstakingly going back through his entire catalog and making decisions on how to proceed. When you listen through, it’s pretty clear he used love as his guiding instinct. Amongst the singles, covers, and random tracks he assembled, Divided Heaven also re-recorded several songs that just wouldn’t jive with 2023 sensibilities.
We were lucky to have Jeff Berman answer a few questions about the collection. He also shared his thoughts on community and performance within the punk (and greater music) community.
When you finish reading the interview, go check out V. You won’t regret it.
Your next release is a collection of rarities, singles, and the like. What gave you the idea to combine them altogether?
I am a fan of singles collections! The Beatles, The Business, The Exploited, The Virus – so many of my favorite bands have released collections like this and I wanted to do the same. In addition, the time felt right. Previous Divided Heaven album cycles were about two to three years in duration, in part because I was touring so much.
Now, I am a dad and not touring as much, so piggy-backing this singles collection on the tail-end of the Oblivion album cycle was the way to go to keep myself and my audience engaged.
Since the songs span your entire career, is there anything you discovered about your growth as an artist while selecting what songs made up the track listing?
Yes! It has been a valuable learning experience. I found a balance of having higher standards for my songs and at the same time not being precious about every little thing in them. Truthfully, I thought it would be an easy process: release songs from the Divided Heaven vault as singles and combine them with our already-released singles, and viola – a collection!
What I discovered was that many of my older songs were simply not that good! My 2023 standard for releasing music is much higher than it was five or ten years ago.
My manager and I thoroughly combed through all the unreleased Divided Heaven songs and divided them into three categories:
- The songs that should be released as is;
- The songs that needed to be revised (or rewritten) to be released; and
- The songs that should go back in the vault indefinitely.
This process was somewhat arduous, but it did result in a better collection of songs. For example, the song “The New Hallelvjah” was originally written and tracked for our album Cold War but didn’t make the cut. As opposed to simply releasing it as a B-side (a term I absolutely despise), I rewrote and re-tracked much of it, resulting in a better song that feels brand new.
Looking back on some of the selections from the earlier days, is there anything you would change about them now?
Yes and no. Revisionism can be a dangerous loop to fall into as an artist. Putting together this singles collection (and the various revised songs herein) gave me the opportunity to revise the essential and maintain what felt natural and accurate of the time.
For example, “Generator” is a great example of a song that I would love to revise but doing so would probably kill some of the analog magic we captured in the recording. Some of the songs absolutely needed to be revised through a 2022/2023 lens, whereas others captured magic that we simply would not be able to replicate.
Each scene has certain individuals you associate with specific regions in the country. In Vegas, one of those people was Emily Matview, who we tragically lost in 2021. There’s a song on this release about her. What inspired you to memorialize her in such a way?
Emily was a supporter of ours. Her death shocked us. And Vegas is weird, so having Emily (as well as our friends Sal, Brock, Jesse and others) in Vegas made it a second home for our band. It’s heartbreaking that after finding and becoming her true self, she decided to end her own life. Our negative cultural tenor towards the transgender community sickens us, and we wanted to write a song that struck that raw emotion, sadness, and anger. We wanted to honor our friend.
When I think about a local scene, I feel a sense of community and belonging are important. What do you think builds a strong scene and how do we cultivate the scene best?
I share your opinion. Community and belonging are paramount. But, truthfully, I feel so removed from any scene anymore that I don’t know how to answer the question.
As a kid, I felt at home with the music within my local punk scene, but I rarely felt totally and completely accepted socially. For Divided Heaven, we felt like outsiders within the greater Los Angeles scene, if we wanna even call it that. It was just a popularity contest. Or, we’d go to play San Diego and feel entirely like outsiders within their scene, which felt very cliquey.
I try to be as objective as possible, but I honestly go back and forth between crediting the punk scene for my development and creativity as an artist and a human and thinking the punk scene is just a trope. I do know that genuine, selfless people, like my friend MC Hyser (from Olde Tigers, runs Skid Row Garage in York, Pennsylvania) are exemplary in giving of themselves so the greater music/punk community can thrive.
Perhaps it’s always been less of a scene and more of a business network that we’d all like to admit. Some people are genuine and others are not.
When I think about Divided Heaven, I compare your musical pursuits to someone like Frank Turner who feels just at home in a small venue playing acoustic folk songs as he does belting out punk anthems for an hour. Did you originally set for your music to be so accessible, or did that happen organically?
Well, thank you. I wish I could say it happened organically, but in reality, it took a lot of work to hone that skill set and become a band, and a solo performer, that could play to any type of audience. We also prided ourselves on being able to play for three-plus hours without having to repeat any songs.
As a solo performer, I worked incredibly hard, and still do, to make myself a fit for any occasion. I have performed at weddings, funerals, atheist gatherings, at a Mormon house show, at a dinner party for Holocaust survivors, political rallies, loud bars, and quiet listening rooms all around the world. And it… let’s say it took a lot of reps.
Speaking of diversity, your new collection has a little bit of everything. What track do you think will be the most surprising for people when they hear it?
Probably the song “Em,” our tribute to our friend, Emily Matview. I co-wrote this song with Brian Ishiba from Joy Weather, and together we crafted a stadium rock anthem which is a brand new tonality for Divided Heaven and will surprise a lot of folks.
For you personally, what type of show fills your bucket the most?
The shows where I can hear dead-silence while I play. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure to open for Chuck Ragan in Lititz, PA in a beautiful venue called Mickey’s Black Box. The audience was so incredibly respectful of my set and my songs, so quiet and engaged. At one point, a person cracked open a beer can at a quiet part in my song “Baby in the Band,” and I just chuckled.
After I finished the song, the person apologized to me from the crowd, and I laughed it off, assuring them they did not need to apologize. The crowd laughed it off as well. It was a really special moment. It was so beautiful to feel the room in the moment with me and to join me in a moment of laughter afterwards, too.
Was it hard to narrow down the final track listing for the collection?
Not really, to be honest. We had the essential singles we’d already released such as “Lifers,” “The White Rose,” and “We.” There was our batch of cover songs such as “Time After Time,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Clean Sheets.” We also had our new/revised favorites such as “The New Hallelvjah,” as well as a sizeable batch of songs that needed to be put to rest.
I mentioned previously that I despise the term “B-side” because it is akin to saying “less-than” or “not-as-good.” We were honest in our pressure-test of “Is this song good enough or not?”
I’m a huge fan of Descendents. Earlier this year, you officially released your interpretation of their classic “Clean Sheets.” What inspired you about that song to cover it, and how did you come up with your arrangement?
I was working on a song in 2011 and was so excited about it, so excited! I then humorously discovered that I was playing the chord progression to “Clean Sheets,” and thought, “Oh shit!” So, I abandoned my soundalike song and embraced covering “Clean Sheets” which quickly became a set staple and fun song to play.
With us being in the final chapters of 2023, what accomplishments are you most proud of professionally and personally?
I severely fell out of physical and performing shape during 2020-2022. I spent that time of the pandemic writing and recording, but I neglected my stamina as a performer. So, I set up a regimen and routine and really got myself back into physical and performing shape, and it showed. My shows in 2023 were the best sounding shows of my career, a feat of which I am very, very proud.
Do you have a sneak peek at what 2024 has in store for Divided Heaven fans?
There is a new Divided Heaven record in the works. More on that later. I am taking a substantial social media break, which I am looking forward to, but Divided Heaven will only be moderately busy as I write and record LP6!
Any last words?
The best is yet to come.
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Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.