Vancouver musician Dave Cotton explores creative persistence, musical influences, and the evolution of Pontiac on It’s Saturday Afternoon All Over the World.
For Vancouver songwriter and musician Dave Cotton, creativity isn’t about waiting for the perfect idea. It’s about showing up, experimenting, and finding something worth pursuing among countless possibilities. That philosophy has helped shape Pontiac, the project he launched in 2022, and its latest album, It’s Saturday Afternoon All Over the World.
The album represents a new level of creative confidence for Cotton, who has spent years developing his musical identity through Pontiac and his long-running post-rock project, Seven Nines and Tens. Drawing inspiration from artists who balance musical ambition with an effortless sense of style, Cotton has created a collection of songs that he considers his most fully realized work under the Pontiac name.
Among the album’s songs is “Roll Me Over Like a Town Car,” a track shaped by influences ranging from Sweden’s The Hellacopters and Guelph’s Constantines to Australia’s Radio Birdman and British Sea Power. Its roots stretch back more than two decades, reflecting the winding creative path that has brought Cotton to this point.
In this interview with Canadian Beats, Cotton discusses Pontiac’s latest release, his approach to songwriting, the importance of consistency, and his longtime ambition to perform at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom.
Pontiac Interview: Dave Cotton Discusses It’s Saturday Afternoon All Over the World
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Dave Cotton. I’m a Vancouver-based songwriter and musician. I started my project Pontiac in 2022. My other main project is post rock band Seven Nines and Tens which I started in 2008 or so.
Tell us a bit about your recent release.
My new album, It’s Saturday Afternoon All Over the World, took a couple of years to put together. With Pontiac, my goal was to release one or two records a year. Four years in I’m still keeping up in terms of releases but this new record took a bit longer, but that was mostly because I was in the studio tracking beds for the previous Pontiac record, Night Tripper and a UFO, and then mixing that. In terms of sound and style this new batch of tunes is most indicative of what my intention with the Pontiac project is. I love the first couple of records I did under the Pontiac name but this new collection of songs sounds the most realized to me. I really value hearing music that doesn’t sound too forced. Unassumed confidence in style and performance matter a ton to me as well. Artists like Kurt Vile, Wire, Colin James are the masters of that. They don’t sound like they’re trying too hard or over confident while still blowing the doors off the hinges with quality.
Pontiac Interview: Dave Cotton on Songwriting and Creative Persistence
Walk us through your creative process when creating music.
I’m a super music fan who also happens to write music. I like to write and record a lot of ideas and then go back and listen to find something that really stands out. If you start with a large pool of song ideas to pick from surely there has to be some diamonds in there. I remember reading that Billy Joe from Green Day wrote 100 song ideas or 200 for their Warning album, I can’t remember exactly. It seemed like something beyond my musical ability. Now that I’ve written 100 song ideas for a record of my own, I feel that level of work is extremely useful but also an understanding of what he was trying to do.
I half joke that writing music to me is like working on a puzzle that you can’t solve. Some days I go to sleep disappointed with the quality of work I’ve done that day musically but I always wake up the next day wanting to try again.
Now that the music is out, what does the road ahead look like? Beyond tours and videos, what’s one goal you hope to achieve with this release?
I mentioned to my drummer, Drew, that I’d try to get us an opening slot at the Commodore Ballroom here in Vancouver—that has been my goal for over a decade. I’ve seen so many legendary shows in that room. Honestly, I’m really enjoying this era of music where you don’t necessarily have to spend your life pounding the pavement on tour just to be a legitimate artist.
I have a bunch of projects on the go. I have a band called GTO that I started with my childhood friends Joe Groot and Cam Cumberland and we probably have 25 to 30 songs nearing completion and are going to put out a record. I got hired to sing and play guitar on an art rock/synth prog record by a guy named Jason Evans. The record is just killer so far based on what we have. I’m playing guitar on a record that my buddy and filmmaker CJ Wallis wrote as well. I have a ton of Pontiac ideas for the next record as well.
Walk us through your creative process when creating music.
I’m a super music fan who also happens to write music. I like to write and record a lot of ideas and then go back and listen to find something that really stands out. If you start with a large pool of song ideas to pick from surely there has to be some diamonds in there. I remember reading that Billy Joe from Green Day wrote 100 song ideas or 200 for their Warning album, I can’t remember exactly. It seemed like something beyond my musical ability. Now that I’ve written 100 song ideas for a record of my own, I feel that level of work is extremely useful but also an understanding of what he was trying to do.
I half joke that writing music to me is like working on a puzzle that you can’t solve. Some days I go to sleep disappointed with the quality of work I’ve done that day musically but I always wake up the next day wanting to try again.
Now that the music is out, what does the road ahead look like? Beyond tours and videos, what’s one goal you hope to achieve with this release?
I mentioned to my drummer, Drew, that I’d try to get us an opening slot at the Commodore Ballroom here in Vancouver—that has been my goal for over a decade. I’ve seen so many legendary shows in that room. Honestly, I’m really enjoying this era of music where you don’t necessarily have to spend your life pounding the pavement on tour just to be a legitimate artist.
I have a bunch of projects on the go. I have a band called GTO that I started with my childhood friends Joe Groot and Cam Cumberland and we probably have 25 to 30 songs nearing completion and are going to put out a record. I got hired to sing and play guitar on an art rock/synth prog record by a guy named Jason Evans. The record is just killer so far based on what we have. I’m playing guitar on a record that my buddy and filmmaker CJ Wallis wrote as well. I have a ton of Pontiac ideas for the next record as well.
Pontiac Interview: Musical Growth and Canadian Artists
Every artist has a lightbulb moment where things just click. Looking back, what’s the one performance or milestone that made you realize, “Okay, this is what I was meant to do”?
Once I established the habit of writing music every day around 2008, that gave me the framework I needed to work in. At the time it’s almost like an irresistible urge to be creative. Now it just feels like who I am as an artist and person, to be creative. In this era, every artist builds their own universe and platform—I like to think of mine as delivering songs with genuine depth, performed and recorded at a high level.
We love championing Canadian talent. If you were curating a Must-Listen playlist of emerging artists right now, who is the first person you’d add?
I love questions like this and making playlists:
Pontiac Interview: Live Performances and Future Ambitions
There’s nothing like the energy of a live room. Where can fans catch you on stage next, and for someone seeing you for the first time, what should they expect from a Pontiac live set?
Drew and I have been playing together on and off for over 20 years. I remember when we first started playing clubs in Vancouver sound techs would always try to offer advice. This was in 2006 and we were in a noisy guitar band called Kimono Red. Almost all the advice I ever got from a sound person was crucial to my development as a performer. The last few gigs we played as Seven Nines and Tens in 2016, we loaded in, set up, and tore down so fast that the sound crew was just blown away, asking, “Who the hell are you guys?” My philosophy on performing is simple: play the songs note-perfectly, be aware of stage volume, and actually listen to the people playing with you. It works.
Listen to Pontiac’s “Roll Me Over Like a Town Car”
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