Where do you feel like you are now in terms of being a musician?
It’s kinda the same, I’m hoping that I can continue to kinda exist from music, not have to work at McDonalds. I just hoped that I didn’t have to work, get a job, but I guess I was always glad when that worked out. I never really had a backup plan. I’m still kinda doin’ the same thing. I don’t feel like I’ve really arrived anywhere.
How will you know if you’ve ever arrived?
I guess I’d only know that that happened when I died. I’m waiting till I’m dead. To me, if I succeed and continually put off getting a job, and I make it till I’m dead, then that’s the goal. It’s not that the other things aren’t valuable, in my estimation, succeeding is just kind of filling up my time successfully until I die. I feel that’s the only time I guess I can gauge.
Could you tell me about the new record?
I’ve succeeded in a way that I like listening back to it. I made something I like to listen to. That’s all I’m ever kind of trying to do; make something that entertains myself and you hope that other people like it. To me, I’ve succeeded in doing something that I like to listen to.
How about your recording process? What does that look like?
Well, just having some limitations, I always find helpful in getting something done. I wanted it to sound different so I purposely don’t have toms and electric guitars. Maybe that will have to sound somehow different. I like to work within some kind of limitations.
Are you setting those limitations?
With SubPop, they wanted me to do an acoustic record; that’s kind how I came to do it. It took me a while to getting around to do it. I could do whatever I want. I just like to have limitations. Or, I get too overwhelmed by possibilities by what I could do. It sounded hard to do alternate tunings, it makes the guitar a bit too limitless. This way has certain limitations, it helps me focus. I’m kinda like; if I can do anything, why should I do anything?
Then why not just do nothing?
I just would get bored I guess. I’m not really happy just doing nothing, just sitting around.
Is music the only thing that you can see yourself dedicating yourself to?
There’s not really (anything else). There are a lot of different aspects to music that I like. Gear, and recording, and playing, it’s kind of all different aspects of the same thing but my main interests are all those kinda things, just the different aspects, maybe not everyone is interested in musical gear.
And how about your songwriting process?
I always write the music and then the lyrics are at the very end of the whole thing. They have to fit into the song somehow. I might have an idea what it’s (the song) about. Then the lyrics will tie in later, with the general concept.
Can you tell me about the recording, and recording techniques.
It was recorded at my own (studio), some people who play on that recording (recorded) at other places. I always have an engineer, quite a few other people played on the record, half recorded at my studio, half didn’t. I just have the studio so I can record, at some point I couldn’t deal with recording anymore. It’s never that I really wanted to have my own studio; I couldn’t get anything done at the studio anymore. It has been working out alright, I can’t really run it by myself, so I always have to have someone here. If I get an idea, I cant record it right there, it’s there and I can’t just use it anytime. I just don’t have the mindset to be an engineer, and the patience. It’s easier to not wear too many hats at once, its easier to focus on music. Usually, it’s the same people, not that many people live around here who do that. I tend to like to work with the same people so I don’t have to explain everything to them. Some people I’ve worked with for years and its easier. John Agnello (who mixed the new album), for mixing; he already knows what I like, so I don’t have to sit there and hold his hand through the whole thing which helps a whole lot. He lives in Jersey City so it’s not easy to get him over here; he’s pretty busy. A lot of people, they say, “You can record in the middle of the night if you have your own idea.” I’m not willing to deal with it somehow. I like to record during daylight, which a lot of people don’t seem to like to do. When the sun goes down I’ll stop recording. I just don’t like to record at night. It has something to do with the sun, I just don’t want to be working when the sun goes down. It’d be better if I could play shows during the taping. You could maybe do a Sunday matinee at some places, but the general industry isn’t set up like that.
What gear are you using these days?
I guess I have an opinion about everything. I’m interested in a lot of the different aspects of music. Guitars, I have a lot of guitars, they all have different kinds of uses for different sounds, or playing live, or recording, that’s a bit too big of a question for me.
If you could pick only one instrument, that you love right now, what would it be?
My favorite guitar is a Telecaseter right now, a 1958 Tele. I like it somehow. It’s not a verbal thing, you pick it up and it feels right, and its giving me some inspiration and some songs are coming through it. It’s not really a verbal kind of thing. I mean you can still talk about it with people but you never are sure they have the same feelings about it as you do.
How sweet is it to have your own signature guitar, could you tell me about your signature Jazzmaster guitars?
I could have as much or little (input) as I want I think. I didn’t get too crazy and specific with things because it seems the more stuff you want, the most expensive its gonna get, so I was trying to keep it (the price) as low as possible. I didn’t want anything that crazy. It was just people at Fender have all been into it for a very long time. Now, there’s gonna be a Squier, which is cool. I just want to have it not be so expensive, have kids be able to buy it.
You said once that you tour because you get “restless” as home; what do you find yourself doing outside of music? Or has music been it for you, the sort of be all and end all of your life?
I don’t have that much time that I have to fill. I have a lot of stuff to do. There’s a lot of snow right now. There’s already too much snow. It’s hard to, I’ll have to have someone come take snow away, to keep the driveway open and stuff.
How has having a family affected your life in music?
I have a son. It means I have less free time.You can just plan everything, it seems to work out. I just don’t have as much time, a lot of time is spoken for, which I don’t mind, it’s just the day is a little more hectic.
What does it mean to you to be DIY?
I guess to kinda be proactive and just kinda do stuff. You know, I always felt like Mike Watt; he said records are fliers for the geeks, you don’t wait around for a record deal. Even though it doesn’t sell anything, you just kinda do stuff. A lot of people just seem to wait around for someone to sign them or something to happen, or a great line up of a band to form; I’m just more of the idea of just get on with it. With Dinosaur, we put out a record almost immediately when we formed, I hadn’t played guitar that long, we didn’t know what we would sound like. It took to the next record for us to get our sound together. It just seems, it’s just one way to get here. Just do something and don’t wait around for something , hoping something will happen.
Why did you decide to work with Sub Pop?
I guess ‘cause the album was kinda more their idea. Megan, who works at the label, was a fan of my solo shows, and wanted to do an album like that. So I never really thought of doing it anywhere else. It was just the right time to do it. In the meantime, Dinosaur got back together, we did a couple albums. The solo album has kinda been in the works for a long time, about eight years.
Lots of interviews like to point out the fact that you aren’t super into interviews, you must have heard this said about you before. What are you thoughts on that? Do you care? Is it intentional or just who you are?
I guess the best interviews are with people you feel like understand you on some level or just kind of somehow you feel like they understand where you’re coming from.
How about your live shows?
The audience makes the shows, it’s kinda like, I’ve played so many shows, it’s the audience that drives the show. If they’re really psyched, everything gets better. If they’re bored, then I’ll probably become bored. The audience has a big impact on the whole thing.
Do you see the same people over the years? Or does it always change?
Yeah, I definitely see different people all the time, which is good. I don’t think…it’d be hard if no younger kids were there. A lot of people just don’t go to shows anymore at some point in their life and maybe they do later. I’m not sure, it’s great when there are a lot of younger new people, it always helps. You can tell that there are different people, it’s definitely not the same people over the years.
What do you still really want to do/accomplish with your music?
I don’t know, I want to get a JUNO for something, but I don’t know how that can happen……I just kinda want to be able to keep going for a while.