I always start with the lyrics, because starting with the music means the words will be bad.
The more I abandon ideas of myself as a musician, the better a singer I become.
I can't fool myself into thinking that musically I don't need other people, whether it's as a foil or just to come in and make real the ideas that are kind of vague and wispy in my head.
I'm not really sure that I have the same definition of things as other people. Like, when people talk about being "engaged" with the audience, I'm not exactly sure what they mean.
I don't banter with the audience, cause I don't have anything to say to them, and I'm not feeling any sense of ease or camaraderie when I'm on stage.
Big, evocative words get thrown around, and people can sing along to passionately as if the lyrics just materialized out of the ether, largely because they don't ever seem to coalesce into a writerly voice.
People say I write specifically about nothing in particular. I don't know about the latter part, but I think the first part is really important in conjuring up a voice that works, or at least the illusion of a voice at work.
I was born in 1972, which means that in "rock" terms I have no business addressing "the kids" unless it's to shoo them out of my garden.
Generally, if you could picture a bunch of rock and roll momentum behind a song and it was particularly melodious, maybe the Pornographers would do it. If it was kind of moody and more lyrical, then maybe it would be a Destroyer song. Anything that's really lyrically driven I would keep for Destroyer.
Once you feel like you can safely quit a melody, you are free to explore more important things.
I like putting common expressions next to uncommon expressions. I'm sure in Poetry 101 there is a name for it, but it seems like you usually go one way or the other in rock music.
Kaputt was just a record that did really well for us, and therefore our record label and our booking agent said that we should go out and take our message to the world.
When I'm on stage I don't say anything. The last thing I want to do is share my thoughts. I don't know if that's mysterious - maybe it's just old fashioned.
I'm just kind of lazy and messed up and self-managed - self-mismanaged.
I was a member of the band when it was just, like, a conversation at a bar. Then we constantly practiced, we played shows, we tooled around in the studio. And then, when I moved and kind of bailed on that, is when... So, yeah, for the first, 'Mass Romantic,' I was heavily involved. Then, for a couple records after that, I was not really involved at all.
I've never had any kind of work ethic. I've never sat down with the intention of writing a song.
I don't really know what's going on with the Pornographers - everyone's kind of doing their own stuff. I mean, they play shows here or there.
I don't really listen to rock music anymore. But were I to write a song that sounded like it could be a rock song, I'd probably give it to the Pornographers, and I'd be excited to try to make it work.
It's actually really stereotypical that someone should be 40 and mellow out, but I think it's more about trying to conjure up a different intensity in my head, one where I'm more focused as a singer and hands-on with music and more exacting, and less trying to furiously fit a thousands thoughts into a four minute song.
I think the more removed I feel, the more I warm up to the role of singer.
I used to struggle a little bit with the idea of how to separate singing from acting and entertaining.
I like playing music. I don't always like the feeling of people looking at me. I don't think I'm a natural performer, but I'm getting better.
No one appreciates a professional anymore. Everyone's a mystic. Which is why I take drunk Jim over acid Jim - the argument all roads eventually lead to.
I guess my guitar parts are usually precise, but the execution of those parts is downright treacherous, since I'm not very good on guitar.
Of course, no lyrics are ever unintentional, but I think bands like Wolf Parade and the Arcade Fire have a tendency to touch on big themes without really following through on them or tying them in to a particular logic.
