You cannot predict public taste. That's why I always just trusted mine.
My wife is a midwife, and there's only so many states where you can do that. Texas is a place where she can work.
I was just writing songs in my spare time, and recording because it's fun to do, and Sub Pop called me and said they wanted to put some stuff out. I had to weigh whether I wanted to put the time into it because it's a commitment. But, in the end, it seemed too good to pass up.
Music is definitely cheaper and more immediate. But part of the draw of film to me is the multidisciplinary aspect. I always enjoyed film writing.
I like short records in general that you can swallow in one sitting.
I was drawn to painting and filmmaking because I was interested in communicating visually, which spills over into my tendencies as a writer.
You can treat musicians like actors - you give them a roadmap but don't tell them what to do, and let their personal style or interpretation speak in the piece. And in both film and music, you create a space where people feel safe to do their best. You treat songs like scripts that can be interpreted a lot of different ways.
I don't watch that much TV.
I'm a movie buff, and I'm interested in the craft of it.
Saxophones are awesome.
The Beatles showed with 'Sgt. Pepper's' that you can make an album out of anything, just make it seem like it's connected.
You can sand something forever. You can keep working on it. All the arts are like that: there's no magical finish line. You get sick of working on it or you walk away.
I don't write Plastic Ono Band stuff, though I love that record.
I have a certain amount of creative energy, and it used to go painting. Now most of it goes to music. I like to make things. I treat the songs more like poems than prose, so in that sense, I don't really have a point to make. I just try to be surprised.
I find making records by myself incredibly boring.
I learned early on that you do yourself a disservice trying to replicate the record onstage every night. As a player, and for the audience I think, it's a mistake.
At art school you realize that in order to stay engaged you have to ignore the critics, good and bad.
A thing can be too pretty and perfect, so if you kick some dirt on it, then it feels like you wore it around a bit.
I didn't really intend on having a music career. It just kind of happened.
My folks had a lot of Motown records, so that was a kind of an early inspiration. I grew up on the radio really.
