Tender Forever: My Love (Justin Timberlake) + Boyz II Men outro. from shoottheplayer.com on Vimeo.

Here’s what Tovey says about the project:

I was in Portland for 48 hours. On our first night there Tender Forever happened to be playing a gig in a square downtown along with Nurses & some other bands. Her passionate Wii drumming & offstage unplugged ukulele playing had us hooked. We arranged to meet up the next day & shoot a couple of tracks – when we arrived at her place she suggested we drive to a pretty location she knew, and 20 minutes later deep in the suburbs of Portland, we found ourselves in the aptly romantic setting of an enormous rose garden.

Southeast Portland’s not quite the suburbs, but still. This footage is great, and I can’t wait to see what see did with Lovers and Nurses. Here are two more videos from Ladd’s Addition.

Tender Forever: Every Monday & Boy Life In America from shoottheplayer.com on Vimeo.

Tender Forever: Take It Off from shoottheplayer.com on Vimeo.

Links:
Tender ForeverSpace
Shoot the Player

Screen cap taken from the video

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LABELMATES is the first of what I hope becomes an annual event at Holocene. Basically it’s a gift show for local (and regional) record labels to show off their goods. Everyone from Lucky Madison to Jealous Butcher will be there with a table, merchandise and information about their operation. But that’s only the beginning. Indie pop neighbors-next-door Congratualtions (Brave Recs) and the one and only Rob Walmart (Marriage Records) will both perform live sets—Rob is outside in the Cube, of course, so bring a jacket—and there will be music video premieres from Ghosties (High Scores and Records), White Fang (Marriage) and the dapper man of electronic soul, Bobby Birdman (Fryk Beat). Plus all sorts of DJs, including Calvin Johnson. The best part? The whole thing is free. That means you can save your money for the important things in life, like drinks and a Tender Loving Empire shirt.

LABELMATES starts tonight at 8 pm. The three videos (plus a potential fourth premiere, but you didn’t hear it here) start at 9:30. Bring some extra cash.

Rob doing his thang:

Links:
CongratulationSpace
Rob WalmartSpace

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WW: Hey Nick, how you doing today?

Nick Thorburn: Not bad, just hitting the road, getting everything ready to go out on tour.

You excited for this jaunt?

Yeah, it’s a new chapter, new beginning.

It’s kind of crazy that you’re opening for Happy Mondays and the Psychedelic Furs.

Yeah, it’s going to be interesting for sure.

Are you a fan of those bands at all? How did that tour come about, and is it weird to play with bands that were way more culturally relevant 20 years ago?

It’s definitely weird. I’m not actively a fan but I respect the heirs, you know? It’s going to be interesting because the usual people that come to our shows are younger people, teenagers and stuff, and I suspect this will be an older audience for sure.

I just got around to listening to the new record, Vapours. It sounds a lot more paired down than Arm’s Way and a lot catchier. Was that an intentional thing or just the way it happened when you’re writing the songs?

It wasn’t a direct reaction to Arm’s Way, not just critically, but artistically, it wasn’t like I was making a conscious decision to do something different. I think I have a very varied musical aesthetic and I’m never going to be totally consistent. But there was a little element of wanting to try something new, though some of these songs predate Arm’s Way. I just knew this set of songs would be appropriate for this record, and with this one it was definitely about singles and about making a record where each song could potential exist independently from each other, which I think is the way of the future—songs vs. albums. I wanted to try to adhere to that.

I like Arm’s Way, but I think it was a little critically misunderstood. But with this one there’s definitely clear pop singles. So that had to go into the process, right?

Yeah, for sure. I wasn’t over thinking it or anything but that was in my head.

So Jamie Thompson is back in the band now. How did that come about, and how much of the record happened because of his rejoining?

It was just me asking him, basically. I was making a record that I felt aesthetically lined up with the things he was doing since he left Islands initially. A lot of electronic music and modular synthesizers and stuff like that, and that was a direction I was looking to take the band.

What did he contribute to the new record?

Drum machines and programming and live drums, too.

Are you excited to tour with these songs?

We’ve done a couple of shows so we know what it’s going to be like, and it’s totally a fresh take on things.

Are you still working on solo stuff? You’ve done so much in the last few years—two Islands record, Human Highway, and I’ve read about a solo acoustic record. How hard is it to balance all those projects?

It’s not hard, really. I feel like I have a wellspring of material so I’m just kind of nourishing it and acknowledging it and maintaining it. So far it hasn’t proved to be a problem. While I’m young and fertile, that’s the time to take advantage of it, you know?

Do you write material on the road?

It depends. I wrote a lot of the songs on Arm’s Way on the European support tour for Return to the Sea. There are times when I feel really creative on tour and there are times when I feel a little bit like a shell, just redoing old material and stuff.

So for this tour is it a new lineup?

Yeah it’s Jamie and then these two guys from a band called the Magic, all of which played on the record. They’re playing synth and bass and guitar and lots of keyboards, basically.

Are you playing material from the entire Islands catalogue? It’s got to be hard to do the Arm’s Way stuff as a four-piece band.

It is, but we’re still trying it. The second record especially, but we’re doing a reinterpretation of those songs. We’re doing a couple of selected songs from each, a smattering of highlights from each record.

How fun is it to go back and rearrange a song for a smaller band?

It’s a challenge to look at it from a different angle. It opens up whole new things with space and dynamics and stuff. It’s cool, though.

One of my favorite songs on the new record is “Heartbeat.” Is that a vocoder or auto-tune you’re using?

Yeah, it is. I actually wrote a little thing on a blog yesterday kind of explaining the use of it. On a blog called Street Carnage, which I sometimes write for. I get into detail about the use and the decision to keep it and stuff, because I know it’s really played out as a vocal effect. But it was just something that happened and I tried to work around and record the vocals without the effect but it made more sense to keep it in. But it was definitely a weird decision because it’s so ubiquitous.

Yeah just turn on the radio and it’s everywhere.

And that’s one reason when I kept it in. It’s a good way to document the time the record was made. I’m keeping a record of me going along with everyone else.

Is it hard to ignore trends like auto-tune? I mean, Vapours is definitely the danciest thing you’ve done since the Unicorns and that’s kind of the zeitgeist this year. It’s big on the blogs.

That was part of the decision, to make a dancey and upbeat record.

How much of it had to do with the reception to Arm’s Way?

I already had an idea to make a really cohesive and direct and immediate pop record, and I wanted to do something different after Arm’s Way. After every record I want to make a different one next. It didn’t hurt that Arm’s Way wasn’t entirely understood.

Do you read a lot of your reviews?

I try not to but, you know, it’s hard no ignore. It’s hard not to.

What else does the band have planned for the rest of the year? Are you looking to put out the solo album next year?

Yeah and that’ll be a local key kind of thing. It’ll be given away or on the down low [laughs]. And then another Islands record probably. Same as ever, you know. I like recording and writing songs and I’m going to try to do it for as long as possible.

Link:
IslandSpace

Photo courtesy of Islands

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Because of an extra busy week, we decided to hold my full interview for when Finn Riggins return to town in November opening for Built to Spill, but that doesn’t mean I can’t post the video for “Wake (Keep This Town Alive)”, the first single from the record and one of the best pop songs of the year. Any reason to doubt the band’s cute factor is lost within the first few frames. Stop motion animation! Tiny clocks! Headbands!

Finn Riggins play Saturday, October 10 at Berbati’s Pan with Jared Mees & the Grown Children, World’s Greatest Ghosts and Typhoon. 8 pm. $6. All ages.

Links:
Finn RigginSpace
Tender Loving Empire

Photo by Tyler Kohlhoff taken during the band’s MFNW set

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“Hello Oregonians. Hello Washingtonians. Hello Port—where the fuck are we?”

Eddie Vedder wasn’t drunk. He’s just done this so many damn times he honestly could be anywhere and talking to anybody. In stadiums and clubs, on football fields and in recording booths. Pearl Jam has been doing this whole rock band thing for 19 years and over the course of nine albums and counting.

That said, they do it incredibly well. The “Elder Statesmen of Rock” label gets tossed around a fair bit, but with the band’s latest tour, which will trundle on through California and New Zealand through November, they are firmly placed in the ranks of outfits like U2, REM and Rolling Stones. They’re pros: They show up, do their job, thank their fans and go home. And put on an excellent show in the process—one that may not capture the hysteria and passion of their ’90s era performances, but a show that provides an intense overview of what a fully functioning group of musicians can accomplish together in the course of two and a half hours. (With an unending supply of wine for its lead singer).

The Seattle grunge icons kicked off their set last Saturday night at the Amphitheater at Clark County with the tight, anthemic opener “Gonna See My Friend” from their notorious new mostly-sold-in-Target release Backspacer—the lights of the new, typewriter themed set blinking in time. The new songs, aside from a somnolent rendition of “Amongst the Waves,” work great live—especially the pop-punk “The Fixer,” with Vedder jumping and jittering like a skinny, bearded Jesus on happy pills. But, as one might imagine, the crowd—a legion of mostly ball-capped and be-fleeced idolaters in their late 30s (some with their own kids in tow)—came for an earful of the accumulation of the band’s work, from “Even Flow” to “Yellow Ledbeter,” and they weren’t disappointed. That is, if they ever happened looked up from Tweeting concert updates on their iPhones long enough to actually watch the band playing in front of them. Seriously, it was creepy.

Best moments: A full house singalong of “Black”—Vedder’s voice blasting out and above the crowd, packed with the kind of heartbreak that decades don’t heal. The alt-countryish lament of “Off He Goes,” performed with the heart-vibrating thrum of a double bass. A monster version of “Not For You,” the whole band sweating and swaying and screaming in time. And last, but not least, a special appearance by former tourmate Corin Tucker, of Sleater-Kinney, who joined Vedder onstage to sing a winsome duet—John Doe’s excellent “Golden State.”

Worst moments: Fuck you, technology (see iPhone comment, above). Lead guitarist Mike McCready’s noodling Hendrix-rip off of a “Star Spangled Banner” sendoff.

Most entertaining moment: Generations collided as a tall bo-hunky guy in his 20s shepherded his four lady dates to the two seats in front of me—steamrolling past two ladies with expensive highlight in their ’40s in the process. The seat hijacking led to a shouting match with one of the Highlights’ date, a meaty older dude, who demanded to see Bohunk’s tickets. “Are you fucking kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? My tickets? MY TICKETS!?!” Bohunk screamed, his voice spiraling higher and higher. “Do you wanna fight? Why can’t you let me enjoy the last 10 minutes of the show! I will get you!!!” It was the most excellent live music video ever devised for Pearl Jam’s frenetic “Do The Evolution.”

And, for those of you who care about these kind of things, here’s the full set list for last Saturday’s show.

01. Gonna See My Friend

02. Last Exit

03. Why Go

04. The Fixer

05. In Hiding

06. Johnny Guitar

07. Green Disease

08. Amongst The Waves

09. Even Flow

10. Off He Goes

11. Unthought Known

12. Daughter

13. Supersonic

14. Present Tense

15. Got Some

16. Once

17. Life Wasted

Encore Break 1

18. Golden State w/ Corin Tucker-(John Doe)

19. The End

20. Red Mosquito w/ Ben Harper

21. Inside Job

22. Go

Encore Break 2

23. Do The Evolution

24. Not For You / Modern Girl-(Sleater-Kinney)

25. Black

26. Porch

27. Yellow Ledbetter/Star Spangled Banner

Photos of Pearl Jam performing at the Clark County Amphitheater on Saturday, Sept. 26 by Karen Loria.

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WW: Do you think any of the songs that you listed come close to measuring with “Roundball Rock?” It’s definitely my favorite theme, and maybe one of my favorite songs ever.

I appreciate that. The funny thing about “Roundball Rock” was it was on NBC for 15 years but when ABC got the basketball coverage they decided they wanted to distance themselves from my song. There are three groups of people when it comes to “Roundball Rock.” One is the “oh my gosh, I love that theme song.” And the second group is “bring back the NBA on NBC song.” And then the third group is “are you kidding me, John Tesh wrote that?” [laughs]. As a guy who listens to themes—and used to even more all the time—I would say it’s probably a tribute to all the great ones. But I’m not sure if you know the lore on that, that it was written on answering machine.

I’ve probably watched that video 100 times.

That’s a good story. But the tempo of that particular song is the approximant tempo of a basketball dribbling on a fast break. I was trying to figure out what that was. So it was like 125 beats, a little bit faster than disco.

Where did you get that information?

I counted it out!

Oh wow.

If you watch a fast break, and they’re not all the same of course, it’s like “bump bump bump bump bump” and you know it’s full speed. [Sings] “bom bom ba da da bom bom bomm.”

Is it weird to watch a basketball game on ABC and not hear that song?

No. Have you seen any of the contests stuff that we did on that?

No, I don’t think so.

If you click on tesh.com and in the bottom left you’ll see the Roundball Rock Contest. We had people do a rap-dribble-dance thing. You could do a rap over the song, you could dribble, or just do dance moves. And we had cash prizes for that and people did some really crazy stuff.

Do all of your songs just come to you randomly and you sing them into your answering machine?

Nah, no no! It was just that I was in Europe and I didn’t have anything to write down on or a keyboard. But you’d be surprised how many musicians sit down at their instrument and then sort of sing nonsense lyrics into their tape recorder.

And then go back later and add different stuff to it.

Well, hopefully [laughs].

Do you prefer playing onstage or being in front of a camera?

Live onstage, for sure.

Is it the rush that you get playing live?

I think if you have the opportunity to do both, then anybody would tell you that the opportunity to communicate with your audience live is like nothing else. It’s a scary tightrope sometimes, but much more fulfilling than being in front of a camera.

You have two shows in Portland this week, so what can we expect?

A little bit of everything. A little bit of what we’ve been talking about. We will tell the story of “Roundball Rock” and play that theme. We do a couple other themes that I’ve been involved with and we talk about the process of writing music. There’s a big light show, because I grew up with that and love that—I’m from the Woodstock generation myself. And then mostly the songs from our public television specials, and we’ve done six of those, so there’s a bunch of stuff to choose from. Everything from solo piano to some of the bigger, more rock-y tunes.

Is there one song you’d wish you’d written from any composer, dead or alive?

Wow, that’s a long list. I say that so many songs every day. I’d say probably every song on Thriller I’d wish I’d written. And the John Williams Olympic theme. I wish I’d written that tune.

Is there anything you can’t do? You act, sing, host a radio show and tell stories.

I’m not much of a dancer.

So you never dance at the shows?

I guess I jump around a bit. I have a daughter who is 15 who just got back. She was in a ballet summer program. So she is a serious ballet and hip-hop dancer and I’m not even allowed to show gang signs in the house so she did not get that from me.

Links:
John Tesh

Photo courtesy of John Tesh

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WW: Hey Charles, how are you doing?

Frank Black: I’m good, thank you.

Where are you on tour right now?

I’m in Denver.

How’s it been going so far?

It’s been great. I’m in a fancy tour bus, I’ve got all my kids with me. We’ve played a few Grand Duchy shows and we’re doing lots of these solo shows basically to finance the fancy bus. I’ve got five kids, and some of them are pretty little, so transportation is very important. But since I’m doing these solo shows, they generally sell really well and I started to notice a couple years ago that people seem to like coming to those shows and I don’t know why [laughs].

You sound so surprised about that.

Well you know it’s like you do your thing and you play with your band and it is what it is—sometimes it goes well, sometimes it’s a little more soft. Of course I’m not talking about Pixies shows, which always sell out. I associate doing solo acoustic shows or whatever you want to call them as being kind of hit-or-miss. But I noticed a few years ago that whenever I did them they sold just as well if not better than my band shows. People get a lot of noise and a lot of rock in their lives, and my theory is that the idea of going to see just one person do their thing is a different kind of commitment. It’s not quite so exhausting.

Do you think that’s because theirs a certain level of intimacy when you’re just playing songs on your guitar? A closer relationship for the people in the audience?

Yeah, that might be it. I certainly don’t chat when I play a band show, but I’m prone to being quite chatty when I’m just by myself. It’s both nervousness and wanting to be loved still. You know that a lot of the people there are kind super fans and tend to hang onto your every word—which is great for an egotistical performer like myself, because you’re prone to anecdotes. It’s not like you’re the overbearing great uncle with the boring stories, it’s like you’re the overbearing great uncle and all of your young relatives there are just loving it [laughs]. At least that’s how it feels from my point of view sometimes.

Is it harder for you to play a show without a band?

Certain moments are if I get a little bit too caught up in thinking while I’m playing and I might mess up a song and it feels, especially lyrically, more difficult to recover from a mistake. So I tend to abort. Just move onto the next song and apologize.

What songs have you been playing on this solo joint? I know you tend to play things from throughout your whole catalog, but are there any songs you’ve come back to and thought “I really like this song!” or anything you’ve tried to play and thought “never again.”

Mostly I play songs that I like to play. There are a certain number of songs I play because for whatever the reason they are easy to play. I don’t know why they are easy—some still have lots of words in them—but some come easier to me than other songs. I try to mix it up, but I’m playing a second night here in Denver so I might try to practice and rehearse a few so I don’t play the same songs tonight. But yeah, there’s probably more variety in the beginning of the tour, then you start to hone in whatever is the strongest. But I throw in a good amount of Pixies songs. I realize it’s a little bit pandering, but the fact is a lot of those are easy to play and there are a certain amount of people that will be very happy if I play a couple of those songs, and I understand that. But I try to cover my whole career.

How are the shows with Grand Duchy? When did the project with your wife come about?

It just sorta grew out of my being a working musician and her being my wife. She’s also a musician and I started to utilize her as a resource to sing on something or play on something. It just kept going and going and I think I wanted to throw her a bone, basically, cuz she’s kind of in the mommy prison most of the time. It was like, let’s just go to the studio and see what happens. We did this song called “Fort Wayne,” and I don’t know what other people think about the song—it certainly hasn’t been an international hit or anything like that—but I really felt like the recording was really magical the way it came about so quickly. We wrote and recorded it basically in a day. So we just said, “let’s just continue to do this” and we did a couple more sessions like that. Of course they weren’t all magical like that, but that’s just the ratio of magic to toil when you’re recording. For every magical day there’s maybe five or six or 10 days that aren’t so magical. Anyway it took us a couple of years between having kids and touring and other records I was doing but we just kept whittling away at it—a weekend here, a weekend there—and we eventually finished the record in the same way that we started: co-writing it together and playing everything ourselves.

When you were writing the songs together do you think at anytime she tried to lean on you as the more established songwriter? What’s the dynamic like working with your wife?

I think there are times when she feels very confident and almost cocky, and that’s a good thing. And then there are other times when she probably feels like “you’re the guy from the Pixies and you’ve been doing this for over 20 years why don’t you write the lyrics?” So there are times when she defers to me and there are times when she doesn’t want me to tell her what to do. We try to keep it real collaborative so that it maintains its tension and doesn’t become too one-sided.

I know you’ve lived in Oregon for a while—Eugene and also Portland for a bit. What brought you here?

Violet did, actually. I met her at a show and I’m not inclined to meet women at shows, it’s just sort of not my thing. Plus I’d been in a long-standing relationship previously. To be honest being a musician, especially with women approaching me, I think I had a pretty defensive posture because they would be a threat to me and my other relationship that I was attempting to maintain. Over the years I have habitually avoided talking to people at shows or getting too social, if you know what I mean. Also because people just tend to be drunk at that time of the night, and you can find yourself in a very awkward place, like in the back alley with some drunk guy who one minute is loving you and the next minute is pissed off with you because you don’t want to hang out with him. I guess the point is I was open to a new relationship and I just spotted her in the crowd, and I’d never done this before in my life, but I was like “oh yeah it’s you, I want her.” And as a matter of fact I think I was competing with one of my crew guys [laughs]. I think he was kind of flirting with her during the show, ya know what I mean? She was standing right in front, kind of low key, but we could see her. He didn’t stand a chance, though—when the show was over I just went and found that woman and was like “move over, man.” I kind of pursued her for a while and she finally relented and I proceeded to drive immediately to Oregon from Los Angeles and I’ve been there ever since.

When was that?

Probably six years ago.

Do you enjoy living here compared to Los Angeles? I grew up in Portland but lived in L.A. for five years, and though all Oregonians seem to hate it, I have a certain affinity for the city.

I do enjoy it. If you’ve been in L.A. for a long time you can miss it, but it’s a big, giant, smoggy metropolis. It’s all the things that Oregon is not. So I do miss it occasionally—usually the sheer urbanity of it all—but ultimately I like Oregon. I was briefly in Portland and I think I’d rather be back in Portland but at the moment that isn’t possible. But I still get to go there a lot because I have family in Portland. As I said I moved there for the female component as opposed to the family component, but it just so happens that some of my family relocated there 10 or 15 years ago.

You just played a show with the Portland version of the School of Rock. What was it like playing “Where is My Mind?” with a group of teenagers?

Oh it was…pretty freaky, pretty weird for me, actually, but in a good way. Seeing all these 14-year-old kids playing your songs. It was very “THIS IS YOUR LIFE!” There was this one kid who was about 9 or 10 that was one of the drummers. They were all great, but this kid really stood out, and when he finally sang he number he didn’t dance around or didn’t move a lot, he just stood there a the microphone and exuded so much confidence—it was like I was watching a 9-year-old Lou Reed or something. That was the kid who really had that “Je ne sais quoi.” You know there are people that move around a lot and are very enthusiastic and interact with the audience, and that is one kind of thing and can be very good and very entertaining. But there’s another kind of performing where the performer is, what’s the word, he’s reserved, he holds back, but it’s not shyness it’s another kind of thing—it’s a confidence that’s just there. You just can’t stop watching it, and that’s just what this cat had, and it was pretty impressive. There were moments like that were you just like “wow.” And I got to sing a bunch of songs with them and they all played all the songs perfectly, it was really amazing.

The Doolittle tour is coming up this fall. What are the Pixies doing to get ready for that? You’ve never done a whole tour playing one album.

Yeah, there are a couple of songs that we don’t really do very much so we’ll need to rehearse those. And certainly there’s some b-side material associated with the record that we’ll include with the show to round it out. And there’s a whole bunch of other things that don’t necessarily involving us performing that we’re going to have at the show—the production, or whatever. Fortunately by the time we get to these shows in the states we’ll have already done it a fair amount in Europe and worked it out for the big North American shows. But I don’t know if we’re playing in Portland or not…

I was going to give you shit for that. The Pixies are doing Eugene and Seattle but no Portland!

I think it had to do with availabilities to be honest, and wanting to do the show at a certain type of venue. And I think wherever they were trying to do the show in Portland just wasn’t available.

Yeah, and there’s not a lot of viable options for a bigger band like you guys. The Rose Garden is too big but someplace like the Schnitz isn’t big enough and pretty terrible for a rock show.

Yeah, something like the Rose Garden is too big. We occasionally play venues like that but for the most part I think we’re kind of a theater or big club kind of band—for example we could have played Madison Square Garden in New York City a few years ago, but we played for seven nights at a theater instead. We do the same thing in London from time to time at a big club there [the Brixton Academy] that holds 4,000/5,000 thousand people. Our audience likes to go to that type of venue instead of the Pepsi Arena—it doesn’t really go with the band. You know, the band has its roots in alternative rock and indie rock of the late 1980s New England…a certain kind of atmosphere, and that atmosphere isn’t related to the corporate thing. It just doesn’t jive with it, so we try not to play too many of those places.

So, I have to ask this: Do you think the Pixies will ever write new material or is that totally finished by this point.

Honestly I have no idea. Anything could happen.

Links:
Frank Black
Grand Duchy
Pixies

Photo courtesy of Frank Black

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Mickey Avalon: Hey, I was just about to call you.

WW: Oh great, okay.

So I actually went to Starbucks, that’s when you called, right when I got there, and then I forgot my wallet, and then I came home and I got my chick and I was like “you drive,” because I knew you were gonna call back, so we’re still in the car. But I’m not driving… we’re like 30 seconds from the house, so we’re fine. I’m good to go.

Excellent. What’d you guys get a Starbucks?

Well, I get my stuff at Starbucks then she gets from Jamba Juice, but I get a Venti Latte or a Vanilla Bean Frappacino with 4 shots. And then there’s usually banana nut loaf but now they’ve got pumpkin bread because of the season I guess, and then she gets a, like, I don’t know, Strawberry Surf Rider, or something, with an immunity boost, and then she had her cheddar tomato twist (uproarious laughter). That’s usually breakfast.

Who’s your lady?

Uh, her name?

Yeah sure.

Megan.

Hi Megan!

Hey Megan! Yeah she’s going on tour as well. We’ve been together for a long time.

Where are you right now?

Right now? I’m at home.

California?

Yeah, California. I guess it would be like Studio City, I guess? Or North Hollywood… it’s right by Universal Studios, and then my record label is Interscope, they’re underneath Universal, and that’s kind of a pain in my ass right now. My friend was just here and he’s like, “look you can see the Universal Building right above you.” I’m like “great, that’s the fuckin’ thorn in my side.” I just realized that they’re towering over me wherever I go.

You’re from Hollywood originally, right?

Mmhmm. Well, I was born in County General Hospital in East Los Angeles, cuz my parents lived in Echo Park, and just grew up in like Hollywood, West Hollywood. I lived in Portland for a few years. That’s the only other place that I’ve ever called home, I guess. I got married and had a kid, and her folks lived in Ashland, Oregon, so that’s where we got the idea of going to Oregon. We thought people were nicer there, but people pretty much suck everywhere, I think. But it was good for a little bit and I think it was good for my kid to be raised there for some years. When we first moved there we lived in a nice residential area on…I think Vermont was the street. And then when we separated I lived downtown on 11th and Jefferson at the Saint Francis Hotel.

I hear that you were a prostitute while you were in Portland.

Uh, I mean, (laughs) that was a long time ago, but I guess that what you call it (laughs). But it was more of a means to an ends. I got arrested for attempt to possess downtown, and then I met this [male prostitute] in jail. He said he was from Roseburg or something, and he didn’t have a place to stay—he and I got out at the same time. So he was like “If I could stay at your house, that’d be cool. For the night.” And so that’s what he did. And then he said he’ll go out and get us drugs and everything if he could stay there, so I was like “that’s cool.” I was pretty stressed because when I got busted they said you’re not allowed to go downtown because it’s a no-drug area or something. So he came to my place, and then he left for like an hour, and came back with a bunch of dope and candy and stuff, and I was like, “you can stay here as long as you want.” I thought it was a pretty good situation, but then he got weird. I mean, most of the dudes aren’t gay, but this one was. And then he just kinda fell in love with me one day—I don’t really know how that happens—so I told him he had to leave. But before he left the next day I went with him—I just wanted to watch how it all went down. I just watched him get in the car. So then I saw that, and I thought it was pretty easy. But most of the time I just would pretty much rob people, but near the end I did some stupid stuff. But never took it in the ass or anything like that, or sucked any dudes dicks.

What did you do?

Like I said, most of the time I would rob ’em. I was younger back then and better looking, so you could kind of call the shots more. So uh, you know, jack off in front of the guy or let them touch me or whatever.

What year was that?

Long time ago. It seems like a whole lifetime ago. Probably 10, 12 years.

Would you say that you’ve changed since then?

Yeah. I’ve always been pretty comfortable with my sexuality, so I wasn’t really too freaked out about that stuff, and like I said the more strung out you get, the more desperate you get. And so when I had my strength, I could just rob them and not really feel bad. I didn’t want to rob innocent people or anything, but those guys are creeps, and try to take advantage of young kids. So I would just take a knife and get them to take their pants off and go from there – get the money first, and then run away. In the end if you’re not so healthy and you can’t run away as fast, then maybe you have to compromise more. But that was definitely a means to an ends—I was supporting my drug habit, I had to pay child support, and I wasn’t gonna not do that. My daughter was so young that, you know, it wasn’t something she had to see. She was a baby. And as far as the stuff that comes out now, I just tell her that it’s not true and it’s just a character…it’s so far in my past. When I read this stuff it kind of feels like I’m reading a fiction, because things have just changed so much. And my daughter’s a lot older now, my life’s a lot different. I have a job, I don’t need to compromise myself like that. Now I just have to bend over for the record label. They’ve done a lot worse to me than anything I’ve ever had to face out there.

Like 5 more minutes, is that cool?

Ok, yeah, no worries. Um, I got therapy, actually (laughs). One of the things having a little bit of money, I can pay for the therapist.

How often do you go to therapy?

Well I was going like twice a week, but that seemed a bit excessive, so once a week. But now I’ll go with my daughter and sometimes with my chick or whatever. Just to kind of keep everything good, just make it so there’s not problems, you know. And communication and stuff.

You’ve said that you consider your music to be like a modern version of Bob Dylan’s storytelling. Could you elaborate on that?

(laughs) That’s speaking a little highly of myself. I mean, I would strive for that. I think I meant is that people think of folk music, they think of acoustic guitar, something like that, and I think really folk music is more music for the people, and talking about what’s true and relevant in your life. So people could think that rap music is just about people selling drugs or shooting people, or whatever, that might be with those particular rappers’ life is about and they talk about it, and that’s their folk music. For me, I don’t have that life, so I don’t talk about those things, I just talk about what’s in my life, so I just think it’s like folk music over a drum machine instead of acoustic guitar, you know? And just with instruments we have available. Before, anyone could just get a guitar and play; now kids in high school could do that with like Rock Band—my daughter even has Garage Band and they know how to do all that stuff before they’re even teenagers. And back then folk singers were a dime a dozen, and it’s kind of the same deal now, everybody raps or makes beats or something like that, so it makes it kind of easy to sift out the good stuff.

Who would you say your biggest influences are? Would you count Bob Dylan as one of them?

Yeah, for sure, I’d say Bob Dylan…I like a lot of country stuff like Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welsh, Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis—I mean, all the normal people, but then I did also grow up on rap music, and that was the first music that I kinda found for myself that didn’t come from my father. So you know, Too Short, Eazy-E, NWA, Slick Rick. More storytelling stuff, and that’s also getting back to the folk thing where they’re kind of just telling stories. Now it’s gotten kinda funny, a lot of music is just made for the clubs. I mean there’s nothing wrong with that either – I don’t really go out to the clubs so much, but when I do go the songs that I thought were kinda stupid, when I hear them in their proper setting make more sense. And there’s nothing wrong with people working from Monday to Friday, and then you gotta blow some steam off on the weekends and just not really care. Not everything has to have meaning, there’s nothing wrong with just dance music. So I mean, I try every once in awhile to make a good dance song.

And I think you do.

Thank you. That’s a lot of the time working with the right producer and stuff, like my friend Cisco—well he became a friend through making music—but he’s usually pretty good at getting that and at first I used to be a little wary of making what I thought was just kind of stupid, but I could see the place for it. Without those songs, no would really hear your stuff anyhow to even get to the other stuff, so it’s all kind of like a trade.

So if you’ve already rapped about your past experience as a prostitute and addict on your first album, what are your plans for your next album?

Well it’s been done for a minute; I’ve just been trying to get through all the politics to get it out. When I say I don’t really talk so much about all that stuff, it’s not like I made some big turn, it’s still all the same kind of characters, it’s just not with me necessarily right in the middle. And even with the first record I would say even talking about real stuff I would do it tongue in cheek, just to kinda make it more funny, like on this record I’m not really talking about selling my body or anything but I still talk about drugs a lot, and other people selling their bodies (laughing), not me. But, I mean, all jobs are one form of prostitution, whether it’s selling your body or washing dishes, you’re making some compromise. You could be doing something you love for a job but there’s always going to be aspects of it that you don’t wanna do. Having to feed yourself is always gonna take certain things that you didn’t wanna do. So you have to prostitute yourself on some level.

One last question: What’s with the “Thank You” tattoo on your lower stomach?

Yeah, that wasn’t for when I worked on the streets (laughs). I always liked pretty girls and had to work harder to get ‘em…I mean I had always got the girls I wanted, it just took a lot of work. Now it seems too easy, so it’s not really that fun. That was a time that just seemed like a lucky streak, so I just felt gratitude. Plus, I try to be funny with most things I do, so I think it was a sign of gratitude but also just a joke. Some people are like “oh, is that egotistical or something?” and I’m like no, if it said You’re Welcome it would’ve been. Just, you know, you should always be gracious, I guess.

Just minding your manners.

Yeah. Plus, an orgasm is a big deal. So if someone can help you fulfill that you should definitely thank them for it.

Links:
Mickey AvalonSpace

Photo courtesy of Mickey Avalon

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WW: You’re touring based on these recent reissues of your older material, but are you still writing? Do you have any new music in the works?

Rodriguez: The thing is, what I’m focused on right now is the two reissues. And the audience responds to that material. I was in London this past week, and 1,400 people came to the show. Even though it’s catalog, reissues, it comes off very new. The horn players were just learning the songs three hours before the show, but it still came across. We had a Wurlitzer, a great [backing] band from Sweden. But then I’ll say, “What next?” Someone described rock ‘n’ roll as a living thing. It’s an in-flux kind of discipline. As far as new music, I play my guitar, and like any writer I write down ideas, you know, ever honing your craft. I’ve made some other music since [the reissued albums], but just ten three minute songs, not very good.

You’ve also ventured into politics since that time.

Yes, I’ve run for mayor, city council, state representative… I’ve also run for my life! I’m from Detroit, know what I mean? A few years ago we had 800 murders in one year. The last mayor, four months ago, went to jail. Is that the best we can do? And only fifteen percent turned out for the last election.

I’m involved. I consider myself musical-political. My positions are basically, against police brutality, for decriminalization of weed—make it a small fine if you need to, save Social Security, and let’s cut down at least one of these wars, so the young bloods don’t have to worry about it. I’d like to offer free college education, like in California. Save the health system, create more good, new doctors.

Is there a common thread in your music and your politics?

There’s a certain kind of consciousness about it. You know, when a bell goes off in your head, whether it’s love, or whatever connection, once you know it, who you were before, you can’t go back there. You’re cognizant; you know that’s what it is. The backdrop of all this stuff is that you realize these things. In humanity, like in literature when the hero hits the realization of what’s happening, that’s what you’re trying to achieve. We’re all ignorant ’til we get to the point that we know. And that knowledge is nothing in itself—it’s what you do with it, where you take that knowledge or that love, and where you move it to.

You know, back then… Kent State, seeing that was etched in you… the My Lai thing, these kinds of things. The Zapruder film… you know, i remember hearing that if Kennedy got elected, he would raise the minimum wage to $1.25 an hour—and money meant something then! I mean, by another measure that wasn’t much of a salary, but at the time, “Hey, get him in there!”

Now, the multinationals have their cheap labor, but they’re raising the price on everything. These things continue between the have-nots and the haves. People are worried about this and that, but it’ll be all right. I’m not a doom and gloom guy. We’ve just got to take action, and that’s the key.

Rodriguez plays Doug Fir tonight! Photo courtesy of Rodriguez!

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Jens Lekman is pure bubblegum.

See, not fair. Now the witty Swedish songwriter is lumped with the likes of Hanson in Google Purgatory whenever someone types in “bubblegum pop.”

Shudder.

Yet it’s true. Lekman is bubblegum to the core. What else describes a singer whose songs contain onomatopoetic choruses mimicking heartbeats while sampling “Heat Wave?” He has a knack for sweet lyrics and catchy hooks. He’s charismatic and well composed. He uses high-pitched bells in his songs on a regular basis.

How else can you describe music that’s based in sugar, but so very easy to chew on for hours? Is Jens Lekman a kitten, perhaps? Maybe (kittens have claws.) But his music is bubblegum that comes in many flavors, from sugar-bursting sweetness to lip-puckering sour. His songs contain a somberness that belies their narrative comedy—most of his works have a story to tell—and sing-songy choruses laced with many, many samples keep the man in a realm all his own.

Lekman’s show Saturday at Wonder Ballroom almost didn’t happen. Following a long set by ball-busting stand-up comedienne Tig Notaro—a strange choice for those unfamiliar with Jens’ often sidesplitting lyricism—Lekman took the stage looking pale. Not Swedish pale, but ill. “Usually I don’t play sitting down,” he said as he took a stool. “I’ve come down with something.” He explained he was urged to cancel, but wasn’t about to pass up a Saturday in Portland. “So if I look at you with puppy dog eyes, you sing the words,” he said coyly before launching into the poppy “I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You Anymore,” a prime example of Lekman’s knack for making the melancholy seem giddy.

Perched on his stool, Lekman remained the showman, though relegating much movement to his ladies on bass and violin and gentlemen on drums and samples (whose names were drowned out by cheers and could not seem to be found online). He led the audience on call-and-response during such songs as “Black Cab” and the doo-woppy bliss of “Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig,” smiling charmingly and clapping all the way. It was evident Lekman loves what he does, frequently closing his eyes during violin solos with a smile draped across his face. He even left his stool to join the rest of the band in stretching his arms out and playing airplane onstage in one very odd, yet inexplicably happy moment.

Plucking at his semi-hit “A Postcard to Nina,” which he introduced as a “gentle response to Proposition 8,” Lekman got into storyteller mode, finally making good use of the stool the sick Swede was confined too. Throughout nearly 10 minutes, he embellished the story behind the song, about his journey to Berlin to visit lesbian friend Nina and her parents, only to be prodded into pretending to be her fiancé over dinner and drawing the admiration of the father. Lekman deadpanned the story between verses, which had an army of girls singing along and the crowd in stitches.

After finishing “Nina” on a high note, Lekman left his stool and began to channel his energy with songs such as “The Opposite of Hallelujah,” “Into Eternity,” and “The End of the World is Bigger than Love” before cutting it short at just more than an hour.

The band returned for a rowdy, sing-along take on “A Sweet Summers Night on Hammer Hill,” with Lekman pounding his chest and describing his heartbeat through a goofy chorus of “ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba.” The band then left the stage, and the charming singer promised “one more, before I start coughing blood.” He then took to one knee, explaining the Swedish custom of kneeling before the queen, before launching into “Sylvia,” a somber song he explained is about a pact he made with the queen in a childhood dream before realizing she’s just “an old conservative bitch.”

“Thank you Portland, you have cured me,” Lekman said upon finishing the melodic song and leaving the stage.

Apparently, a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down—and it’s ok to swallow bubblegum.

Links:
Jens Lekman

Photo courtesy of Jens Lekman

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