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"Pretty typical. It goes back and forth, depending on where I play. It all depends on how the record's promoted. I think my music is for people of all ages. In some countries it's going to be pushed one way so the audiences will be much younger - like Italy, Greece, Spain,... Even in parts of the States I see a lot of young people who are curious for that kind of music or have been hearing (the music) on the radiostation . It just depends on where I am. Older last night. I hope they all stay healthy. (laughs). "
Do you like it when they heckle?
"I didn't hear heckling. I heard people yelling. It's pretty funny. When you see somebody in the audience and react to it - or answer to somethingthey say - they are actually shocked. I think it's like watching TV. It's an invisible shield between them and the performer. So you yell to them: "Yeah, so what about that?" and people are stunned. As though I am not going to see the people I am playing to. "
You made a double record. Was it planned that way?
"No, not at all. I went into the studio with the 19 songs that are on the record. No more than that. That's typical, I usually go in with more songs than I need. Then I pick the ones out for the album and then I also have a lot of B-sides. When I finished the session, I was really happy with the material. Every time I tried to reduce it to a single album, I wasn't happy with it. I like it that way, the way you have a lot of variety. Maybe if you did it on a single record, it would seem you were indecisive or schizophrenic. On a double record it feels like a long patient journey. "
Is it a concept record?
"When I sequenced it, the first disc was more straightforward, poppier, more hook-orientated
songs. The second disc was more experimental. It's not exclusively that way. The second one is meant to be freakier, weirder, more late night. The first one more of a pop disc. "
The title of one of the songs is "Brave New World". Is it a reference to the book "Brave New World"?
"Yeah, but nothing beyond the title. "
Did you start with the title?
"I often start with the title. This one came together pretty quickly. I was writing with a deadline for that song. I was doing a series for a website called E-Music. I had to write a new song every month. It was time to write the January one - the first one I was going to write - I pretty much knew I had to write it in a matter of days, before I started on tour. I wrote that one maybe in half an hour. I like those songs the most. Songs I spend weeks and weeks on, I usually end up not liking them and throwing them away. "
"Drought" was an old song you said last night...
"No, the one I was referring to was "Charity". That's a very old song. I wrote it in 1985 when I was in the Dream Syndicate. It's one of those songs I always had sitting around - thinking that I like to record it some day but never get around to. When we were in Tuscon making this record, we went out one night for a really big dinner. We came back - half asleep - I said: "Look I have this song, I always wanted to record it. Just roll the tape and watch what I do." My band recorded it once and it sounded great. We said: "That's great, let's do it again." We recorded it a second time and it wasn't as good. We used the first one, and that's the one that ended up on the record. "
Howe is renowned for not planning things in advance when he records.
"He only played on two songs. But everything Howe does, influences the sound. He has a very strong personality. So everything he plays on, has his feel. Certainly both those two songs he played on, you know it's him. He's a really good friend of mine. We have done a lot of work together in the past. When I work with him, I let him do whatever he wants to do. He'll always do the thing you least expect - which seems to make no sense at all. Then we go back and listen to what we played and it's perfect. I can't imagine any other guitarpart on "Sustain" now. When he was playing it, I remember one side of me thinking he's sabotaging my song but at the same time - because I know him so well - I know I am going to like this. And sure enough, I did. "
Does "Sunset to the Sea" refer to you moving away from LA?
"Yeah. It's actually a line from an old song by the Leaving Trains, an old punk band from LA.
They have a song called "Creeping Coast Line" and it's a little phrase from that song. It's not really about me moving away. It's really a crime fiction story about a guy trying to outrun something. Sunset Boulevard is a very romantic street. It's about 30 miles long -from one end of the city to the other. You can drive to that thing and go through so many different environments and personalities. You can go from the most wealthy areas - like Beverly Hills - to the sleaziest parts of Hollywood. "
Have you ever experienced people interpreting your songs the wrong way? I remember someone accused Joe Jackson of being racist in "Is she really going out with him?"
"I can see how maybe that could be. Sometimes people say things about songs and they are really right off the mark. Sometimes people interpret songs in a different way than I would. There are a lot of subliminal things in writing. I am very direct in my writing, they are not impressionist songs, they are always about something. Still, there are always things in songs that I don't even realize until later. Even when they are not about me, they definitely are psychological statements. Somebody's definitely spilling their guts. "
Taponga Canyon Freaks is also about Los Angeles and Manson.
"Yeah, it's about people - who are living now - who want to emulate that kind of lifestyle.
Who want to paint themselves as the baddest guy on the block. Kind of like Charlie Manson revisited. Almost like a comedy of that - but at the same time it's a serious subject. A subject which I use a lot in my songs: people who want to be outlaws but can't get it together. "
Do you also like to read about that?
"I do! I read a lot of crime fiction. I like a lot of seedy writers - like Bukowski, John Fante, people like that. The romantic, loveable losers, but definitely the losers. I enjoy that kind of writing. "
So did you see a lot of that in Los Angeles?
"Hmm, most of that writing centers around LA. It's very funny. Anyone from Raymond Chandler to Ross McDonald, it's always LA. I often wonder why that is. I think because LA has so many different personalities, so much variety. When you are in New York, you *know* you are in New York. You walk around -sure there's variety - but it's basically one feel. LA can be a million different things. It's very easy to get lost. You know there's probably a million different things happening that you will never know about. That's what makes for good mystery and intrigue. "
Does New York influence your music?
"In a lot of ways. I moved there seven years ago. Since the time I moved there, I have written
more, I have recorded more, I had more ideas, I was more enthusiastic. Just had more energy than I ever had in LA. I can look at what I recorded before I moved there and after. New York influences you in the speed, the energy. Also the things you see when you're walking on the streets. It's a walking city, so you're running into people all the time. You're hearing things people are saying to you. You can take a notebook and walk down the streets, write down everything for one hour, put music to it and you have a song. It's that entertaining. This new record is definitely a California desert record. The subject matter is about Los Angeles, California, which wassn't intentional. But I like writing about that time. The previous record (My Midnight) was very New York. The songs aren't necessarily about New York but they feel like New York. "
The previous one seemed darker, whereas this one sounds more upbeat.
"Hmm, yeah. The last one was very moody, very mysterious. This one's very aggressive. The last one was more subtle. This one's a very emotional, very raw kind of record. "
How was it like recording "Here Come the Miracles"
"A lot of the times you go in, get all your sounds, finetune everything and then record all the songs. This time we took each song as an individual event. So when it was time to record one song, we would change the amplifier, change the microphone, move the drums over here and then record it. And the sound and the changes we made led to the way we approached the song - something I had never done before - which was great. In the past, we recorded the songs - maybe they all sounded the same - and then later on you do things so they sound different. This time we changed our whole universe with every song - which is another reason we made a double record. If you have a double record and every song has the same sound, it's going to sound really boring. This record works well because each songs really sounds different. "
Tuscon - where you recorded the album- influenced the sound as well.
"Yeah, the place is so hot and so slow. So psychedelic just by virtue of how hot you are all
the time. I think that often when you record in a big city you take on a real worklike attiude. Because of the pace of the city - because time is money - you go in there and you have to get the job done. Tuscon is the laziest city. They never have the need to hurry things. It's cheaper out there. Nobody moves very quickly. So if you try to move things along, it's not going to work. After that first day I fell into the pace of the city and it was great. The first day, though, I was so annoyed. We were taking breaks all the time. Someone would go away for dinner and would come back three hours later. Somebody's family would drop by every half hour. I thought to myself: "Man, I am not going to get any work done!" Second day I stopped worrying and as a result I recorded more songs. "
The record has a pretty dry sound.
"Yes, a dry desert sound."
You decided in advance to move with the band to Tuscon.
"Yeah, Linda, Dave and I had played together. But not with Chris Cacavas. That's something I do lot when I make records. What's really great fun is to take a band and just play together and add one or two pieces to it. Or I have made records with complete bands that already existed. There's some sort of mutual respect and mutual competition which works really well. When you have a band that plays together for years and years, there's a lot of jealousy or a lot of history. When you're in this situation you're on your behavior because you can't give them a hard time that easily. But you also want to show them how good you are. "
You started playing music when you were nine.
"I started playing when I was nine. The same year I was in my first band and wrote my first song. I have been doing this for a very long time. (laughs)"
Don't you ever get tired of music?
"Not at all. I like it more now than when I did it ten years ago. I went through the natural cycle. When you are starting - when you're in your first band - you don't know anything. You aren't afraid of anything because you have nothing to lose. People don't expect anything anyway. You hope you will have a career but it's a dream in the sky. Then the second or third record you begin to worry. "Hey, I am liking this so much. What happens when I lose it?", "What if I don't write these ten songs by next week?" So you are writing from panic. Then you get past that. I know I did about five years ago. Then all of a sudden you realize: "I am here to stay. People like my music!" That's a freedom all of a sudden. With that freedom I started enjoying it more than ever. Now, if I am writing an album , all I am thinking of is things that make me happy, things that make the band laugh. The motivation is no longer survival or success, it is pure. "
So you never had a nine to five job?
"Oh, I have but not in twenty years! I worked in recordshops a lot. It was my education for
what I am doing now. (laughs) And discjockey. "
Didn't you collaborate with Barbara Manning recently?
"We recorded together for one song for the E-Music series. We did one together via the mail. She recorded it on a four-track cassette on a school bus in California. She mailed me the cassette and I recorded the rest of the song. "
What was the song about? I know she sometimes sings about baseball.
"That's right! And we're both big baseball fans. So yeah it's a surprise it wasn't a baseball song. "
Would you like to write about baseball one day?
"Funny you say this because one record I wanted to make - which wouldn't go over in Europe at all - is a record about baseball. I have talked about that for ten years. Not necessarily literally about baseball, but about certain players. Like Barbara did: about a baseball player who did a no-hitter when he was on LSD... That's the kind of songs I'd write. But I haven't gotten around to it yet. When I do, it will either be completely ignored in Europe or I will have a lot of explaining to do. (laughs) "
What are your favourite songs? Mine's "Smash myself to bits"
"That's my favourite! I am not just saying that. That's one of the more adventurous songs on the record. "
I like it because it feels like it'll fall apart at any minute.
"I used to say, my four qualifications for music are: It had to be funny, humourous, sexy, scary was another. The fourth was: could fall apart at any moment. That's something I lost track with the last few years. I think my last few albums had the other qualities, but they didn't have the falling apart bit. I was getting too good at crafting records in the studio. I was starting to become a perfectionist. I liked it but I wished it had a little more sense of danger. "
It sounds fun.
"Yeah, you can hear the holes and all the broken parts. "
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/steve-wynn/steve-wynn/411/
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