Saturday, 11 Nov 2006
Could you give us some general background on you and what got you started with Daytrotter?
As a person, I’m attracted to various-sized burritos, almost every word that Richard Brautigan and Nathanael West ever wrote, and newspapers and magazines of every denomination. I prefer the comic strip “Pearls Before Swine” – which sounds like a Prince song re-mashed with Morrisey, doesn’t it? – when the crocodiles are in it. It’s the newspaper and magazine thing that got me going with this stupid career of writing. I remember getting a book, when I was a kid, out of one of those Scholastic book orders. It was a Fraggle Rock book called “Wembley Starts A Newspaper” or something very to the point like that. I started drawing a comic strip a day and began trying to read every story in every newspaper I could find, every day. I literally started doing what old men do – reading the newspaper from front to back. I’ve just always been infatuated with words. I went to the University of Iowa, majored in journalism, minored in English and business. I’d already been writing for the local paper here in the Quad-Cities for five years at that point. The summer after I graduated, I had my first rock and roll phoner, with Ben Folds. That led me to freelancing for places like DIW, Rockpile, Skyscraper, Punk Planet, Playback St. Louis, Law of Inertia (who thought I was no good) and now here we are.
I want get an idea of your musical taste evolution if you will. What were some of the first albums/tapes/CD’s you bought?
The first three CDs I ever owned were Michael Jackson’s “Black and White” (which I just found out doesn’t pop up on Amazon until the 7 th page), Boyz II Men’s “Cooleyhighharmony” and P.M. Dawn’s “Of the Heart, Of The Soul, Of the Cross” (for that set adrift on memory bliss song). I bought a lot of tapes before there. I’d go to Musicland at the mall and just buy tape singles. It was all rap. That’s all I listened to: Ice Cube, Redman, Souls of Mischief, Das Efx, Young M.C., that kind of stuff. I loved Yo! MTV Raps and actually shared a hot tub sit with Ed Lover and Dr. Dre in Ames, Iowa when I was probably all of 12. Queen Latifah had played the college the night before and they were staying at the same Heartland Inn as we were. It was a huge childhood highlight. The only other thing I listened to when I was younger was Alabama because that’s all my parents listened to. Alabama…
What are some of your favorite records of all time?
I think “Pet Sounds” is the be all and end all with me. Something in me, as weird as this sounds, tells me that The Streets are going to have some records in that list in 30 years. I love the entire Chixdiggit catalog. I think Weezer’s “Blue Album” is great but The Rentals “The Return of the Rentals” is right there. My huge problem is that I am just now going back and getting through old rock that I was cruelly unexposed to. All I had was Alabama. I wish I would have had the Doors when I was growing up. I think I would have turned out differently.
What have been the albums you’ve enjoyed most that were released this year?
I’ve just started to think about this. Here are ones that come to mind, but this is an incomplete list:
Joanna Newsom’s “Ys”
Midlake’s “Trials of the Van Occupanther”
M Ward’s “Post-War”
Catfish Haven’s “Tell Me”
Cold War Kids’ “Robbers and Cowards”
William Elliott Whitmore’s “Songs of the Blackbird”
Eef Barzelay’s “Bitter Honey”
Christine Fellows’ “Paper Anniversary”
The Hold Steady’s “Boys and Girls In America “
What 3 artists would make up your wish list for a Daytrotter session?
Joanna Newsom
The Shins
Spoon
Will Oldham (again)
Can you tell me what the first concert you saw was and when? To follow that up, are there any particular shows that stand out in terms of being favorites?
My first “real” concert other than seeing The Jets at the county fair was seeing the Meat Puppets open for Primus. I came home – and I’ll never forget the words I said to my mom – I said, “I’m going to go to a lot more of those.” One of the shows that’s always stood out for me was this show a van full of friends and I saw in Peoria, Ill., at the Madison Theatre. It was a triple bill of Mr. Miranga, Ruth Ruth and Spacehog (during the “Resident Alien” craze – I think “In the Meantime” is one of the fucking best songs ever written, along with “Wonderwall”). I loved every band, but Spacehog came out in these humongous fur coats and were a hell of a show. I raved about it for months.
What are some bands that you haven’t gotten the chance to see live, but would really like to?
I can’t really think of any. I would say Brian Wilson, but I know he wouldn’t hold up to my expectations. I would have like to have seen Andy Kaufman perform, even if it was just him reading “The Great Gatsby.”
Outside of music do you have any other interests or projects?
I don’t really have any time for other projects at this point. I’m working on Daytrotter from 8 in the morning till 2 or 3 in the morning every day.
What Daytrotter sessions would you say are your favorite thus far? Also, if someone was coming to Daytrotter for the first time, which session would you direct them to first?
As fucking lame as it sounds, it would be like picking a favorite child. I really can’t do it. Pat (Stolley) and I leave every session with crushes on new sessions. The ones that have blown me away the most just in their power to make me see the artists a different way were the Will Oldham, Sunset Rubdown, Langhorne Slim, Frog Eyes, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Page France and High Strung sessions. I would force people to listen to the Bonnie Prince Billy session first just because I think there’s a hidden beauty somewhere inside that session that could melt you away if you let it. He’s kind of got his arm around you it feels like.
Do you depend or draw from other online publications or blogs, and, if so, which ones do you enjoy?
I don’t draw from any other online publications, but there are certainly ones I read fairly religiously. Find me a person who likes the music we all do who doesn’t check Pitchfork at least three times a day…I love the fellas over at Said The Gramophone. There’s some real literary business going on there, but everyone already knows that. We have a local music blog here called The Air Strange which I go to every day because Culley seems to know way more about his surroundings than I do and I come here a lot because Madison’s one of my all-time favorite cities and it’s not far from us. I always threaten to see more shows there, but I don’t.