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Part of rock & roll is liberation and to be disillusioned – meaning that in the best possible way. To be freed of your illusions of the world is not necessarily a band thing.
-Jeff Tweedy |
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Photo by Frank W. Ockenfels
You've said how enjoyable this album was to make and things seem to be in a really great place both personally and for the band. Do you think that in some way Wilco may have hit its prime right now?
Wilco by Michael Segal |
That's for other people to decide, but for us, absolutely. For us, there's never been a better time; there's never been a better feeling on stage. This version of the band has felt so great for the past three years [and] we finally have our own record of music that we all made. Most of the guys in the band, for a long time, have been making music where they are trying to re-create other people's parts or are participating in music that they only partially feel is theirs. Now, a bulk of the set is music that everybody feels is ours and it's definitely something I can't remember ever being better.
In line with this, when Nels Cline joined the band I was ecstatic. I've been a huge fan of his since I've been listening to guitar music...
...You and I both.
In terms of the recording process, what did he add to it specifically?
Cline & Tweedy by Jake Krolick |
That's a pretty tough thing to simplify. There's obviously a lot of experience that Nels can contribute to any recording environment. There's the undeniable musical chops that are gonna enhance any band, but I think more than any of that, the thing that Nels has that makes him so special as a musician is his ability to get to the heart of the song and get to the heart of the emotion of the song and contribute to it and enhance it. I don't think there was any effort to try to unnaturally weave his stylistic predilections from what we're doing. It's just very very comfortable, and it doesn't feel like it's just a gig for him. It doesn't feel like it's just something that looks good on paper, like having this avant improviser in the band. It's something that everybody feels is really natural. It's what it is. It's the band.
And how about as a guitar player on stage? Does he push you to be a better guitar player? Is he intimidating at all?
He yells at me on stage. When I'm playing guitar solos and taking turns on "Spiders" or something like that, he's always shouting at me. I haven't quite figured out if that's good or bad but it definitely makes me play better.
Thinking about Sky Blue Sky, is there a favorite song or two for you?
Jeff Tweedy by Charles Harris |
I've really been enjoying playing "You Are My Face." That song was really challenging going into the live environment to have it come across the way that we felt it came across in the recording. I don't know if we were concerned about it, but it just feels really great to be doing some three-part harmonies and having them sound so nice on stage. I just love hearing everybody sing, and that song seems to have a lot of the different elements all in one song that I feel are the most gratifying parts of the band right now.
Wilco has an incredibly rabid and loyal fan base. Do you have any feeling for what it is that people gravitate towards so passionately?
[Long pause] I honestly don't. Why us, why me? I don't know. The best thing I've ever been able to come up with - and honestly it's not something I spend too much time thinking about because I don't know how helpful it would be to me in the end if I did have it figured [out] - but I think it's probably because of a certain amount of ambiguity that the band has maintained over the years. There hasn't been a real definitive understanding about what the band is or supposed to be. It's been pretty malleable, and that's been conscious on the band's part. We tried to keep ourselves open to the experience of making music and change. Through that we've maintained just enough of an ambivalent relationship with our audience where they feel free to pour themselves into it.
JamBase | San Francisco
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