Lambchop 'Nashvillian' Kurt Wagner Talks To The-Raft
I've read somewhere that you went through a phase, last year I presume, writing a new song every single day and that it was the most productive time you've ever had.
Kurt: Yeah it was a good time yeah....
Is that something that you have been continuing or are aiming to continue?
Kurt: I would like to yeah, it seems like a nice way to work but I don’t want to think of it as an exclusive way to work either. I 'd like to think that I'm open to other ideas as they come up, but it was nice, and it was a handy way to get a handle on the thing that I do in my life. The idea was to make song writing and being an artist part of the daily thing that I do in my life, and because of touring and promotion and things, that idea seemed to be further and further away as I get busier. It was comforting to know that I could create a thing like that to legitimize my existence.
Do you ever think to get a shed-load of songs written now just in case the well runs dry in the future?
Kurt: Sometimes it’s about whether they’re good enough right away, but sometimes I'm not always the best judge. Sometimes time can pass and you'll find that maybe there's this song that you just forgot and maybe its time to see if it works now; and you'll try it again and maybe it does or maybe it almost does and maybe you can work on it then but for me its important to just keep my opinions flexible.
Does that mean then that when you write a specific album it’s not necessarily a slice through time or just a point in time?
Kurt: Ummm....well, when I was doing the song a day thing it was actually a little bit more restrictive, in that I tried to keep it relevant to that time period and not go back and tinker with it because sometimes your first ideas are the freshest and the most interesting. I can really screw things up if given the chance.
Spend too much time on them?
Kurt: well you know, take something that was actually pretty good and just destroy it (laughs)
Considering the massive amount of material you produced, how did you manage to whittle it down to two albums?
Kurt: Well that sort of took care of itself in that despite the large amount of songs that were created, most of it was bad you know, so there is something telling about the fact that I'm not that great a songwriter and that it takes a bit of work for me to overcome that. I accept that and I sort of accepted that long ago and it’s just a way for me to create more crap in order to hopefully get to something that’s actually quite good. I'm not trying to be self effacing or anything I just think that’s the reality about myself. |
About Petrol Records
About Petrol Records
