END OF THE ROAD WEEK: Richmond Fontaine Interview September 2009 [PART 2]
By: Chris Helsen
RFB: I guess you’ve already answered this in terms of lyrics, but when you’re putting together a new album, how much do you know about how you want it to sound before you sit down to do it?
I think with most of them I know. With Winemucca I really wanted to write a burned out, desert-y country record that had atmosphere and location and easy hungover feel to it, and then with Post To Wire I was trying to write a big country rock record. And then I think with The Fitzgerald I was so glad to have got Post to Wire out of me that I could write songs that I really liked writing, which is folk, story driven songs. The stories and lyrics on that record came first and I just lived and died by them. I was really surprised that anyone even paid attention to it. I spent forever working on those songs but when we came to record it we did it really fast because I didn’t want to put the guys through much time working on it ‘cos I thought they’d get bored. It’s so dark and so simple, it’s a mood record. It’s one of those records, you might only play it a couple of times a year. You’ve got to get into that vibe. It’s like (Bruce Springsteen’s) Nebraska, you get into it for a week and then you don’t listen to it for two years.
RFB: Do you have a favourite record you’ve done, or is the last one always the favourite?
When I’m done I’m always pretty happy with them. Of course they’ve got faults in them and there’s lines I would have cut, and I wish I was a better songwriter sometimes. Winnemucca is the first record I did sober and it’s the first time I felt the band became a band, and the band it is now. So from that record on I like them all. When I’m done with them they’re always as good as they can be and I’m really proud and it’s only later that my mind changes, you know, my heart changes. I’ll think “Why was I so dramatic there, why didn’t I lighten up a little bit? Because you were a wreck when you wrote that song, you’re not a wreck now, but that would be a better song if I didn’t keep that line in”. That shit drives me crazy, but you’d never put out a record if you waited around to make a perfect one – and I sure haven’t done that.
RFB: Do you miss the band when you do these solo tours?
Oh yeah. The only good thing about being on by myself is that I don’t have to carry so much sh*t. I love the camaraderie of a band. I wouldn’t be in a band if I didn’t enjoy the camaraderie. I like drinking beers with those guys, I like it when one of the guys is grumpy, f**k it I like it watching the other guys bicker, I like it when everyone’s got the same vibe and is having a good time, I like all of it. It’s like a family, you take the rough with the smooth.
RFB: Moving back to music in general, the single you’re here to launch (‘You Can Move Back Here’, on Trash Aesthetics) comes in a really nice 7” vinyl package, with hand coloured cover and a Willy Vlautin short story. Do you think it’s still important to have music that’s a tangible piece of ‘art’ like that?
I’ve always thought so, yes. We didn’t do illustrations on this record because I think everyone else was tired of it except me, but this sleeve is great and it has a little story inside it – they’ve done a real nice job. I like things like that because I’m a serious fan of graphic illustrators, I’m a real fan of graphic novels and comic books.
RFB: When you buy records, do you buy vinyl, CDs....?
You know vinyl would be my preference, but because I travel a lot and live out in the woods, I mainly just use my iPod like everyone else. Having an iPod is one of the greatest things because I have my records wherever I go. When you’re alone or travelling and you’ve got all your records with you, it’s like having all your friends with you – you’ll never be alone. You’re like “I‘ve got Tom Waits with me”, or if you’re feeling sad about being away from Portland you just put on Elliott Smith. And before with CDs, you’d never bring along the right records, so for us to have that with iPods is very lucky.
RFB: How does it make you feel as a musician that once your music is on the internet pretty much anyone can share it with anyone else?
It’s cool. The internet takes away the mystery, which sucks. You can’t go to a record store and discover this weird band with an obscure record, ‘cos you can just look on the internet and get it anywhere. So I miss that. But that being said I can buy all these weird records online that I never even knew existed. As far as how it affects my band – it’s bigger... I don’t really understand it, so I just don’t worry about it. I just hope my band sticks it out, I just hope we can make some money so we can keep going.
RFB: You’ve been together 15 years now, looking forward to another 15?
If we make another three I’ll be happy! They [the rest of the band] sacrifice a lot to make music – to make the type of music I write, which is songs that are never going to make a lot of money. They’re good guys and I wish I could f**king write them a hit, but my mind’s too f**ked up!
And on that apt note, alas Willy was called away to play a wonderful acoustic show to a few lucky fans in a packed Social and I never got to ask him about how excited he must be with the positive reaction (read widespread critical acclaim) to his novels, the rumours of The Motel Life being made into a film or just how he decides which stories are going to be songs and which are going to go into his novels – and when the hell he gets the time to do anything else such is the volume of written material he is producing (with a new book out in February). But with a seemingly endless supply of timeless albums up his sleeve, there is little doubt he’ll be returning to these shores to talk about the next one.
Artists in this article: Richmond Fontaine