I’LL SHUT UP ABOUT THIS ALBUM SOON

At the risk of sounding like a complete bore (sorry, I will stop going on about it, promise), I recently had the pleasure of meeting the man behind my favourite album in a long, long time. I did a rushed pre-gig interview  for AU magazine with John Grant when he played The Button Factory the other week. I thought I’d try to find some non-idiotic/sycophantic way of explaining to him how much I loved the album, but I ended up just mumbling something half-witted and moved on to the first question. He was friendly and funny (and tall) and talked about his plans for Queen of Denmark‘s follow-up. You can read it after the jump.

MARK KOZELEK: Q&A

Originally published on Entertainment.ie, September 2008

You have this reputation as a writer of very intense,  intricate songs. Are you really as intense as you’re made out to be, or is that whole persona just something that’s been invented by the media?

I don’t know. I write songs, but can’t help what’s projected onto me. I’m faced with the same day to day stuff as anybody else. I spent last week fixing things that were broken in my apartment and running errands. Most of the people I interact with on a daily basis don’t even know what I do for a living, so the ‘persona’ thing doesn’t amount to much. Even on tour, I spend two hours a night singing songs, and the rest of the time, staring at the back of people’s heads on airplanes, some fat guy coughing on me.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT: Q&A

IT’S NOT every day that you ring a hotel in Zurich only to be paged through to the wrong Scott Hutchinson’s room – but after that minor mishap, our conversation could only improve. Luckily, the Frightened Rabbit singer was a lovely chap…

OF MONTREAL: Q&A

Originally published in The Irish Times, September 17th 2010

You’re the kind of band that seems to be constantly brimming with imaginative ideas, and the new album is no different. Yet you’ve been together for 14 years. How do you keep things fresh? I guess the thing is that I really don’t like my records very much.

CALEXICO: Q&A

*When I spoke to John Convertino about two years ago, I wasn’t expecting too much; I liked Calexico, but was by no means a die-hard  fan, and in any case, it was just a simple Q&A for the website I worked for at the time. Just five minutes into the (phone) conversation, though, and the drummer was already ranking (and still does rank) as one of my favourite interviewees –  an utterly charming, friendly and intelligent bloke that talked for almost 30 minutes longer than our allotted time together.

Originally published on Entertainment.ie on September 3rd, 2008

‘Carried to Dust’ is a bit of a return to your ‘old’ sound after the rockier ‘Garden Ruin‘…

JENS LEKMAN: Q&A

Originally published in The Irish Times, July 30th 2010

You’re based in Australia now, but you return to your home city of Gothenburg every summer…

Yes, the Swedish summer is just like summer should be – short and full of expectation. It’s not like the Australian summer. That’s just like a nagging old couple. It just goes on for too long – you get sick of it. It’s like, ‘Oh, sunshine? Again?’