so between your high school when you
started playing and then in the 90s when
he started getting recognition you were
playing it what you were doing music so
was this this wasn’t like a stretch of
perseverance until you got a big break
cuz you didn’t really care about a big
break no I mean I the first label I got
signed he was called instinct records
and the first single I put out was
called mobility and it sold 2,000 copies
and then the next single this was
nineteen ninety and then the next single
in 1991 was go and all I wanted for go
was it would sell four thousand copies
like that I remember really being
excited at the thought that it might
sell four thousand copies and then it
went on to sell over a million copies
and it became one of Rolling Stones top
200 records of all time and it was like
it’s just a weird record that I made in
my bedroom and so ever since then I’ve
just been sort of baffled by what’s
happened and I’ve I guess one of the
things about not expecting success is it
it gives you the Liberty to experiment
and something like for example the
animal the animal rights album which was
commercially a failure to me was a
success because I liked it and I guess
if you don’t expect much then you can’t
be disappointed in terms of success so I
put out a record and it sells well great
if I put out a record and it doesn’t
sell well that’s fine too as long as
it’s an interesting record that I like
and that hopefully some other people
like I think the worst case scenario is
if you put out a record and you want
commercial success and you don’t have it
and you end up compromising the artistic
process to pursue commercial success and
nothing works out so then you’ve complex
oh you’ve made art that doesn’t have
inherent merit and you also have no
commercial success like that’s the worst
so I’d rather I’d rather make weird
underground records that no one likes
but that I like that don’t sell well
then really chase after radio play and
commercial success you have to represent
yourself
to a certain extent yeah can you tell us
about the ratio of risks versus
compromises that you’ve dealt with it’s
it’s weird because I can i can get
excited working on just about any aspect
or any any part of the song production
process i can get excited about cuz i’m
i’m an engineer and a musician and a
producer so if I’m if someone comes to
me and says oh produce this bad song for
this bad band I can get really excited
trying to make the kick drum sound
fantastic so sometimes almost forget
about the song and I just focus on
little bits of minutiae within the song
yeah I’m sorry cuz we’re talking about
compromises real Oh the compromise so um
and it’s it’s strange cuz compromise
isn’t always a bad thing I think
sometimes you can learn from compromise
um like sometimes artists get very
attached to a specific way of doing
things and to change that way of doing
things could be perceived as a
compromise but sometimes change is where
you how you grow I mean there have been
times like there was one song I’d
written years ago that I thought was a
good instrumental and someone from my
record company criticized it and said
you know what it’s an okay instrumental
but if you had vocal stew it it’d be a
lot better and I remember actually
getting angry I was like it felt like a
compromise to add vocals to it but then
I tried it and I added vocals to it and
the song ended up being a lot better so
to me that the the greatest enemy to the
creative process is rigidity you know
like deciding there’s only one way of
doing something and you’re going to
stick to that no matter what but the
same time if you’re too flexible then
you lose your sense of self and your
identity so it said it’s it’s all I mean
I guess in any part of the creative
process its balance between like you
know the demands of art versus commerce
because if you just pursue art you end
up with obscure 20th century classical
music that no one wants to listen to and
if you just pursue commerce you end up
with pop music that is soulless and
vapid
so but if you can combine the two you
end up with the rolling stones or led
zeppelin
started playing and then in the 90s when
he started getting recognition you were
playing it what you were doing music so
was this this wasn’t like a stretch of
perseverance until you got a big break
cuz you didn’t really care about a big
break no I mean I the first label I got
signed he was called instinct records
and the first single I put out was
called mobility and it sold 2,000 copies
and then the next single this was
nineteen ninety and then the next single
in 1991 was go and all I wanted for go
was it would sell four thousand copies
like that I remember really being
excited at the thought that it might
sell four thousand copies and then it
went on to sell over a million copies
and it became one of Rolling Stones top
200 records of all time and it was like
it’s just a weird record that I made in
my bedroom and so ever since then I’ve
just been sort of baffled by what’s
happened and I’ve I guess one of the
things about not expecting success is it
it gives you the Liberty to experiment
and something like for example the
animal the animal rights album which was
commercially a failure to me was a
success because I liked it and I guess
if you don’t expect much then you can’t
be disappointed in terms of success so I
put out a record and it sells well great
if I put out a record and it doesn’t
sell well that’s fine too as long as
it’s an interesting record that I like
and that hopefully some other people
like I think the worst case scenario is
if you put out a record and you want
commercial success and you don’t have it
and you end up compromising the artistic
process to pursue commercial success and
nothing works out so then you’ve complex
oh you’ve made art that doesn’t have
inherent merit and you also have no
commercial success like that’s the worst
so I’d rather I’d rather make weird
underground records that no one likes
but that I like that don’t sell well
then really chase after radio play and
commercial success you have to represent
yourself
to a certain extent yeah can you tell us
about the ratio of risks versus
compromises that you’ve dealt with it’s
it’s weird because I can i can get
excited working on just about any aspect
or any any part of the song production
process i can get excited about cuz i’m
i’m an engineer and a musician and a
producer so if I’m if someone comes to
me and says oh produce this bad song for
this bad band I can get really excited
trying to make the kick drum sound
fantastic so sometimes almost forget
about the song and I just focus on
little bits of minutiae within the song
yeah I’m sorry cuz we’re talking about
compromises real Oh the compromise so um
and it’s it’s strange cuz compromise
isn’t always a bad thing I think
sometimes you can learn from compromise
um like sometimes artists get very
attached to a specific way of doing
things and to change that way of doing
things could be perceived as a
compromise but sometimes change is where
you how you grow I mean there have been
times like there was one song I’d
written years ago that I thought was a
good instrumental and someone from my
record company criticized it and said
you know what it’s an okay instrumental
but if you had vocal stew it it’d be a
lot better and I remember actually
getting angry I was like it felt like a
compromise to add vocals to it but then
I tried it and I added vocals to it and
the song ended up being a lot better so
to me that the the greatest enemy to the
creative process is rigidity you know
like deciding there’s only one way of
doing something and you’re going to
stick to that no matter what but the
same time if you’re too flexible then
you lose your sense of self and your
identity so it said it’s it’s all I mean
I guess in any part of the creative
process its balance between like you
know the demands of art versus commerce
because if you just pursue art you end
up with obscure 20th century classical
music that no one wants to listen to and
if you just pursue commerce you end up
with pop music that is soulless and
vapid
so but if you can combine the two you
end up with the rolling stones or led
zeppelin
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