ELMO KEEP

Last night we went along to see LCD Soundsystem, which was awesome, even if they didn’t play Someone Great. That’s ok. Three years ago I was writing a lot about them on the Sound of Silver tour, and I was looking around on my computer for some mp3s when I found this, which is I think some interview notes I transcribed without my questions included, except for one. 

…

I was going out to the circus with my son tonight.

Critical success is really nice – it hasn’t really changed anyone’s life that much. We’re fairly anonymous in New York anyway. It’s definitely nice to be doing something that people like and that’s relevant. But I wouldn’t say it’s life changing. It’s very exciting, don’t get me wrong. But we’ve been on tour so long, that you get a bit of tunnel vision as to what real life is like?

Is this the end?

Yes, this is our final farewell for Sound of Silver. We’re gonna be doing the show we’ve been doing on these last tours. It’s going to be a bittersweet moment for us. But we’re really exciting to be playing in Australia because none of us other than James, have had the opportunity to do that.
No, never. It’s actually unseasonably warm, but much colder than where you are! It hasn’t snowed in the city yet. I think we have a few days off here and there, so we’re definitely going to hit the beach. 

That’s one of the real pleasures of it, is that they are such different experiences. On stage we run a marathon keeping the timing, keeping the energy for an hour and twenty minutes – it’s very physically demanding. In the studio, especially in the last few years, you hardly ever do a live take of anything. 

You play a bunch of grooves and then cut them up and sample them. So it’s more introspective and a more relaxed approach. Recording and producing drums, we try to keep it as simple as possible – both in the studio and on stage. So really, it’s like almost rudimentary drumming which is really challenging – not to add flourishes, but just to try and play almost simply and solidly as possible. 

Almost like a machine world.

James and I were joking about when you’re broke and you’re a struggling musician, is when you need sponsorship the most and you’ll never get one. And then when you’re successful and actually making money and making music, people want to give you money!