Ahead of their upcoming tour of Australia as part of Bluesfest, we caught up with Wilco’s long term bassist John Stirratt to discuss the bands most recent album The Whole Love, as well as the secret to the bands longevity, the weather and whether or not work has begun on a follow up.
I suppose a happy new year is in order.
Oh and to you. I heard there have been a lot of fires down there recently.
Yeah, Tasmania has been hit pretty hard.
Oh geez.
Yeah we’ve sweltered through some pretty hot temperatures recently, 40 degrees and more.
Oh my gosh, man, that’s tough. It’s been pretty mild here in North America. It’s been pretty strange. The second January in a row where it’s been maybe 40 Fahrenheit. Usually it’s between twenty and minus five, I mean it’s comfortable, but it’s definitely ominous.
There’s been a few storms as well hasn’t there?
Yeah. We had a thunderstorm today, which in January, it’s so strange. But, yeah there’s been tornados and some blizzards. But further south it’s just been very odd weather. It seems like the weird weather is happening on the edges of the winter now. Either early or late, whilst the middle of winter seems to be very mild.
Did you manage to get a bit of a break over the Christmas break?
We did. We’ve sort of been off since late October, after a really extreme year and a half of touring. We all needed it. It was probably, or definitely the craziest year I think in the history of the band. But a great bunch of shows and a great year. But I think everyone just needed a little bit of a break. But it’ll be nice to pick it back up in Australia, obviously.
It’s been over a year since the release of The Whole Love, looking back at it now what are you thoughts on the album, and have they changed since it’s release?
It’s funny, I heard a few tracks in a restaurant the other day and I was pleased. I was sort of pleased at the way it sounded. So many of our records I hear, if I hear them in public, they sound so different from the live treatment. Sometimes they’re very insular sounding. This one has a sort of fully formed quality. At least in the fact that we were able to play it, if it were a child, it would be a very extroverted child. For want of a better way of putting it.
And it seems to have been well received by the critics and fans
I think so; at the time I don’t remember too much bad stuff being said.
Has work begun on a follow up yet?
At this point in time we’re still taking some time off. No work has been done on the next one as of yet. But in February we’ll go back into the studio and just get our feet wet. Try out some ideas.
As a band how do you approach the songwriting? Is it a collaborative effort, do you all have your little parts to play?
I guess it comes from Jeff, a kernel of a tune, or a fully formed tune will come from Jeff. He brings it in and generally sees what the band can do with it. A lot of his arrangements will lead to things, to feels, parts and tempos.
Some things he brings in feel immediately like “Hey that’s what this song is going to be” and you can almost hear the band when he plays the songs. Other things are much more skeletal and unknown. I think sometimes those can be the most rewarding things, when you really have no preconception of what the tune is first time you hear it.
You’ve had the same line-up for the band now, about 9 years, what do you think makes you work so well together as a group?
I’m not really speaking for myself, but the other guys, there’s a really high level of musicianship and high level of empathy to the other musicians. I think that’s been a big part of it. They’re guys who like to communicate on stage, guys who like to look around. We have a good laugh off stage as well. So I think it’s been a great group. A great group to travel with, we’ve been stuck together so much over the last eight years so it’s forged some very strong friendships.
Yeah you’ve been on tour so much other the last couple of years, you’ve got to enjoy each others company or else it’s not really going to work.
Yeah, you can’t have someone who’s going to be a complete drag. It just won’t work you know. I think we’ve all done this for so long now, we know what it takes to travel with people. You have to be decent [laughs], it takes work, and you have to work together to keep things good on the road.
You’re going to be playing a mixture of festivals and normal shows on your tour down here, do you have a preference, and why?
I tend to prefer the normal shows, because the energy is a little more focused. I think there’s more of a chance for really great moments, great cathartic moments. In festivals there are some many people there to see so many different bands. The energy is different. I mean I love festivals, for that reason, the chaotic aspect is really great. But there’s not always a focus from the audience that there is at one of our shows. Generally I think really cool things are more apt to happen at those smaller gatherings.
You’ve got two shows at the Sydney Opera House on this tour, how do you approach playing in such an iconic venue? and does it influence what you play?
It does, I think when you play in a preforming arts centre, or a very reverent sort of space you are more apt to be able to play delicate things. Alluding a little to the last questions, at festivals you sort of have the tendency to rock and play as loud as you can play, or you should, just to be able to touch people who are a thousand rows back and aren’t maybe paying attention to the band.
Whereas the Opera House is the place where you play something very delicate and a lot more nuanced. And that dictates a list that is more nuanced. In our case I think it might make use play things we might not play as often. It’s cool.
We’re sort of used to being a theatre band, and being observed a lot like that, with people sitting down, so it’s become pretty common for us. We’re not too freaked out about it.
There seems to be a bit of a trend developing of bands recreating whole albums in the live setting. Is this something that has ever appealed to you as a band?
Not really. It’s never appealed to me. It sort of feels, not to cast aspersions on anyone who does it, but there is some feeling of their being a relic aspect to it all. There’s a sort of end of the road feeling to it. I don’t know, we could do it; we’ve had records of twenty years old. I think we’ve been asked to do them before, but I don’t know it just takes away from the vibrancy of what the band is. I feel like celebrating that one album that was released however many years ago may take away something of the presence of what the band is.
You get the feeling it could work for maybe a one off show to celebrate an anniversary, but there are some bands that do whole tours.
And do they do whole tours of that?
I’ve certainly seen them mentioned before. It seems to be they’ll come play one set which is the album, and then play a separate set of other material as well.
Oh yeah, that’s right. I remember seeing someone do that.
I definitely wouldn’t say we’d never do it though [laughs]
Which album do you think you’d play?
I would assume people would want to hear Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. But I don’t really know to be honest.
Do you have any plans for how to spend your free time whilst your down here on tour?
I’ve been a huge follower of the coffee world in Melbourne and Australia. So I’ll definitely hit a lot of coffee shops in Melbourne. In Byron Bay hopefully get chance to swim as much as possible. I’m a horrible surfer, but I intend to do that whilst I’m there. I love to surf and just be at the beach in Australia, especially in March coming out of a dreadful winter here.
Do you get much free time at the festivals, is there anyone you’re planning on seeing?
I think we have a couple of days in Byron Bay, and I know Paul Simon is there and Robert Plant. Generally we do have time. One thing about Australia which is pretty cool, even when we were first there for the Big Day Out, was the time it takes to get from one show to the next, almost guarantees you get a couple of days off with every show. I think it’s going to be the same situation this time around, not too rushed. I would like to see Paul Simon, I’ve never seen him, so I’m kind of interested to see that show.
What else does 2013 hold for the band?
Well we have this festival called Solid Sound that we curate and put on. This is the third year of its existence; it’s up in Western Massachusetts in a museum called Mass Moca.
It’s a music and arts festival, in this really amazing facility, there are courtyards of all different sizes that we put bands in, and people can wander in and see the art and the music. It’s in an old textile town; it’s a beautiful place, which now has a total arts based community there.
It’s really a great little festival; it’s still very small. I think last year we had six or seven thousand. But we’ve put it on sale and it seems to be growing. It’s a blast; it’s going to be in June.
Then in May we’ll start recording the next record, and maybe some touring in the Fall. But very much a quiet year for Wilco after the few previous years.
It sounds like you’re due a bit of a quiet one. Well thanks for taking the time to talk to me. See you out on tour.
Thank you Simon, have a nice one.
—————-
Wilco will perform at the West Coast Blues and Roots Festival, Byron Bay Bluesfest (http://www.bluesfest.com.au/) plus sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney:
March 27th and 28th, 2013 | Hamer Hall, Melbourne
http://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/
April 2nd and 3rd | Sydney Opera House
http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/an_evening_with_wilco.aspx
———-
