Interview: Gary Louris

Since Minneapolitan alt-country pioneers The Jayhawks disbanded in 2005, former leader Gary Louris has kept busy as a songwriter (including work on Dixie Chicks’ Taking The Long Way) and producer, as well as touring and recording again with his old Jayhawks bandmate Mark Olson, with whom he has a duo album set for release later this year. This month, he releases his first solo record, Vagabonds, which explores the sound of the 1970s’ California singer-songwriter scene. He’ll embark on a U.S. tour in March. On a snowy day the week before the album’s release, he talked to The A.V. Club about producing other people, the possibility of a Jayhawks reunion, and why he doesn’t write songs about the chick he wants to bang.

Originally published March 2, 2008 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.

Interview: Dan Wilson

After the breakup of Minneapolis cult heroes Trip Shakespeare, Dan Wilson brought his impeccable sense of pop polish to the trio Semisonic, who scored a Top-10 hit in 1998 with “Closing Time.” With that group on an extended hiatus, Wilson set out on his own as a producer and writer, striking gold earlier this year with a Song of the Year Grammy for co-writing Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready To Make Nice.” For the last five years he’s also been working on a solo album, Free Life, which broadens the scope of his sound without losing the hummable quality of his earlier music. Released in October, Free Life was co-produced by Rick Rubin and features Sheryl Crow and former Jayhawk Gary Louris. Wilson chatted with The A.V. Club about the new album, the importance of unstructured recording, and how to approach your first solo record.

Originally published Dec. 9, 2007 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.

Interview: Robyn Hitchcock

Influenced by punk rock and Pink Floyd, English songwriter and guitarist Robyn Hitchcock has carved out an enviable career as a cult artist, from The Soft Boys in the late 1970s through last year’s OléTarantula, recorded with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Young Fresh Fellows’ Scott McCaughey. Hitchcock’s recent work still ranks among the best of his career, but this year, he’s also playing archivist with I Wanna Go Backwards, a new box set covering three of his critically best-regarded solo albums—Black Snake Diamond Role, I Often Dream Of Trains, and Eye—plus a two-disc rarities compilation, While Thatcher Mauled Britain. Another set covering his albums with backing band The Egyptians is slated for 2008, as well as another new album with most of the Tarantula crew. Hitchcock recently talked with The A.V. Club about the death of the album, new and old songs, “quirkiness,” and why Seattle is Hitchcock’s favorite U.S. city.

Originally published on avclub.com Nov. 13, 2007. Read the complete article.

Interview: Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson of Fog

Fog began as a solo project for Minnesota-based turntablist and hip-hop/electronica artist Andrew Broder, but the group has recently undergone a major evolution. Broder left the turntables by the wayside and re-imagined Fog as something like a classic power trio, with bassist Mark Erickson and drummer Tim Glenn as permanent members. Fog remains too idiosyncratic and experimental to be pigeonholed, but the new approach paid off with Broder’s boldest and most viscerally approachable album yet—the new, ironically titled Ditherer, which includes guest work from Low, Andrew Bird, Why?, and Dosh. The A.V. Club recently talked with Broder and Erickson about Fog’s relationship with Tom Petty and black metal.

Originally published Sept. 13, 2007 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.

Interview: Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson’s gifts as a guitarist and songwriter have been apparent since his teenage days in the 1960s British folk group Fairport Convention. Albums like 1982′s Shoot Out The Lights (with then-wife Linda Thompson) and 1992′s Rumor And Sigh earned him critical praise and a loyal fan cult. He’s out now with his first new electric disc in three years: Sweet Warrior features a sizzling antiwar song in “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me,” told from the perspective of a disillusioned American soldier stationed in Iraq. From his Los Angeles home, Thompson recently talked with The A.V. Club about his albums, his songwriting, and how his personal life works into both.

Originally published on avclub.com June 13, 2007. Read the complete article.

Interview: Baron Von Raschke

One of the great villains of professional wrestling from the mid-’60s through his 1994 retirement, Minnesota’s Baron Von Raschke terrorized opponents with his German-accented roar, scowling swagger, and signature move, a punishingly painful head-grab known as “The Claw.” Outside the ring, though, he’s Jim Raschke, a quick-witted, gentlemanly, and surprisingly humble schoolteacher and father. The two sides of Raschke both get their due in a new stage play, The Baron. The comedy, playing at St. Paul’s History Theatre through May 20 and narrated by the Baron himself, covers the Baron’s career from neophyte to king of the ring. The A.V. Club’s Twin Cities editor sat down to chat with the Baron, wife Bonnie Raschke, and playwright Cory McLeod.

Originally published April 19, 2007 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.

Interview: Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of Low

Duluth trio Low has been tagged as “that slow, quiet band” for most of its 14-year career, but that’s only part of the story. On recent albums like 2005′s The Great Destroyer and the new Drums And Guns, Low has found ways to capture a bigger, denser sound without sacrificing a minimalist ethic. The A.V. Club spoke with singer-guitarist Alan Sparhawk, drummer (and Sparhawk’s wife) Mimi Parker, and new bassist Matt Livingston about Drums‘ take on violence, the band’s 2006 hiatus, and the experience of eating an entire cake in three minutes.

Originally published April 12, 2007 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.

Interview: Jonathan Lethem

MacArthur “genius grant” recipient and novelist Jonathan Lethem ignores the boundary between literary fiction and “lower” pop-culture or genre work, drawing inspiration from Raymond Chandler, Philip K. Dick, and comics. Lethem stayed mostly in science-fiction territory in early novels like Gun, With Occasional Music, and found wider success with 1999′s National Book Critic’s Circle Award-winning Motherless Brooklyn, about a Tourette’s-afflicted private eye. He drew on his Brooklyn childhood for 2003′s The Fortress Of Solitude, both a detailed reminiscence of the 1970s and a literary superhero tale. His new You Don’t Love Me Yet follows the romantic entanglements and unexpected success of a nameless young L.A. band. The A.V. Club recently talked with Lethem about kangaroos, the importance of escaping the familiar, and the question of who really owns an idea.

Originally published on avclub.com April 5, 2007. Read the complete article.

Random Rules: P.O.S.

The shuffler: Stef Alexander, a.k.a. P.O.S of the Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree. Currently on tour opening for Gym Class Heroes, P.O.S has a busy 2007 planned, with an all-crew Doomtree album and his own third solo disc in the works.

Cage, “Too Heavy For Cherubs”

P.O.S: I like this a lot. Cage was one of those MCs who, three years ago, you’d hear his records or a new song he had on whatever compilation, and he always had a really dope verse, but it was never stuff I could relate to, or really agree with, necessarily. Until this new record [Hell's Winter], where it seemed like he had some huge stuff happen in his life that made him want to talk about some relatable shit. Whatever it was that did it, it was a good move, ’cause this new record’s the best one he’s ever made, as far as I’m concerned.

The Pharcyde, “Soul Flower (Remix)”

POS: It’s a pretty good song. It’s not my favorite, by any means. I think a weed song’s got to be a really good weed song, if you’re going to have a weed song.

The A.V. Club: What makes a good weed song?

POS: Songs about getting high aren’t typically the best songs. Sometimes they can be fun, but they’re never going to make or break a record for me, [unless] there’s too many of them. A good weed song isn’t necessarily so much about smoking weed, as it is about your day, or about what makes you want to smoke weed, you know? I don’t necessarily cater so often to sad songs, but I like the idea of… I mean, it might seem stupid to say, but… My mom can deal with swearing, and I’ve always been really honest with her, so I like having songs where I can play it for my mom and she can understand what the point is. And if I’ve got a song that’s like “We smoke weed every day, ’cause we crazy high! We love smoking weed and love gettin’ high!”—she’s not really going to be into it, you know? [Laughs.]. But if the song is put together like, “I’ve been working my ass off all day long. What am I looking forward to tonight? Nothing! My girl broke up with me, what am I going to do? I’m going to smoke this joint and relax…” That kind of weed song makes more sense to me. I do love The Pharcyde, though.

Originally published March 20, 2007 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.

Interview: Andrew Bird

Whistler, violinist, and all-around musical polymath Andrew Bird scored his biggest success so far with 2005′s terrific The Mysterious Production Of Eggs, which introduced his offbeat, complex songwriting to a new audience. Shortly afterward, he found a simpatico partner in Minneapolis drummer and loop artist Martin Dosh, who joined Bird on tour and later brought him to Minnesota for the recording of Bird’s follow-up album, the remarkable Armchair Apocrypha. Bird, on tour with Dosh and guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, recently spoke with The A.V. Club about the new album, the importance of improvising, and the drawbacks of the minor key.

Originally published on avclub.com March 13, 2007. Read the complete article.