3:AM: The book cover has lighters in the air at a concert. Is ‘Free Bird’ playing? Is this the ‘Bitchin’ soundtrack’ you’re referring to?
SA: Yeah, we went with lighters because i-Phones would have busted our budget. And yes, of course ‘Free Bird’ is playing. Unless otherwise notified, ‘Free Bird’ is ALWAYS playing. But the Bitchin Soundtrack in question is actually here. It’s a compilation of songs by the artists I spend the book drooling over.
3:AM: Suicide once sang that ‘Rock and Roll is Killing My Life’, how is it saving yours/mine/ours?
SA: It’s one song at a time, comrade. For me, right now, it’s ‘A Lo Cubano’ by Orishas, Cuban soul music by way of old school Kool Keith. But tomorrow, it’s gonna be ‘Silver Pictures’ by Drew Smith’s Lonely Choir. And later in the week, I’m gonna hit up ‘June’ by Nicole Reynolds. These are the only people who make sense to me anymore. I’m cool with them killing my life. Perfectly fine. The funeral buffet’s on me. Just make sure there’s batteries in the boombox.
3:AM: Yeah, put another dime in the jukebox. David Bowie pensioned Ziggy Stardust off with ‘Rock n Roll Suicide’, but he later came back as Tin Machine to say ‘You Belong in Rock n’ Roll’. Do you think he’d just cashed his chips in too early during his formative period and was making a hasty attempt at a comeback in middle-age, like some sad guy who buys sports cars and electric guitars to try and recapture their youth?
SA: You say ’some sad guy who buys sports cars and electric guitars to recapture their youth’ like it’s something bad. There’s a long and fine tradition of middle-age crackups in literature. I myself enjoyed at least two of them, three if you count that weekend in the Boulder City Jail. It’s like Keith Richards says, ‘The important thing isn’t how many times you get knocked down, mate, it’s how many times you can score fresh blood.’ I’m taking that shit to the grave.
3:AM: There’s a lot of Kiss in the book. They famously wanted to “rock and roll all night and party every day” but they also proclaimed later in their career that “God gave rock and roll to you” and he “put it in the soul of everyone”. Do we need rock and roll to save our lives if it’s already in everyone’s soul anyway? Isn’t your book something of a false prospectus in that regard?
SA: Hey man, what are you trying to do, get me sued? It’s hard out here for a white brother with too many records and not enough rhythm. I’m really just taking it day to day, trying to get my medicine from trustworthy friends. As for Kiss, back in 89, I reviewed those boys WITHOUT makeup. I’m pretty sure I deserve a medal.
3:AM: I don’t appreciate your takedown of Toto. They were just some geeky session musicians (look at them!) who wanted their own crack at stardom. ‘Africa’ is one of the first songs I recall seeing on TV. It contains the lyric “As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti”. Vampire Weekend could never come up with that. Surely if you wanted to tear a Toto song apart it would be ‘Hold The Line’ with its “love isn’t always on time”, or ‘Rosanna’ for having one of the most self-satisfied duelling guitar and keyboard solos ever?
SA: Didn’t realize I’d hit a sore spot there. The truth is, both ‘Hold the Line’ and ‘Rosanna’ are too lyrically complex for me to tackle. There’s only so many hours in the day, right? The larger point is that Toto made songs that we’re still talking about. I somehow doubt that’ll be true of Vampire Weekend 30 years from now. Not trying to slag them — anyone who makes music is a God to me — just making a basic point about dosage.
Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life is out now.
First posted: Thursday, July 22nd, 2010.
