Answers.
1. Have you ever put a song on an album and then later regretted publishing it? If so, what song?
1. Ya, for sure...on most of the records there is always some song selections that I have picked out from the demos and thought it would go a different direction, or I have looked at them through rose colored glasses where I think it has something more special about it than it really does, and I am not really happy with the end result. To name any specific tracks would be a bit too embarrassing, but ya, I dont think every album is perfect from start to finish to say the least:)
2. On the Easy Come, Easy Go box set, there are two songs ("Elijah the Prophet" and "Everyone But Me") listed as demos for Americana produced by Mike Knott. Are those the only two songs he produced from those demo sessions? If not, what were the other songs? (I'm a big Knott fan also, so I've always wondered about that)
2. we had a possible publishing deal with a company called Rondor in the mid 90's. They gave us a pretty decent budget to record some demos, and they wanted Mike Knott to produce. At the time we thought something big was gonna happen, but wasn't the right kind of stuff and no deal came of it. I think we recorded 5 or 6 songs and a few reworked songs went on the americana album, and those other 2 were just laying around and wound up on the easy come box set.
3. Are there any plans at all for any type of tour later in the year or beyond? Perhaps with David Bazan after he finally releases his solo album later this year?
3. too hard to get time away from work, (im too old) to get out anymore for any tours...obviously there might always be a spot date or 2, but I would say for the most part our days of going out on the road are over....
4. A lot of music fans have a love/hate relationship with the Pitchfork music review website. Have you ever payed attention to their reviews of a couple of SF59 albums (which have all been positive)?
4. Not really, I know that a good review can help you etc...I just dont really pay much attention to that kind of thing...if they want to give our record a good review, I'd be fine with that:)
5. Have you ever considered reprinting any of the old sf59 t-shirts?
5. No, not really. Not sure how much of a demand for that there would be.
6. Any thoughts on bringing in outside producers for future releases? Terry Taylor...?
6. Would love to work with Terry again, great guy with great ideas. The way I do my albums now is just different than the way I did em in the old days. I work on em a little bit here and there, I dont just block out 3 weeks in the studio like we used to, it is too hard to get that kind of time off. But if the opportunity presented itself for an outside producer I would be into it for sure.
7. I'm wondering if there is any chance you would ever consider doing an "Unplugged" album? I would love to hear a collection of your best songs in a light acoustic format.
7. Thats not really my thing, I dont mind having a song like that here or there, I would just get bored with the idea after a bit and would want to add too many bells and whistles
8. How do you see the future sound of Starflyer 59? Might you be going back to a slower heavier sound? (I disagree that the kids want a faster beat)
8. Working on new songs right now, hopefully will start recording another full length early next year for a late 2010 release. The songs seem to be a bit slower this time around, but not "heavy"...I was a kid when I did that kind of music, and don't really have the desire to do that kind of music anymore.
9. What prompted the change in the structure of "Who Said it's Easy"? I love the Dial M version -- totally took me off guard -- but thought the Ghosts of the Future version was cool too.
9. who knows, if I had started with the dial m version i might have ended up with the ghosts version...basically I liked the song, but I didnt think the way it sounded was gonna fit on dial m to well. We actually spent a lot of time on that song with the tempo changes and all that
10. Was "Black Jacket" originally slated for Dial M and then taken off?
10. It was close to making it on there, just thought it didnt fit in...was going for a t rex kind of thing on it, but wanted the sound of dial m to be a bit smoother. I might rework that song for our new record, so we'll see.
11. When will Starflyer have a real bass player in concert again?
11. When we have a real concert again:)
12. The way I understand it, from what you've said, the original Bon Voyage songs started out as Starflyer 59 songs but changed to BV songs because you thought they'd be weird to sing yourself. With the last two BV albums, did some or all of the songs still start this way, or did you start off writing them specifically as Bon Voyage songs?
12. That was only on the first album, the last 2 bv albums were written specifically for Julie to be singing on them.
Again, thanks a lot for your time. I hope you have a happy Independence Day and a good summer.
Thanks Chris, happy 4th of july and have a good summer as well.
