OK, Steve, now for part two...the “Here Come The Miracles” interview...
1. You’ve been recording in New York/Hoboken for a good while. Why the change of scene for Tucson for “Here Come The Miracles”?
STEVE: "Mainly to break the routine. I felt that we were moving into too comfortable routine and wanted an environment/studio/engineer that would be entirely new to us. I was thinking of Richmond or New Orleans but Howe Gelb recommended Wavelab in Tucson and I figured any engineer that had recorded Giant Sand would be ready to give and receive surprises at a steady clip. Turned out to be true. I loved the pace and warped humor of the city and I think it all came out on the record. And that’s why we’re going back again (later this month) for the new album."
2. Kind of a follow up question...I love a lot of the Arizona-recorded albums of recent years...”Chore Of Enchantment,” Calexico, Green On Red (going back a while) and “Here Come The Miracles” has that strange, desert-influenced quality about it which I love. Does the desert inspire different emotions?
STEVE:"Yes, and Tucson in general. Again, it’s just so easy and laid-back and slow but also very twisted. Must be the heat (it was over 100 degrees almost every day during the session). And there is a certain isolation out there as things are spread out quite a bit and there are no other cities in the vicinity. Tucson is a weird island in the middle of the Arizona desert and everything feels like a mirage."
3. A lot of “..Miracles” has a hard-edged live feel to it. Was that how the tracks were built up?
STEVE: "We did record the basic band tracks live but, then again, that’s what I usually do. The difference this time may have been that the room is more live than most and we were all close together and, in fact, there is no control room so (engineer) Craig Schumacher was right there with us. Also, we left a lot of things to chance and that makes things feel more live as well."
4. Once again there’s great guitar interplay with you and Chris(Brokaw). I love his playing, but like your own solos, too, Steve..like the one on “Shades Of Blue.” Do you see yourself mostly as a rhythm player, though?
STEVE; "It’s funny—in the early Dream Syndicate I did indeed see myself as one of the two soloists and, in fact, did most of the solos in that lineup. But over time I tended to find great guitarists and was happy to play rhythm, usually taking one solo per album. But this time I just felt like my guitar playing was going to be a big part of the record and went out to Tucson without a second guitarist to force myself to take on more of the guitar chores. And then brought the tapes back to the East Coast to have Chris play the things that were more particular to his style and abilities."
5.To refer to something you said at the Cork concert, you seem to write quite a lot of songs about California now you live elsewhere. The new album bears this out with “Southern California Line” and “Topanga Canyon Freaks.” Why do think this is?
STEVE: "As much as I love New York and plan to live here for many years to come, I also realize that I’ll never know or understand anyplace as much as I know and understand Los Angeles. It’s all encoded in my DNA, it’s what I am."
"And I feel much more comfortable writing about Los Angeles than I do about New York, though I felt that ‘My Midnight’ was more inspired by my newly adopted home. Also, LA is the home of so much noir literature and the streets and freeways and neon and bars are just a natural setting for that hard type of writing."
6. Still on the same subject, “Topanga Canyon Freaks” has a real eerie, funky edge to it that (in my mind) makes me think of the late 60s scene. Did you ever live in Topanga Canyon? Back in the day, Neil Young and some of The Doors etc did, I think?
STEVE; "I always had a fantasy about living in Topanga Canyon but the reality is that it’s pretty far from the city so not all that convenient for someone who loves clubs and people and record stores, etc. But I’ve spent a lot of time driving through the canyon over the years and did have an unhealthy fascination (though not emulation, thank you) of Charles Manson when I was young. Lately, Topanga Canyon has become far more Yuppie than Hippie which is pretty funny and not all that surprising."
7. Howe Gelb features on a couple of tracks on the album. What was he like to work with? I saw him live in Cork last year and he was incredible...sampling himself and playing along..bringing in little shaker/percussion parts etc...
STEVE; "He’s incredible. One of the few people I feel deserve the ‘genius’ tag. He doesn’t bother to filter himself or his ideas and that means that you get all kinds of wreckage along with the good stuff but it’s worth sifting through the rubble when necessary. And that’s what I’ve done when he has played on my albums—he plays guitar on ‘Kerosene Man,’ ‘Fluorescent’ and ‘Here Come the Miracles’—I just let him play and edit together the good stuff. And I’ve learned that everything he does sounds wrong at first but quickly becomes an essential part of the song so I just tend to let it all come down and worry about it later."
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8. I like that lyric in “Let’s Leave It Like That” where you suggest
“Always liked to go and leave it all to chance”...would you say that’s autobiographical, Steve? The images in that song remind me of Luke Rhinehart’s “The Dice Man”...following arbitrary decisions almost for the hell of it...
STEVE: "Hey, I LOVED ‘The Dice Man.’ Great book and probably some kind of inspiration on my writing and approach to things over the years. And more of the Mark E Smith influence as well, I guess. yes, ‘Let’s Leave It Like That’ is one of the more autobiographical songs I’ve written (and I don’t really write that many). And I do find that the more premeditated I tend to get with my music/writing/recordings, the more disappointed I am with the results. a delicate balance. I think that I also tackled this subject in Gutterball’s ‘Blessing In Disguise,’ which is one of my favorite songs."
9. “There Will Come A Day” is for me - arguably - your finest song yet(though it has stiff competition!). It really strikes a chord with me. Was the song based on a particular situation? I feel I could relate it to something that happened to me... I love the gospel feel, too, with the big choir taking it away...
STEVE: "I was just having a crappy day. The source of the anguish isn’t important but let’s just say that there were some people who were making life difficult for me and I actually wrote the song just to cheer myself up. No kidding. And it worked! Still does and that’s why I play it all the time. It’s such an inspirational song without being sappy (in fact, it’s pretty dark). The song seems to connect with people in a very positive way so I guess this kind of sentiment is pretty universal."
10. More recently, how did the Songwriter’s Circle tour come about? I know you’d previously worked with Deanna on “My Midnight”...
STEVE: "It was Robert Fisher’s idea. He had toured gigged with each of us and wanted to put together a tour where we could exchange ideas and styles and just have fun. And I can say that it was one of my favorite tours of recent years—I actually learned quite a bit about songwriting and had to play a lot of guitar and solos which is a good way of practicing out in public. And I don’t do many tours of the UK and had NEVER toured Ireland so it was a good chance to see some new cities and meet new people."
11. Will there be a new STEVE WYNN album before too long? “Here Come The
Miracles” is a hell of an album to follow up...but you will! Do you think the next one will be very different again?
STEVE: "Yeah, I guess there’s some pressure but that’s a good thing. It’s funny—I usually try to make each record completely different from the one before but this time I’m going to bring mostly the same musicians (Dave, Linda,Chris Cacavas and myself) back to Tucson and place ourselves in the same environment, knowing fully that we won’t make the same record (it’s not in our blood to repeat ourselves) but to capture some of the same vibe and method."
" I honestly believe that ‘Miracles’ is the best record I’ve ever made (though I also quite like ‘Wine and Roses’ ‘Medicine Show’ ‘Melting In the Dark’ and both Gutterball records) and I think there’s still more inspiration to be mined out there in the desert. Anyway, we get started September 23 and two weeks later I’ll know for sure."
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