Interview Yr Idols, 4/4/11: Steve Albini

This is the first of what I hope will be many installments of Interview Yr Idols, which is my uninspired name for the interview segment of the blog. My subject is Steve Albini, a recording engineer, musician, and proponent of the DIY ethic. Steve has been a fixture in the underground music scene since the early 1980s as a musician in the band Big Black, and as a music critic and pundit in 'zines like Matter and Forced Exposure. Since the 1990s, he's been better known for fronting the band Shellac, and for his work as a recording engineer. Steve's worked on albums with bands like The Pixies , Nirvana, Cheap Trick, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and Iggy and the Stooges, just to name a few of his more prominent clients, but he's also worked with hundreds of other equally awesome if somewhat more obscure bands. If you want to learn more about Steve, first, pause and listen to the song that I've posted above....There, wasn't that awesome? Then, I'd suggest you read the comprehensive Wiki article on him, one of the zillion other interviews he's done, or his article "The Problem With Music".

Steve was gracious enough to answer a gigantic list of questions I foisted upon him by e-mail. My questions are in bold, his responses are in plain text.

What are your thoughts on Juggalos?

They are absolutely a joy. Unlike the Tea Party, their world will never overlap mine, and so I never need to take them seriously, I just get to enjoy them from a distance. Their sense of righteous ignorance is magical in the results it produces. Simply magical.

You keep your e-mail address and phone number available to general public and make time for interviews with anyone who ask you. Why?

I think it's odd when normal people isolate themselves from other normal people. If you're royalty or have social problems and don't know how to interact with normal people, then okay, make yourself hard to find. If you're comfortable talking to people and can't get talked into buying magazine subscriptions you have nothing to fear.

Have there been times you regret being  so available, or do you think your experiences with people who have contacted you have been mostly positive?

When the phone rings at 4 am and it's some drunken fool showing his other drunken fool friends that he has my phone number it can be a little weird, but it's harmless even when it's a nuisance. Being available to people has allowed me to meet people who have become great friends and comrades. I'm very glad I haven't been protected from these wonderful people.

Today is the first of April. You, and also a great many of the people you've worked with in the past and present, have a history of practical jokes and a general reputation of having unconventional senses of humor. What are one or two of the pranks you or your friends have committed that amused you particularly?

An audio engineer friend of mine was visiting a rival studio, and he mentioned to the technical engineer that he heard some radio interference in the control room. Before he left for dinner, he hid a transistor radio turned down very low inside one of the big soffit-mounted monitor speakers by sticking it inside the bass port vent hole. The technical engineer spent all evening disconnecting equipment in the studio trying to get the sound to go away, getting more and more frustrated. Hours later, after dinner, my friend shut off the radio when the technical engineer was out of the room, and when he saw him, thanked the staff engineer for solving the problem. Before he left for the night, he moved turned the radio on and moved it to the other speaker, and alerted the technical engineer to the radio interference again. This went on for several days, and he apparently left the radio running when he left the studio at the end of the week.

Today is also the second day of the baseball season. You are a baseball fan, but you have stated that you're not so much a fan of any single team in the MLB as you are a fan of the sport in general. What aspects of the game of baseball do you think endear it to you over other sports? In the context of this season, what teams and players are you most interested in watching? 

I'm locally aligned with the White Sox, and I like the addition of Adam Dunn, but I don't have a particularly good feeling about this year, given the state of the bullpen and nebulous closer spot. It would be beyond optimistic to expect Konerko to have another season like last year, and a number of key players (Pierzynski, Pierre, Vizquel) are showing their age and may be starting to wind down. It'll be interesting seeing Minnesota deal with Morneau and Mauer's potential physical fragility, since they've basically staked the franchise on them. The Phillies rotation should make every game worth watching, but I'm more interested in what happens with the Nationals, who should be growing into a legitimate contender as their younger players and prospects mature, especially if they make a stab at getting Pujols as a free agent as has been hinted. I'm also interested in the rejuvenation of the Orioles with Matt Wieters and a bunch of highly-touted young pitchers in the show all year. Also I love watching Vlad swing the bat.

A little further down the calendar in April is Record Store Day. You're extensively on record (no pun) as feeling that vinyl has been and continues to be a much better format than other physical or digital mediums. Do you think that an event like Record Store Day actively prolongs the longevity of vinyl as a format, or is it just a fiesta for collector scum?

I'm not big on promotion of any kind. I'm content for things to find their natural audience organically, so on that level I don't care for advertising or things like it. I am gratified that vinyl seems to be set to outlast all other physical formats for music though. It's the only truly permanent medium, and there is a lot of amazing music out there that is unlikely to ever make it to iTunes.

On my first visit to Chicago, I had the great fortune of being introduced to Kuma's Corner, which until recently I had no idea was right up the street from Electrical Audio. Do you go there often, and if so, which of their burgers do you prefer? I've only had the Plaguebringer, myself.

We get food from there every week. The Yob (smoked Gouda, grilled peppers, onions and bacon) is my regular, but I have had maybe a dozen different hamburgers there.

The next time I visit Chicago, I plan to take better advantage of the restaurant scene. Are there any places you'd suggest offhand, especially on a small budget? 

In this neighborhood, definitely Hot Doug's and Urban Belly. You should probably get a Maxwell Street polish sausage or pork chop sandwich from Jim's Original and an Italian Beef from a reputable joint (get a local to recommend his favorite). If you're up for a challenge, go to Riccobene's and get a full order sandwich. If you can finish it, I'll buy.

In a similar vein, I read that you recently dined at Garth Achatz's Alinea in Lincoln Park, which I've read is absolutely fantastic. Were there any courses or elements of presentation in your meal that you particularly enjoyed or thought were interesting?

It would take a long time to articulate my feelings about that meal, but it was nothing if not impressive. The flavors were not the most memorable parts of the meal, obviously, but food is more than taste.

The article I read about Alinea and Achatz mentioned that he suffered from mouth cancer, and that at one point he lost his sense of taste (and almost had his tongue cut out). There's something blackly poetic about a chef losing his tongue, and maybe it's a tangential connection, but that story immediately made me think of the prevalence and special implications of hearing loss among musicians. Do you think you could cope with the loss of your hearing? Do you take any special precautions to protect your hearing beyond the use of ear-plugs?

I protect my hearing when I'm not in a musical environment, but at a show or in the studio I don't. I want to be immersed in those settings. I'm getting older, so there will inevitably be some hearing loss, but the people I admire most as engineers (Geoff Emerick, George Massenburg, Al Schmitt) all maintained their acuity as they aged. I'm convinced hearing is only partly physiological, and by maintaining alertness about what I'm hearing I can retain my acuity as well. So far at least it's been fine.

You ran a card game station at ATP, and play poker quite a bit. I enjoy playing poker, but I'm pretty terrible at it. Are there any resources you'd suggest for me that could improve my play?

The best way to improve your poker game is to get involved with or develop a peer group of other players and discuss situations with them. The online resources and forums (2+2, Cardrunners, Leggo, Deuces Cracked) are all helpful, and the books published by 2+2 on each of the specialty games are outstanding, but you never learn as much by yourself as you do by talking about specific situations and hands with other poker players. Texas Holdem is the game of choice in most home games and casinos, but other disciplines and mixed games are becoming increasingly popular, so there is an opportunity that hasn't existed in a while to get ahead of your competition at a new discipline. If you're ahead of your friends in learning Triple Draw or Pot-Limit Omaha, then you can make a living in those specific games. You don't need to be a better poker player than everybody else, you just need to be better at one game.

You were on Animal Planet with Todd and Bob to talk about Uffizi, the excellent Italian greyhound. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from your interviews I've gotten the impression that you're more of a cat person. Not in the sense that you'll be found dead of toxoplasmosis in a garbage filled house, but that you just dig cats. Am I right? Do you have any funny cat stories?

Todd's relationship with Uffizi is unique. He loves that dog and that dog adores him and wants to do things with him. I've never had a relationship like that with a dog. Dogs are more inclined to be companions and helpers, cats just want to live their own lives, and I admire cats for their independence and crafty nature. I feel like I've learned things from my interactions with cats.

I was talking with someone recently about the differences between EPs and LPs, and I realized that I really couldn't think of too many artists who have put out EPs recently. I've always kind of thought of an EP as being analogous to a short story, with the artist being able to achieve a kind of focus and consistency they couldn't necessarily get out of an LP. What do you think are the stylistic advantages of the EP format, and why do you think less people put them out these days?

My old bands Big Black and Rapeman both put out EPs, and I like the format. It's a nice, digestible hunk of a band's aesthetic, without belaboring the point. In the current record economy, making an EP is a losing proposition, since manufacturing costs are the same as an LP but sale price is necessarily lower. I wouldn't rule it out, but the money is a pretty big obstacle.

You and Bob (Weston) both use Travis Bean guitars in Shellac, and you participated in a documentary about them. When did you find out about Travis Bean guitars, and what about them is special in relation to other guitars you've played?

They have a distinctive, strident sound and I've basically accommodated my playing style to the guitar, so I don't think I could play anything else now. I particularly like the way the neck can be bent without going out of tune, almost like a subtle whammy bar, and the way the toggle switch comes into play as an effect.

I recently discovered the band Brainiac, and I'm really enjoying what I've heard of them so far. Were you involved in the production of the albums they put out on T&G?

I worked on one Braniac session, but I think their best stuff was done with Jim O'Rourke a couple years later.

I read somewhere that you and Bob (Weston) offered advice to James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem, DFA Records) when he was setting up a recording studio in the mid 90s. What kind of advice did you give him?  Do you guys keep in touch?

Bob and James are pretty good friends. I just helped him out with some power and noise problems for his old studio.

You and Corey Rusk have both said that you bonded over a shared interest in fireworks. Do you still blow things up regularly, or is that a phase that has run its course?

We had a big'n last year on the Fourth of July, and every couple of years I set my brother's kids up with a "care package," just to make sure there's a little danger in their lives.

Cover songs are a longstanding tradition in punk rock, and you yourself have played quite a few covers of bands you admired, like Wire and Cheap Trick. How does it make you feel to see bands covering your songs, like Japandroids covering Racer X, or the band My Disco naming itself after a Big Black song?

Any time somebody pays attention to your creative output it's a little flattering, but if you take things like that to heart you end up being full of your own dump, so I try not to dwell on it. Also, it's hard not to find fault with somebody else doing your thing, no matter how well, so I try not to take any of it personally.

Do you still own the TR-606 that you used in Big Black? If so, have you used it for anything since?

No, I traded it for a guitar amp.

In an interview you had with Mark Prindle, he mentions an anecdote you have about the moment in which you realized that you didn't have to care about what other people think. Can you provide some context as to what led you to this insight? What do you think you've gained or lost from adopting that mindset?

I was about 14 years old, and it had been on my mind that other people might think less of me for one reason or another, the way I looked or acted or talked or whatever, and it dawned on me that none of that, what other people thought of me, would materially affect me any more that what their favorite colors were, as long as I didn't care about it. So I decided not to care, and haven't cared what other people thought about me since.

Your outspoken views on the music industry's business ethics are articulated in your famous essay The Problem With Music and in countless other examples. Did you formulate these beliefs based on your own intellectual examination of the music industry, or were there events in your life or events recounted to you by other people that led you to formulate your opinions?

I got to see a lot of damage done by agents of the mainstream showbusiness industry, and I drew my own conclusions about their motives. I also decided that we in the underground, didn't need our own versions of those agents or power structures. No managers, no booking agents, no lawyers, no contracts, none of it. I haven't used any of that fol-de-rol since. What we needed to do (and I believe we have done) is make those people and those ways of conducting business irrelevant, not to create little dollhouse versions of regular showbusiness offices and hierarchies. I have no respect for the "punk rock lawyer" or "punk rock publicist," because they are ultimately lawyers and publicists, and their role is a corrosive one that should be eradicated, not indulged.

You've produced a lot of bands that come to you from outside the US, like Monotonix or Uzeda. Are there any bands you've worked with or listened to recently that listeners in the US might not have heard that you think are worth checking out?

Cool bands from Italy: Three Second Kiss, Uzeda, Cash, Zu, Alix
Cool bands from Japan: Zeni Geva, Space Streakings, Omoide Hatoba, Ruins, Mono
Cool bands from all over: the Ex, My Disco, Arabrot, Allroh, Honey for Petzi, Chevreuil... there are a bazillion cool bands. Seriously, just go to the record store and ask around.