Colin-oscopy

True to the name of his new CD, Colin Meloy does indeed sing live. This Monday, in fact, at La Zona Rosa. Here, he speaks of how going solo is like having visitation rights, how the Decemberists are so not breaking up, and more.

Southside of the Tracks: You’re in the studio right now? What are you working on?
Colin Meloy: We’re working on some odds and ends, songs that we don’t necessarily envision fitting on the next record we’ll be working on in the summer. I don’t know if we’ll have time to record them, but we wanted to get them down and do something with them, so we’re just recording like 6 songs or something.

SotT: These are Decemberists songs though, right?
CM: Yeah, they’re Decemberists songs.

SotT: So there’s certainly nothing going on with those rumors floating around that the band was taking some time off or splitting up?
CM: No, no, no. Not at all.

SotT: What was the impetus for your wanting to put out the solo album?
CM: Well, it’s been kind of in the works for a while. I went out on the solo tour in the winter of '06 and we recorded all the shows. We thought it would be fun to have them and maybe if it was solid enough, put out a record. Kill Rock Stars was game, so we just went for it.

SotT: You strike me as a person that has an archivist tendency. I don’t know if that would be correct or not, but what was your process for choosing these songs in particular?
CM: It was a challenge. I’m not really that archivist. I don’t really like listening to my own voice and I’m kind of burnt on our music, or at least I can be burnt on our music. I definitely had to spend a lot of time last summer just sitting and listening to shows over and over again to just pick out what the best moments were. It was kind of like office work. A lot of times when we record a record, I’ll listen to it obsessively for about a month while we’re recording and then during mixing and after mixing, just to try to get a feel for it, and then not listen to it ever again.

SotT: When I first heard about the album, I was expecting another covers album like the previous tour EPs. So I thought it was great that these were your songs from across your career, kind of like Colin Meloy covers Colin Meloy.
CM: Exactly! That’s what the tours are all about, just doing the songs. And, you know, I’m just surprised some people are interested in it.

SotT: When you come to Austin, are you going to have any backing or is just you solo?
CM: It’s just me solo. It’s just me with a guitar kind of playing the songs as they were initially written, and then kind of talking with people and trying to create some sort of intimate campfire-like environment.

SotT: What’s it like for you to revisit these songs, stripped down and acoustic? Do you prefer that or do you get something new from the songs after fleshing them out with the band?
CM: Yeah. It’s nice. The songs definitely become their own thing with the band, so I guess this is an opportunity for me to, like, have the kids back on the weekends, just remember how it once was.

SotT: Going through all those hours of shows seems like a pretty self-reflective process. Were there any revelations in listening to this material?
CM: It gives you a pretty healthy perspective on your playing and everything away from the rush of the stage. It was interesting in that I learned a lot about my playing and my approach, just seeing it from that angle. It can be sobering seeing how you react on stage. Sure, it’s this opportunity to kind of look back on all the songs, but I don’t really get caught up in that nostalgia.

SotT: Really? That seems surprising to me.
CM: I just spend so much time with them, I guess. I’ve been playing them every year and hundreds of times, they come along with me. I carry them along.

SotT: Were there any surprises for you in getting to go back and listen to them?
CM: There’s a version of “The Bachelor and the Bride” that ended up on the record that I don’t actually remember playing. It was the only night I ever played it, and for whatever reason I kind of really turned it down. On the record it’s really kind of a chugging, strummy number. I don’t think I did it beyond that one night, so that was sort of interesting.

SotT: This album is coming out through Kill Rock Stars, so I was wondering how going back and working with the indie label you’re familiar with was, as opposed to the major [Capitol].
CM: I think they are strikingly similar, but of course I have much better history with Kill Rock Stars. I think of Portia [Sabin] and Kill Rock Stars as a whole family, whereas I only know a couple people at Capitol. And Capitol has gone through a lot of change since we signed on. The whole team we initially signed with was all laid off.

SotT: You're still with Capitol, right?
CM: Yeah, but I don’t feel as close to them. I mean, a few people have been really helpful, but all these people, it’s just endemic of the industry that nobody knows if they’re going to have a job in six months. I don’t feel like getting particularly tied to personal relationships with the label, whereas with Kill Rock Stars, they’re not going anywhere.

SotT: What’s your take on the major label situation and where it’s headed? You seem more interested in going back to an indie from what you’re saying.
CM: I’ve always maintained that major labels typically have more resources, obviously more money, and more freedom in your budget. And when a major label really wants to, it can be a pretty big force to reckon with. That said, I also think, more and more every year, those resources are becoming more available to anyone, any indie. So that playing field is certainly changing by the month, and I’ll be curious to see when we’re wanting or able to make a change. We’ll just have to wait and see what the situation of the world is like.