Ballroom Dancing

SXSW Interview: Jacob Slichter

Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 16

Drummer for Minneapolis trio Semisonic, Jacob Slichter knows a thing or two about rock stardom. Best known for 1998 radio breakthrough "Closing Time," Semisonic was a flash in the late-Nineties alternative pan. As relived in Slichter's tell-all book, So You Wanna be a Rock & Roll Star (Broadway), the major-label route isn't necessarily the road to fame and fortune. Assessing mammoth piles of "recuperable debt," Semisonic's rise to platinum with Feeling Strangely Fine was a disappointment for MCA. And touring the country in huge buses with fine wine in every dressing room wasn't always as glorious as one might presume. "I turned into this sound bite gameshow host," the aging diabetic said of his self-perception at the height of Semisonic's success. After third album All About Chemistry was released and buried with just as much fanfare, Semisonic decided to go on indefinite hiatus. "Life is more important than music," Slichter explained to interviewer Michael Azerrad. "We were not going to torture ourselves in the name of great art." Whether or not that sentiment is reflected among the myriad tortured artists at SXSW, in the music business as in life, what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander. In the end, Semisonic never fit into a mold of the ever-changing alternative rock scene (from Nirvana to Ben Folds Five to Limp Bizkit in the span of years). "The drummer always wants to write a song," Slichter joked. When that opportunity doesn't arise, sometimes they write a book instead.