Wilco's Jeff Tweedy gets more comfortable

[Albert Tatlock]

http://aidinvaziri.blogspot.com/2012/01/pop-quiz-wilco.html

 

 

Wilco's Jeff Tweedy gets more comfortable

Aidin Vaziri

Sunday, January 22, 2012

 

Wilco is playing a bunch of shows in the Bay Area next week. So we tracked down the group's front man, Jeff Tweedy, 44, at his home in Chicago to talk about potential special effects, surviving life on the road and once again changing things up with the group's eighth album, "The Whole Love," released on its own label, dBpm Records.

Q: Your kids recently went to the Kanye West and Jay-Z show. Did you tag along?

A: I was on tour. I missed it.

Q: I was curious how your attendance would affect future Wilco concerts.

A: Well, it's not like I live in a cave - I would have a fairly good idea what to expect. It sounds like it was a massive production. They thought I should just get a lot of lights.

Q: Every photo I saw from that tour just showed a lot of people staring at a huge white light. I don't think Kanye West and Jay-Z were even onstage.

A: Yeah, exactly. Just blind everybody for two hours. There must be some scientific way to burn your image into someone's retina so they think they saw you.

Q: Would you take advantage of that technology?

A: Not all the time. Maybe half the time. It would be a Tony Clifton thing. You would never be quite sure whether you would get Wilco or not.

Q: So after 20 years of doing this you don't mind going out there?

A: It's gotten more comfortable. The difference between touring 20 years ago and now - it's about as different as you can make it.

Q: Is the band less fun now that you're not a tortured artist?

A: I would always argue we are a band of guys that are fairly restless and curious musically. I believe rock 'n' roll means liberation. It means you should be able to draw from anything and make it something.

Q: People want you to change everything with every album. Doesn't it get exhausting at some point?

A: I don't think we've ever made the exact same record twice. At the same time I feel like people have (made a) much bigger deal of the differences than are really there. If I'm playing a solo acoustic show, it's pretty difficult for someone who isn't well versed in Wilco lore to tell what songs are from what year. They all sound alike. They sound like the same band, the same guy. It's not important to us to reinvent the wheel.