The Luna and Galaxie 500 co-founder details the creation of his first set of songs in over seven years.

**

The last time I made a solo album was right before I moved to Los Angeles about 10 years ago. I went down to Louisville, Ky. to record my self-titled album at Jim James’ house, it came out and I am embarrassed to say that I didn’t write a song for seven years after that.

I stayed busy with other things during that time. Britta Phillips and I did some film scores and we composed some music, but I didn’t write an actual song until two things happened. First, the pandemic came about and that gave me some time to buckle down and work on some songs. And then, my producer Jason Quever— who had been bugging me for a while—called and said there was an opening at a studio in Stinson Beach, which is located in Northern California. So I put down a deposit and that always helps to get me going. I started getting the songs together and practicing with Britta and Roger Brogan, who played drums with us, and we made I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of L.A.

I don’t like to show up to the studio without a batch of songs so knowing that we were about to go up to Stinson Beach gave me a deadline, and we spent a week there. It just came together very quickly; I pushed myself a little chord[1]wise and with the key changes. Lyrically, I’m happy with it and maybe that’s a function of taking my time or maybe it’s just pure luck that some records turn out better than others. But all the ingredients were there, and everyone played really well.  

I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of L.A. is a singer-songwriter record because I am a singer and a songwriter. However, there’s a bit of a political element to this album, though you have to do that with a little humor and without trying to preach to people.

Recently, I’ve started to turn the vocals up a bit louder, whereas there have been times in the past—like on the Luna album Bewitched—where I’ve turned the vocals down. I’ve historically liked bands where the vocal is submerged, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve felt like I’ve wanted the vocals to be loud enough that you can actually get inside someone’s head. You can feel them thinking and feel the character of their voice, as opposed to it just being another instrument. And the story they are telling can carry you through the song and keep you interested.

We had to finish things up remotely this time because the pandemic reared its head again so Jason mixed I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of L.A. at his home studio. And we would send notes that often said, “Turn up the bass; turn up the vocal.”

Britta and I stayed busy during the pandemic. We’re two musicians living under one roof, and Britta is actually a much better engineer than I am so we were able to get some work done. We even did some livestreams, though I was resistant at first. When we started touring again after COVID, I did some shows where I played the Galaxie 500 album On Fire. I wouldn’t want to do the same 10 songs in a row all year long, but it was fun to do some shows that way, especially knowing that I have this new record.   

Since my previous solo release, there was also Luna’s covers record, and we made an EP that was six instrumentals— no lyrics. I find that the lyrics are the most difficult thing. It’s pretty easy to come up with the backing track—to get the song 70% of the way—but it is hard to finish that last 30%. So those are my main excuses for not releasing an album for so long, besides the fact that it’s very sunny in Los Angeles. It’s not really conducive to sitting down and writing, and that’s another reason why I enjoy the rain when it comes.

Being a musician these days is a bit of a juggling act, and it’s a little confusing even to me at times. I’m not on a label and anyone who is a musician will tell you that so much has been shifted onto us in recent years. You used to be able to spend so much more time on just making music and now we’re exerting all this energy on social media, administrative stuff or being a travel agent. And it’s the same thing for everybody, not just us musicians.

Organizing a tour takes a lot of work, and I can see why some artists are happy to only play shows every couple of months. But playing with Luna is still fun. There’s something about a band that’s been together for a longtime, even if there’s been a little changeover, like The Clean, whose drummer Hamish Kilgour recently passed away. They were two brothers—a drummer and a singer—who played together for 30 years and everyone in the audience knew the songs inside and out. And that’s what made the Grateful Dead what they were, too.