MON., APRIL 30, 2007
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Ask the Artist: Ted Leo Answers Your Questions
by eMusic Users
Last month, we asked all eMusic users who had downloaded a Ted Leo record to submit questions for a new feature we're calling "Ask the Artist." We sent twelve of those questions to Ted, and his answers are as heartfelt and profound as the music he writes. In his review of Leo's latest album, eMusic's Ira Robbins writes "Ted Leo is in a class by himself when it comes to relocating and reinvigorating the fiery spirit that produced the great sounds of the '70s and early '80s. Leo doesn't so much channel the Clash, Jam, Soul Asylum, Squeeze, Plimsouls, 20/20 et al. as begin from the same indignant righteousness and uncontrollable energy and build from there."
The concept behind Ask the Artist is simple: to remove the wall between performer and audience, and allow you to pitch your questions to the artist behind your favorite albums. Got a suggestion for an artist you'd like to see interviewed? Drop a line to asktheartist@emusic.com and we'll see what we can do.
What's the first song you ever learned to play? And what was the first band or artist that really lit a fire inside of you? - Kyle L.
Ted Leo: Well I didn't get my first guitar until I graduated from high school, and the earliest song I can remember making it all the way through was, I think, "Wise Up" by Bold (NYHC straight edge band). There may have been a few before that, but that's seriously the first that I can remember. As far as the first music that "really lit a fire in me," that's also really hard to say. There really isn't a time in my life that I can think of when I wasn't really, really into music. I definitely have early memories of obsessing over my parents' Beatles and Buddy Holly records, but the first band that I think I really started to explore on my own, in terms of their history, context, etc., was probably the Who. I got the soundtrack to The Kids Are Alright when I was nine or ten, and was immediately blown away by and sucked into their early, noisy, Mod stuff. Makes a certain amount of sense, I suppose...
How has your writing process changed over the years? - Christopher C.
Ted Leo: I don't really think it has changed, to be honest with you. I mean, first of all, I don't really have one set way of doing it, so it'd be hard to change something that's always in some sort of fluctuating state. Beyond that: sometimes I get a vocal melody or phrase in my head and build a song around it, sometimes I sit down and scientifically create a song based around a set of desires that I might have for a song that I'd like to hear, sometimes I just start goofing around on the guitar and see what comes up, and sometimes I start goofing around on other instruments (drums, usually), and again, just see what comes up. The one thing that does remain somewhat consistent is that I almost always complete lyrics after the music is pretty well done. I couldn't really say why I need to do it that way, but I guess that's why I'm a musician and not a poet!
You have a deep catalog of great songs. You also have identifiable influences (Jam, Joe Jackson, Thin Lizzy), though you never sound derivative. As your catalog gets deeper, does it become harder to write songs that don't borrow from your past or your influences too greatly? How do you avoid repeating past riffs, melodic ideas, etc., while remaining true to your overall sound? - Dave P.
Ted Leo: Well, I don't really actively try to avoid showing my influences or avoid using ideas that I have used in the past. The more important thing to me is that whatever song I'm working on is allowed to be the best song that it can be. Naturally, if I feel that something is sounding too similar to something else, I'll work on it to try and move it in another direction. But what I'm trying to say is that I don't start out worrying about it. As long as I'm honest and achieve the type of expression that I feel is important for whatever given song, I don't let the evidence of influence bother me. Hell — sometimes I actively celebrate it!
First of all, let's face facts here — I'm not re-inventing the wheel with my songs — they're grounded in a very traditional format — guitar, bass, and drums — you know? So within that, there are challenges I try to give myself and my audience, but the parameters are somewhat limited. I look more to the actual song structure and arrangements to push some true originality. Also, I want to say here, that there's a certain method of quotation, allusion, reference, etc., that seems to have been lost in modern popular art, and I think that you can add an entire history of thought into a second of a song simply by referencing another piece of work. I once heard someone call T. S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" something like, "A scum of poetry floating on a sea of footnotes." And I'm into that! Plus, at the end of the day, I'm just a huge, huge music fan, so I love incorporating the influences of things that I love.
Ted, not only are you a great songwriter and singer, but you're also a kick-ass guitarist. Who are some of your influences on the guitar? - Jay K.
Ted Leo: Thank you! I really appreciate that — nobody ever props me for my playing! I get my biggest influence (and this might have come from years of mostly playing in three-piece bands) from the percussive players of the sixties — everyone from the early funk, soul, and reggae session players who often used the guitar as little more than another piece of the percussion puzzle, to the honkys who emulated them and took it to other insanely exciting places — people like Steve Marriott (Small Faces) and Pete Townshend (The Who). That style is usually the base from which I jump off.
Knowing absolutely nothing about the guitar when I first picked it up, and never having taken lessons, I was initially very pleased to just figure out all of the cool ways to make noise with it. A lot of the early stuff that I did on guitar was either really simple hardcore riffing or really way out noise stuff, a la Sonic Youth or My Bloody Valentine. Once I started to truly get a handle on the thing, my playing started moving back toward my first loves. In terms of soloing, I get a lot of ideas from Celtic and raga inter-winding, loopy, noodly things, but also the nice melodic counterpoint that Mick Jones brought to the Clash.
It seems like every album you release nearly requires an annotated bibliography due to references to such disparate topics as Rwanda and Francis Fukuyama's The End Of History. How are these references important to understanding your music? Do they merely add extra meaning for the people who pick up on them or are they intended to spark research on the part of the listener? Both? - Scott P.
Ted Leo: Honestly, there's no intention beyond helping me complete my thoughts. I am aware of the fact that the references aren't always immediately understandable, but I try to make sure the general gist of what I'm talking about can be understood without the references, and to never make the references so academic as to be completely pointless or impenetrable. I'll admit that I do really enjoy the puzzle aspect of other works that do this sort of thing (Ulysses anybody?), and maybe it's because of that enjoyment that I feel OK doing it myself. But either way, I just find it a useful tool for expressing myself adequately and for making the conversation interesting.
I feel like your most recent work is sort of helping DC hardcore grow up in the ways that REM and Bob Mould helped the “Get in the Van” set grow up in the early 90s. But that sort of growth eventually made those acts seem less essential. Do you feel you need to stay relevant to new listeners, or are you content in making really good music for the folks who already understand what you're going for? - Neil B.
Ted Leo: That's an interesting question, and one that I'm not entirely sure I have an answer for. I suppose I'd have to say that ultimately I'm content making music for myself. I certainly did it for many years in extreme obscurity. When you make it through a few full tours playing to 1 - 10 people every night, you learn pretty quickly that if you're not playing because you just love doing it, you'll never be satisfied.
All of the other issues about appealing to people and staying relevant, while certainly important, are really secondary. If people do find you relevant and do understand what you're going for, then that's just an awesome friggin' bonus, man, you know? Like — roll with it — engage those questions and issues, but don't forget that you're in a pretty lucky position just being able to spend your life singing songs. I don't know if that really answers your question, but...
Do you consider yourself a punk (a recent Seattle Weekly article would seem to confirm this)? If so, how much of punk do you think is about being "tough" and how much is about being politically awake? I see a lot of angry posturing in punk, but your music seems designed to get people to connect their anger to their thinking brain. Or is it the other way around — getting one's thinking brain in touch with one' anger? Or is that simply the beauty of punk — that it can do both? I think you do both extremely well. - Mike B.
Ted Leo: Thanks. I do, in fact, consider myself to be "Punk." What that actually means, though, is nearly impossible to say. I think it's more easily defined in oppositions — what it's NOT — as opposed to what it is. Having said that, though, I think that there's a place under the umbrella of the term for everything that you mentioned in your question, and different bands and artists and songs achieve all of them at different times and with different listeners. In terms of my position or role within the "Punk World," I love what you said about connecting people's anger to their thinking brain, and if I can truly achieve that, then I'm really psyched!
Can musicians make a real difference — more than the average person — by opposing the war in Iraq and other injustices around the world? - Dale N.
Ted Leo: Well I would answer that by just asking you — have you been moved by music or other kinds of art to think about something more or differently? Have you been moved by art to actually take that thought and put it to action? I know that I have — many, many times! So I'd have to say that, yes, musicians can make a real difference. I'm not sure what to say about the "more than the average person" caveat you threw in there, though. I mean, I suppose just having an audience that "the average person" doesn't have is something, but one's greatest powers, "average" or not, probably lies in the use of ones vote and in how one spends his or her money, and those, my friend, are very "average" powers.
I have always been a big fan of your music, even though I don't always totally agree with the political / religious / social views that you sing so passionately about. Do you feel that you can say things in your lyrics that you wouldn't necessarily say to someone in person? For example — as a Christian I find the lyrics to " Born on Christmas Day" pretty tough to listen to since I disagree so strongly. Do you approach your lyrics as a release of emotions, and do you ever worry about offending people? - Ezra S.
Ted Leo: That's an awesome question, and I thank you for remaining a fan through our disagreements. I do, definitely, say things in song that I might not say to someone in person. If you approached me, told me you were a Christian, and asked me about some of my lyrics, I wouldn't spit song lyrics back out at you — I'd speak to you like I'd speak to any other person. Honestly, I do worry sometimes about offending people, but I also try not to let that fear stop me from saying things that I think are important for me to say.
I realized while I was writing it, of course, that "Born on Christmas Day" was going to be a bit harsh for some people, and I have my reasons for deciding to push ahead with it anyway. I should probably explain those reasons in depth at some point, because I'd like listeners like you, who have disagreements with me but approach them thoughtfully, to understand a little better where I'm coming from. I feel like I probably owe you that, actually. So watch my website in the coming months. I'll try to get a little in depth on my feelings about religion and why I wrote "Annunciation Day/Born on Christmas Day." I hope that when I finally get that done, you and anyone else reading this will keep the discussion going with me!
Who or what is the inspiration for the song "Little Dawn"? And why do you keep telling us "it's all right"? - Josh B.
Ted Leo: Little Dawn, herself, is an amalgam of people (including myself), who are just trying to figure it all out — how life goes on so mundanely where she's standing while lives are shattering elsewhere. It brings her/my life to the point of shattering just trying to fathom it all. You lose the thread, and think some pretty desperate thoughts. What's there to do? I suppose keep dancing — keep moving — we'll do it together, and maybe it'll feel alright. And when I say "it's alright," I'm trying to convince myself as much as I am someone else.
Speaking as someone who has a few very close friends who have had experiences with eating disorders, "Me and Mia" is a very poignant, accurate description of them; what inspired this song, specifically? Did you or a close friend ever have an eating disorder? - Nathan G.
Ted Leo: Thanks. I have to say — no offense — but I'd really rather not get too deep into that. I'd like to let that song just be what is to whoever is listening to it, and not diminish it or expose something that not everyone needs to know by getting into the specifics of it. It's a very important song to me, though, and I thank you for your appreciation of it!
Any chance for a Chisel reunion? - Joe B.
Ted Leo: Highly doubtful. I love those guys, but... honestly, I've got too much of my own crap going on at any given moment to really give it the amount of thought that it would deserve.
The concept behind Ask the Artist is simple: to remove the wall between performer and audience, and allow you to pitch your questions to the artist behind your favorite albums. Got a suggestion for an artist you'd like to see interviewed? Drop a line to asktheartist@emusic.com and we'll see what we can do.
What's the first song you ever learned to play? And what was the first band or artist that really lit a fire inside of you? - Kyle L.
Ted Leo: Well I didn't get my first guitar until I graduated from high school, and the earliest song I can remember making it all the way through was, I think, "Wise Up" by Bold (NYHC straight edge band). There may have been a few before that, but that's seriously the first that I can remember. As far as the first music that "really lit a fire in me," that's also really hard to say. There really isn't a time in my life that I can think of when I wasn't really, really into music. I definitely have early memories of obsessing over my parents' Beatles and Buddy Holly records, but the first band that I think I really started to explore on my own, in terms of their history, context, etc., was probably the Who. I got the soundtrack to The Kids Are Alright when I was nine or ten, and was immediately blown away by and sucked into their early, noisy, Mod stuff. Makes a certain amount of sense, I suppose...
How has your writing process changed over the years? - Christopher C.
Ted Leo: I don't really think it has changed, to be honest with you. I mean, first of all, I don't really have one set way of doing it, so it'd be hard to change something that's always in some sort of fluctuating state. Beyond that: sometimes I get a vocal melody or phrase in my head and build a song around it, sometimes I sit down and scientifically create a song based around a set of desires that I might have for a song that I'd like to hear, sometimes I just start goofing around on the guitar and see what comes up, and sometimes I start goofing around on other instruments (drums, usually), and again, just see what comes up. The one thing that does remain somewhat consistent is that I almost always complete lyrics after the music is pretty well done. I couldn't really say why I need to do it that way, but I guess that's why I'm a musician and not a poet!
You have a deep catalog of great songs. You also have identifiable influences (Jam, Joe Jackson, Thin Lizzy), though you never sound derivative. As your catalog gets deeper, does it become harder to write songs that don't borrow from your past or your influences too greatly? How do you avoid repeating past riffs, melodic ideas, etc., while remaining true to your overall sound? - Dave P.
Ted Leo: Well, I don't really actively try to avoid showing my influences or avoid using ideas that I have used in the past. The more important thing to me is that whatever song I'm working on is allowed to be the best song that it can be. Naturally, if I feel that something is sounding too similar to something else, I'll work on it to try and move it in another direction. But what I'm trying to say is that I don't start out worrying about it. As long as I'm honest and achieve the type of expression that I feel is important for whatever given song, I don't let the evidence of influence bother me. Hell — sometimes I actively celebrate it!
First of all, let's face facts here — I'm not re-inventing the wheel with my songs — they're grounded in a very traditional format — guitar, bass, and drums — you know? So within that, there are challenges I try to give myself and my audience, but the parameters are somewhat limited. I look more to the actual song structure and arrangements to push some true originality. Also, I want to say here, that there's a certain method of quotation, allusion, reference, etc., that seems to have been lost in modern popular art, and I think that you can add an entire history of thought into a second of a song simply by referencing another piece of work. I once heard someone call T. S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" something like, "A scum of poetry floating on a sea of footnotes." And I'm into that! Plus, at the end of the day, I'm just a huge, huge music fan, so I love incorporating the influences of things that I love.
Ted, not only are you a great songwriter and singer, but you're also a kick-ass guitarist. Who are some of your influences on the guitar? - Jay K.
Ted Leo: Thank you! I really appreciate that — nobody ever props me for my playing! I get my biggest influence (and this might have come from years of mostly playing in three-piece bands) from the percussive players of the sixties — everyone from the early funk, soul, and reggae session players who often used the guitar as little more than another piece of the percussion puzzle, to the honkys who emulated them and took it to other insanely exciting places — people like Steve Marriott (Small Faces) and Pete Townshend (The Who). That style is usually the base from which I jump off.
Knowing absolutely nothing about the guitar when I first picked it up, and never having taken lessons, I was initially very pleased to just figure out all of the cool ways to make noise with it. A lot of the early stuff that I did on guitar was either really simple hardcore riffing or really way out noise stuff, a la Sonic Youth or My Bloody Valentine. Once I started to truly get a handle on the thing, my playing started moving back toward my first loves. In terms of soloing, I get a lot of ideas from Celtic and raga inter-winding, loopy, noodly things, but also the nice melodic counterpoint that Mick Jones brought to the Clash.
It seems like every album you release nearly requires an annotated bibliography due to references to such disparate topics as Rwanda and Francis Fukuyama's The End Of History. How are these references important to understanding your music? Do they merely add extra meaning for the people who pick up on them or are they intended to spark research on the part of the listener? Both? - Scott P.
Ted Leo: Honestly, there's no intention beyond helping me complete my thoughts. I am aware of the fact that the references aren't always immediately understandable, but I try to make sure the general gist of what I'm talking about can be understood without the references, and to never make the references so academic as to be completely pointless or impenetrable. I'll admit that I do really enjoy the puzzle aspect of other works that do this sort of thing (Ulysses anybody?), and maybe it's because of that enjoyment that I feel OK doing it myself. But either way, I just find it a useful tool for expressing myself adequately and for making the conversation interesting.
I feel like your most recent work is sort of helping DC hardcore grow up in the ways that REM and Bob Mould helped the “Get in the Van” set grow up in the early 90s. But that sort of growth eventually made those acts seem less essential. Do you feel you need to stay relevant to new listeners, or are you content in making really good music for the folks who already understand what you're going for? - Neil B.
Ted Leo: That's an interesting question, and one that I'm not entirely sure I have an answer for. I suppose I'd have to say that ultimately I'm content making music for myself. I certainly did it for many years in extreme obscurity. When you make it through a few full tours playing to 1 - 10 people every night, you learn pretty quickly that if you're not playing because you just love doing it, you'll never be satisfied.
All of the other issues about appealing to people and staying relevant, while certainly important, are really secondary. If people do find you relevant and do understand what you're going for, then that's just an awesome friggin' bonus, man, you know? Like — roll with it — engage those questions and issues, but don't forget that you're in a pretty lucky position just being able to spend your life singing songs. I don't know if that really answers your question, but...
Do you consider yourself a punk (a recent Seattle Weekly article would seem to confirm this)? If so, how much of punk do you think is about being "tough" and how much is about being politically awake? I see a lot of angry posturing in punk, but your music seems designed to get people to connect their anger to their thinking brain. Or is it the other way around — getting one's thinking brain in touch with one' anger? Or is that simply the beauty of punk — that it can do both? I think you do both extremely well. - Mike B.
Ted Leo: Thanks. I do, in fact, consider myself to be "Punk." What that actually means, though, is nearly impossible to say. I think it's more easily defined in oppositions — what it's NOT — as opposed to what it is. Having said that, though, I think that there's a place under the umbrella of the term for everything that you mentioned in your question, and different bands and artists and songs achieve all of them at different times and with different listeners. In terms of my position or role within the "Punk World," I love what you said about connecting people's anger to their thinking brain, and if I can truly achieve that, then I'm really psyched!
Can musicians make a real difference — more than the average person — by opposing the war in Iraq and other injustices around the world? - Dale N.
Ted Leo: Well I would answer that by just asking you — have you been moved by music or other kinds of art to think about something more or differently? Have you been moved by art to actually take that thought and put it to action? I know that I have — many, many times! So I'd have to say that, yes, musicians can make a real difference. I'm not sure what to say about the "more than the average person" caveat you threw in there, though. I mean, I suppose just having an audience that "the average person" doesn't have is something, but one's greatest powers, "average" or not, probably lies in the use of ones vote and in how one spends his or her money, and those, my friend, are very "average" powers.
I have always been a big fan of your music, even though I don't always totally agree with the political / religious / social views that you sing so passionately about. Do you feel that you can say things in your lyrics that you wouldn't necessarily say to someone in person? For example — as a Christian I find the lyrics to " Born on Christmas Day" pretty tough to listen to since I disagree so strongly. Do you approach your lyrics as a release of emotions, and do you ever worry about offending people? - Ezra S.
Ted Leo: That's an awesome question, and I thank you for remaining a fan through our disagreements. I do, definitely, say things in song that I might not say to someone in person. If you approached me, told me you were a Christian, and asked me about some of my lyrics, I wouldn't spit song lyrics back out at you — I'd speak to you like I'd speak to any other person. Honestly, I do worry sometimes about offending people, but I also try not to let that fear stop me from saying things that I think are important for me to say.
I realized while I was writing it, of course, that "Born on Christmas Day" was going to be a bit harsh for some people, and I have my reasons for deciding to push ahead with it anyway. I should probably explain those reasons in depth at some point, because I'd like listeners like you, who have disagreements with me but approach them thoughtfully, to understand a little better where I'm coming from. I feel like I probably owe you that, actually. So watch my website in the coming months. I'll try to get a little in depth on my feelings about religion and why I wrote "Annunciation Day/Born on Christmas Day." I hope that when I finally get that done, you and anyone else reading this will keep the discussion going with me!
Who or what is the inspiration for the song "Little Dawn"? And why do you keep telling us "it's all right"? - Josh B.
Ted Leo: Little Dawn, herself, is an amalgam of people (including myself), who are just trying to figure it all out — how life goes on so mundanely where she's standing while lives are shattering elsewhere. It brings her/my life to the point of shattering just trying to fathom it all. You lose the thread, and think some pretty desperate thoughts. What's there to do? I suppose keep dancing — keep moving — we'll do it together, and maybe it'll feel alright. And when I say "it's alright," I'm trying to convince myself as much as I am someone else.
Speaking as someone who has a few very close friends who have had experiences with eating disorders, "Me and Mia" is a very poignant, accurate description of them; what inspired this song, specifically? Did you or a close friend ever have an eating disorder? - Nathan G.
Ted Leo: Thanks. I have to say — no offense — but I'd really rather not get too deep into that. I'd like to let that song just be what is to whoever is listening to it, and not diminish it or expose something that not everyone needs to know by getting into the specifics of it. It's a very important song to me, though, and I thank you for your appreciation of it!
Any chance for a Chisel reunion? - Joe B.
Ted Leo: Highly doubtful. I love those guys, but... honestly, I've got too much of my own crap going on at any given moment to really give it the amount of thought that it would deserve.
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