This Way

This Way is the first record I co-produced. I’ve never been able to sing well in the studio. I was raised performing live, and became really dependent on audience reaction to perform. So when I’m in a studio, in a little booth where it’s very scientific and sterile and contrived, I never felt that inspired. So it was a goal of mine this record to figure out what I needed in the studio to make it more like a live show. So I ended up doing all the vocals live, all the band live, and did kind of a set list from my live shows. I did songs that I’d been playing live for a long time, rock & roll stuff that had just never made it on a record. So it’s a much more eclectic record. I actually like this record the best. It’s the only one that, if I hear it passing by a radio station or something, I don’t kind of cringe.

–via RollingStone (2002)

For me, having more control did wonders. Part of it was just an education: I had to learn the knobs, know what long delay on a voice will do versus a short delay, so when you hear something in your head you know how to ask for it. And the other part, just growing up you get more comfortable with your job, more comfortable with my position. And just realizing that I work better faster, my work comes out better and it sounds less contrived. It sounds more fresh and vibrant, and you can hear that on the record. I think it translates well.

–via RollingStone (2002)

The writing on this record really crosses a broad span of time. A song called “Be That Way” — a live bonus track — I wrote when I was seventeen, and have been performing it forever. A song like “Love Me Just Leave Me Alone” I wrote when I was twenty or twenty-one, and “Break Me” I wrote real recently. “The New Wild West” I wrote real recently. So it really is a broad spectrum. I had three goals in making the record: I wanted it to be produced rather raw, I wanted to focus on arranging the songs well, not having too many instruments but having an interesting arrangement. So there’s not too much information, too much glossy noise happening.

–via RollingStone (2002)

The writing on this record really crosses a broad span of time. A song called “Be That Way” — a live bonus track — I wrote when I was seventeen, and have been performing it forever. A song like “Love Me Just Leave Me Alone” I wrote when I was twenty or twenty-one, and “Break Me” I wrote real recently. “The New Wild West” I wrote real recently. So it really is a broad spectrum. I had three goals in making the record: I wanted it to be produced rather raw, I wanted to focus on arranging the songs well, not having too many instruments but having an interesting arrangement. So there’s not too much information, too much glossy noise happening. I wanted the lyrics and the songs to be provocative. And I wanted the songs to be eclectic. I have probably 500 songs in my catalog, and I just went through pulling out songs that were either like “Jesus Loves You” or like “Break Me” and putting “Break Me” back to back with “Love Me Just Leave Me Alone,” really putting in contrasts. There was no theme or anything like that, except those three goals. I wanted it to be raw, I wanted it to be provocative, and I wanted it to be eclectic, which is much more how my live shows are. So, I guess if there was a larger theme, it would be modeling it after a live show.

–via RollingStone (2002)