10/29/03
Kim: Hi Joe. How are you?
Joe I'm doing OK.
Kim: How has the tour been going?
Joe Oh, it's been great. It's really turned out to be a very exciting tour and everyone's having a good time.
Kim: The show (Atlanta) was awesome. My husband has been a fan for about 20 years and it has been a dream come true for him.
Joe Great ...that's good to hear.
Kim: I know that you're pressed for time ...
Joe Yeah, the usual, life on the road.
Kim: So let's get down to some questions. What would you say has been your most memorable show?
Joe Oh boy. You know, they're all kind of memorable, I guess. It's kind of an impossible thing to pull off. I think it seems (well, I know it is) more chaotic for us on stage than it is for the audience. I think that's because on stage, everybody's on all of the time. In the audience, you've got a sound man that's controlling the sound to a large degree. Sort of turning people off and on and arranging what you hear. On stage it's more chaotic because there's no sound man on stage, so everyone's on all of the time. There's always this feeling, while we're doing it, that it's an impossible thing to do, especially when we have extra guests come on. It just seems like this Herculean feat that we're trying to pull off. So every show, because of that, is very memorable. We realize, when we're finished, that not only did we pull it off, but we reached some unique moments during the show where we all played something that we've never played before together. So far it's happened on every show. Those moments have marked each show as being unique and special.
Kim: Let's talk about recording. When you get ready to do a recording, do you have demos for the musicians that you hire or do you let them have some input into how the songs are arranged?
Joe That depends. The last few records that I've done have been a combination of what you just described. Some songs are kind of all tidied up and well defined and then there are a few others that you're not so sure about. You may throw one out on the floor and ask the people to contribute. Then sometimes you think you've got it together and you start working on it and it's not working until someone opens their mouth and says "Hey, I've got an idea". (laughs) My sessions are pretty much open. I generally like to have people that I'm officially working with so they feel comfortable raising their hand and saying "Stop ... I have an idea". I always feel that's a great way to work rather than saying "Hey, I'm the only guy making decisions so be quiet". (laughs) That's really no fun.
Kim: No dictator complex ...
Joe Yeah. I could see if you have a really big band, someone has got to be driving the bus, so to speak. But what happens when you do that is you're really closing the door to creativity and further exploration. I think that's where, for me, the most fun is. It's when there's always something more to discover. I like to have the musicians feeling like they have some latitude and over the years I've learned to bring in stuff that's 80% finished instead of 100% finished. That way I know there's going to be some input and the rest of the guys are going to see that there's this space that needs to be filled up with their own personality. It makes the sessions that much more fun.
Kim: I know that being in the studio is hard work, but I bet you guys have a ball doing it.
Joe We do. Yeah. It's funny. It's hard work, but at the same time, each record is like a rite of passage. I think that sessions can be clean and not very sweaty, but the anxiety that comes with the fact that you're doing something that will have such a huge impact on everybody's career, and the fact that it's costing so much money, minute by minute, adds a funny little voodoo to the whole thing.
