Gibbard interviews Kozelek
Over at the AV Club, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) interviews San Francisco’s own Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon).
Kozelek performing at the Palace of Fine Arts
They’re friends that I’ve seen play together and hang out (in SF) before. The interview ends up being pretty interesting. Here’s a taste:
BG: It’s difficult to know what to ask somebody who you’re friends with, when you’re trying to provide information that other people may be excited about.
MK: This whole plan struck me as odd. And when it came up, I was like, “I don’t think he’s gonna want to do it.” But then they said you would, and I thought, “Well, it could be interesting.” It could be a little awkward.
BG: I figure we can just fuckin’ talk it out, and if it turns out to be a complete disaster, we can just acknowledge that, and have a real journalist talk to you.
MK: Yeah. Gotcha, gotcha.
…
BG: In the book, you mention the song “24,” and it seems like maybe you’re a little self-conscious about the sentiment at this point. I’m 31, and I have a number of songs that were written around that same age, early 20s, where I was just scared to death about what the next phase of my life was going to be. We still play those songs, and I still sing them all the time, but there are moments where I cringe—I can’t believe that I talked about, even at 25, getting gray hairs. And now I’m starting to get them. And it’s humorous to me that that was something I wanted to write about at a young age. So now that you’re 41, how do you relate to those sentiments? Do you play those songs? And if you do, what’s going through your head?
MK: Some of them, I do. It’s probably the same with you, where there’s just certain songs from back then that have some longevity. I don’t know what it is, but there’s some I still love singing. And I can always find a way to make them sound fresh. I wrote about that in the foreword, I think I said something like, “It’s odd, whining about the hardships of old age then.” But I think it’s all just context. When I was 18, I dated a girl who was 24, and she seemed old to me! [Laughs.] And when I was 23 or 24, my band was opening for American Music Club; at that time, their guitarist was 40. And we heard that and we all just took a step back and went, “Oh my God. That guy’s old.” And now I’m dating a girl who’s 27, her friends are 25, and I go out to eat with them, I feel like they’re looking at me like, “Whoa. This guy’s old.” [Laughs.]
It’s all context. At that time, when you’re 24, you’re supposed to have direction. You should probably be out of college and have your career started. And I think at that time, I hadn’t been to college, I was working down at the hotel, just wondering, “What is going to happen to my life?” So I had that fear. Now, when I’m around people who are 15 years younger than me, that fear you’re talking about, I can see it in them. They’re questioning where they’re at. And I think I was just sort of going through that stuff. I occasionally whine about being 41, and my gray hairs, and my protruding gut, my right knee that doesn’t work like it used to or whatever. But I think it’s going to be one of those things where one day I’ll be 60 thinking, “Damn! I wish I was still 40. It wasn’t so bad.” But I still feel very attached to those older songs, and in some kind of fundamental way, I feel like they’re still who I am now, and I still have some of that same stuff going on inside of me.
I recommend heading over to the AV Club to read the rest.
