Duncan Shiek – Interview [2001]

I hate to open with a question I’m sure you get from lots of people, but how was this new experience collaborating with someone for the album?

The thing is that I didn’t wake up one day and decide I wasn’t going to write the lyrics for this record. It was a long and winding road to the genesis of this record. Long story short, Steven Sater is the head of the arts division of this lay Buddhist organization that we both belong to. And we got together to just talk about Buddhism and he mentioned that he had a play called Umbrage and he asked if I would be interested in setting lyrics to the play’s music. So then I did it and he quickly wrote another lyric for “Mr. Chess” and I liked it. Then he started faxing me lyrics, some loosely from the Umbrage world and some from other plays and some were one offs. I’d have these weird experiences where I’d just be walking down the street with this chord progression in my head, this happened more than a few times, and I’d walk home and find a fax in my machine and it would match the music in my head. Then the song would be done in twenty minutes. It made the songs less torture for me.

In the past, what had been easiest for you? Lyrics or instrumentation?

I just come up with music at a much faster pace. Maybe I’ll leave the hard part to Steven.

Actually, I wanted to swing back to Buddhism. It’s something I’ve personally become more and more interested in, especially since many individuals I hold dearly are Buddhists and we have discussions about this.

When I was a freshman in college, I was studying eastern religions and then the next year I had the post-adolescent spiritual crisis. So a relative of mine had been chanting for many years and she said to me, ‘If you are having these issues, just studying Buddhism isn’t going to do it for you. You have to practice it.’ So I started chanting when I was nineteen, which was about twelve years ago, and it really had a huge impact on my outlook, happiness, and general creativity. It even goes deeper than that.

How does it effect you in life and your music? Or do they all just go hand in hand? And make you more…

Happy? [we both begin to laugh] Obviously my records aren’t really that bright, but that is just my taste and has been that way before I was Buddhist. I actually think sadness and darkness can be very beautiful and healing. Happy music doesn’t tend to move me much. I make the kind of music I like. I am a generally happy person. It’s just that I don’t see the point singing about that.

I know. You don’t necessarily want to be bouncing around singing ‘la la la’ all day long.

Right.

Were you able to get into these lyrics?

I just allowed them to be what they are. I find them beautiful and think Steven is an amazing writer, but I’m not going to try and analyze the lyrics. I wrote the music around these lyrics to best fit the mood I felt the lyric was expressing. I didn’t get into the whole thing about what they were about. It gives you more objectivity when they aren’t your lyrics because you are seeing that lyric the same as a listener would. Therefore, in a way it becomes easier to figure out how to perform it.

When did you first meet Steven?

We met in like January ’99, so it’s been like two years.

I was just wondering if you had songs already done for this record?

Well, not really, but for the next upcoming album I have already written demos for that. I’ve written half a dozen things for that. Things come to me pretty regularly. There is never a shortage or a backlog. Over the past two years what Steven and I did was write music for a musical called Spring Awakening and that is another eighteen songs. So I’ve been pretty busy so I haven’t had time to do to much else.

Do you like the challenge of trying your hand at something new?

It’s definitely an interesting process. There are more cooks in the kitchen. I mean, at the end of the day when I’m making a record, what I want to do is what I do. With a musical there are writers, directors, producers, and more. So it’s pretty intense.

When you aren’t doing music, what are you doing?

Lately I’ve been a workaholic. I’m in the studio all the time and I’ve helped to produce a couple of artists. My time is pretty much filled up with being in the studio.

What are you producing?

An artist on Virgin called Custom, which comes out next year, and another guy who isn’t signed. We are going to get him a record deal.

What are you listening to?

I like the new Coldplay album, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, although Kid A is not my favorite, Jeff Buckley, Massive Attack, and Bjork.

Kid A is a funny little thing, like I don’t care for it at all. I like the group because of their beautiful melodies and that just seemed like a mess.

Of course. I can’t figure it out.

What’s next?

I’ll be on tour in April and tour for about two months. Before that, I’m going to try to get a few more songs done for the next record. The mood of the next record will be considerably different from Phantom Moon.

Do you look forward to the road?

I think it’ll be fine. I’m a little more comfortable now than I once was.

I’m just wondering how the shows will play because the songs are intimate.

Yes! It depends. In certain environments where you can get away with that sort of intimacy, I’ll do it. But if it’s more of a rock club, then I’ll just play more stuff from the first two albums.

The first thing that hit me was…

How are you going to do this? [we both laugh]

Yeah, exactly. I mean, it’s what I call a headphone album.

It completely is.

+ charlie craine