My interview with Ryan Adams did not go according to plan. In fact in the 14 years I’ve been conducting interviews with musicians it is arguably the worst one I’ve ever done. And I assume part of the blame.
Why this matters so much to me is because Adams was on my bucket list. Having interviewed many of my favourite artists over the years I consider myself pretty lucky whenever I get to strike one off the list.
Adams released his debut album Heartbreaker the same year I began writing. As soon as I heard it I was a fan. And so upon learning I would finally get a chance to interview him I quickly and carefully compiled a list of questions I thought would spark some friendly conversation. Sure I was familiar with his reputation as an occasionally cantankerous interview but in recent press for his new self-titled album he seemed quite content. I thought I was in good shape.
On Twitter one week prior I had expressed my enthusiasm for news that Adams would finally be releasing one of his “lost” albums 2007’s Blackhole. Someone tweeted back at me and we started nerding out about what other unreleased albums of his we’d love for him to issue. And then @TheRyanAdams sent me a direct message. It was short and simple explaining that he couldn’t release the albums even if he wanted to mostly because they weren’t even completed. Plus most hardcore fans had already downloaded unfinished versions.
At 6:45 p.m. EST I started the interview by mentioning our Twitter exchange to break the ice. Not only did the ice break but I quickly proceeded to drown.
Adams spent the first eight minutes of our conversation “clarifying” the explanation he gave me on Twitter about his unreleased work. His rant was in a word Kanye-esque. He was cut off twice thanks to poor reception and I often tried to interject so I could get to my questions but he kept talking. As a fan I was interested in what he had to say. But with only 16 minutes allocated for our phoner this wasn’t the time to hear it. I needed some more relevant material that I could actually use for my piece. (His answer in a nutshell? “I think it’s cool that they exist to a fan but they don’t really exist as records.”)
With another eight minutes remaining I knew I had a lot of ground to cover and so in my head I kept quoting his recent single “Gimme Something Good” in hopes that it would help me get well something good. But as soon as we moved on it seemed like my questions were being challenged more than they were being answered.
When I asked if he enjoys surprising fans by suddenly announcing 7-inch releases through his boutique record label Pax-Am he curtly answered “Yeah I like doing that. It’s what I do.”
I then mentioned how impressed I was at the four releases he’d announced in the last month and a half or so. What I should have said was three releases in the last two and a half months because in an annoyed tone he responded “I haven’t done that many in a month and a half. Which ones have I announced in the last month and a half?”
I tried to recover but felt like I was losing a battle I never saw coming.
Expressing my love for his recent Hüsker Dü-inspired 1984 7-inch I asked what the chances are of him doing more songs like this. “I guess a 71 per cent chance” he said sardonically. “Between a 68 and 71 per cent chance.”
When I said what I liked about 1984 was how the 10 songs in 12 minutes was “kind of a rush” he decided to have some fun. “But it’s the opposite of Rush” he said in a deadpan voice. “They do 12-part songs in 10 minutes.” Then I heard someone laugh in the background. Yes it was funny but also unhelpful.
And then I experienced an uncomfortable silence. Upon asking if 1984 was special to him because it reflected more of the punk and hardcore that he publicly champions (see the Black Flag shirt he recently sported on Ellen) Adams countered me with his own question.
“I don’t think you’re conscious of what you’re asking no offence…. Because I listen to punk and hardcore is 1984 what I really want to be doing? Whereas my album which is called my own name was a compromise….”
Was I offended that he misread me? Not really. In fact I had a question about whether he sometimes makes compromises. I was more upset that he didn’t answer what I thought was a simple and innocuous question. Well and that he didn’t give me a chance to ask my own compromise question.
With one question left to ask before he had to perform on Conan I went for the most trivial question on my list asking what it was like working with Elvira in his recent video. Finally he offered the kind of enthusiasm I’d been waiting 16 minutes for. “She’s a local an L.A. girl. She’s just really cool. She’s Cassandra one minute then she turns into Elvira. That’s her thing. We talk pinball.”
Pinball! Yes he loves pinball. And even though it was too late I squeezed in “Did you hear that they released a Big Lebowski pinball machine?” Despite showing interest he responded by pointing out that it’s not actually released yet it’s currently in demo mode. And that was that.
His management rep told me “great job Cam” I shook my head in disagreement but said thanks the call ended and it was all over. I immediately wished for it to be 6:44 p.m. all over again.
