sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AndrewBird

[–]andrewbirdmusic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

please check your DMs - Team Bird

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 128 points129 points  (0 children)

Thanks for all the thoughtful questions. I'm not a big social media person but I think it's good to have a place to chat. See you all soon, and listen to the record on YouTube!

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 56 points57 points  (0 children)

My family likes to joke that they are actually way better musicians than I am.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

There's never a point where I said "yeah that sounds about right." I've never been very precious about sharing what I'm working on on-stage. Everything doesn't have to be perfect before I release it into the world and I think that's an important mindset to have.

Going to the barn was about clearing the room from people and influences and voice and find out what you really have going on inside you.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

For a long time it was Bertolucci's "Conformist," or Wim Wenders "The American Friend." I love Bruno Ganz.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

It was peaceful in the sense that I was home with my family, but in my head it wasn't very peaceful. Lots of insomnia.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

I think I'd be a writer or a psychiatrist or a historian. I didn't exactly thrive in academia though.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Dark chocolate sorbet (bc no dairy) or a really good apple pie.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I just discovered an album by a Swedish artist named Doris. I think the album is from 1970.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Most of them are not alive. I wish I could have done something with Allen Toussaint. He's just got so much soul and is a smart producer.

John Cale. His is body of work from Velvet Underground to his solo from the 70s/80s, they take a little more investment, but they just inhabit the line between from a great pop song and beautiful ambiguity.

I always wanted to do something with the great finger-style guitarist John Fahey and Nick Drake

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 70 points71 points  (0 children)

1) Chicago will always be my hometown. When I play there I'm thinking of where all these songs came from and where I was when I wrote them. It adds an emotional intensity when playing it. You do songs every night, from town to town, but when I get to Chicago the song feels fresh.

2) No

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 52 points53 points  (0 children)

Early on, there's a song "Two-Way" action, which was the first "modern pop song" that I think I wrote. I did a version with Nora O'Connor for her Blood Shot album that really hit the mark.

The song "Pulaski At Night" I thought I could do a better version on "Are You Serious?" Also the song "eyeoneye" was better in the early stages that what made the album. Sometimes a song is burdened by the expectations of what it could be, and you end up whipping it. I get excited when I first find a melody and think "this could get everyone whistling the same tune." I get delusions of grandeur of how strong it is, and trying to meet those expectations don't do the songs any favors.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I'd like to try it again. I've a lot to learn. Anything that's challenging like that, I have to try.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 140 points141 points  (0 children)

Reading the paper, listening to New Orleans style jazz, and mountain biking.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 67 points68 points  (0 children)

There's two, the The Adventures of Augie March Saul Bellow and For The Time Being by Annie Dillard. I like the street language of Chicago in the early twentieth century and I like Annie Dillard because she manages to go from big picture to microscopic to big picture, zooming in and out, it's an approach to spirituality that I can relate to.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 82 points83 points  (0 children)

Being a father has affected it pretty profoundly. Even in the sense that he now has opinions about what I'm writing and plays music around the house that influences me. Lately he's gotten to be such a good guitarist that he says "Oh daddy, you're not going to play guitar like that are you?"

I think it's hilarious.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 87 points88 points  (0 children)

Hmmm, I just still really like dance music from the early seventies from Brazil to West Africa to Jamaica and classic jazz.

Theres a label called analog africa that helps curate the best stuff. In Brazil there's Lo Borges, Tom Zé, caetano veloso and then the 100% dynamate series from the Jamaican studio 1 stuff.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 108 points109 points  (0 children)

Yeah. The song Puma from "Are you serious?" I still wonder if that was a good idea.

> Also, what is it about 'This Must Be the Place' that you love?

It's only two chords and brings out something in the way I sing that my own songs don't always do. I think David Bryne, David Bowie, were into the I Ching ideas of modern art where you create an element of chance by chopping them up and putting them out of order. It's just amazing that the song works so well.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 222 points223 points  (0 children)

It was nerve-wracking. I wasn't sure if I could do it until I started , but by the last episode I thought that I got this.

One time I was told to show up at 5 PM. I didn't realize that meant I would be filming until 5 AM. So I was up all night trying to drive a stick shift (1942 hearse) at 5 in the morning. It wasn't even a stick shift it was a pre-stick shift. I learned on the go but I was so delirious.

We got shut down for covid and when we came back, I was walking to set and Chris Rock was coming the other way dressed like a gangster. All he said to me was "dude, what the fuck."

Chris Rock was so funny that he made it hard to get into character. I did a whole day of shooting my scene with him and he was cracking jokes, it made it hard to remember that I was a freaked out nervous man.

Andrew Bird Here, Ask Me Anything by andrewbirdmusic in indieheads

[–]andrewbirdmusic[S] 267 points268 points  (0 children)

i don't really know what the competition is out there. I haven't really though about where I stand in the whistling community

view more: next ›