Jeremy Enigk
Another Sunny Day
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With another new configuration (now a trio, with frontman Jeremy Enigk assuming the revolving door bass slot), a new label deal with Arista subsidiary Time Bomb, and The Rising Tide, its most polished album to date, Sunny Day Real Estate has turned yet another new corner in its never-dull career.
In a rare interview conducted in late April 2000, Enigk talked with NATN Associate Editor Jonathan Cohen about the new album and SDRE’s continuing career evolution.
NATN: Were any of the songs on The Rising Tide hibernating or in place before the recording process began?
Jeremy Enigk: Some of them are really old solo songs of mine; “Fool In The Photograph,” “Rain Song,” “The Ocean,” “Tearing In My Heart,” “Faces In Disguise.” But they weren’t really fully established until the band got ahold of them. They were like working ideas, but not really fully band-jammed ideas yet. They were just “potential” songs for the album.
NATN: I assume that going into [SDRE’s first post-break up album How It Feels To Be Something On], there was not a whole lot of stuff to draw from?
JE: Um, yeah.
NATN: Can you talk about why SDRE recorded as a trio this time?
JE: Basically, we just have been looking for a bass player for quite some time, and have never managed to find anyone whom we were truly satisfied with, since we’ve been with [original bassist and current Foo Fighter] Nate [Mendel] and everything. It got to the point where we were really sick of the constant lack of being able to do anything because we didn’t have a bassist. So we just got together one day to write the album, and I got on bass. And it was like we were able to write songs instantly. It was really easy again, and it was a lot of fun. And so we all just kind of decided, I’ll just do bass on this album, to get the process moving!
NATN: But how did it come together so quickly? Had you ever even played bass before?
JE: Not really as a role in a band or the band, but I’ve always been around instruments. I’ve played guitar for 10 years, and I’m by no means exceptional, but I have a pretty good idea of the bass and what I want to hear. And I do a lot of imitation of Nate as well, trying to find pockets that Nate found. I never really jammed in a band on bass. But I know the sound of our band and the style of the bass.
NATN: What happened with [ex-Posie] Joe Skyward [who played bass with SDRE on the tour in support of HIFTBSO]?
JE: Joe is an amazing, unbelievable bass player. We pretty much knew instantly that he’d be able to pull it off, so we thought. But before we actually really jammed writing new stuff, we’d developed a relationship with Joe that was as good friends. We just kinda wanted him in the band, but we’d never really explored creative concepts. And when we actually got down to creative writing, it just didn’t feel like it was clicking. We know the band and we know our sound, and we know what we want in bass at this point. And it just didn’t seem to be filling up the areas that we wanted filling up. So yeah, it’s not really working creatively with Joe. But potentially he may be playing live. I’m not really sure at this point [editor’s note: it was announced shortly after this interview that Heroic Doses/C-Clamp member Nick Macri, not Skyward, would assume bass duties on the tour in support of The Rising Tide].
NATN: I don’t suppose SDRE could play as a three piece?
JE: That’s kind of an impossibility. It’s not impossible, it’s just out of the question at this point. The way I play guitar usually is just like strumming chords more or less, and you know, it’s really easy for me to sing. I’ve sang and played guitar for so long, I kinda have a good idea of how to do it. But it’s really difficult to sing and play bass at the same time.
NATN: Are you feeling any kind of time crunch to resolve the live lineup before a tour begins?
JE: There isn’t really too bad of a time issue. We’ve always kinda pulled it pretty close to the tours for practicing. But for the most part, we know our songs, we know our parts, we know what we’re going to do. And it should sound as close to the album as we can possibly make it.
NATN: What sets this record apart in your mind? What are you excited about?
JE: I’ve said it before. There’s a song called “Snibe” that’s extremely heavy and utterly to the point, which I’ve kinda been into lately.
NATN: “Rain Song” really seems to develop the softer side of SDRE.
JE: “Rain Song.” Hmm.. “Rain Song” to me is definitely like the.. not to predict the future, but hopefully a turning point for the band. As a song, I’m personally not fully satisfied with the way it turned out. I think the colors could have been deeper, and the performances better on my part, but that’s personal opinion.
NATN: I’m wondering about the lyric “they can’t see you’re mine.” Are you speaking about a person, or something more abstract?
JE: You wonder what? Sorry? I think it’s pretty clear what it’s saying. Does it say anything to you?
NATN: Well, I hear it as simply as an expression of love, but I could also see it having more of a metaphorical meaning.
JE: I think it’s awesome that you can look at it different ways. I think it means a completely different thing to [guitarist and co-lyricist] Dan [Hoerner] than it does to me. We’ve been saying this for a long time. It’s ultimately what the listener decides. When we write it, it’s usually never about one specific thing, because there’s three different people writing. Dan is kind of the main driving force behind the lyrics. Ultimately, I think it’s just there for a certain feeling that you may be able to grasp onto at a certain point in your life. It may mean something different 10 years from now to you. I could just be psycho.
NATN: Is the album version of “The Ocean” different than the demo version that was posted on the Internet a few months back?
JE: Yeah. For the album, we kind of repolished the demo, redid the bass, vocals and drums. But the overall polish that [producer] Lou [Giordano] put on it makes it sound a whole lot better.
NATN: What recording is it that begins “Tearing In My Heart?”
JE: That is [drummer] William [Goldsmith]’s sister, actually. She was in France, I believe, when she was recording that. That’s pretty much all I can say about that, because it’s not as personal to me as it is to William, so it would kind of be best for me not to.
NATN: This was SDRE’s first album without Greg Williamson as the producer. Why?
JE: Hmm. Well, I’m not gonna too much into this, because Greg is an old, good friend. But I can tell you why we chose Lou. Lou, you know, has been doing it for years, and is excellent at what he does. We really wanted to go for a different polish to sound this time, and definitely wanted to have more cleanliness in the audibility of the music, if audibility is a word. Listening to Lou’s previous stuff, it ruled. He knows what he’s doing. We really wanted a force like that backing our music up, and Lou easily surpassed our expectations. It was a great choice, and a good time working with him.
NATN: There always seems to be a new chapter with SDRE, and now the band is a trio and with a new label. What are your thoughts on that?
JE: Hold on, I need to shut my window because I can’t hear you. O.K. Can you rephrase that?
NATN: Well, what about Time Bomb was most attractive, amid what I’m sure were other offers?
JE: Ultimately, it was a great deal. Not only were they offering us their help, but also gave us a great deal, which is something that a band needs these days. Hopefully with Time Bomb we can have a long-lasting career that keeps our heads above water, and uh, and so on. It just seemed like the right choice, with all of the other choices we had.
NATN: This is a move to a bigger label, and it brings with it the chance for bigger exposure. In the past, you guys were extremely publicity shy. Are you prepared for the things that come with being on a bigger label?
JE: I have no idea what the future holds. Are you asking me if I’m prepared for the things that might come along with a bigger label, like popularity?
NATN: Certainly, or even radio play, or things you guys normally wouldn’t associate with SDRE.
JE: Yeah. I think it varies depending on the situation. We’ve tried to open up our minds and resources to make [accessibility] a little more possible. But if things were to rush in, you know, like popularity, or album sales, I don’t know if I’d be prepared for that if Time Bomb did a good job on that end. I have no idea if I could be prepared for more attention than I already get, because I’ve never really experienced it to the full extent. Does that answer your question?
NATN: Yes. Now, do you have any plans to release a second solo album?
JE: I am currently working on, in the time between doing SDRE stuff, a new solo album. I have two more records to do with Sub Pop currently, and uh, I’m really excited on recording. It’s just matter of writing the songs and talking to Sub Pop about how and what we’re going to do.
NATN: In light of SDRE’s parting of company with Sub Pop, would you look to get out of the Sub Pop situation for your solo releases?
JE: Um, as of now not really, because it’s not... the business aspect isn’t what I’ve been concentrating on. I’ve just been working on songs, trying to get an album prepared in case it needs to be put out on Sub Pop or any other label. I have a lot of people that want work from me -- two different labels at this point. So I want to make sure I have the product ready.
NATN: Is it too early to tell the musical direction for this?
JE: Oh, fully. It’s forming as we go, it forms itself, rather. A week before I record my next solo album, I could all of the sudden have this huge inspiration to do something that, say, sounds a little bit Russian. That’s kinda what happened on my last solo album. I got freaked out and got really into Beethoven and Mozart, like two weeks before it happened: “Oh, the album is going to be this now.” And the orchestrations took the album in a completely different direction. And so yeah, it is tough. It kind of decides when it wants to decide and leads me into the path that I go.
NATN: For the tour in support of the new album, do you guys plan to work in any older songs that weren’t played last time? Will there be longer sets?
JE: Yeah, we definitely want to bring in songs that we didn’t play last tour. A lot of the songs that were requested, like “7” and “8,” we will try to pull off. It was difficult to play those on the last tour, because they were old songs -- the old Sunny Day Real Estate -- and we wanted to have a whole new thing, as if we were a new band. But yeah, for the most part the length of the show will be pretty much the same, or else our energies would be exhausted. We do want to incorporate old songs we didn’t play, but the new songs will be the main focus of the tour.
NATN: Do you anticipate that some may be too difficult to pull off live?
JE: I think in some cases parts will be.. not entire songs, but parts of songs will be difficult to pull off. Vocally there are some things I can do in the studio, trying it over and over again, that eventually can sound really cool. But live, I only have one shot, so things could sound a little different there. There are a lot of colors on this album that we could’t play without an extra guitar player. But for the most part, I think we’ll be able to pull it off. The energy that comes with Sunny Day Real Estate kind of surpasses the weirdness of the sound, live anyway.
NATN: Do you ever talk to Nate Mendel?
JE: Nate is a pretty busy guy. But we definitely talk to him when he’s in town, but that’s rare. It’s always a pleasure to have Nate around.
NATN: Do you ever put on the old Sunny Day Real Estate albums, just to listen?
JE: Yeah, out of curiousity I do, maybe once a year. Not the last time I listened, but the time before, I couldn’t believe it. I was like, “wow, this was really good. We actually weren’t bad! I can see what people were thinking.” But then you listen to the new record, and the production, and all of these new ideas, and it’s so much closer to what you want to be doing. You listen to that back to back with The Pink Album, and you’re like, “oh my gosh! The Pink Album is horrible!”
NATN: Well, just the difference in the sound quality is pretty staggering.
JE: I think songwriting as well. Some of these songs may be a bit more tangible. And if not tangible, psycho, which is the complete opposite. I don’t know what I’m talking about there. Scratch that!
NATN: Getting back to The Rising Tide, on the song “Television,” the perspective of the narrator is somewhat uncommon for SDRE.
JE: For the most part, it just kind of switches back between a woman, and television, and the addiction, as cheesy as it sounds. The ultimate point of it is pretty obvious. You know, “she’s always around and under my skin / watching her move as she tells her story.” It’s almost kind of nasty, but a little bit sexual sometimes. I’m totally not a very sexual absorbing and releasing person. I’m not. I don’t think that’s what I portray. So I kind of like that, it kind of walks on the line of that there, “she pulls me inside,” just like television does. You’re frickin’ glued to it once you look at it. The images, as Dan would say, would never go away once they’re in there. You always have that image in your head, and you can pull it up at any time you want. So, I guess it’s like the balance between loving and hating a woman, and television. That could have totally ruined it for you.
NATN: What influences are at play on this album? Anything that inspired you?
JE: Yeah, lots of things. There’s always stuff. There’s even direct ripoffs, actually accidental ripoffs of vocal lines. I will tell you I accidentally ripped of Sinead O’Connor.
NATN: Would it be outlandish to hear a hint of the melody to Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” during the pre-chorus part of “Television?”
JE: Really! It definitely was by no means inspired by Pearl Jam, but I could have been inspired by the same person that Eddie Vedder was!
NATN: O.K., well what have you been listening to lately?
JE: I have not been really musical lately. I’ve tuned out a lot of music lately, other than the stuff I’m working on. When I do turn on something, it’s usually The Who’s Quadrophenia. But I haven’t really been listening to anything that really twists my chicken. I need someone to show me something new. The music just doesn’t cut through for me. It just kinda bounces off the wall. But I can tell you that what I love about Quadrophenia is the interesting energy. It’s just like, “zoot suit!!” It’s weird.
NATN: Did you know that The Who are touring this summer?
JE: I doubt I would ever go to a show.
NATN: Will there be a single released from The Rising Tide?
JE: We’re hoping. We’ve been teetering around some options, but we’re not fully sure yet, because there’s like a few potentials. Personally, I wouldn’t know, man. I totally have no objective opinion. I’ll think a single is something, but the label will be like, “what, are you, crazy?” I’m not looking for.. I’m always looking at the best song, which might be the weirdest song on the record. What a single is these days has been totally written down, signed upon, boxed up, and has a little bow on it. People have an idea of what a single should sound like, which is kind of stupid if you ask me. I think the best sounding of music should be the single, but that’s not the way the world works.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"