We play short songs and short sets for people who don't have a lot of spare time.
I've never commercialized my music. I've seen that ruin too many people who think two-minute ditties are the answer.
With 'Torches,' I wanted to make a great pop record; I wanted every song to be exciting, not to have too much space, no long pieces of music without vocals. I kind of wanted to write the perfect pop album.
Interestingly, songs used to be short, then they became longer, and now they're getting shorter.
Think back to the early rock n' roll records, and the average record length in the '50s - and well into the '60s - was two and a half minutes. It's very hard to put that much songwriting into two and a half minutes.
I would love to write a screenplay for 'Badlands' one day. I don't think I could ever have the patience to do it; I don't even have the patience to write songs. I write some of the shortest songs ever because I don't have the patience.
The trouble with records is that they're too short.
It does make sense to put on some songs that are relatively short, because radio usually only plays songs that are less than 4 or 5 minutes.
If you listen to the songs I write, they are the most ADHD songs ever. They have five hooks in one and it all happens in three minutes.
We were interested in this notion of compression- a lot of the songs were really short so that you'd absorb them in memory rather than when you're actually hearing them.
I love jam bands, but I still like a three-and-a-half-minute rock song.
One-minute songs are easy as hell!
