All my writing takes place during the recording of the master tapes. I never do have songs when I start up an album. I actually write them while I record.
Guru and I had a house in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, for a while and we used to have wild parties there when we weren't in the studio. It was like a fraternity house.
Every time I go into the studio, it's some next level, man.
I did more sessions than I remember doing. There were a lot of things in the Seventies that I played on that people keep reminding me about.
My dad and my uncles used to always be in the studio at my house.
Now I'm at a point where I decided I'm going to be in the studio for a while, at least until I finish this record I'm working on now. I should have two, three, four of the sessions that I had that were similar to the sessions for Peace Trail before I have a complete record.
Atlantic's Jerry Wexler believes first-rate records are made by first-rate voices. He certainly has worked with enough of them: Clyde McPhatter, Joe Turner, La Vern Baker, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin.
I'm very thankful that I'm in a position where I'll never be without a session. I'll always have someone who will want to get in the studio with me, or there'll always be someone that I'll wanna get in the studio with.
My taste changes radically all the time, and I listen to whatever feels good. Another thing is that I'm in the studio so much of the time, and I listen to so much loud, aggressive music for work, that for pleasure, I'll listen to something else.
It used to take me a really long time, and I used to not be able to write in the studio because I felt there was a lot of pressure to be perfect. The more I'm collaborating with other artists, the more I realize being in the studio is about catching a vibe.
We always started these albums as making demos, that went right on until Scary Monsters.
I met the guys at HeavyRoc through the drummer in St. Lucia, Nick Brown. He is Ben from The Knocks' cousin, and at the time we'd been doing some work together, but everything was still very much in the unsure developmental phase (even though I'd been in it for a year and a half). I told him that if he was going to play the music for anyone that he shouldn't say anything about it and should just play it and see if anyone says anything, and he did it one day at their studio and they loved it and got it touch.
It really does take a lot of time to make records, to be in the studio and do all that stuff.
I know how it feels to go into a studio to start a record, and eight weeks later it's finished. I know how an intense schedule feels.
I'm always in the studio working on music and dancing.
The Shins is, in a way, a recording project that turned into a live band. So I don't really keep myself beholden to any rules when I'm in the studio for Shins. I just gotta get it done as best I can.
Most artists are going into the studio for a fixed period of time, and they say that's their album. I can't relate, because I've never made music in that way. I come from a culture of editing and remixing.
You go in and record and sing them some and you go back in and rerecord and sing them some more. That's kind of how I did this album [The Art of Elegance].
I just pretty much go to class, do my work, and go to my dorm and make beats. Or I pull up to a session. That's pretty much my day-to-day.
I started recording the album four years ago. It was very different then - totally rock and roll.
When you make a record, you listen to it literally hundreds of times. When it's done and you can't do anything else, I never listen to my records.
I started young. My first record came out when I was - what? 18? So I was in the studio when I was 15, 16.
Demos are something you do in the early stages of your career, but when you get going, you just go in and record the song.
When you work with Drake, you don't really work with Drake. You send him the song, he rap on it, then y'all done worked together. So it ain't like me and him sitting in the studio.
I always have a guitar with me. Actually, I've got several, I play every day. And I enjoy it. I'm never very far away from them. I swear I only ever get a couple days when I'm away from a guitar, and I never like it! There's always one close by, and I play every day. Or I'll be working on something in the studio and play around a bit. It's an extension of me, really.
