Over the last twenty five years, Bill Callahan has doubtless been one of the most constantly-played artists on our stereo. We were delighted to catch a few moments to talk about his most played pile and where he bought them.
Pictures: Hanly Banks Callahan
Deluxe: It was fun to see that you had joined Twitter. Have you been pleasantly surprised about Twitter?
Bill Callahan: You have to do a lot of editing. Seeing other people ‘scroll scroll scroll’ makes me crazy. Just edit the voices to what you want to read.
D: Have you enjoyed being directly in touch with people via the site?
BC: It doesn’t really feel like being directly in touch with people, exactly. Feels like i’m opening a porthole in a ship, yelling something out to whoever happens to be within earshot and then closing the porthole.
D: We’re talking about shops and I wanted to ask you a little about in-store performances. There is an especially good ‘Rococo Zephyr’ performance at Used Kids Records - Columbus, Ohio - circa 2009 that is often online. Do you have any fond memories as a performer?
BC: I love in-store performances. They can be a little difficult to pull off on a show day because I like to only do one show per day. My solution to that was to do store tours, where I only played record stores. That was fucking fun. You show up at five, do a two minute sound check then go for a stroll. Come back at 6 and play a set. Then go have dinner, maybe with some people you meet at the show. In-stores are a lot more efficient than club shows where you have hours and hours to kill between load in and showtime.
D: As a performer who would always draw a sizable audience - in the normal world this is - does something intimate like a small shop full of people offer an exciting opportunity?
BC: It’s definitely more of a one-on-one feeling. Record stores are like churches for music heads. So it can be nice to gather there in praise.
D: Going right back, what was your first record shopping experience? Do you recall where and when and what
you purchased?
BC: I was haunted by this John Lee Hooker track I heard on the radio at age twelve. The first record I bought was by him, a double album. I was sure it must have the song on it. It didn’t. The song might have been a version of ‘When My First Wife Left Me’ but I’m not completely sure of that. None of the versions I’ve heard have been that magical version.
D: Do you recall what early record shopping experiences felt like?
BC: Record stores always felt like beehives. You walk in and everyone’s kinda doing their own thing - searching the stacks or working the register. No one looks up to acknowledge you because they’ve got music on their mind. So it was a good place to go without having to interact with people, exactly, but to be doing something communal. When you took your purchases to the register that was always sort of like St. Peter at the gates of Heaven, seeing what the cashier would remark about your selections.
D: We quite often find (at my shop) that people are drawn in by sleeve artwork. How big a part of the creative process is the artwork for you?
BC: The cover is very important to me. For Gold Record, I came up with the concept and asked Dan (Osborn, at Drag City) to source it and put it together. The cover must relate to the music fully. I love the multi-media aspect of making a record - another thing that is largely lost with streaming.
D: Is album artwork something that resonates as part of the broader ‘release’ with you? The Paul Ryan sleeves feel pretty iconic, are they still images that bring you joy?
“I thought coloured vinyl was cool when I was 10.
I was over it by 11.”
BC: Those are special to me. Good paintings (and any visual art) are meant to be looked at for hours and hours, years and years. Putting it on a record sleeve is a good way to ensure that happens — instead of putting the painting in an “art jail” (museum). I’ve got the Apocalypse painting hanging in my house. Paul gave it to me in Australia the day before we were flying home. It wasn’t in any kind of protective wrapping or anything. I made Matt Kinsey carry it on the plane because he’s good at taking care of things. He wraps his guitar pedals up in washcloths every night after the show.
D: There is a lovely photo on the back of the sleeve (of Gold Record) shot by Hanly... It suddenly struck me, SURELY you should have pressed this one on (laughing) GOLD COLOUR VINYL! If Drag City came to you and said that people were desperate for colour wax, would you relent?
BC: I thought about it, but coloured vinyl can be a bit of a burden. It’s too much, just put it out on black vinyl and be done with it. I thought coloured vinyl was cool when I was 10. I was over it by 11.
D: How about the Callahan home, are you much of a collector of physical music? Do you lean towards certain formats?
BC: I buy records and CD’s. I try to only buy things i’m going to listen to 1000 times. I also recycle my records a LOT, if it’s not getting played then I trade it in or give it away.
D: Do you have any releases that have been constant companions over the years?
BC: John Coltrane’s Crescent, Asnaketch by Asnaketch Worku, Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb Reunion are some records that I put on the turntable and leave them on for weeks of dedicated play.
D: Off topic a little, but I really liked your cover of Lee Clayton’s ‘If You Could Touch Her at All’. Did you ever see the artwork for the Waylon & Willie LP where they cover it? Boy, it’s quite the piece!
BC: Yeah, where are the people that can draw like that these days?
D: Coming back to more recent times, how about a memorable experience of seeing your work (under your own name or as Smog) in a record shop, how did that feel?
BC: If i’m at a record store I’m usually fixated on looking for whatever I’m looking for and I don’t even think to look at my own section... That would break the spell.
D: What do you look for in a shopping experience and do you still find record shops a place of discovery, or do you find alternate routes to discover music?
BC: Flipping through records seems to be the best way — then the sleeve art and whatever you can gather from the band name/song titles becomes mystical - Like, am I feeling drawn to this via visual or semiotic ways?