Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Andrew Bird
“You know when someone really transcends their instrument,” Andrew Bird proclaims, “They’re just a musical creature”. At this stage, it is unclear exactly what Andrew Bird’s instrument is, but he just about transcends every single one of them to which he turns his hand. This mystical alchemy is implacable. Perhaps that is because of the unburdened wealth of music that moves him in the first place—each strand a woven part of his own sonic tapestry.
Outside of the greats, not many artists find themselves asking new questions over a quarter of a century into their recorded career. Platitudes are usually a preordained symptom of the lesser-known inverse of second album syndrome: the maudlin vicennial malady. But Bird still eagerly catches the worm, defies the comfort of laurels, and comes up with new tricks. Perhaps a lot of impetus for constant change comes from the casual way he embraces music—or at least that breezy openness to ideas is how it comes across.
His latest idea was to team up with Madison Cunningham for the new album, Cunningham Bird. The record cleverly reinvents the underrated 1970s gem Buckingham Nicks. In a compelling homage to the original that blended Laurel Canyon folk with an ethereal pop that would later mutate into Rumours, Bird and Cunningham weave intricate violin and soulful vocals to provide a piece of quilted loveliness.
With the album warming our winter months, we caught up with Andrew Bird once again for a quick ten-minute chat about The Beatles, Jonathan Richman lyrics, encounters with the misanthrope-pissed Mark E Smith and the classic rock album that belongs on the ash heap of history. Enjoy…
Quick-fire Questions with Andrew Bird:
1. What song would you want played at your funeral?
“‘Dress Sexy At My Funeral’ by Smog”.
2. What one song does nobody appreciate the true complexity of?
“‘Unbreak My Heart’ by Toni Braxton. I heard it at the dentist the other day, and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s bold to make the chorus a walk up to a modulation'”.
3. What album are you proudest of to date?
“Weather Systems“.
4. When are you at your most creative?
“Mornings or the middle of the night with insomnia”.
5. What one ‘classic album’ would you happily delete from history?
“Led Zeppelin IV“.
6. What is one unknown album that should be a classic?
“The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks. Or if that’s not unknown enough, Cass McCombs’ first album A“.
7. What is your favourite Jonathan Richman lyric?
“I go to bakeries all day long, there’s a lack of sweetness in my life”
or
“When the Oldsmobile has got the top down on it
When the catamaran has got the drop down on it
When the flat of the land has got the crop down on it
What I now proclaim is sorta hard to name
But that summer feeling is gonna haunt you
The rest of your life.”
8. Who the fuck is Mark E Smith?
“Punk poet agent of chaos. I was in an elevator with him before we did a ‘From The Basement’ show, and he whistled through his teeth. His boozy aura was overwhelming”.
9. A book is being made into a film and you’ve been asked to create the soundtrack, what book do you wish it was?
“The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow”.
10. Have you ever been blown away by a musician during a recording session?
“Yes. Madison Cunningham on My Finest Work Yet. She doubled my whistle melody at the end of ‘Sisyphus’ and just knocked me out. Phenomenal guitarist, too. Also, Ted Poor’s drumming on a Todd Sickafoose jazz album, so I hired him a few years later. You know, when someone really transcends their instrument. They’re just a musical creature”.
11. Have you ever cried at a concert?
“When my mom took me to Handel’s Messiah when I was four”.
12. What is your most prized instrument?
“Right now, it’s my five-string violin by Peter Seman and my ‘64 Hummingbird”.
13. What is the most annoying song ever?
“‘What’s Up?’ by 4 Non Blondes”.
14. What has been your favourite album of 2024 so far?
“The Room by Sam Gendel & Fabiano do Nascimento”.
15. Are The Beatles overrated?
“If they appeared on the scene today, they’d be a very good, quirky indie band, though I don’t know any band that’s written so many great melodies. So, no. It’s not their fault they were so adorable”.
