I was trying to write a song based on a story in a random book of Puerto Rican short stories that I found in a thrift store.
BRADFORD COXI was trying to write a song based on a story in a random book of Puerto Rican short stories that I found in a thrift store.
BRADFORD COXWhen I got hit by the car, I became depressed. As a result, I’ve been on antidepressants and I feel like I have no sexuality left. People complain about that side effect, but I love it. I feel outside of society.
BRADFORD COXThey had it at the library and I always thought that was interesting, even when I was into punk and stuff. Just the history of storytelling and the amount of melancholy a lot of old music has.
BRADFORD COXWhat could be more experimental than me writing a straight up love song?
BRADFORD COXI’m real critical of myself. I think a lot of what I’ve done is boring indie rock. I didn’t intend it to be that way, but somehow milk gets added to everything.
BRADFORD COXThe first thing I think I ever played in public, aside from singing in church, would have been – and this is a true story – when I was about nine or 10 years old, I was obsessed with Twin Peaks.
BRADFORD COXWhen I go on a nostalgia trip it’s not aesthetic. For me it’s about trying to recapture the smell or the feeling of something that I’ve experienced in the past personally.
BRADFORD COXYou think about people like Elvis, Kurt Cobain, or the Beatles, who grew up without privilege and needed a certain validation through peoples’ acceptance, or admiration from their peers. And money is part of that, but it always comes too late.
BRADFORD COXA song like “Walkabout”, it’s totally imitative. The goal of that song was to make people happy, and I’ve never really made a song to make people happy before.
BRADFORD COXI’m a really friendly guy, I guess, and I really like meeting people.
BRADFORD COXI’m not meaning that in a disrespectful way; you go where people want to hear your music. So if that’s where people want to hear me play.
BRADFORD COXYou’re not necessarily listening to the band and thinking about the lead singer, or the story of the group, or the context or the mythology of the group. You’re just listening to the song and whether or not it has a hook.
BRADFORD COXMusicians and artists are not… it’s not like politicians or something where you can’t really affect them.
BRADFORD COXI think the younger kids need to realize there’s this whole forgotten 90s that people don’t really talk about.
BRADFORD COXThere’s not like this separate caste system where it’s like, “I’m the musician, you’re the audience. Never the two shall meet.” It was a case where it was like, “Hey, you know what? I’m on your level, man.”
BRADFORD COXTalk to Arto Lindsay and I’m sure he’s tired of people asking him about DNA; he’s probably really into what he’s doing now, which is good stuff.
BRADFORD COX