Trace William Cowen.

August32009

This is still one of my favorite album covers of all time.

There’s just something about the scattered condoms, the nutty brownies, the Playboy, the Star Wars action figure, the Britney Spears ticket. Even the font.

For me:
High School. Circa ‘00.
MTV in the AM with a Toaster Strudel.
I stumbled on New Found Glory’s video for “Hit or Miss.” They had me at…Dickies shorts, lip ring, and palm muted verses. But, more so, they had me at good songwriting (Coming Home, released in 2006 and criminally underrated, now stands as my favorite of their albums; combining the contagious energy of earlier works, with an even tighter sense of melody over brawn and a flattering lyrical evolution smart bands should envy) and relatable personalities. I borrowed the album, 2000’s New Found Glory (click the cover), from a friend. I distinctly remember sitting in the hair salon with my mother, pouring over the CD booklet, and deciding - very impromptu - to request “The Jordan Pundik.” A haircut based entirely on this picture, found in the booklet:

As expected, my hair’s transition into “The Jordan Pundik” was a raging success, subtly inspiring my love of hair products forever.

Furthermore, New Found Glory is still New Found Glory. And I love this.

Tags: /Trace William Cowen /tracewilliamcowen /Words /And more /Music /New Found Glory /NFG /Hit or Miss /Drive-Thru Records /Jordan Pundik /Pop

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July272009

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"...a new scramble..."

A Conversation with Dan Wilson

Trace: As a successful songwriter and performer, do you feel more comfortable in your career (critically and financially) now as opposed to, say, ten years ago?

Dan: Ten years ago I was touring the world in the wake of Semisonic’s hits “Closing Time” and “Secret Smile;” probably right now ten years ago I was in Europe somewhere playing songs on the radio early in the morning. The travel was super-fun. John Munson and Jake Slichter and I (Semisonic is a trio) were enjoying each other’s company on tour and hearing our songs on the radio all the time. The band was playing really well, as I remember, and it was interesting and fun to play larger and larger shows and travel around the world.

In my “songwriting career” (an illusion, I’ve later learned) I was not having so much fun. In 1999, I was already struggling with the “problem” of following up our album “Feeling Strangely Fine” with an equally huge hit. This was an agenda I bought into but which came mostly from my label, MCA. Ironically, they felt that “Feeling Strangely Fine” was a failure - they’d projected to sell 4 million copies of the record and they only sold 2 million. When I heard this, I thought the obvious answer was that they’d overestimated! But their interpretation was that it was the band who had failed to sell the extra 2 million because the album wasn’t commercial enough. To that end, they banned our producer Nick Launay from working with us again and were torturing me to write hits.

One of the greatest ironies of all this is that MCA had rejected “Closing Time” and “Secret Smile” as singles when we first turned them in! So they actually didn’t know a hit when it was staring them in the face.
So ten years ago, I was hung up on a lot of commercial questions, second-guessing myself, being tortured by a label who interpreted success as failure. These days I see some of these issues as the natural noise of being an artist. It takes a lot of discipline or drugs for a musician to remain completely free of worry and care. But I’m much more able to set aside commercial questions and enjoy the process of making music these days. And I find that when I do that I make music that people relate to more and enjoy more.

When I say that a “career” is an illusion, all I mean is that for the person involved, every year is a new adventure and a new scramble and a new attempt to make something great that people will relate to. For me, my career is not an arc that I can trace in the sky with my hand - even if it looks like that from a fan’s perspective.

Semisonic’s third album All About Chemistry, though critically adored, sold poorly in the States and saw seemingly little label promotion. How do you think Chemistry would perform in today’s industry climate? Is it even possible to have a truly huge, Thriller-sized hit album anymore?

I think people are still having hits in music, but I wonder if maybe the “hit album” is soon to be a thing of the past. There’s something pretty natural and right about a music or theater work that lasts around an hour or less, so maybe the idea of creating an hour of music will somehow live on after the demise of the CD. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

I think “All About Chemistry” was a valid artistic statement from the band - in some ways more uneven than our other albums, but more adventurous and ambitious and just as emotionally honest as the others. People didn’t know what to make of poppy-sounding songs with such grown-up emotional problems in the lyrics. We really went overboard a few times with all the keyboards, but my favorite tracks on the record are “Act Naturally” and “She’s Got My Number,” on which I don’t even play guitar.

MCA thought the song “Chemistry” was a hit, a bad sign since they’d nixed the other hits we’d actually had. It was bright, filled with harmonies, bouncy piano, sunshine, and the radio was playing Limp Bizkit nonestop. The briefly open window for well-intentioned nerds singing over loud bright guitars had closed.

Semisonic achieved mainstream popularity a bit before the true “boom” of internet-based music sales and promotion, relying on radio play and MTV spins to stimulate audience awareness…yet, with your new solo album Free Life, you’re in the midst of iTunes, the debate of “free” music, supposed poor concert attendance blanketing the entire industry, and a recent storm of kids literally being sued by the RIAA – having experienced and survived these two phases of the industry, which do you feel is more conducive to honest creativity and artistic freedom?

I think NOW is way better than THEN! Musicians thrive on hardship and political evil, and between file-sharing and our political fortunes the past ten years have been a complete turnaround for music. Filesharing has made it way harder to make a living as a recording artist. So now there is a great concert in Minneapolis every week. Boy bands, Britney, Limp Bizkit gave way to Outkast, Beyonce, Arcade Fire, Feist, and now we have Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Mastodon, unbelievable variety and lovingly made songs. Radiohead has been a beacon of courage and prickliness throughout, but other than that I’d trade everything now for everything then in a heartbeat.

Would you rather someone hear a song of yours, enjoy it, then feel inspired enough to purchase solely that song on iTunes; or hear a song of yours, enjoy it, then feel inspired enough to drive to their local Best Buy or indie shop and buy the entire album? As a writer, do you put more creative emphasis on individual songs or the cohesiveness of an album as a collective piece of art?

I am still hung up enough on albums to want fans to have that whole immersion. I want them to listen to the whole album. At the same time, I have obviously put a lot of energy and attention on individual songs and making that four-minute experience really fun and inspiring and unforgettable.

Think of a few albums you were wildly excited about as a kid. Picture running to the store to buy it and immediately going home to surround yourself in the songs, the artwork, all of it…now, imagine if you were a younger listener today. Would you be as excited about music as you were then? No one really rushes to the stores anymore, and many seem to know very little, and care even less, about artwork or release dates.

Yes, I think you’re right. The thrill is gone, to some degree. There are important art forms and commercial forces which didn’t even exist when I was a kid. When I was little, if you didn’t see Cat Stevens on The Midnight Special, you wouldn’t see him on television for months or even a year. It was hard work being a fan. Now I can watch every television appearance he’s ever made in a single morning. I think maybe it’s too easy to find us online these days. A little mystery wouldn’t hurt & we’ll see what form it takes.

On the other hand, I think the proof is in the pudding and there has been a ton of great music released in the past year. So maybe it’s better for me not to second-guess how people receive and enjoy their art, and just continue making it for them.

If you’re not familiar with Semisonic, then please click on their name and revoke that unfamiliarity. Also, be sure to check out Dan Wilson’s current work.

Tags: /A New Scramble /All About Chemistry /And more /Cat Stevens /Dan Wilson /DeLorean Post /Music /Semisonic /Songs /The Death of MTV /Trace William Cowen /Trace William Cowen writer /Trace William Cowen writes /TraceWilliamCowen /TraceWilliamCowen.com /Words /much more /pudding /writer Trace William Cowen /writing /www.tracewilliamcowen.com /Accidental DeLorean

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July112009

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"I had a terrific office in a high-rise building in Philadelphia..."

(full interview at Bill Moyers Journal)
Daily Kos also has a nice breakdown
—
From Michael Moore’s website:

This interview
“…will expose for the first time the health insurance industry’s secret campaign against Michael Moore and his film, “Sicko.” It contains a stunning revelation and admission by a top health insurance executive — the former head of publicity for CIGNA, one of the top health insurance companies in the country — that the disinformation and attacks on Michael and the film were extensive and well-planned. Their job was to stop the movie from reaching a wide audience (and, more importantly, from having the widespread political impact the industry feared “Sicko” would have). Wendell Potter, former Head of Corporate Communications at CIGNA (which provides health insurance to nearly 70 percent of the Fortune 100 companies) admits that, in fact, “Sicko” “hit the nail on the head” and told the real truth about how much better people in other countries have it when it comes to their health care…”
—
If, by chance, you’ve never seen “Sicko,” then go ahead and Netflix it, Amazon it, or even just watch it for free.

NOTE: Please share these links and videos with everyone you know.

Tags: /Trace William Cowen /tracewilliamcowen /and more /American Why /America /Health care /health care reform /healthcare reform /healthcare /Sicko /Michael Moore /Bill Moyers /Wendell Potter /Disgusted /Disgusting

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July72009

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Alabama, second place.

Unfortunately, they don’t give out silver medals for ~~obesity~~ sports of the stomach.

Tags: /Trace William Cowen /tracewilliamcowen.com /tracewilliamcowen /writer Trace William Cowen /author Trace William Cowen /artist Trace William Cowen /words /and more /obesity /fat /alabama /south /deep /Trace William Cowen writes /art /food /fatties /chub /flubber

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June262009

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In Song, Forever.

Tags: /Trace William Cowen /Michael Jackson /Off the Wall /Jackson /tracewilliamcowen.com /art /pop /moonwalk /And more

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May162009

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Holy Burger

“Would you like that longwinded, or regularwinded?”

The rain slaps against the inside of my door, sliding down my palm and collecting near the inside of my elbow. ”Regular, please.”

“That’ll be ten percent. Please pull - “

“Of what?” I stick my head further into the rain, nearly pressing my ear against the exponential static of what appears to be a replica of the very first drive-thru speaker ever made. It pops. I repeat my inquiry, with traded words. ”Excuse me…”

“Yessir?” He interrupts through an oceanic fuzz.

“Yes. Ten percent of what?” Dead air.

“Whatever you have. Ten percent of whatever you have.”

I conduct quick math. Whatever I Have currently straddles the fine line between the glorious, artistic romance of Cool Poor and the stark, no-further-adjectives-needed reality of Actual Poor, all with a finely tuned twenty three dollars and two cents. I pull the car around to the window, which bursts open with sobering glee and a smile so wide I genuinely search for the rest of his face. He’s all teeth. ”How are you today?” Considering he posed the same question just minutes earlier before I placed my order, I slightly tweak the delivery of my answer.

“I’m good. Really good.” ’Really’ makes all the difference, as his teeth eradicate his cheeks outright and appear to separate from his gums. An offensive sort of happiness.

“You had the 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 combo, with a large benediction and a medium hymnal, correct?”

“Yes,” I nod. ”That’s me.”

His toothful face opens to project. ”That’ll be ten percent, sir!” As he hands me a greasy bag full of Corinthians, he begins to stroll through a tired portion of “Amazing Grace.” I am disappointed with his tuneless stretching of the word ‘sweet’ (“…how sweeeeaghhttt the sound…”), but I still forfeit my 2 dollars and thirty cents. ”Thank you, sir! Enjoy your sermon. Come back now, ya hear?” I pull away from the window, whipping the car into an empty parking space near a stuffed, dripping dumpster. I begin…

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not boastful or arrogant or ru - “

My order drips with promise but smacks of former glories. Religion never absorbed the world around it, but rather, the world absorbed religion and shall surely purge. Fast food. Such a…

” - or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable - “

…shame. Religion is shame. Greasy, superfluously caloric shame. I begin to burp.

” - or resentful…”

The burps increase, bubbling in my stomach with each desperate nibble. Crumbs to the floorboard.

“It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.”

And I throw up. Southern Baptist; the other, other white meat.

I am starving. Clawing at an empty stomach of ridges and caving skin that so eloquently outlines these misshapen ribs.

I am starving.

Starving for some truth…

Tags: /Trace William Cowen /Words /And more /Literature /Pop /Religion is Shame /A Side of Benediction /Longwinded /Regularwinded /Trace Cowen /Trace /Cowen /tracewilliamcowen /hypocrisy