Way Cool Music - Musician Interviews

Glen Phillips

I'll be the first to admit that Toad the Wet Sprocket was my favorite band for many years. Next to REM, no other music spoke to me the way Toad did. Primarily, it was the lyrics and vocals of Glen Phillips that drew me in. When the group disbanded in 1998, I was shocked. Like many fans, I was excited about their newest release, Coil, and was not expecting them to call it quits. Luckily for Toad fans, when the band ended Phillips decided to take a shot at a solo career. After the death of his father and a battle with depression, Phillips independently released his first solo CD, Abulum, in 2001 and followed with a live CD in 2003. In March 2005, he hit the road in support of Winter Pays for Summer, his major label debut as a solo artist. Phillips recently talked with Way Cool Music about Toad, fans, and talent shows.

Way Cool:

You started playing music at a very young age and joined a band when you were only 14 years old. Do you feel there are any life experiences you missed out on as a result of that?

Glen Phillips:

Probably. It’s hard to say. There are plenty that I had that I wouldn’t have otherwise had. I would have liked to keep going to college and get a degree. I liked being in school. I’m good with assignments. I’m not that great when I’m left in a vacuum and I don’t have to answer to anybody. So, I kinda like school. But aside from that, I didn’t have to spend a lot of time wandering around wondering what to do with my life. I met my wife when I was 18 and life sort of fell into place aside from all the usually messy details. I don’t feel like I missed stuff.

WC:

How long did you go to college?

GP:

I did two years right before (Toad the Wet Sprocket) went on tour. I was kinda bored in high school, so I got out early. I graduated, though, and did two years before we left. I like reading. My family read; my dad read. He was a voracious reader. I would spend two weeks reading a book and then give it to him. The next morning he would say, “It was pretty good.” I just like books.

WC:

Did you choose music or did music choose you?

GP:

Music probably chose me. I liked sociology and anthropology and theater and thought I’d probably be a high school teacher because I had a couple of great teachers and many average teachers. The great teachers were inspiring, especially my theater teacher. He realized he wasn't competitive enough to try to make it as an actor out in the world and I identified with that. I didn't want to have to sell myself and do that. So, I thought teaching would be a good way to do something that was individualized and would make a tangible difference and I liked that. But then the band came along and took me by surprise.

WC:

What are some of the best and most frustrating aspects of having music as a career?

GP:

It’s like any other job. You do what you love part of the time and then, even if your job is doing what you love, you have your crappy day job. I have to be a sales rep for the Glen Phillips brand and that’s a little annoying, but I can deal with that.

I’ve been out of the media for eight years and now I have my anonymity back. That’s been nice, but I remember the icky feeling that I was being watched all the time back when the band was doing well. So, it will be strange to go back to that. I couldn’t go buy clothes because I would feel like all these eyes were on me. I could feel that I was being looked at and I would turn around and everybody would try to be discrete. My wife, Laurel, thought I was being crazy. I told her to go to the store with me and check it out. We went shopping and when we walked out, she looked like she had walked through spider webs. She was so freaked out by it. So, I’m not really looking forward to that coming back. But, that’s a good problem to have. It means that people know who I am and are getting the music, so that’s the price to pay for the job.

The best part is playing music and I get to work with people I like and who like me. I feel like I’ve been really privileged to be in the company I’ve been in for the past couple of years. That part of it is wonderful.

WC:

Tell us a little bit about the new band.

GP:

First, there is my friend, Jonathan Kingham; I met him at the Durango Songwriters' Convention. We met through Kim Richey and we just hit it off and kept in touch. I’d see him when I went up north and when he came down through Santa Barbara. I was frustrated about getting a band together and was talking to him on the phone and said, “Hey, you’re a pretty good keyboard player, aren’t you? Want to be in the band?” He then found Sean (Bendickson) and Myles (Corbin), the rhythm section. They were his favorite rhythm section in Seattle. So, there it is! It’s fun. None of them have been on a tour like this before, so it’s their first bus experience. And I’ve barely been on a tour like this for… It’s kinda like if you don’t get your degree for seven years, you have to start over. It’s been eight years for me since it’s been the norm. There have been a couple of exceptions, but, by and large, I’ve been out of the bus. It’s exciting. It feels new.

WC:

Is there a history behind the bus?

GP:

Not that I know of. I know that Los Lobos had it right before we did, so we’ve been eating Los Lobos’ left over salsa. It’s very good.

WC:

With so many new songs, how do you feel about getting requests for the older stuff?

GP:

If they request ones I like, it’s fine; or ones that I can play. That’s the main thing. There are some songs that I’m just not fond of, so I’m happy not to play songs I don’t like any more. That happened with Toad, too. It was odd going back to do the Toad tour. Those songs were so old to me by the time we were getting back and it was really weird to be this old music jukebox. With this tour, I can play the Toad songs I like and I don’t have to play the ones I don’t like. And I don’t have to play the Glen songs I don’t like, either. It’s my show. It’s kinda nice that way and I’m enjoying that. At this point, we’re just locked in to the songs we know how to play.

WC:

How many songs did you initially rehearse?

GP:

Around 23 or so. I’m doing a few acoustic songs in the middle of the set to get us to the show length safely.

WC:

People have followed you for many years at many stages of your career. Tell us your thoughts on that.

GP:

I’m grateful for it. I think it was easier for me to take the audience for granted in Toad. Because there was so much internal turmoil and negativity, it was easy to discount any positive reinforcement from outside. I sent out an email recently thanking the fans. They feed my kids and I’m very grateful for that. I have a lot of friends who are brilliant musicians who didn’t tour as much as Toad did, or if they did, they didn’t build an audience like we did. The fact that I can keep going, and there are people who want to hear the new stuff, and love the new songs and are discussing them and care about it, it means a lot. At times when I couldn’t get a record deal or couldn’t do anything, when I was feeling completely outside and disenfranchised, the fact that people would still show up and know the new stuff and love the new stuff made me realize that I wasn’t pathetic and deluded. So, that was good.

WC:

Now that you find yourself on a major label…

GP:

Now I don’t care about my audience. (Laughing) Fuck ‘em!

WC:

What does it mean to you professionally and personally to be on a label again after being independent for so many years?

GP:

It’s wonderful. I didn’t think it would ever happen again. I learned what I learned, so who knows what’s wasted time and what’s not. I know that I’ll never try to get a deal again. If I put this record out and (Lost Highway) get reabsorbed into some other wing of Universal and I get dropped and I’m out on the street again, I’m still better off then I was. I know I’ll make another record, not try to get a deal, put it out through an indie distributor or a large indie label, and just not waste my time trying to get through a door again. I’ll just make records, which is maybe what I should have been doing.

As it is, there’s no place I can think that I’d rather be than Lost Highway. They don’t have anything bad. Even if you don’t personally like all the stuff, it’s all respectable. It may not be your favorite stuff, but it’s all worthy of great respect. They have a culture that’s music based. They figure their job is to sell good music to people who will like it for what it is. I don’t know of any other record company culture within the majors, except for maybe Nonesuch, who has that mandate. Or who feels that they are allowed to have it. There are plenty of individuals who feel that way, but no other culture that really everyone, from the top of the company down, is on the same page. To be part of that environment and to be part of that group of artists is vindicating. I’m really proud to be a part of it. Who knows what the future will bring. It’s the music business, so things can and will go in every direction, but right now I’m very thankful to be where I am.

WC:

A lot of people speculate about where you’re career is going. What are your career aspirations?

GP:

To be able to put money away for the kids’ college fund again and to put money away for retirement again. To put out a bunch of records. If I just put out records, keep working, and don’t spend time not putting music out because I’m spending time trying to get through the door of a record company that doesn’t get what I do and doesn’t want to get what I do, or gets what I do but doesn’t think they can sell it because I’m not whatever they’re selling that minute... if I just keep working, I’ll be fine.

Worst case scenario is better off than I was. Best case, I wouldn’t argue with selling millions of records. I think that would be absolutely wonderful. I would really like to sell millions and millions of records. That would be a fantastic thing to happen, but I’m not going to count on it. I consider myself lucky to be able to make a living doing this. And at 34, I’m sure I could learn to do many other things, but I don’t have much else of a skill set.

WC:

What was the last great book you read?

GP:

Great? I just finished 'Peace Like a River’ by Leif Enger. That’s a beautiful book. And I’m reading ‘Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories’ by Michael Chabon. I got part of the way through ‘The Selfish Gene,’ but then I went back to fiction. It’s not dry; I wanted to get further into it, but I got sidelined by fiction again.

WC:

We have a theory that there is an alternate universe and each person has an ‘alternate’ version of them. What do you think ‘Alternate Glen’ is doing right now?

GP:

He’s working at a public school. He’s very frustrated about job security and the destruction of public education that’s been going on and the standardized testing, bullshit curriculum that he’s being forced to teach and wondering how the arts program can possibly be saved at the school where he’s teaching. Probably everything else is about the same. I think we’d live in the same house. We live in the house Laurel grew up in, so we’d be there. Maybe I’d be teaching across the street. It’s a good school. Alternate Glen is similar, but not doing this. Or perhaps I would have sold out and gone into advertising. The Shadow Glen would have gone into advertising, made a boatload of money, been divorced twice, have a kid he never sees, and a terrible cocaine habit.

WC:

We like this Glen better.

GP:

I like this Glen better, too. Teacher Glen is OK. And he’ll be OK. He’ll end up taking a pay cut to teach at a private school where he’s given more freedom with what he teaches, but it will be worth it.

WC:

He’ll probably win all the talent shows, too.

GP:

We’ll see. I find I have trouble with talent shows. Actually, high school I can handle, which is part of the reason I wanted to do high school instead of grade school. There’s a certain level under which it’s really painful to watch talent shows, even if it’s cute. I get enough of it at home!

WC:

When you’re out shopping and you hear ‘All I Want’ or ‘Walk on the Ocean’ come over the PA as muzak, what is your response?

GP:

As muzak, I love it. The real version is nice to. It’s cool. That’s a quarter of a cent by the time everyone is through with it. It adds up, slowly but surely. It’s like a very small trust fund.

WC:

We like to end interviews with a game we call "7 Questions."

1.	What's the worst job you've ever had?
	I was an espresso guy, and that wasn’t that bad. And I worked for my mom’s business for a short while just cleaning her office and sorting. That might have been the worst. I’ve only had 3 jobs, so it’s hard to say. I’ve done the occasional cleaning up of someone’s back yard, but who hasn’t?
2.	What's your favorite movie quote or song lyric?
	I can tell you my favorite lyric that I got wrong. It’s a Kim Richey song called ‘Fading’ and there’s this line that I thought was, “You took me dancing/I don’t like dancing/Best time I’ve ever had.” I thought that was a perfect line! I was playing it for a friend and saying, “She is a genius. This is the best lyric ever written!” And they said, “She says ‘You took me dancing/Out all night dancing/Best time I’ve ever had.’” That’s good, but “I don’t like dancing” made it so perfect!
3.	Who would you want to star in the movie of your life?
	Will Smith.
4.	What's your favorite TV theme song?
	The Tick.
5.	If you were a superhero, what would your name be?
	The Ochre Crust.
6.	What do you want to be when you grow up?
	At peace.
7.	Finally, why are there so many songs about rainbows?
	Have you seen this Kimmel thing with a quote of Bush? (Imitating George Bush) “That was the rainbow speech. I was speaking in the square of Belgrade and there was rainbow that appeared over the crowd and I knew that was a sign of freedom. Freedom is a powerful thing.” Why are there so many songs? The trite answer would be because of the number of hallucinogens musicians tend to take. That’s the trite answer. I’ll just say there aren’t. Kermit is wrong!

To find out more information about Glen Phillips, visit his website at www.glenphillips.com.