This month’s print edition of Rolling Stone features an interview with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Tweedy talks at length about Wilco’s latest album, the absolutely free surprise release Star Wars. Among the most major revelations from the interview is the fact that Tweedy doesn’t even like the series of movies that gave his latest release its name.
Tweedy responded to the question of whether he was a Star Wars fan with a shouted “No!” before explaining how little he knows about the galaxy far, far away.
Via a Stereogum transcription of the interview:
In fact, I didn’t even know there was a new Star Wars movie coming out until my lawyer told me. Everybody advised me against it, because there is a heavily protected trademark involved.
Tweedy apparently has a bit of a Dadaist streak in him. He says he picked the cover artwork and title largely for the shock of seeing the two unrelated things juxtaposed:
That painting of that cat hangs in the kitchen at the [Wilco] loft, and every day I’d look at it and go, “You know, that should just be the album cover.” Then I started thinking about the phrase “Star Wars” recontextualized against that painting — it was beautiful and jarring. The album has nothing to do with Star Wars. It just made me feel good.
Tweedy also dove into the band’s decision to release the album without warning. The band were trying to avoid getting burned out on the album before it even hit shelves.
I was really dreading the modern roll-out pattern. Usually by the time the record comes out, I hate it. I hate talking about it. I hate all the people that have weighed in on it. I think it’s done a disservice to our records, the way they’ve been heard in dribs and drabs, and a lot of people think they’ve heard a whole record after hearing one song. That’s not the way Wilco records work.
For more Wilco, check out their list of 17 albums you should buy with all the money you saved on Star Wars.
