Musician and producer Jack Antonoff talked with host Jill Riley about the upcoming Bleachers album, everyone for ten minutes, out May 22, and what it means to stay authentic for the fans.

Listen to the full interview in the player above, and find a complete transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: You're listening to The Current, I'm Jill Riley. I've got a special guest on the line; singer, songwriter, musician, producer of songs and albums by artists like Lana Del Rey, Lorde, St. Vincent, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift. But that is a slice of his creative profession. You would also know him for bands like Fun and for the band Bleachers. And you know, we're going to spend a good chunk of our time together talking about Bleachers, but if I may introduce Jack Antonoff is on the line. How are you Jack?

Jack Antonoff: Good, how are you Jill?

Jill Riley: Not bad. I'm excited to talk to you about a new Bleachers album, which is coming out May 22. But first, I want to congratulate you on your recent Grammy wins with your work with Kendrick Lamar for "Luther," for Record of the Year and "TV off" for Best Rap Song. Congratulations. How does that how does that feel?

Jack Antonoff: We had so much fun making those records. And just, it was really sweet. It was a really sweet night.

Jill Riley: What was it like to work on that record with so many people? I mean, the word collaborator really comes into play when you're working with such a large group of creatives. What was it like, and what role did you play? I mean, you played quite a few roles in that Kendrick Lamar GNX record.

Jack Antonoff: There weren't many people in the room for the making of it. But I mean describing what it was like, I could write a book on it. I don't know if I have the words

Jill Riley: I think we like to picture that everyone is there at the same time. You know, that it's like all hands on deck. But then there are the logistics of how those kinds of records get made when there are so many moving piece, I imagine.

Jack Antonoff: Not really that many moving pieces, no. It's pretty simple. That album, and most stuff I do, is maybe very few people sitting in a room dreaming all together. The way I made records when I was 15 is not terribly different than how I make any records. You know, you're in a room, and you imagine things, and you try to make them, and then the things you make make you imagine other things, then you kind of chase it down. But I think to your point, not calling you out or anything, but I think the idea that really big records have this like giant machinery behind it, there's never been any truth to it, in my experience. I obviously only have my process and I'm only myself, but it's very insular, and it feels a lot like friends in a room. It's completely divorced from anything I've read about or seen in film and television on how big albums are made.

Jill Riley: I am glad to hear you say that it's like when you were making records in the beginning, because I think that's a nice way to lead into talking about your new record, the new Bleachers album, which is dropping May 22, it's called everyone for ten minutes. Jack, I had an opportunity to listen to the album ahead of time, and I was drawn to a song in particular. I wrote down the words "nostalgic, personal, I hope this song is based on real life," and it's the song "we should talk." When I listen to it, to me, it sounded like I want to figure out who he's talking about, or I want to figure out this time period. But my assumption is that this is a time period early, when you were just kind of getting going as a musician. So I wonder if we could talk about that song in particular, "we should talk.” 

Jack Antonoff: Well, it's actually not early, it's present. The first two songs, “sideways” and “the van,” really set the stage. I felt like writing about how I broke this ancestral pact by leaving and touring, and doing what I do. It was so outside of my ancestry, of what everyone did, which was, flee, survive, try to have a house, try to have money, to just have a family. And that was safety, safety. Here I come and just leave at 15, and it's been my life. So I write the things I know, but the first two songs really chronicle that. Then it cuts right to "we should talk" which it goes from 15 years old to present day. Which is — I wrote that song about three different people that I have challenging communication with for different reasons. But the real theme of that song is, you know what life does to you. In my experience, the life I'm talking about is the life on the road, the life as a writer, what that's done to me. Then I spend the rest of the album standing in today. Sometimes when you write the most personal song, that song is literally about three people that only I know and no one else knows, and only I know my relationship with them. But it speaks to how very important relationships in your life change and then, and you never get to talk about it, because life sweeps you up. And whether you're angry, or busy, or apathetic, you just get swept up in life. And every once in a while, you sit there and think, "man, we should talk," but you don't. And, it's a really upbeat song that has a really underlying sadness to it, but I mentioned it's interesting to me that you gravitated towards it, because I've heard that from some people who heard it early, and I think there's a relatability to that, or there must be. I think as soon as I say we should talk in that song, the human reaction is to think of the person that you should talk to.

Jill Riley: I don't have the same experiences that you do, but as human beings, I think it would be great to talk to someone that I had a relationship with, friendship, whatever it may be, and then to get to the place that we are now.

Jack Antonoff: I also wanted to write it, because I feel like we live in a time of the concepts of who do you let in and out? Everyone's like, "this person's an assh*le, this person's a narcissist, this, this, this." And it's like, well, sometimes life just kind of eats you up, and you don't have room for people. It's not because they're terrible, and it's not because you're terrible, it's because that's life. And I'm not calling anyone out in the song. I'm not even saying anything bad. I'm just sort of saying, "hey, we went through a lot together, and now we don't talk, how interesting is that?" There's not even really that big a perspective. It's that simple, that's so weird. And I think nowadays people need to put such a button on things that a lot of the way people think is, "oh, I don't talk to that person anymore because they were invading my space, or this, or they're —" it's just like, well, you know, we all play a role in it. And sometimes it's just weird, my life ate me up, and some people didn't make it through in my personal existence.

Jill Riley: Yeah, time and wisdom, I think can get us there as well. I'm talking with Jack Antonoff, new Bleachers album coming May 22. It's called everyone for ten minutes. Jack, could you talk about the title of the album a little bit for us?

Jack Antonoff: Just wrote the album so deeply in the perspective of deepening the relationship with my audience, myself, with my band, and I feel so much rejection towards this idea that everything's for everyone. And I like the idea that the gates open and then they close again. I saw it when I was using Airdrop. I often get titles that way, where I'll write a really intense body of work, and then see something in passing that feels like it to me. And I thought, "how interesting that my phone knows that my Airdrop can't be accessible for longer than ten minutes, or I'd be bombarded with the worst of humanity." And I was like, Oh, that’s interesting, about being a writer and a musician and broadcasting to the world, but really only wanting your people. I also feel the need to redirect this energy that everything has to be some kind of flood the zone marketing where you eat everything on the table. It's so anti. I'm not for everyone. I don't want to be for everyone. It grosses me out the way that our distorted political culture is seeping its way into the way art is marketed. So I wish to define myself pretty far away from it in the way I promote my album.

Jill Riley: I'm talking with Jack Antonoff on The Current. New Bleachers album everyone for ten minutes is coming out May 22. You talk about connecting with your audience, Bleachers is coming to The Armory in Minneapolis, September 26, and  it really sounds like, from what I gather, it's really important to you to be really authentic with your fans

Jack Antonoff: Extremely authentic. And also, I mean, I can't believe that anyone is still subscribing to this myth that incels, randoms, and bots should have any effect on what we think and feel. And I think we're at the death of that, and I would like it to die quicker. And I think that's important to be clear about, that there's a lot of bullshit going around right now in the way we communicate, and it's okay to say it.

Jill Riley: My fear is the loss of what's real and what's not.

Jack Antonoff: Yeah, which is why I love making records and playing live. It's like you're at that show. You are at that show. We are on that stage. We are playing live. We're a band. We've been a band. We're not wearing an esthetic of anything that's what's happening. You're there because you're there, and we're there, and we both went through so much to be there, and that's it. So I completely reject this optimization of our own humanity, which, by the way, we're far enough into the experiment, it's a stunning failure. And everyone agrees on that, no matter where you sit on anything, no one would sit there and be like, "yep. love staring at my phone all day and having my hopes, dreams and feelings towards other human beings debased into hell." That's not been a positive thing in any sense. And to be in a band and to make records is inherently in opposition to that. So I don't want to give up on things like touring, and I don't want to give up on things like how I make the records and how I write. I'll never change them to become part of some general algorithmic machine. That doesn't even mean anything, it's not yielding any interesting results. It's kind of frying people.

Jill Riley: Amen, brother. I hate to think that it's almost thought of as a novelty to be in the same room with other people, sharing a moment and sharing air and sharing feelings and emotions, but I think that's the beautiful thing about being together in a room in a concert.

Jack Antonoff: Everybody wants it, and now the challenge is to make sure it's something that's available to people who work an honest job, and not just the rich. The whole point to me about touring is we're out there going town to town. We set a ticket price, and our belief is that that should be representative of people of all walks of life, and then when you walk in that room, we're all there together, not the idea that every seat is like some free market bouncing up and down, and how much money can we squeeze out of people. It's a lot of gross things because of how people communicate, and honestly, mostly just because of Trump, have gotten so swept under the rug of like, well, it's not as gross as that, but, you know, I'm in the music community, and I'm focused here, and I think it's a pretty good time to be respectful of your people.

Jill Riley: Jack Antonoff is on the line. New Bleachers album out May 2. Bleachers coming to The Armory in Minneapolis, September 26. You can find more information about that concert and upcoming opportunities to be in community and together with the artists and other music lovers in the same room. Our Gig List calendar is at the current.org/giglist. Well, Jack, I appreciate you checking in and talking about the new record, and thank you for sharing, really your opinion and really the things that you value when it comes to connecting with your fans.

Jack Antonoff: Thanks for playing the record and supporting us. I mean, The Current has been — you guys are real beacon, you know that.

Credits

Guests – Jack Antonoff
Host – Jill Riley
Producer – Derrick Stevens
Digital Producer - Natalia Toledo

External Link

Bleachers – Official Website