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From The Editors Floor: Say Anything
Tim Karan on 10/8/09 @ 6:07 PM
INTERVIEW: Annie Zaleski
In many comic books, the hero is the "Everyman" who just happens to have a superhero powers. Was that an inspiration?
Yeah! Exactly! In some way, every superhero could be you. When you really look at the character of the being Superman, he's this alienated, really idealistic, really kind, gentle thing--not a human. But he completely has a soul. He has a soul like any other type of creature. He feels alone and he's nervous around the girl he likes who he thinks he can't get; she only likes him for this false ideal that he projects to try to seem strong. Because Lois Lane is in love with Superman, but Clark Kent is who this actual creature is.
I identified with a lot of that. Peter Parker [a.k.a. Spider-Man] is this science nerd who's handed this responsibility and he has to become larger than just this neurotic character. This happens to literally every person on Earth if you let it. You realize what you have to offer, even in some abstract way, and you have to decide, "This is going to be hard as crap, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to take the risks. I'm going to fight for something."
A lot of the realizations I've gone through over the course of this record cycle [are] defining what I think is right or wrong for myself, what is good and evil, and stuff like that. It's been a very overwhelming thing to start thinking about those bigger issues, instead of, "Oh, I smoke too much pot" or "Oh, I did this embarrassing thing with phone sex, now I'm going to sing about it." Those things are cool and they were funny at the time, but if our fans actually want us to keep progressing, there needs to be something just as urgent for me to sing about, and those things aren't urgent to me anymore.
Although I'm so proud of [2004's] ...Is a Real Boy--it's our hallmark record until this record--there are certain questions that I raised. It was art. It's like Hunter S. Thompson-type shit. I raised more questions on that record than I provided answers--or any form or semblance of an answer. It was like, "This is just me, this is just a bare-bones description of my daily life as a pervert and drug addict."
Now it's just like, that gets old. You literally have to live that life. Mötley Crüe are just old dudes doing the same thing. People get sick of it. We would've turned into a joke. The kids who are afraid of us moving past that stage need to keep that in mind. The bands that become jokes are the bands that--God help me--they're probably nice guys, but bands like the Offspring. Once they made the one thing, they realized they had the sort of gimmicky, "Weird Al-punk" thing going, and it was like, "Let's do it on every record now, because it works." And I can't do that. I really can't. I just have too many things [that] might seem completely dumb and pretentious to someone else, but to me--and to the people really connect with my music--they're going to feel these things.
And in a sense--your fans grow up with you. It's kind of like how it's funny that once you get into a good relationship, it's only then that you can look back and go, "Oh, that wasn't good."
Yeah! Oh my God, yeah! Like, "I thought that was the best it would be." That's why those older records still should be relevant, and I don't diss them. I love them. I can sing them live--and God knows I do. Five months out of the year, I'm singing about all that stuff, and relating to it and screaming and sweating. That isn't going to go away. But there are certain things [I think about] now--one big idea that I've gotten into is metaphysics. That's sort of how this record began and went from being a record about God to a record about superheroes. It's weird how religious parables or comic books or myths represent all these human things that are just common. alt
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Really excited to hear the rest of the new album on November 3rd, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait. The first single sounds awesome- myspace.com/sayanything