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Elvis Costello is back. Not much has been heard from the singer since his last album, 1986's Blood & Chocolate. In fact, it's been the longest gap without a new record since the prolific artist first hit the charts with his debut album, My Aim Is True, back in 1977.
But Elvis has more than made up for any lost time with the release of his new album. Spike is his twelfth studio album, and the fat collection features a grand total of 14 new songs (15 on CD and cassette), with Elvis teaming up with longtime collaborators T Bone Burnett and Kevin Killen on production duties. Spike also showcases contributions from such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, Jim Keltner, Mitchell Froom and Benmont Tench.
Dressed all in black, save for a glittering rhinestone bolo, and comfortably ensconced at Warner Bros.' Burbank offices, Elvis was chatty and upbeat as he talked about his latest record.
How do you write a song? Do you get a lyrical hook first, or a melody, or does it vary?
It varies. On the new album, each starting point would be a notion or a feeling, and depending how strong that feeling was, I'd write the song very quickly. Other times, an idea rolls around in my head for a while before it takes shape.
How has your compositional style changed over the years?
I think the main difference is in the arrangements. They're more complex and use different instruments, and that's because the subject matter is different. The way I approached Spike was to imagine it as several different scenes in a film. So you wouldn't light them all the same. But that's not to say there's any overall theme or thread running through the songs to connect them. On the other hand, there are a lot more third-person stories on Spike than on my other albums. So it was very important for me to find special instrumental sounds that'd bring these songs to life. Sometimes I'd find something in the musical content of a song that'd give me the necessary clue. Or I'd hear a sound on another record that would inspire me. For instance, "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" is about a guy stumbling home, thinking about having to face himself, and just at the point where he can't go down anymore, the song's chords rise up. I thought, that's all well and good, but it might be really effective at that moment of desperation for the horns to come in and lift him up. That's the visual way I approached that song.
What about "Let Him Dangle"? That seems like a similar approach.
You're right. Marc Ribot, who played the guitars, told me he actually thought of his percussive guitar sound as the sound of the trap door opening. The song is about a famous British murder case and the hanging of Derek Bentley. Now that's perhaps an extreme, even morbid, example, but it shows that it really helps to create a mood when you think like that and use sound to paint a picture. Other times, it's a lyrical idea that inspires a sound effect to heighten the words.
It's been a long time since your last album. Do you ever suffer from writer's block?
I do go through periods when I feel I have nothing to say, but it doesn't really bother me much. For instance, I haven't written any new songs in quite a while, but I got involved in making this record, and soon I'll be touring. So the other aspects of my career take over. And during that period, I'll be thinking about new ideas.
Are you very conscious of arrangements while writing?
More so on Spike than on previous albums. The songs on Blood & Chocolate were very simple — there was little musical embellishment or sophistication required for the subject matter. But on this record I spent more time getting the right sounds and arrangements.
Are you responsible for arranging the material?
Very much so on this album. Obviously it's a collaborative process. You cast the right players to get the right style and sound for each song. For instance, I used the Dirty Dozen Brass Band because I find their sound very attractive, and it's exactly what I wanted. But it's not like going to the synthesizer and just punching up the sample. You still have to work at it and find the exact voicings that fit, and I'm not too schooled in the theoretical aspects of music, so I have to rely on other musicians to work my way through by trial and error. In the same way, different guitarists use different techniques, and I don't have them all at my fingertips, so there's a fair amount of experimenting to get exactly what I want.
I see that you play a lot of guitar on the album.
Yes, and I did it because I felt no one else could do it the way I would. Even with all my limitations as a guitarist, I felt that my playing on "Baby Plays Around" couldn't have been duplicated by anyone else, and it really worked well. Same with "Last Boat Leaving." That's my view of how it should sound. So often it's down to you to get the exact feel and sound you want.
I notice that you also play Hammond organ on "Baby Plays Around."
Yes, I literally had to get on my hands and knees to do it! We'd used a wide variety of players and instruments, from Paul McCartney and his Hofner bass to Jerry Scheff, Buell Neidlinger on double-bass and Kirk Joseph on sousaphone. But I wanted a different sort of bass sound for the song, and the Hammond was just right. But I wasn't sure where my feet went on the pedals, so I just got down on the floor and used my hands.
Do you make a lot of demos?
I did for this album, and sometimes the sketch of a piece, even if it's not on the right instrument — and I don't play much apart from guitar and a little keyboards — will end up in the final version. In fact, it surprised me when I listened to all the demos just how many rough ideas survived, even if they were later transferred to other instruments.
What sort of demo equipment do you use?
I usually go into a regular studio for the day and put down my ideas, on my own. I work very quickly, and I just play in free time. I never use a drum machine. I think they inhibit people, and you start trying to make records instead of just demos.
On the final mix, do you control the board?
No. There are three producers on Spike. I was really in charge of writing and arranging the material. T Bone did a lot of practical jobs like writing charts, which I can't, and interpreting my ideas. He was also responsible for the idea of hiring some musicians just to play the changes and some to provide more atmospheric effects. This was because I'd also done a soundtrack since the last album, and he thought some of my ideas in that area would be useful. T Bone's other big idea was to get Kevin Killen, who also engineered and mixed the album, to make some sense of everything, because once you start experimenting and juxtaposing all these different sounds and instruments, you need to make it work. For instance, you could take Derek Bell's Irish harp on the beginning of "Any King's Shilling" and easily make it sound like something grafted onto the end of the track instead of something integral.
Are you into high-tech equipment at all?
No, I'm just not interested. I know my way around the studio, but I tend to go against the prevailing trends in recording. I don't like SSL boards, for instance. I much prefer to use Neve boards.
When did you start recording Spike?
Last May. It was basically recorded at Ocean Way in Hollywood, Southlake Studios in New Orleans, AIR in London and Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. We mixed at Ocean Way and AIR.
Does the title Spike mean anything?
Not really. It came out of a conversation about Spike Jones, the comedian, but there's no deep psychological meaning there. It's just a title.
You worked with T Bone Burnett on the 1986 LP The Costello Show Why do you like to collaborate with him?
He's got a good conscience and soul about music, and he keeps it in perspective. It's easy to get dazzled by instrumental gimmicks and to become hypnotized by your own rhythm. T Bone keeps me true to the original vision of a song. T-Bone Wolk, the bass player from Hall & Oates, is also great in that respect. I wanted him to play more on the album, but he wasn't available. He's a great arranger, too. Same thing goes for Michael Blair, the percussionist on "This Town," "Let Him Dangle" and "Veronica." He makes it impossible to play a stock part, which is great.
How did you go about finding the right players for the album?
I drew up a list of players I admired and thought would be appropriate, and just called them up. I spent about a month on the phone!
How did you hook up with Chrissie Hynde?
I've known her for a long time. We started off around the same period, the late '70s. We sang together for the first time on a charity show last year, and I really liked the way our voices blended. So when I wrote "Satellite," which is a long and heavy story, I felt it needed another voice to come in and add this sudden touch of drama, and she was ideal.
What about the Dirty Dozen Brass Band?
They're from a long New Orleans tradition of marching bands that play at funerals. I'd never worked with them, but I have their albums and I'd seen their shows, and I thought they'd fit perfectly. There's something about the tone and intonation of their playing that creates this slightly strange sound — it's not dissonant, but it just sounds like one big voice to me. It's not a brittle, shiny sound like a lot of brass hands. I used them on "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror," "Chewing Gum" and "Stalin Malone."
What about the sessions with the traditional Irish players Davy Spillane and Steve Wickham?
In deciding to record those songs with those instruments, I didn't want to just use one of the many traditional bands. I wanted to create a hybrid, so I used one of The Chieftains, Derek Bell, one of The Waterboys, who are Scottish, in fact, and various other musicians to get the overall effect. I didn't want to end up with imitation folk music.
The pairing of Paul McCartney and Roger McGuinn on "This Town" is interesting.
It happened by accident. I hadn't thought of a guitarist for the song, and we bumped into Roger in New Orleans when we were there recording the Dirty Dozen, and he ended up being about the first person to play on the track, which was done at Ocean Way in Hollywood. Roger's guitar is still very contemporary-sounding to me, and quite unique. We also ended up with this heavy bass drum, almost a rap sound, which freed the bass to be melodic and accented Paul's strengths as a melodic player.
Haven't you also been working on McCartney's new solo LP?
Yes, Paul called me up to work on some songs for the album, and the starting point was collaborating on songs we'd started individually. Two of them, "Veronica" and "Pads, Paws and Claws" ended up on Spike. We then continued to write another nine songs, some of which will be on Paul's album, although I'm not sure exactly how many. We wrote very quickly, batting ideas back and forth like ping-pong, and I think we came up with some really strong tunes. It'll be a great album from what I've heard of it so far.
Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney seems like an unlikely collaboration.
Yeah, if you stop to think about it, I suppose so. But I treated it just like another day's work. You'd never get anything done once you start comparing his career with mine. So we didn't waste any time on bullshit like that. We just sat down and wrote. And our differing viewpoints undoubtedly helped. There'd he no point in my sitting down and writing a Paul McCartney tune.
Was there any friction between you?
Not in the sense of big arguments; just good creative friction. It has to be light-hearted enough so that even when you're dealing with serious emotions and subjects, you can say, "That's totally useless — you can't write that." If you can't do that, you're probably being too precious about it.
There's been a lot of criticism in recent years that McCartney's lost his edge.
Some people have said the same about me, but it wouldn't necessarily be true. Obviously, I don't think every song he's ever written is wonderful, but then again I'd admit that not every song I've written is wonderful. I think he's done some very good records as Paul McCartney, the solo artist, and some that I don't like so much.
You seem far less abrasive, far less the angry young man these days. Has marriage to Cait O'Riordan helped mellow you?
That's hard for me to answer. Perhaps you should ask people who know me whether I'm easier to deal with now! Basically, I don't subscribe to the notion that you have to be miserable to be creative. That's bullshit.
What do you think of the current music scene?
I think it's probably the same as it's always been — there's a few great things around and an awful lot of rubbish. The trick is to distinguish between the two.
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