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00:28:23Why doesn't it fit in with the rest of the world?
00:28:27The cumulative effect of Jandek's career certainly prompts or begs many questions about the nature of the person behind it,
00:28:38the identity of the person behind it, etc.
00:28:42Some of that was apparent with the first few releases simply because of the manifest dearth of any documentary information
00:28:54on there.
00:28:54That was very striking, even from the first, that the only information is just the names of the songs and
00:29:00the name of the album and the address of Corwood Industries.
00:29:05My reaction to hearing about it was a lot stronger than my reaction to actually hearing it.
00:29:13And I remember hearing that Jandek was some crazy guy who was reclusive, and that was really about all I
00:29:19knew.
00:29:20I was more interested in ones that were the same all the way through, ones that just had acoustic guitar
00:29:26on them maybe,
00:29:27and because I was much more interested in the idea that there was this, you know, reclusive guy writing these
00:29:34songs that made no sense.
00:29:40When you do that same, present that same structure record after record,
00:29:46and add to that this very, I don't know, kind of a forlorn quality in his voice,
00:29:52certainly after a while, I just got a sense of, uh, this was a guy who just was not very
00:29:58social.
00:29:59His music seems very introverted, like it was just for himself and one other person, or maybe just himself.
00:30:07He's, Jandek often sounds like he's just singing to the wall.
00:30:10There's a lot of surrealist qualities to his music that can be interpreted as derangement,
00:30:19and perhaps subconsciously, that effect comes across of somebody who's just a bit deranged,
00:30:26and add to the anti-social element, and you think, well, isn't that the basic ingredients of a sociopath?
00:30:42I did have the image of this guy who was really weird and alienated.
00:30:51You have a feeling you're eavesdropping on this guy who can't sleep,
00:30:54picking up his guitar at 3 a.m. in some desolate Skid Row hotel room and singing,
00:31:00and a tape recorder just happens to be there without him knowing it.
00:31:03One guy alone in a bare room and one light bulb.
00:31:18I really had the image of him being, you know, this borderline dysfunctional person
00:31:23who had virtually no contact with the outside world.
00:32:02The first time I heard a Jandek record with musicians other than Jandek,
00:32:08it was a big shock because every record I had heard up to that point was just him and his
00:32:12guitar.
00:32:13And my first reaction was, well, how did he find people to play with him?
00:32:17Because my image of him at that time was very much of this loner,
00:32:22maybe borderline deranged loner who did as little to associate with other people as possible,
00:32:27not just in his music, but in anything.
00:32:30And I was like, well, that kind of puts the kibosh on that part of the image
00:32:33because he's obviously in the same room with somebody.
00:32:36So it was like, well, you know, he can't be that anti-social.
00:32:39He knows somebody, a woman for that matter.
00:32:52A dozen droughts fall from your face
00:33:03Shaking the rain in a quiet place
00:33:16Shining clean, a fresh new day
00:33:27Wakes up the world in a fragrant bouquet
00:33:36Mansi Sings is probably my favorite Jandek song,
00:33:39which is strange because Jandek,
00:33:41it's hard to tell if Jandek actually plays on it or not.
00:33:44It might be him playing guitar, but it's certainly not him singing.
00:33:47It's a woman that we guess she's called Mansi.
00:33:49We don't know.
00:33:51But it's a really beautiful song.
00:33:53It's sung by somebody who can really sing
00:33:55in the sort of, like, 60s American English folk tradition.
00:34:01So Nancy sings, well, it could be anything.
00:34:03You know, it could be a song about Nancy singing.
00:34:06You know, why not?
00:34:07But then when you get there and it's actually a woman singing,
00:34:10you, like, grab the album you're looking at,
00:34:12and it says, Nancy sings.
00:34:14So you're like, you know, I guess it's Nancy.
00:34:16Nancy, it's so funny that a song would have such a literal title
00:34:24in the midst of, you know, these other songs that are so, you know, a-literal.
00:34:31And though it's something that he seemed then to continually allude to
00:34:37when people would enter the picture,
00:34:39when you'd hear somebody that sounded new,
00:34:40it seemed like he felt like he should identify
00:34:43that there was actually somebody new who was coming in.
00:34:49In a way, you could trace his career as almost like a soap opera.
00:34:53You know, here's this guy alone in his bedroom strumming,
00:34:58wailing his blues,
00:34:59and then that lasts for a few albums,
00:35:02and then you get, whoa, there's a drummer here.
00:35:05I remember when I first heard the drums
00:35:07and how shocking that was
00:35:09because cumulatively you get the image
00:35:10of this guy alone in his room playing,
00:35:14and he does come off as very antisocial after a while.
00:35:19And then there's clearly another person in the room,
00:35:23and that just takes your preconception
00:35:26of who this person is behind this music
00:35:28and shifts it completely from antisocial to social,
00:35:33even on a minimal scale.
00:35:39It was surprising,
00:35:40and at the same time, it was kind of a relief
00:35:44because I thought, okay, here, this guy,
00:35:46at least he talks to other people.
00:35:48There's something about listening to it.
00:35:50You project, or at least I would project,
00:35:52that maybe this guy's sort of sociopathic
00:35:57and extremely isolated,
00:35:59which may or may not be true,
00:36:01but when you heard, like, Nancy Sings,
00:36:05it was sort of a relief to know,
00:36:06oh, well, he's got some friends,
00:36:08you know, there's some other people out there.
00:36:10By the time that that record had come out,
00:36:14you know, people who liked Jandek
00:36:16had certain ideas about what the music was like.
00:36:19So already by that point,
00:36:21people who were into it were into the nuances
00:36:24and sort of, you know,
00:36:26trying to figure out what was going on.
00:36:29And some theories had started to be brunted around already
00:36:33that all the records had been recorded at one time
00:36:36as part of a therapy session
00:36:37by a manic depressive in Houston,
00:36:41and that he was working at some record plant,
00:36:43and whenever he had enough money to press one up,
00:36:45he'd press one up,
00:36:46and that there was a finite number of them.
00:36:48At one time, it was said there were 19 of them.
00:36:51And once that 19th one came out,
00:36:53there wouldn't be any more
00:36:54since they had been recorded in a short time span.
00:36:58And I asked him where he found these people
00:37:00that he recorded with
00:37:02because they weren't credited on the albums.
00:37:03I didn't know their names.
00:37:05And I posed that question to him,
00:37:07and there was a minute or so of silence.
00:37:10It was uncomfortable,
00:37:11and then he said,
00:37:12I don't think it's right that I tell you that.
00:37:14And it was really strange.
00:37:18And that simply fuels my wacky speculation
00:37:22that he met these people in a drug rehab place
00:37:25or a mental hospital
00:37:26or they're part of some quasi-conspiratorial,
00:37:31criminal conspiracy,
00:37:32or drug dealers,
00:37:34when somebody doesn't reveal something as simple
00:37:37as who their associates are
00:37:38that worked with them on a creative project,
00:37:41that really intrigues the hell out of you.
00:37:44And you start imagining all these dark and weird things.
00:37:47He wants people to hear it,
00:37:49and he wants to know there's some reaction to it.
00:37:54Yet, he's not at all forthcoming about who he is.
00:37:57And in the music,
00:38:00it may all be there
00:38:02who this man is and what he's saying,
00:38:05but there's a wall or something
00:38:06that gets in the way
00:38:09of what it is that he's trying to share.
00:38:15I think this wall is part of why I had the feeling
00:38:21that he was mentally ill,
00:38:23is that he really just doesn't know how to reach someone.
00:38:33I don't think that he purposely puts up a wall,
00:38:36but I'm sure he's scared of people.
00:38:41And I'm sure at the same token
00:38:43that he'd like to have friends
00:38:44and he'd like to be normal like everyone else.
00:38:46But he just doesn't know how to communicate.
00:38:50So I think he has conflicted feelings
00:38:53about what he wants to get across.
00:38:56And I know he knows how he wants to do it,
00:38:58but he doesn't really know how far he wants to step
00:39:02and whether he really wants people to know him.
00:39:06And that's, you know, the push and pull of Jandek.
00:39:17I think listening to Jandek records late at night by yourself
00:39:21is kind of the most intimate Jandek experience you can have.
00:39:26Just maybe having a few glasses of wine
00:39:30and sitting down with Jandek
00:39:32and just listening.
00:39:35You're kind of revealed
00:39:37to like the inner thinkings of his psyche and his soul.
00:39:41We can't deny
00:39:48There's spirits in this house
00:39:57You shut the door
00:40:03The wind closes to more
00:40:13I laugh a dark laugh
00:40:22You smile and think about it
00:40:31You'll come again
00:40:33You'll come again
00:40:38I'm sure you can't refuse
00:40:52Your spirits here
00:40:59Laying on a white debacle
00:41:10I wish I could
00:41:17Leave this room and lock the key
00:41:28Someday I would
00:41:30Someday I would
00:41:33Take hold your hand
00:41:36And let it be
00:41:48In the sky
00:41:51A shining path for you and me
00:42:14Come back
00:42:23Oh, please come back
00:42:28Come back
00:42:39I don't know what to do
00:43:09I read a review in Ott Magazine, I believe
00:43:12And the review was intriguing enough
00:43:16I wrote to Corwood
00:43:17And some fellow called
00:43:22And it was very much that voice
00:43:24That, to me, that is on the record singing
00:43:28Talking, and it sounded like from the same room
00:43:30It had that same feeling
00:43:35And I don't know how he got my phone number
00:43:37I guess he just tracked it down
00:43:41And I think he was looking for information
00:43:43At that point
00:43:44He'd just kind of started
00:43:46I think it was around the time of maybe the second or third album
00:43:49And he was approaching it, I thought, surprisingly commercially
00:43:54He was looking for places to sell his records
00:43:56How can I move a few units?
00:43:58How can I sell a few of these?
00:44:00Do you know any record stores that would carry my records?
00:44:02And I was very honest and said, hell no
00:44:05I don't know anybody who touched this stuff
00:44:09But good luck with it
00:44:11And then we just went off and talked about other stuff
00:44:14I always felt like there was some sort of mutual camaraderie between us
00:44:19That we could kind of communicate
00:44:23I kind of like getting deeper than small talk
00:44:27And so we talked in a, I don't know
00:44:32It's like not knowing each other
00:44:33We could be very honest with each other
00:44:35I mentioned something that was troubling me
00:44:42And he jumped on it
00:44:44And he said, well you sinned
00:44:48And I said, you're right
00:44:51And it was true
00:44:52And I've got to say
00:44:54I appreciate that moment probably more than anything else that we shared
00:44:57Was that forthrightness
00:44:59Because most people want to slough it off and make it easy
00:45:02And I don't think that's in him at all
00:45:04He has, I think, a pretty highly evolved sense of sin
00:45:08And right and wrong
00:45:10And, you know, of moral conduct
00:45:13And I appreciate that in his work
00:45:17I think that's something that doesn't really exist in the world that much anymore
00:45:21He didn't let me off easy at all
00:45:24And I think that makes him a better person maybe
00:45:40There are a variety of different periods
00:45:43That the music moves through
00:45:45Which I came to really regard
00:45:48In higher and higher terms as it accrued
00:45:51I mean, when there was one record
00:45:53It was an anomaly
00:45:54And it was interesting
00:45:55When there was the second album
00:45:57And then there was the third album
00:45:58And they really started to pick up pace
00:46:00In terms of coming out
00:46:01It seemed to
00:46:03All of a sudden
00:46:05Be something that was done very consciously
00:46:08And they were being presented as a package
00:46:10And then it was being done
00:46:12With these kind of art values
00:46:15That you wouldn't necessarily think of
00:46:17If something existed by itself
00:46:20But the general idea
00:46:22Up until, say, the last year
00:46:24Or the last couple years
00:46:25Was that there were really kind of three groupings
00:46:27Of Jandek records
00:46:28That seemed, you know
00:46:30Separate enough
00:46:30That you could figure out what they were
00:46:32In terms of being an early period
00:46:33A middle period
00:46:34And a later period
00:46:35And the early period really was the idea
00:46:37That these were very hermetic recordings
00:46:40And they were all solo
00:46:41And they were acoustic
00:46:42And they were all
00:46:43For the most part
00:46:44They were kind of single string guitar playing
00:46:46There was that feel to them
00:46:48That they were spontaneous compositions
00:46:50Rather than something that was thought out
00:46:52Or worked on too much
00:46:53The second period kind of starts
00:47:04With the introduction of Nancy's vocals
00:47:07There's this slow accretion
00:47:09Of other sound elements
00:47:11When the drums come in
00:47:12When the guitar
00:47:13When there starts to be electric guitar
00:47:14And some other things like that
00:47:15Where all of a sudden
00:47:19What's been so involuted
00:47:22In terms of its
00:47:24All of its emotions
00:47:26Are turned inwards
00:47:26All of a sudden
00:47:27You get this
00:47:27Kind of flowering
00:47:29In a way
00:47:29Of the music
00:47:31They're just out of control
00:47:32Almost
00:47:33These kind of
00:47:34I mean they're really fun
00:47:36Really kind of
00:47:36These joyful
00:47:39Pieces
00:47:41Dionysian
00:47:41Kind of stuff
00:47:42You know
00:47:43In comparison to what had been
00:47:44Going on previous
00:47:46We are here
00:47:47We are here
00:47:49In earth
00:47:50In life
00:47:52In life
00:47:53In sky
00:47:53In sky
00:47:54In magic
00:47:55In magic
00:47:56In rain
00:47:58In rain
00:47:59In love
00:48:01In fire
00:48:07And then you know
00:48:09You sort of hit the wall
00:48:10Of Blue Corpse
00:48:11I mean from the opening notes
00:48:13Of it you feel that something
00:48:14Is going on here
00:48:16That's not
00:48:17I mean this is such a change
00:48:18There's a change of mood
00:48:20There's a change of tempo
00:48:21There's a change of instrumentation
00:48:22Really
00:48:22That doesn't
00:48:23That seems disconnected
00:48:25You know
00:48:26Where it like
00:48:26It's like the bottom
00:48:27Dropped out again
00:48:30I passed by the building
00:48:33You were working in
00:48:38And it's
00:48:39But it's not a return
00:48:40Really to the
00:48:41The form of the original stuff
00:48:43Either
00:48:43It contains elements
00:48:45Of the second portion
00:48:46But again
00:48:48It seems
00:48:52As though
00:48:53This is music
00:48:54That's internally based
00:48:56But it seems like
00:48:56That starts
00:48:57Sort of the third period
00:48:58Of stuff
00:48:59In which
00:49:00You know
00:49:01There's
00:49:02There are electric instruments
00:49:04And there are some other people
00:49:05Seems like
00:49:05Maybe playing on stuff
00:49:06But it's not
00:49:09It's not the
00:49:10The kind of like
00:49:12Really kind of
00:49:12Raging material
00:49:14That had been going on
00:49:15During the second period
00:49:17The first really
00:49:18Electric stuff
00:49:20Rain's pouring down
00:49:22In the windows
00:49:25And I'm sitting here
00:49:28In Madison
00:49:31Trying to figure out
00:49:32Where you are
00:49:40Yes I'm sitting here
00:49:42But you know
00:49:42If you want to recap
00:49:43It's really sort of
00:49:44The first batch
00:49:45Of records
00:49:46Are these incredibly weird
00:49:47Hermetic acoustic records
00:49:49Then there are these
00:49:50Kind of explosive
00:49:51Electric records
00:49:52That seem to be
00:49:54The idea of
00:49:55Turning outward
00:49:55And not having to
00:49:56Compress all this stuff
00:49:57Anymore
00:49:58And then there's
00:49:59Kind of the bottom
00:49:59Falls out
00:50:00And you know
00:50:03It's back to the
00:50:04More morose
00:50:05Original material
00:50:06But still using
00:50:07Other people
00:50:07And using some of
00:50:08The techniques
00:50:08That were evolved
00:50:09In the second portion
00:50:10And then you get into
00:50:12The
00:50:12Those
00:50:14A cappella records
00:50:16That
00:50:16Those to me
00:50:17Are particularly bizarre
00:50:19I've been through
00:50:21Your nursery rhyme
00:50:29I've been through
00:50:31Your nursery rhyme
00:50:35Some of them seemed like
00:50:37You know
00:50:39Like creepy messages
00:50:40Left on an answering machine
00:50:42In a way
00:50:43And I thought they were
00:50:46You know I thought it was
00:50:47Really powerful
00:50:47But I found it
00:50:49Not entertaining
00:50:52To listen to at all
00:50:53And they sort of stand
00:50:55By themselves
00:50:55As a trinity of
00:50:57I don't really know what
00:50:59I see
00:51:01Let me know
00:51:05Please
00:51:07Head me out
00:51:11You
00:51:15Some people will
00:51:16Interpret that he's
00:51:18Very closed off
00:51:18And he doesn't want
00:51:19People that close
00:51:20I feel the opposite
00:51:22I feel that he's
00:51:22Welcoming people in
00:51:24He wants people
00:51:25To think about him
00:51:26He wants people
00:51:26To talk about him
00:51:27And I've never
00:51:28Talked this long
00:51:29About anyone before
00:51:30And I've been doing
00:51:30Interviews for years
00:51:31And I couldn't think
00:51:32This much to say
00:51:33About Dylan or
00:51:34Brian Wilson
00:51:35Or the Beatles
00:51:36Or Elvis
00:51:38Because it's already there
00:51:39But with Jandak
00:51:41We have to talk about it
00:51:42We have to talk about
00:51:42Other people's
00:51:43Interpretations
00:51:44And we have to try
00:51:45To get
00:51:46Not the picture
00:51:47But various pictures
00:51:48Of Jandak
00:52:03When I'm talking about Jandak
00:52:05Now
00:52:06I can't help but talk about
00:52:08The mystery of Jandak
00:52:10First
00:52:10Because when I've
00:52:12Actually played the music
00:52:14For people before
00:52:15Telling them that
00:52:17I find that
00:52:18They're much less receptive
00:52:19To listen to the music
00:52:23Obviously the mystery
00:52:25Of this guy
00:52:25Is what's most interesting
00:52:27About him
00:52:27Simply that he's
00:52:28Continued so long
00:52:29Putting out all this stuff
00:52:30And so little is known
00:52:32About him
00:52:33He's such a cypher
00:52:34I think that
00:52:35Has become more interesting
00:52:37Than anything inherent
00:52:39In his music itself
00:52:40And I suspect
00:52:41Most of the people
00:52:44Who might be counted on
00:52:45As his fans
00:52:46Feel pretty much
00:52:47The same way
00:52:47When you get down to it
00:52:55Didn't get too close
00:53:02Wouldn't get too close
00:53:08It had to do with
00:53:09Wanting to make records
00:53:10That were anonymous
00:53:11In some way
00:53:12Or that the actual author
00:53:13Was not seen
00:53:15And that's part of the point
00:53:17Of Jandek's thing
00:53:19In general
00:53:19Is that there was
00:53:20Kind of a Wizard of Oz
00:53:21Thing where
00:53:22The person that you see
00:53:24Jandek is a made up person
00:53:26And the reason I think
00:53:27That's neat
00:53:28Is because that way
00:53:29You can even control that
00:53:30Not only is he in control
00:53:31Of the record
00:53:32He's in control
00:53:33Of who the artist is
00:53:36Jandek has
00:53:37In not
00:53:39Creating a public personality
00:53:41Created one of the
00:53:42Stronger public personalities
00:53:44Of somebody of his
00:53:46Musical ilk
00:53:47You know
00:53:48Probably the strongest
00:53:50Somebody that makes music
00:53:51That's that
00:53:53Outsider
00:53:56Can't really
00:53:57Have more appeal
00:53:59Than Jandek does
00:54:02Jandek has captured
00:54:03The imagination
00:54:03Of more people
00:54:05Than he probably
00:54:05Ever imagined
00:54:06When he started
00:54:07Putting out those records
00:54:08He
00:54:09I mean
00:54:11If he did imagine
00:54:12That as many people
00:54:13Would be interested
00:54:14In his music
00:54:14As are
00:54:16Then he really is crazy
00:54:18When someone's
00:54:20Intrigued about something
00:54:21And they want to research it
00:54:22They go and get
00:54:23Whatever information
00:54:24They can get
00:54:25And if they don't
00:54:26Get information about it
00:54:27Their mind tends to
00:54:29Connect pieces together
00:54:30Connect some sort of
00:54:31Pattern or order
00:54:32The human brain
00:54:33Is an amazing
00:54:34Pattern recognition device
00:54:36It even puts
00:54:37Patterns on things
00:54:39That don't deserve pattern
00:54:40Sees order
00:54:41Where there is no order
00:54:42Almost man is a psychotic animal
00:54:44In that sense
00:54:48You can like it
00:54:50You can hate it
00:54:52You can like it again
00:54:53The next day
00:54:54Because he's put such
00:54:56Such honesty
00:54:57But such
00:54:58A blank
00:55:00Perhaps unfinished
00:55:01Canvas out there
00:55:02And it's like radio
00:55:03In its prime
00:55:04You have to project
00:55:05You know
00:55:06Your imagination
00:55:07And your thoughts
00:55:09Onto that
00:55:10And that's what I do
00:55:11And I think that's what
00:55:11A lot of people do
00:55:12With Jam X Music
00:55:15When listening to
00:55:16A body of music
00:55:17You always wonder
00:55:19What it reveals
00:55:19About the artist
00:55:20And of course
00:55:21It depends entirely
00:55:22Upon the artist
00:55:23Some lay their heart
00:55:24On their sleeve
00:55:25For others
00:55:25It's just an act
00:55:28For some
00:55:30What they express
00:55:31In their music
00:55:32Is inseparable
00:55:33From the way
00:55:34Their brain operates
00:55:36In daily life
00:55:37They'll go to the supermarket
00:55:39And they'll see
00:55:40A pretty girl
00:55:41And they'll write a song
00:55:42About the emotions
00:55:43That that girl
00:55:44Stirs up in them
00:55:45Things like that
00:55:46That's been going on
00:55:47As long as there have been songs
00:55:50Others of course
00:55:51The music is just an act
00:55:53I mean you get somebody
00:55:55Who writes songs
00:55:56That are very violent
00:55:57And then they turn out
00:55:57To be a very
00:55:58Vild-mannered
00:55:59Pleasant chap
00:56:00When you get to talk to them
00:56:04I think people should
00:56:07Read what they want to
00:56:09Into the Jandek records
00:56:11And have the music
00:56:14Move them
00:56:15However they want
00:56:15I think it's a little tricky
00:56:16When people start
00:56:17Making judgments
00:56:19About who Jandek is
00:56:20Based on these records
00:56:21I think it's a romantic
00:56:22Idea
00:56:23And it keeps him
00:56:24As this
00:56:26You know
00:56:26This freak
00:56:27In a bedroom
00:56:28In rural Texas
00:56:28That nobody knows about
00:56:30I'm just
00:56:31I
00:56:31I
00:56:35I just think
00:56:36It's a little too romantic
00:56:37To me
00:56:38For people to
00:56:39You know
00:56:39Pick up a Jandek record
00:56:40Put it on
00:56:41And go
00:56:41Okay
00:56:42I know who this guy is
00:56:43It's just
00:56:44It's not that
00:56:46Literal
00:56:49I don't really buy
00:56:50The whole
00:56:50Recluse thing
00:56:51You know
00:56:52Just because
00:56:52If someone chooses
00:56:53Not to participate
00:56:55In
00:56:56Mass media
00:56:57Does not mean
00:56:58There's something wrong
00:56:59With that person
00:57:00I mean
00:57:01I think there's something
00:57:01Wrong with our society
00:57:02If we define that
00:57:04If we define a person
00:57:05That way
00:57:05I think the fact
00:57:07That he makes his art
00:57:08And he does it
00:57:09And that's good enough
00:57:11For him
00:57:11He doesn't need
00:57:12Any other validation
00:57:14Beyond
00:57:15Doing it himself
00:57:16You would have to assume
00:57:19You would have to assume
00:57:46Representing
00:57:47Maybe if he has a really stable job
00:57:49And he has a wife
00:57:50He doesn't feel comfortable
00:57:51Talking about that
00:57:52We might only be seeing
00:57:53One side of Jandek
00:57:54Through this
00:57:55Through his art too
00:57:56That's a possibility
00:57:57Which I've thought about as well
00:57:58If you accept the fact
00:58:01That these records are art
00:58:03Then you have to acknowledge the fact
00:58:06That they may not have anything to do with real life
00:58:11And it's easy to confuse
00:58:13And conflate art and reality
00:58:15And it happens all the time
00:58:17And especially on something
00:58:19That's viewed as being as personal
00:58:21As these Jandek records
00:58:23You know
00:58:24It's an appealing thought
00:58:25But it doesn't mean it's true
00:58:26You know
00:58:27The process
00:58:27Is to
00:58:28Is to
00:58:29Have this stuff
00:58:31Appear realistic
00:58:32Because you're
00:58:32You're creating something
00:58:33That you want
00:58:34To
00:58:34Have people feel visceral
00:58:37You want them to relate to it
00:58:39In a way
00:58:39That
00:58:41Transcends them
00:58:42Thinking that you're creating it
00:58:43That they're involved
00:58:44With a real experience
00:58:45I mean
00:58:46That's a very important part
00:58:47Of
00:58:48Creating art successfully
00:58:50It's
00:58:51It's much more
00:58:52You know
00:58:53Amusing for a listener
00:58:54To think
00:58:54That they're not
00:58:55That these are
00:58:56Real slice of life
00:58:57Type things
00:58:58But
00:58:59You know
00:59:00In the lack of
00:59:02Of anybody coming forward
00:59:03And saying that they are
00:59:04It's really just speculation
00:59:06And
00:59:07You know
00:59:08Anybody's theory
00:59:09Is pretty much as good
00:59:10As anybody else's
00:59:11In that regard
00:59:30New York
00:59:32New York
00:59:33Pacific
00:59:33Sea
00:59:34New
00:59:35Enumbed
00:59:36For 거기
00:59:37To
00:59:39Travelers
00:59:41Approach
00:59:44Unconscious
00:59:45Thread
01:00:03I was in Houston in front of this person who looked exactly like the person who's on all
01:00:08the covers, but sort of an older version of that person.
01:00:11Very distinguished looking, he was wearing a white pressed shirt, black tie, black pants,
01:00:19spiffy black shoes.
01:00:21He had cufflinks that were silver, that had like square silver with a little black square
01:00:28in the center.
01:00:33I started asking him if he was involved with Corwood Industries.
01:00:40There would be a long pause, and it was the summertime, and it was just, you know, Houston
01:00:45in the summer is just boiling hot, and he just starts sweating like crazy.
01:00:53And I just said, you know, we don't have to talk about this if you don't want to, but
01:00:57I came to Houston to try to find out some things about this, and if you can answer anything
01:01:03about this, it would just help me tremendously.
01:01:05And he said, well, you came all this way.
01:01:09I have to go meet some friends at a bar, and let's do you drink beer.
01:01:19We went to this bar and met, I think, four of his friends who were dressed exactly like
01:01:28he was, which was really weird.
01:01:30You know, you start thinking, is this a setup?
01:01:33I thought, I thought this seemed so unexpected, and then you almost start thinking the whole
01:01:41thing is staged, you know.
01:01:45I didn't know how to conduct the interview because I was told that he really didn't want
01:01:54to talk about the Corwood Industries project or Janik at all.
01:01:59So, I just sort of decided at this point, you know, just have a good time, you know.
01:02:08So we just started talking about allergies or something and, you know, movies and food
01:02:15and a bunch of other topics.
01:02:18And maybe it was just because the whole setup just seemed so absurd to meet somebody and
01:02:22the questions that were most important to your being there are just not allowed.
01:02:27And so, it was a setup for real comedy.
01:02:31Once in a while, I would try to ask a question about Janik to see if I could, like, sneak
01:02:35it in.
01:02:35And he would just stop and sort of look around, and the pause would be so long that I would
01:02:43just see Janik just crack up, like, this is just weird.
01:02:47And for the most part, I really didn't get any information about the music, and on the
01:02:51other hand, it didn't matter.
01:02:56There are three other songs that I'm particularly interested in talking about, and they're all
01:03:00last songs on records.
01:03:01And they all have a sense of finality.
01:03:03They all have a sense that this is the last song on the last Janik record.
01:03:08Lost Cause has a 20-minute song on its second side.
01:03:10The entire second side is occupied by a song called The Electric End, which after a relatively
01:03:18sedate album, it's 20 minutes of noise, of just, like, taking the guitar and cranking
01:03:24it up, and making a gigantic, horrible noise, so that he screams a little bit towards the
01:03:28end.
01:03:29And there's something very, very final sounding about it, like he's saying goodbye to everything.
01:03:51The Electric End
01:04:09And then a couple of years later, you know, a few months later, he made another record.
01:04:12A few years later, there's another last song.
01:04:17It's the long piano song, The Beginning.
01:04:21The Beginning is the name of the record.
01:04:22You know, what a perfect name for a final record.
01:04:26I think at some point on that album, he actually says something like, I'm ready for the house.
01:04:30You know, like, okay, we've brought it full circle.
01:04:32At the end of it, there's this long instrumental piano piece.
01:04:35He's never really played piano before on any of the records.
01:04:37And the piano is as out of tune as his guitar.
01:04:40It's as out of tune as anything else he's ever done.
01:04:42It's unmistakably his playing.
01:04:44His sense of rhythm, his sense of, like, just hitting a bunch of notes and seeing how they
01:04:48sound and letting that sound linger.
01:04:59I'm like, man.
01:05:06It's amazing, I love y'all.
01:05:07I love y'all.
01:05:11I love to.
01:05:11I love y'all.
01:05:14I love to.
01:05:15I love the original.
01:05:19I love the original project.
01:05:22I'm like, okay, well, this wraps up the Jandex story, this is the end of that.
01:05:25And then, of course, six months, he makes another record.
01:05:28And this time, the record that came after that was the first acapella record that he made,
01:05:33the first of his sort of spoken word records.
01:05:36And the last piece on that, after two very long pieces, is a little minute and a half long piece
01:05:41called
01:05:41I Went Outside, I think it's called.
01:05:43And it's this absolute sort of completely distilled deathbed blues.
01:05:51There aren't even any notes.
01:05:53There's just his enunciation.
01:05:55He just says,
01:05:56And he says that four times.
01:06:07So he's gone past the blues repetition.
01:06:10He's repeated it again.
01:06:11And then he starts yelling or yelping or something or exclaiming.
01:06:15I put him on.
01:06:17I went for a wand.
01:06:20In the snow and ice.
01:06:25So cool.
01:06:26And the record cuts off right there.
01:06:29Like, that's it.
01:06:30That's what he's been reduced to.
01:06:31That's all that's left.
01:06:32That's his voice.
01:06:34And that could be the last Jandex record.
01:06:36And then six months later, he made another one.
01:06:44How will the Jandex story end if Jandex is a movie?
01:06:48I guess what I consider most true to life would be that he just keeps on putting out these records
01:06:53until he runs out of money or gets tired of it.
01:06:56But I suppose another scenario that would make a better movie would be that if eventually he finds some way
01:07:05to connect with a larger audience
01:07:07and they decide to make him a star and then comes the huge conflict that would take half the film
01:07:14of whether he comes out and reveals who he really is
01:07:17or whether he remains a mystery for all time.
01:07:37I think Jandex will continue on for quite a while.
01:07:39So maybe not indefinitely, but I don't really ever see it stopping, you know, anytime soon.
01:07:47And if it did, I think that the albums would just become all the more valuable and rare and special.
01:08:12I sort of have a feeling he's one of those people who are probably just going to keep on putting
01:08:16out albums
01:08:17until he gets just too old and decrepit to even play guitar or sing.
01:08:22And maybe we'll just see one every other year then.
01:08:26Just look around
01:08:44I don't know what the end of Jandex is.
01:08:45The end of Jandex, I hope, won't be until he dies.
01:08:50I hope it won't be until after that.
01:08:52I hope that there'll be just new Jandex records coming out maybe once a year or forever
01:08:56and I'll look at them and listen to them and I'll say he's making real progress on this one.
01:09:08Hey listen, can you hear me?
01:09:16Just because you're near me
01:09:50I've been
01:09:51blessed with knowing a number of artists who have become well known in
01:10:00some way or other and so seeing it in different contexts a person before the
01:10:07notoriety and after and which is real you know that's that's a basic fundamental
01:10:13question what part is real because when you encounter people who only know the
01:10:20person from their fame they have a totally different idea for that person is
01:10:24or was or then and you might and if you try to contradict the icon it's like
01:10:35people just don't hear it you know they just don't hear it it's like it's like
01:10:39saying well actually Columbus didn't discover America there was all there
01:10:44were these other people and there was these people and all these other people
01:10:46came before but still gonna be Columbus the guy who discovered America no
01:10:49matter how many times there might be some disclaimers Columbus discovered America
01:10:53although there had been other people who were there before him which means he
01:10:57didn't discover America but it's always gonna be Columbus the guy who discovered
01:11:01America that's gonna be the definition of Columbus and it kind of he's an icon
01:11:04and that's what his icon stands for to a lot of people and I think when you get to
01:11:08be famous there is some sort of iconography that's attached to you which is
01:11:14always going to be there no matter how many asterisks people might put on there
01:11:19I do a lot of work you know at my magazine and on the TV show I end up
01:11:23talking to a lot of icons or you know outside artists or weird people and while
01:11:30all of them are usually as interesting as you think they are and their work always
01:11:36stands up they also are you know they're very regular people at the same time you
01:11:41know and you know they gotta go to the hospital when they're sick and they gotta
01:11:46you know eat this way and they have to you know go to chain stores and and fast food
01:11:53places because that's all everyone has to do you know
01:11:55the worst I had to tell you was I follow you here first you made me promise that I wouldn't
01:12:10leave
01:12:13then I found my freedom gonna blow turn down a river to my dream
01:12:28lost some lovely people on the way you gave them back I heard you say you're my only lover
01:12:52like so you have this kind of a image of somebody and then they become very normalized when you have
01:12:59to
01:12:59interact with them which isn't always a bad thing but I don't think I'm that interested in you know I
01:13:05wouldn't want to meet this gentleman and have him become just a regular guy to me not that he's some
01:13:10Superman or something but you know it is a purity to not having to think about him
01:13:16you know eating a whopper
01:13:24I want I want the mystery to remain alive I would feel cheated and robbed if all of a
01:13:30sudden I found out who Jandek was and he was just some guy that works at a record-pressing plant
01:13:37and it was a big joke on me or something you know I don't want the finality I want it
01:13:44I want it just to you know stop when it stops
01:14:11Bob Dylan said that if he bought a loaf of bread that doesn't entitle him to go knock on the
01:14:18bread
01:14:19maker's door a couple of weeks later and ask him about the bread because it's just put out there for
01:14:26whatever reason and you can either eat the bread and enjoy the bread or try the bread and never buy
01:14:33that
01:14:33bread again or ignore the bread altogether and Jandek may invite you to try to find out more about him
01:14:41but I think he knows that although the doors may be open on some of his album covers the door
01:14:49to over
01:14:50your analyzation is always close if you can't get it immediately you're never going to get it
01:15:23one of the reasons I was interested in talking to you and I don't know how you feel about this
01:15:27but
01:15:27this is this is the reason I'm calling up is I know a guy named Edward Rosin who used to
01:15:33be a
01:15:34photographer for Penthouse magazine and about a week ago he gave me a call and said that he wanted me
01:15:39to
01:15:39write for a music magazine that he's that he's working with through Penthouse called Spin but he
01:15:46wanted me to come up with various ideas and so I suggested Jandek or Jandek Records and so forth
01:15:51and I was interested in writing a short piece not more than about 500 words and
01:16:00I guess you don't like to be interviewed but I'd like to write a little about your records anyway
01:16:04if that's okay no problem about the records pardon no problem about the records okay but you don't
01:16:10want any personal information printed or anything rather not okay what to be honest with you right
01:16:16okay so what what industries is you is that correct it's a it's a company on record at the City
01:16:28Hall here
01:16:28in Houston of which I'm the sole proprietor oh I see okay so any anything going to the P.O.
01:16:35box is
01:16:35is actually you and you answer it and run it and so forth yeah well when when you strum the
01:16:42guitar and so
01:16:43forth is there any set tuning or is it a tuning that you made up or or how would you
01:16:47what would
01:16:48you uh call the the guitar tuning well uh I guess the epitome of the whole thing was that there
01:16:54was
01:16:54a review in uh in op magazine and and thank goodness most of the people except probably John Foster uh
01:17:01gave
01:17:02me um pretty good reviews in that magazine right matter of fact the first review I got was what kept
01:17:10me
01:17:10going because I I did one album and then for two years I didn't do anything and then I had
01:17:14a review
01:17:15from Philip Milstein you know magazine and uh-huh after I read that I just figured well I better keep
01:17:22going and that and that's sort of what kept me going right because I got a thousand of the first
01:17:26one done I thought I thought uh I was you know had a pretty good thing but I didn't get
01:17:31any response so
01:17:33anyway um they had a review in there uh of one of the more recent ones and it says may
01:17:40he never tune
01:17:41his guitar yeah and a lot of other people a lot of other reviews would say um just make reference
01:17:47to
01:17:48you know total you know lack of tuning the fact of the matter is I tune the guitar regularly uh
01:17:54-huh uh
01:17:55uh at least before you know each each session uh-huh um and frequently within the session between cuts
01:18:04but I don't tune it according to I just tune it so that it sounds the way I want it
01:18:08to sound I don't
01:18:09uh tune according to um you know scales or things you tune it by what sounds good to your ear
01:18:15yeah uh-huh
01:18:16that's fascinating and that's fascinating um also the uh the name Jan Deck now you explained that to me
01:18:23what at once and I forgot it and uh originally I had called uh the thing uh the units right
01:18:31n-i-t-s right uh the first album uh had a thousand done under that name right but I
01:18:37sent them to a
01:18:38record store in San Francisco and I got a real nasty letter from uh from somebody who sent me uh
01:18:46registered mail an entire portfolio of his group called the units and uh that if I didn't cease and
01:18:53desist using it they were going to sue me so I said well the heck with this and I just
01:18:57tried to find
01:18:57out some name that nobody would nobody would use right and uh I was speaking with it was January
01:19:07and I was speaking with somebody on the phone named Decker uh-huh so I just combined the two uh
01:19:13-huh
01:19:14that's great
01:19:17Jan Deck and I noticed you have some uh electric instruments such as electric guitar and they sound
01:19:25like uh drums like somebody on drums uh were you overdubbing the drums or somebody playing them along
01:19:31with you I got together with another individual who played the drums and did some vocals and I did
01:19:38guitar and vocals and I think there was a third individual who did some bass but but you don't
01:19:44remember their names or anything uh well you don't have to give me their names but are they they're
01:19:49friends of yours or just acquaintances or people that how do you run into these people that would
01:19:54actually play on your on your uh tapes um those people I don't remember their full names they had
01:20:00nicknames that I remember uh-huh how did you meet them or how did they come to uh to play
01:20:05uh-huh I don't think I can answer that uh-huh I don't need them
01:20:44I don't think it'd be right to answer that oh okay that's that's perfectly okay well and then in the
01:20:50future you're going to keep releasing these records on uh how how regularly will you release them I
01:20:56figure I can't go less than two a year yeah if I do I'll really go into obscurity which is
01:21:03you know
01:21:04maybe the case anyway right um two to three a year should be my target uh-huh I can you
01:21:11know I can
01:21:12I can afford that I think I don't have many hobbies or anything uh-huh yeah I've only sold about
01:21:19150
01:21:19copies in uh last five years 150 copies of all eight records yeah uh-huh I think there's nine now
01:21:28uh-huh and
01:21:29I noticed in in uh much of your uh work uh you talk about uh natural things naturalistic things you're
01:21:38talking about the rain and uh there's a title called liquids flow to the sea what is what is the
01:21:43essential message that you're expressing sort of the beauty of nature things of that nature or
01:21:50ah that's a tough one that's a tough one well I think it's almost inexpressible I think the best thing
01:21:55one can do is go back and listen to the pieces themselves because they speak for themselves but I was
01:22:00curious if you had any elaboration or almost self-analysis of why you write like what you write but
01:22:09that's almost an unfair question because uh it's very difficult to explain I mean you just almost
01:22:15do it spontaneously I know a lot of my work I do spontaneously without really analyzing it yeah
01:22:20yeah I think probably my uh the cut that I think has the most impact out of everything so far
01:22:28everybody has their own things that they like right the one that I thought had the the best poetry and
01:22:35in in everything was a cut on six and six called um oh I knew you would leave that code
01:22:47okay I knew you
01:22:49would leave does that refer to anything specific or uh just about you know uh someone that uh left
01:22:57you know you were um the inevitable um uh heaven flow of people into your life right and someone that
01:23:09has left uh quite totally right uh that's that's a universal phenomenon I think everybody knows that
01:23:16yeah I think so
01:23:17the rocks crumble
01:23:21until dust
01:23:24they die
01:23:26once hard
01:23:29stuff of
01:23:31mountains
01:23:32now it's all
01:23:35out
01:23:35among the
01:23:37sand
01:23:54that word the rocks crumble is is the whole thing it's like you know a rock that was one thing
01:24:03eventually crumbles either by deterioration from age or or water or a sledgehammer eventually it
01:24:13it crumbles into sand on the sea or or that I mean that's what happens to it and what was
01:24:19once a rock
01:24:20is then kind of goes into sand and eventually evaporates into the air just like water does and uh
01:24:28that's sort of what happens when um when somebody leaves they um there's a presence and uh then they evaporate
01:24:36and they're and you know they remain a big presence in your mind like big pieces of rock or something
01:24:42and then that sort of filters down and uh they're still there and what was once that rock is always
01:24:49going to be part of the universe
01:24:51right once that person is always going to be part of the uh the psyche of your mind I mean
01:24:57you know you may dream about something that someone you knew when you were seven years old
01:25:02you know when you're 37 or 27 right 17 or something
01:25:06and um
01:25:09they're always there or or maybe when you know when you're 89 right before you die you may
01:25:14think of somebody that you knew when you're 10.
01:25:16right it's like you know they they crumble and they and they disintegrate and they go but
01:25:21they're still part of of the universe somehow whether it's material or uh mental but that's you know
01:25:30it's like the rocks crumble unto dust they die once hard stuff of mountains now soft powder among the sand
01:25:38when the magic carpets
01:25:47fly to your planets
01:25:50fly to your planets
01:25:55you have no place on earth
01:26:00you have no place on earth
01:26:05who is it creates
01:26:09say
01:26:10say
01:26:11so
01:26:12the queen
01:26:17is it everyone
01:26:26you
01:26:27you
01:26:27you are a heathen
01:26:37erupting
01:26:39words
01:26:40of pretense
01:26:51you
01:26:55you
01:26:56you
01:27:01Sometimes I know it not
01:27:12As the air of nowhere is still
01:27:20And the weary sounds refrain
01:27:30Now the hyena cackles
01:27:40His clutch has found my heart bleeding
01:28:16And the weary sounds refrain
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