28 Déc Interview – Declan McKenna talks about his latest album and the relationship with fans

An interview with the Londoner, in a year synonymous with his third album.

Une version française est également disponible.

SOB : Thank you for your time. First question, about your latest album. How do you feel about it?

Declan McKenna : Excited. Yes, I’m very excited. This album has a lot of different worlds, and the more the singles came out, the more we started to discover all the contours.

SOB : Could you tell us a bit more about the single Elevator Hum?

Declan McKenna : I feel like people like it, it’s one of the ones I always come back to and listen to a lot. And, you know, when I play it to my friends, it’s a song we all like a lot. There’s an energy that I guess came from working independently and just exploring things on my own. Then, after all that, I had to collaborate. So there’s a pretty free energy in that and in the whole process. So yeah, it’s really exciting, it’s really different and I don’t think there was any separation between the writing process and the recording compared to the other two albums. It was Luke [Burgoyne] who produced the album, except when I was working in Los Angeles.

SOB : And did you record in L.A.?

Declan McKenna : As I said, I recorded this stuff at home and it ended up on the album, but for the most part, Luke and I worked in his apartment in L.A. and so did Simon, who engineered all the tracks. We worked in the studio at his place too. So it was kind of like, yeah, 70 or 80% recorded in L.A. and then there’s a bunch of stuff that came from my own sessions at home too.

SOB : There’s something sunny about this song, perhaps more so than your other tracks.

Declan McKenna : Even for the second album, I worked in America, but I’d written everything in advance, whereas this time it was more because I wasn’t there yet. I had a lot of music written, but nothing finished. When I got to L.A., there was still room for things to change a bit more in terms of content.
And yes, you feel the sun and they were influenced that way, but there are also, I guess, moments on the album where there’s something a little more complex than L.A.. which made the album because it was on the surface really great, but it’s also an interesting place for me because it’s so different from home and life, we feel a little isolated there and there’s just a little bit of a darker side, I guess. But yeah, it really influenced the sound of the album. And I’ve had the experience of making music and I feel like my initial plan was to write with a lot of people. But Luke, who was the first person I worked with, knew within a week that we were going to make an album. So we kept working together.

SOB : One of my favorite tracks by you is Nothing Works, and it’s kind of what you’re saying: certainly a sunny side but also a dark one.

Declan McKenna : It was also a combination. I feel like the brighter side came with Luke and L.A., where we started with the chorus, what would become the chorus, and then the verses came from writing in London with a friend, Jake, and chords that were a little more, you know, edgy. So it’s really a song where the contrast is very clear to me.

SOB : In a video you shared, you posed as an elderly person, a musician, talking about recording what happened to him. How do you see yourself and your career now that your third album is out?

Declan McKenna : I don’t really know, it’s just that I’m always thinking about trying to find new ways to make music in a way that I enjoy. And I’m really dying to get it. It’s hard to imagine myself doing this, just this forever, even though I can’t see myself stopping. I’m starting to imagine myself balancing that with other things, you know, having my own projects, but producing stuff, you know, it’s like being able to do that for other people or for anything, it’s starting to become a little more tangible. I think a few years ago I was like, “I want to be a producer,” but now I’m just producing this stuff and owning it to a certain extent. But I can see it becoming a bigger part of my life. So I’d like to be able to balance different creative projects. It’s hard to imagine because I like to go wherever inspiration takes me at any given time. But I really think that collaboration will be an integral part of what I do, because I can’t imagine ever growing old.

SOB : But this isn’t your last album, is it?

Declan McKenna : No, not the last one! I’ve got a lot of music, lots of songs. There was bound to be an album in all this jumble of different ideas. But now I’ve got even more, you know, there’s 11 full songs on the album but there’s loads more that are in a really cool place and that I want to push forward. I don’t think a lot of them will be left out.

SOB: And in terms of your age, do you think you were prepared when you achieved fame and everything? I don’t know, maybe you had some advice you could share with us?

Declan McKenna : I don’t think I could have prepared for it. But I think if I fell into this kind of career even at this age, I don’t think I’d be prepared. I think you just have to have a little experience. Even though people tell you and warn you about the music industry, you don’t really understand how things move and work until you’ve been in it for a while. So I think there’s a lot of learning to do, you know, I was 16, 17 when I started. But at the same time, I feel pretty, you know, confident as a person, as an artist at the age I am. So I’m very grateful to have had this experience because I don’t see any other way of having it. There are so many things I’ve really gone through in my apprenticeship as an artist, from the time when I thought I had to do things a certain way to the time when I opened up and became a teenager again with music. Like approaching things with freedom and being able to do it with the things you’ve learned over time. It’s really a delicate balance, like understanding the creative process. And also, you know, everything else, touring and all that. You need experience to learn. I just try to make music like I’m some kind of teenager again and have no expectations, because for me, that’s where the magic happens. And that’s the thing I would focus on as a new artist, is achieving that freedom and not wondering if it’s right for this or that person or if it’s this or that music you like, just being able to let go and go for it, I think that’s the key. And then everything else, I don’t know, the commercial side, there’s no advice for that, it’s just again, follow your instincts and do what’s right for you.

SOB : Speaking of your fans, there are a lot of young people and girls in your fanbase and sometimes on the Internet, and sometimes negative comments about them are said. What do you think about these kinds of comments about your fans?

Declan McKenna : In fact, a large proportion of my concerts are attended by girls and young women. And I think it’s the same for most artists today. I have the impression that it’s been like that, I don’t know, it’s almost been like that for a long time. I think that’s something that shouldn’t be taken for granted and shouldn’t be taken seriously, like critics. I think in this day and age, people will criticize anyone for anything. If you like something, you don’t have the right to like something because it’s disgusting or, I don’t know, whatever. And I don’t believe in that stuff. Yeah, I don’t. People like what they want to like. I think it’s easy to get carried away and forget that everybody has things they’re fanatical about, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s like it’s great for me. I don’t know where I’d be without people who aren’t afraid to love music. I think that’s why the reviews seem to be about me, which is ridiculous, because I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t a fanatic. That’s true. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t a fanatic.

SOB : And there’s a follow-up question. Are you familiar with parasocial relationships?

Declan McKenna : I think the YouTube era has left a kind of imprint, like we can all be friends. I know nobody’s saying anything particularly bad, but sometimes I feel like it’s set a precedent for me as an artist. Part of my job is to be a character or to be everybody’s friend, and that’s not possible. But I’ve got other things I’m concentrating on, so I don’t know. But as I said, I think over the last couple of years I’ve had the impression that things often get weird and people have a right to expect things from you that you think they shouldn’t. And that’s very hard to explain. And that’s very hard to explain at times like that. even without realizing it. I certainly find it overwhelming at times. That’s the thing I love most, talking to the fans. It’s great to be on an equal footing with people. We can talk about music and other things. Like I said, it’s pretty rare. But when I pass someone on the train and we can have a conversation, I don’t feel that’s the case, when I come out of every concert I can’t really. It’s a normal social environment. So you have to act a little bit differently or try to navigate it. But yes, there is, I think, a greater awareness of the fact that these more intense situations are quite an overwhelming experience. And I think people are noticing it more and more, but I think it’s probably because my family is getting older too. And I think that’s kind of why I hope that people who follow my music really like this album because it’s authentic, you know, authentic because it follows my journey through music and music-making in a good way, like I’m not trying to bend to what they liked in the past. It’s me continuing to grow and I hope it’s the same for them. And that’s what I’ve come to understand from talking to people who really like this kind of journey and who say they listened to this album when they were 17 and that one when they were 20, and that’s great.

SOB : We’re coming to the end. Would you like to add anything?

Declan McKenna : Nothing in particular. Support your local record store. Peace and love guys. That was fun.