Life Lessons With The War On Drugs
Led by Adam Granduciel, The War On Drugs has steadily risen as one of the world’s best rock and roll synthesists, bridging the gap between the underground and mainstream with their equally beautiful and devastating music.
At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, A Deeper Understanding won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album after a string of high praises from The New Yorker and Stereogum. Even without accolades, the band is iconic. I started listening to The War On Drugs quite late in life I must admit. The songs were always familiar whenever they came on, the kind you know from listening to it in the background growing up but I didn’t really ever consciously choose the band’s songs to put on for a long time. I distinctly remember one morning though, I was severely hungover and walking back from a friend’s house to the pub where I left my car the night before and ‘Thinking of a Place’ came on through whatever algorithm sends you songs at just the right time. The night before things didn’t go well with the person I was seeing. He was a great human and all, but it wasn’t working out and we both knew it. I don’t know if you’ve ever listened to that song, but if you have you’ll know what I mean. And because it was an eleven minute number, it sort of carried me all the way to my car with enough time to wrap up my feelings, get in the car and basically just move on. Music huh. Something special. Here’s my chat with frontman Adam Granduciel, who is as lovely as you’d expect a person to be if they can write a song like ‘Thinking of a Place.’
How are you?
I’m good. How are you?
I’m well.
Where are you?
Sydney. Where are you?
Oh, my favourite. I’m in LA.
You like Sydney?
I love it. Do you know the place called Bill & Tony’s?
I’m not sure I know it no.
It’s like a weird little Italian sandwich bar but it has two pinball machines in it.
I’m going to write this down.
You’ll probably go and be like ‘what this place?’ but it’s kind of like the first record you own. It’s not the band's best record but it’s the one you heard first so it’s your favourite. The first time we were in Sydney we ended up at Bill & Tony’s. You can sit on the sidewalk and drink coffee or beer. For some reason, it’s our Sydney place. We always go there and get a grilled cheese.
My first question was to ask you what your first record was and then what it is about Australia that you like, and you’ve just answered one and segwayed beautifully into the other without me having to do anything. This is already a great interview.
It was Phil Collins …But Seriously, with ‘Just Another Day In Paradise’ on it which is what drew me in.
Do you still have that record?
No not the same copy but I have it in my stack.
My parents kept all their records from when they were younger so I always like to ask if it’s the OG record. On the whole records thing as well I suppose now moving from vinyl/cds/ tapes to now streaming; people aren’t listening to whole albums all the way through anymore, does this affect how you put together an album, or do you curate it in the sense that it should be listened to from start to finish?
I think that you should just do whatever you want to do. For our band what we’ve done is think about it as a piece. I understand just putting out singles or holding off from putting out a full record. If I had a song that was any good and I recorded it tomorrow I’d be like let’s just put this out now you know? Let’s just release this fucking song. What I gotta write ten more of these things? By the time I finish those I’ll hate this one. I understand nowadays you don’t have to wait for it to be pressed and manufactured, you can just put it out. I think that’s cool. Beatles would record on a Saturday and its up on a Monday you know.
Yeah totally, I mean I guess you went against the whole streaming algorithm when you put out an eleven-minute song anyway right?
I know right. Sometimes you think who’s going to listen to that. But then people listen to it. You just do whatever you’re into. If the song is feeling good at eleven minutes or you just want to release your banger tomorrow these things are made possible with streaming now which is cool.
Do you prefer making happy or sad songs?
I like songs that are sad but sound beautiful. I was talking about Big Star to a friend where it’s fucking devastating music, but it sounds so beautiful. It’s why I keep coming back to it.
On that, I know a lot of people relate to your music often in grief. ‘Thinking of a Place’ and ‘Strangest Thing’ are good examples. Obviously, music has this incredible openness of interpretation and that might not have been your exact intention with the meaning of the song – but how does it feel to produce music that helps people through some of the hardest times in their life?
I never really know how to respond or react when someone says something in person but on the inside it’s such an amazing feeling. It’s an amazing gift for me as well. There’s no way for me not to feel grateful for someone else having that experience. I think if you make music, you love your music and you try and be honest in your music someone is going to react to it. If you believe in your music the way you believe in your music someone else is going to as well.
That’s beautiful. I’ve read that you struggled with depression during the making of Lost in the Dream was writing music a cathartic process for you?
I remember when I wasn’t in the studio I wasn’t writing. I was just sitting on a couch or walking around my neighbourhood not enjoying life. The last two records I did took a combined hundred years (laughs), or at least it felt like it, but I always felt like Lost in the Dream took forever but it actually didn’t take that long. There were just these pockets of months where I wasn’t working then we’d go to the studio and go make music and it would take my mind off it all. When I’d go home it would all come back. These recording excursions were almost therapeutic, it just took my mind off the poison. All the terrible things running through my mind – it would just lighten it a little bit. When I wasn’t in the studio it wasn’t as though I was always writing or recording to be cathartic in that process. It wasn’t all consuming in that sense.
Is mental health something that you are open about? Or is music the way you’re open about it?
In what way?
Do you let the music do the talking, like hey listen to this record this is how I’m feeling or do you do the talking?
Probably a bit of both. I remember when Lost In A Dream came out, I was having a hard time doing day to day lif but I had to do promotion. They’d be like ‘this guy is going to hang out with you for a day’ and I’d be like ‘oh poor guy.’ I couldn’t help but talk about it because it was all-consuming and I had to do press and couldn’t really hide it. I was very open about it because it made me feel better. Also I’m so happy I was open about it because it gave context to the record. People were receptive to the record because they were going through similar things. I try to be as open as much as I can about what it’s like to lose control. You’re never really cured of anything you just find ways to manage things and recognise when you’re having a panic attack
Thank you for your honesty on that. Did you think you’d ever get to this place with the band given all that?
I don’t even think I thought I would sing with a band. I didn’t think our band would become the thing that it has. It wasn’t overnight either though so we slowly sort of saw it. I used to have wild stage fright. Then I remember playing a show in 2005 and it was super fun, it was like when you’re young and you hit a triple at baseball and then the next day at school everyone at school is giving you high fives and you’re like woah this feels good. When I played a show people would come up and say ‘great show’ and I didn’t really expect it to feel that good but it does and then you keep doing it. Then it gets to a point where you’re like ‘I can’t believe I’m excited to play another show, I’ve been dreading this moment my entire existence and now I can’t wait to do it again.’ I’m still in that headspace. I mean I still get stage fright but it’s become an amazing experience. I’m still amazed at the opportunities we’ve been given and grateful for our whole band, crew, and operation, it’s just such an amazing group of people.
Winning a Grammy too, that’s got to add to the good feeling?
Yeah last time we were in Australia we won the Grammy! Well we were in New Zealand at the time on a Laneway tour. But yeah we won a Grammy. Sometimes I look at it and I’m like wow that’s crazy. What’s really cool is the box that it came in, it has this two-piece mould and it’s the most expensive foam mould I’ve ever seen. Maybe I’ll make another one from plaster.
More impressed by the box it came in (laughs) that’s something I would do. After the Grammy win, did you feel like there was more pressure or are you just in your own lane?
I think we are in our own lane which is nice. I felt that pressure the last two records a little bit but now I don’t feel it. Also we don’t have a label anymore which is cool. We reached the point where we’d been doing it the way you’re supposed to for a long amount of time but now we can just do it the way that is just all about us. Make a record by ourselves in our studios. It’s like what I said earlier about how it’s cool you can put out a record whenever you want? We can do that now.
My last question for you is what would be some advice that you would give your eighteen year old self, or not even yourself but a younger version of someone just starting out in music?
Don’t smoke.
Dammit.
As if I can talk (laughs). Nah it’s cheesy but just do your thing.
That’s not cheesy.
Yeah just do what makes you happy. There’s no rush to become successful. There’s no rush to make your first album you just have to immerse yourself in it. If you love photography just do it, you don’t have to have this goal of making a photography book to do it and love it. It will turn into something that you never expected if you try to not put all this pressure on yourself.
