There's a definite machinery behind everything that a band does, and sometimes it's hard to figure out how far to go in delegating certain responsibilities and staying COMPLETELY DIY. Ted Leo More Quotes by Ted Leo More Quotes From Ted Leo If you live up against train tracks, it can make your life a living hell. Ted Leo hell track train Someone once said that "The Waste Land" was a scum of poetry floating on a sea of footnotes. That resonated with me, because that's kind of what I was doing lyrically for a while. I was being very referential in a way. I would drop in these little phrases or ideas that were sort of portholes into a whole bigger realm of thought or whatever, that would work within the song, but that you could also poke through into a bigger discussion. Ted Leo land song ideas I love touring. But it's super nice to have a new reason to play shows that isn't based around that perennial cycle of album/tour/promotion. Ted Leo albums nice play When you make a record and have to go out on tour for it, you have to go out on tour for it. Whether it's going to be joyful or not, you have to do it. Ted Leo joyful records You play the one song that people want to hear the most every night, and for every audience that's a special thing. And usually that translates back to you. Ted Leo play song night When you're traveling on a body of songs that you have played for many, many years, for most nights of your life - I'm sure you've experienced this yourself - it's not that every night is not it's own thing. It is. Ted Leo song night years As I've grown older I've been more influenced by more meandering styles of guitar playing, whether it's Celtic or Ethiopian folk music or some kind of noisier jazz like Sonny Sharrock. In terms of songwriting, I don't know that I could even pin it down. Ted Leo jazz style guitar I actually dream a lot of songs, and I try to be good about voice-memoing ideas. Ted Leo dream song ideas I know that the dream mind is irrational, but I like to think that if I hear something in a dream that's really good, then it's irrational... but it's not crazy. Ted Leo crazy dream thinking If so much of your experience is devoted to the thought of documentation, you're already sort of spinning out this narrative from this moment that you are attempting to control instead of just experiencing it. Ted Leo documentation spinning narrative The obsessive documentation is itself adjacent to hyper-consumption in our society. The desire to just have everything all the time and adjacent to that is - it might be a little hokey but - a certain loss of identity that then only gets sort of found or ascribed to these moments that are documented. Ted Leo identity loss desire I'm even old-school Instagram. I'm here for your "What did you have to eat today?" I'm fine with that. Ted Leo instagram today school I actually enjoy Instagram. I enjoy seeing what people who I have some connection to are doing around the globe. Ted Leo instagram connections people I do feel like at the end of anger I have to have something that grounds it. Ted Leo ends feels Some people never need to let up at all. Ted Leo people needs The early 2000s for me were a very emotional time, politically. I'd been through Reagan and been through first Bush and Clinton, and it's not like I had an easy time through those years. But I just thought it was particularly rough. I have to say the World Trade Center attack was very weird for me. The events that followed were worse. It was a really long swath of time. Ted Leo emotional long years
