ACL Artist Interview: Daniel Johnston

This interview was fraught with some communication problems right from the start. I had to ring up Daniel’s elderly father Bill to set up the interview, who seemed puzzled and a little disturbed by my phone calls. Bill informed me that Daniel was not at home when I called, but that I should call around 2 pm the next day, as his son likes to sleep in. Thinking I’d give him some time to collect himself, I called at 2:15, only to learn that Daniel had come in at 2 pm, grew frustrated with the wait, and left. Bill told me to call back at 3 pm, and I was sure to be prompt about it.

Daniel was pretty quiet on the phone, and it was a bit of a struggle to get him to open up. It was also, to be completely honest, nerve-racking speaking to the man behind the legendary Hi, How Are You and so many other great records. Still, we made some good headway talking about his new album and playing live.

You’ve waited six years to make this new record. How did you know it was time?

Well, we hadn’t had anything out in too long. We wanted of course to have something - I have lots of material, so I hope to be releasing more in the future more regularly.

Okay. Was there something that made you want to work with Jason Falkner? How did that collaboration come about?

It was arranged in uh, - he got in touch with my brother and my brother got in touch with him. He had a really Beatles-esque sound, so it was really cool. Some really…the best production. It was great.

What was it like working together? Did he come up to Texas?

Yeah, he came up to where we live and everything…no, no, no, I forgot. We went to L.A. and recorded a couple of times. We had two sessions, and that about wraps it up.

Oh, so it all happened pretty quickly!

Yeah.

Image from Hi, How Are You

So, speaking of the Beatles, I guess you heard the new Beatles Rock Band is out.

Yeah that looks pretty good, I’d like to get that. I read about that.

So you think you’re going to play it some time in the near future?

What do you mean?

The video game.

Oh, I don’t know if I’ll be playing the video game. (laughs) They have a new release of everything re-mastered.

Oh yeah, that should be good, too. You told me you’ve been working on new material. What is it like day-to-day for you? Can you talk us through a working day?

I draw a lot. I try to play, try to write. I try to keep it going.

What time of the day do you like to work on music?

Just about all day…I mean I sleep in, or I watch a movie, or I’m playing the piano or drawing. You know, it keeps me going.

What’s going on with Danny and the Nightmares?

Yeah we…they’ve got a new album that we did coming out. Pretty scary…it’s a really good album, I love it a lot.

You’ve been playing with them for a while, haven’t you?

Yeah, we’ve been together for a long, long time. We plan to make a box set out of a lot of the songs that we’ve done since we got together. We’ve always recorded, so we have a lot of material.

Speaking of collaborations, we spoke with Jad Fair a while ago, and he told us about this Lucky Sperm record you did with Chris Bultman. Is there anything new for the Lucky Sperm or with Jad?

We’ve talked about getting together for a New Years or a Christmas album. I don’t know if that kid [Bultman] is still in town, I don’t know if he’s still around. Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

Are you going to be playing solo at ACL or with a backing band?

Yeah, next time I go on tour I’m going to try and have more of a solo set, and have the band play with me different instruments and stuff. I’m trying to put together a better show. But it really went over good; the crowd participation was crazy, they were yelling and screaming and stuff. It was fun times.

What’s one of your favorite live shows that you played?

What kind of show?

You know, like a live performance.

Well, the crowd just seems to go crazy, usually, even if I give up or make a mistake. I’ll stop playing and the audience is screaming. It’s really weird!