Glen Phillips has seen the music world through a prism that has broken down the industry into a vast rainbow of colors of confusion. He helped found Toad The Wet Sprocket at age 14 while still in high school and the band was signed by Columbia Records by the time he was 18. More than a dozen years later, he was a solo artist and was on his own creatively and professionally. As a solo artist, he's worked with labels and independently with distribution. He's seen a lot during these changing times in the music industry and the business aspect has been a frustration.
"I finally just realized it doesn't make sense," said Phillips, about the business of music. "Abulum I recorded independently and then it came out on Brick Red records which then got almost immediately re-absorbed into Gold Circle Entertainment and that was just a fiasco. Mr. Lemons came out independently but with distribution through Fontana and Highwire."
In between Abulum and Mr. Lemons, Phillips released Winter Pays for Summer through the Lost Highway label.
"The business doesn't make a lot of sense to me and for awhile I was upset about that enough that I think I let it color my appreciation of music," he said. "I took it very personally. I'm kind of prone to depression and prone to anxiety so I managed to take it way, way, way too personally."
Phillips is now working primarily as a one-man operation, with help from a publicist and booking agent. The rest is more or less up to him, and that makes getting music like his new EP Secrets of the New Explorers in the hands of fans and expanding his audience challenging.
"At the size I'm at and the amount of money it takes to get above the noise floor these days, it takes either a lot of savvy, a lot of elbow grease on things that aren't music making, or a lot of luck or a combination of all of them," he said. "For many successful things it's a combination of all of them. "
If it sounds like Phillips is bitter, he's not.
"In the last year or so, I've made a pretty intense effort to stop worrying about it altogether," he said. "I can't afford to let it ruin music for me so I've mostly been making steps to enjoy music again and let the business be the business."
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
It is indeed a cool time to be a music fan. Its great that guys like Mr. Phillips can continue to make interesting music long after the "business" has lost interest.
2 - Josh Hathaway
Thanks, Sir Brewster. I agree completely, especially when if you take the time to listen to what he's done on his own. He's making great records.
3 - El Bicho
Transcripts of your radio interviews are a great idea on a number of counts (although I may be of a different mindset depending on what happens Tuesday ;)
4 - Glen Boyd
Great stuff here Josh. I've never been a huge fan of Toad The Wet Sprocket or of Phillips solo work (which I confess I haven't heard much of). But I found his insights on the music business both fascinating to read and quite eye-opening on a number of different fronts. At any rate, reading this interview certainly makes me want to look further into Phillips work as a solo artist. Again, kudos on a great read.
-Glen
5 - Josh Hathaway
Thanks, Glen. In one of the next installments of this series, Glen (Phillips) tips his hand a bit and points you in the direction of a good starting point when it comes to checking out his solo career.
I love all three of his full-length solo records for different reasons. With a gun put to my head, I think I come to the same conclusion he sort of does. Be on the lookout. It's a catalog worth investigating and people with souls like his music. :-) All right, that was overkill. Thanks for reading and the kind words. I do hope you'll make good and check out some of his albums. Be on the lookout for more from the series.
El B... Tuesday? What have you in store for then?
6 - Josh Hathaway
Part 2 coming tomorrow!!