Interview: Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum - Page 2

We were originally going to go in before that, but then Karl got diagnosed with cancer. It was a major set-back and none of us at the time… we new it was serious, obviously, and we knew it was life threatening, but we believed Karl would pull through. So when the initial cancer when into remission and had recovered from the chemo and the radiation, it really lit a fire under us. Karl really wanted to record, so we started as soon as he had recovered sufficiently.

It must have made it difficult to record of the second half though (after his passing)?

It really was, you know. But it was actually difficult recording the first half too. It was pretty inspiring in a way and I think Steve Hodge, who was doing the record at that point, was pretty good with Karl too.

It was just Karl was recovering and he really wanted to do it. He'd come in and be really strong and other days he would be, "Dude, I'm just too sick." You'd never know. But just the fact he was there everyday was kind of humbling in a way. What ever problems you thought you were having that day just seemed so incredibly insignificant. It was a huge dose of perspective.

You have a reputation for your music growing and changing over the 80s and 90s. Was that a conscious effort to adapt with what was going on in the industry?

It really goes the other way. If you would quiz myself or Dave on contemporary music, we wouldn't even get on Jeopardy (Laugh). To be honest with you, it's not even because I'm lazy it's just that I don't follow it. I've never heard of hardly any of these bands.

I have a teenager, so I kind of listen to what he goes through, but it seems to change pretty quick for kids. For six months you're into Reggae and then it's pop-punk, you know, and then it's hip-hop, it's all over the place. (Pauses)

But yeah, actually when I listen to this record, it's a guitar record. It kind of reminds me of what we were trying to do sonically with the guitars with the Twin Tone and A&M records. It just seems to be really really big, loud country guitars that are recorded really well. Like Made to be Broken and While You Were Out. To me it just seems like a continuation, I think we've gotten less adolescent and what not.

Article Author: Connie Phillips

Wife, mother, aspiring novelist, and music editor at BC Magazine, Connie Phillips spends most of her time in a fantasy land of her own creating. In reality, she writes about music, television, and the process of writing, when she's not cheering on her kids at equestrian events. …

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