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CK: He's really fun. Like just the sort of ragtime energy in Blind Blake. It just makes you want
to get up and dance around, and so he was an amazing musician. If you can get a little bit of that
spirit from him, you've got a lot to tangle your fingers with, for sure.
BiTS: What a fabulous player. He always leaves me open-mouthed when I listen to his music.
CK: Yeah. Yeah, Blind Blake.
BiTS: Tell me, when you made the album, did you
do it all in one go, or was it done over a period of
time?
CK: Well, it was within about three or four days. I
would go every day and I record at this place called
Flat Black Studios. I've recorded a whole bunch since
2011 and I've been working with Luke Tweedy. I
don't do that where I just stay there all day and night
and record the whole thing like I did when I was 30
[laughs]. I'll go and play for three or four hours and
do that for three or four days in a row, and usually
those sessions will result in a record. It was the same
with this one and I think I was maybe overly
prepared because I ended up recording 22 songs.
We just kind of kept going and so yeah, so there's 15
track cuts on this record, which in effect is really a
double album. As long as I can come up with good
things and the formats sort of allow it, I'll keep
making double albums [laughing] as long as they
sound good and they're interesting and you know it
offers good music. But I do like that intensive period
leading up to making the record of just working on material and then when I get to the studio,
I'm usually pretty ready, so there's not too much wasting time every cut. I'll try it, you know,
three or four times and usually something really good comes out.
BiTS: I think you pretty much answered what my next question was going to be, which is, do
you find that, especially with your own tunes, you change things when you're in the studio? But
I guess you don't because you've got them all down.
CK: Not that much, and yeah, and when I write the songs, they usually pop out fully formed
and pretty quickly. Like when I write a song, usually within 20 minutes, you know, I'll have the
whole thing and it's very rare that I'll even change any lyrics or anything really, but I don't have
to have a guitar with me when I write a song. Often, I'll write, I'll be sitting there quietly, and
nobody will know it, but I'll write a song just kind of all in my head and then I'll kind of forget
about it for a while. Then when it's time to make a new album, I'll sort of craft it, you know.
BiTS: Do you put it on some sort of recorder?
CK: No, not really. Not until I get into the studio, unless I'm trying to work on, you know, singing
harmonies to myself or something like that.
BiTS: Doug McLeod told me that any idea that he gets he puts it on a tape, his little machine,
and then uses it later.