Silver Jews may be marking
20 years in existence next year,
but this will be only the second
album they have toured.
"When I started out I really felt
there wasn't a big demand for Silver
Jews live," says songwriter and sole
remaining founder member David
Berman from his home in Nashville.
"I had more self-identity as an artist
working in isolation. Becoming
a performing artist is more about
entertaining. They don't call for
original thought, they call for an ability
to make it seem like you're playing the
songs for the first time.
"I always felt I would be a fake. But after many years of working
in isolation I woke up to the fact
there were enough fans out there
I could tour for."
The first Silver Jews tour followed
up the band's last album, 2005's
Tanglewood Numbers, when Berman
made the decision to do things he
previously would have refused.
The ongoing connection with the
fans is underlined in the artwork
of Silver Jews's latest album, Lookout
Mountain, Lookout Sea. With each
copy is a little card with details of all 16
chords featured on the compact disc.
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"There's a lot of talk about giving
music away for free," says Berman.
"Really people are talking about
recordings. With this we are teaching
a man how to fish, because the
music of The Silver Jews is so simple.
"I'm not a complex songwriter,
but you can turn that into a strength
and find ways to write songs using
the simplest chords.
"It's like a folk music throwback.
Why don't more bands put their chords
in? You put lyrics in the liner notes."
Initially The Silver Jews was closely
connected to cult alternative rock band
Pavement, which broke up in 1999.
Various Silver Jews line-ups included
Pavement's Steve Malkmus, Steve
West and Bob Nastanovich.
"It's quaint to me now that Pavement
gets mentioned in the same breath
as us," says Berman. "There are
now more Silver Jews albums than
Pavement albums, and we are active,
while Pavement can't evolve
any more. They are always in the
shadows, although they are no longer
a threat to me."
The likelihood of another Silver Jews
album in the future depends on the
direction of the music industry.
"If it goes into an all downloading
business I will step away," says Berman.
I'm not interested. I always wanted my
music to be separate from other music.
I don't want it to be on compilation
albums. I try to stay away from remixes
and collaborations. I feel downloading
brings everything together."
And he isn't necessarily planning
to continue going out on stage
ad infinitum, being quite happy
to return to his other profession
as a writer and poet.
"I'm OK with this being the last
Silver Jews record and transferring
back over the line away from rock
music," he says. "I'm happy to leave it
to the youngsters. There is a certain
amount of embarrassment for older
men as they continue to play rock
music, so I would like to avoid that.
"The Rolling Stones all look like they
are still trying to be boys, and there is
something shameful about that to me."
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