It’s ‘Crazy Clown Time’ with David Lynch
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The iconic director, whose debut solo album is out this week, talks jamming, electric music, working with Karen O, drinking beer and the origin of that ‘Crazy’ title.
Iconic weirdo director David Lynch releases his debut solo album, “Crazy Clown Time,” this week, and it is as predictably warped as its title suggests. Recorded with engineer Dean Hurley, the CD is a psychosexual map of twisted landscapes, blues guitar and Lynch’s own falsetto (think Neil Young hallucinating in the woods). He chatted about the album from Paris, where he was designing a bar, Silencio, loosely based on the club in “Mulholland Dr.,” and co-curating an exhibition on mathematics at the Cartier Foundation.
What inspired this album?
Dean and I like the ideas of blues, some kind of modern take on blues. That was an inspiration for each jam. I would think about a gasoline-powered guitar, a dirty sound. It doesn’t all stay dirty, a lot of it gets cleaned up, but I really like dirty music, electric music. I like the idea of electricity, when a guitar gets plugged into an amp. That moment is a thrill beyond the beyond. It’s just euphoria to me.
You spent more than a year recording. Describe the sessions.
A lot of times I’d say, “Dean, let’s jam. Are you up for it?” Dean would play the drums and I would play the guitar. A theme will start to emerge and then a variation will emerge on that theme.
Karen O sings on “Pinky’s Dream” and shares a songwriting credit. How did that collaboration come about? My music agent Brian [Loucks] said, “I want to bring Karen O over.” This was 10 years ago. Nothing really clicked. She drank two beers and left. Then Brian brought her again. This time I had the lyrics for “Pinky’s Dream” and Dean had the track. She listened a bunch of times and then she jumped in the booth. Something about the way she sings Pinky is really beautiful to me. It conveys a deep love for Pinky and a worry about him.
Can you explain what “Crazy Clown Time” means?
It’s a situation that happens when several people get together and drink a lot of beer. Some people feel it’s kind of sinister, to me it’s not. It takes them to a deeper place of fun, a crazier place of fun, a higher place of fun. People will create like crazy on a Saturday night. Do you know what I mean?
RELATED:
Personal Playlist: David Lynch
Critic’s Notebook: The lowdown with Tom Waits
David Lynch plotting ‘modern blues’ album, drops digital single
-- Margaret Wappler