Mark Kozelek

Mark: My main concern is people not knowing how to navigate any aspect of their lives without a phone. I have friends who have lived in San Francisco for 25 years who can't get to The Fillmore without their phone navigating the way. It's concerning because people will trust what their phone says more than a person sitting beside them. Wherever you are, people are living in two worlds; the world in front of them and the world on their phone. I don't mind a little of it - but when people can't do their jobs right because they're so distracted by what's going on in their phone, I don't see the upside. For myself, I don't sign up to any of it. Life's too short. I'm here to make art.

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Gia: This isn't exactly record related but one of my favorite lyrics - perhaps of all time - in a song is: "I can't go with my heart if I can't feel what's in it." Could you tell me a little about your songwriting process in regards to lyrics?

Mark: What song are you referring to? My process has changed a lot over the years. It used to be sitting in a room by myself and sweating bullets over a third verse to a song; trying to get to that 9th or 10th song to have a complete record. That approach fulfilled me for a while. It was all I knew. But it stopped making sense. Why add a third verse to a song I no longer felt or believed in? I got bored with verse/bridge/chorus song structure and started getting into more complex musical arrangements to stay awake on stage. Once I was into my 40s, fear was setting in. Fear of death. Fear of losing my parents. Fear of being diagnosed with this or that. Fear of crossing oceans. I started to write as a reaction, to cope. With age I mellowed a little; I walk a little slower. But I became more cathartic - vocally, lyrically.

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