Catching Up With...Steve Lillywhite

Producer Steve Lillywhite is likely never called a slacker. Having entered the music business in the '70s, he has since won multiple Grammys and worked with some of the biggest names in music, from U2 to the Rolling Stones to Talking Heads. More recently, he signed MGMT to Columbia Records during his tenure as Senior Vice President of A&R. And he still goes out to shows all the time, waiting to fall in love with a new group of artists and produce their next album.

Somewhere in between recording with Bono and eating dinner in Dublin, Lillywhite took a some time to catch up with Paste about how he got started in the music industry, how much he likes NPR and why he will fight to save the recording studio.

Paste: We posted a news story the other day about how you’ve signed on with WXPN to do "The Lillywhite Sessions at Avatar Studios."
Lillywhite: That’s right, it’s something that I thought would be a bit of fun, really, because people spend so many weeks and months making albums nowadays. I thought it would just be a nice thing to do, to go in pretty much like in the old-style recording where you go in for three hours and see what you can come up with.

So there’s a definite time restraint, and sometimes having a time restraint enables you to be very creative in a short space of time. So it’s really that, and to be honest, I’ve done a couple of them already, and the great thing about it is that I get to record these people as they are on tour. When people are on tour, they’re really good singing, and they’re really at the top of their game. So we’ve got some really good performances already, and I’m really excited to be doing this as much as I can, even though I have another job which is as a proper record producer.

But I think this is a good idea, and certainly the name of it: "The Lillywhite Sessions." I did this album with a band called Dave Matthews Band, well, it was an album that I never really got paid for and it got given away free on the Internet at the height of Napster, and I thought, “Well, if I don’t get anything for it, the least I can do is to own my own name.” So I’m going to call this "The Lillywhite Sessions" because people sort of know what that is anyway, even though it has nothing to do with Dave Matthews Band. I just thought, “Well, I should own my own thing.” If I ever do a book, I’m going to call it The Lillywhite Sessions. I would just like to get my name out there as something as well as a producer, to try to do something a bit different.

Paste: I think there’ll be some big name recognition with "The Lillywhite Sessions" linked up to that album.
Lillywhite: Yeah, and NPR is great; they don’t have to play commercial music, they can just do what they want, and they’ve got great taste, these people. I’m a big supporter of NPR. It doesn’t take commerciality into account, and I think that’s really good.

Paste: Was it your idea? Did you approach them, or did they approach you to do the show?
Lillywhite: Well, a friend of mine was in Philly, and basically, World Café was saying that they sometimes have trouble getting artists to come out to Philadelphia, that they would love to do something in New York. And I said, “Well, I’m in New York and Avatar Studios is a spectacular studio. Why don’t we all join up and have a bit of fun?” It won’t take long, and we should be able to give the listeners something really good to listen to.

Paste: The first one is going to be She & Him.
Lillywhite: She & Him, yes, and you know Zooey. I think when she made her album, you know, it’s a great album, but the way that she sings now is breathtaking. And you listen to the album, you think she’s a good singer. When you hear this session, you realize she’s a great singer. It’s so beautiful. You’ll love it. Yeah, so that’s about it, really.

Paste: So were these the people that you were scheduled to work with already, or did you sign them up for the program itself?
Lillywhite: No, I can pretty much bring people in myself if I want. She & Him was something that was decided by the radio station, but to be honest, if I’m not the world’s biggest fan of the artist, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, it’s only for three hours. And there’s no questioning that these sort of people are creative people, and it’s not like I’m going to get someone who is…any American Idol people. You know, I’m going to get real artists who are serious about their music. Well, not that American Idol isn’t serious, you know, but I think it’s going to be really good.