Joe Chiccarelli: A Veteran's Commitment to Quality Pays Off

He’s never had a blockbuster. Then again, he’s never needed one. Over his quarter-century career as a producer, engineer and mixer, Los Angeles-based Boston native Joe Chiccarelli has followed his tastes rather than the dollar sign, contributing to memorable recordings from the likes of Frank Zappa, Oingo Boingo, The Bangles, Lone Justice, Tori Amos, American Music Club, Beck, U2, Rufus Wainwright, Elton John, Pink Martini and Morrissey.

Chiccarelli’s career crescendoed in 2007, as he produced The Shins’ Wincing the Night Away, engineered and mixed The White Stripes’ Icky Thump and recorded the first half of The Raconteurs’ much-anticipated second album. He also produced jazz singer Kurt Elling’s Nightmoves, which topped the Billboard jazz chart.

“I never had the big hit with the band of the day,” Chiccarelli says. “When everybody was making all these ’80s hair-band records and selling millions, I had no interest in that. So there were times when it was hard to get a gig. It’s taken me a while to realize that if you just associate yourself with good music and stick to stuff that you really believe in, hopefully in the end it’ll triumph—even if does take 25 years.”

Shins leader James Mercer had never worked with a producer, but after spending nearly two years on the follow-up to Chutes Too Narrow in his Portland, Ore., bedroom, he realized he could use the expertise of a studio artisan to bring some of his ideas to life. So he called on his friend Chiccarelli, whose brain he’d picked intermittently throughout the process. After the producer had given his feedback on the material and determined what was usable from the home recordings, he and Mercer began overdubbing the lead vocals in a local studio.

“I just threw out some ideas: how to sing this section, or trying a harmony here, trying a different voice, moving the melody, that kind of stuff,” Chiccarelli says. “And I think, all of a sudden, he went, ‘Oh, so that’s what a producer does. This isn’t so bad. It’s not like he’s telling me to be somebody I’m not; he’s just giving me some choices.’”

Riding a newfound momentum, Mercer and Chiccarelli brought in the rest of the band to further develop the tracks. “It was a pretty natural process,” Chiccarelli says. “James tries to involve the band in everything, but he’s also kinda shy about stuff in that he won’t play songs for them until he thinks they’re really good. From that point, whoever had an idea, or whoever was best qualified to play a particular thing, did the part.”

After pointing out that Wincing has sold nearly 500,000 albums Stateside, Chiccarelli acknowledges that “a lot of the cool kids really dissed this record—they thought it was too much of a departure. But artists have to change. As their careers progress, they want to try different things and experiment. You can’t expect that they’re gonna make the same painting every time. As a kid, I never expected Jimi Hendrix or Led Zeppelin to keep coming up with the same album every time. It was, ‘What are they gonna do now?’”

Jack White tapped Chiccarelli for the new White Stripes album after hearing Wincing. “We did the album all 16-track analog, because Jack loves all that old stuff,” Chiccarelli says. The album was cut live off the floor, and a lot of it took shape in the studio. “We might get the body of the song,” Chiccarelli recalls, “and then Jack would come up with some new riff, and he’d say, ‘I got this idea. It’s in the same key as this other track—let’s just put it down on tape.’ And then we’d turn it into the bridge for another song. Jack really trusts his instincts; he never labors over stuff. He knows what a good performance is, and he’s fearless about it—he’s willing to try anything.

And then there’s Meg, whose simplicity Chiccarelli adores. “She’s really underrated, and I feel so bad for the shit that she gets,” he says, “She may not be Jack DeJohnette or Neil Peart, but there’s something that she does that is perfect for him and for that band. There is no White Stripes without Meg. Something magical happens when they play together.”

Both the Shins and White Stripes records sound like they could’ve come out at any point in the last 35 or 40 years, and if Chiccarelli can be said to have a particular signature, it’s locking down that sense of timelessness. “It’s pretty basic,” he says of his approach. “Jimmy Iovine was a mentor of mine, and his thing was, you work with great artists and you make great records. You just hope that you’re allowed to be in the room with these people.”

The producer is spending the home stretch of 2007 in the room with Sub Pop discovery Daniel Moore, Aussie band Augie March and the widely adored My Morning Jacket. In January, he’ll go to Nashville to finish the Raconteurs album. Nice work if you can get it. “The best part of the job,” Chiccarelli says, “is when the artist comes up to you and says, ‘Man, I love this record. You really got something here—this is exactly what I heard in my head.’”