Destroyer Band of the Week Q&A transcript

Paste: Reactions to your albums have ranged from absurdly vitriolic to almost worshipful, with few falling in between. Why do you think Destroyer is so polarizing, and how do you feel about the fact that it is?
Dan Bejar: I think people were upset and confused by the positive ink spilled about Rubies. Music writers and tastemakers, in general, had never really liked Destroyer records, so it was a confusing situation. Now with some of that momentum behind us, it is safe for people to lash out once again against the band, my voice, the lyrics. People who like Destroyer seem to be really really into it, and the people who don't are generally a little dumbfounded as to how anyone could get excited about it, let alone stand it. It's really specific music, while most well-regarded music is really general. I could care less either way, just gotta write good, make music good, stay alive for the ages.

Paste: What do you think about album leaks and "premature evaluation"-type press? What role do you think blogs play in the music industry 2.0? How have the changing structure of the music industry and the methods of distribution of music affected Destroyer, if at all? How would you react to a request to put a Destroyer song in a commercial?
Bejar: I guess I don't know how many records an album is supposed to sell anymore, that's one effect of the the new age. But generally I don't think about these things. It's too hard to understand, I feel I'd either understand it or I wouldn't. I couldn't feel more removed from the social maneuverings of the music world, whether it be the internet or rock clubs or whatever. Destroyer music repels commercials. We've never been asked for a song, because the sound of rejecting commercials is written into the very fabric of my voice, words.

Paste: As an artist whose songs are full of linguistic gymnastics, how do you feel about the reading of lyric booklets vs. learning by listening? Are you a lyric-sheet reader yourself?
Bejar: I like lyric sheets, when they are incredibly good. This is seldom. I would have no desire to read a lyric sheet unless the music and the voice compelled me to. I know Pere Ubu's against it, but I like them. Lyric sheets, that is. And Pere Ubu. It might go back to really wanting to know EXACTLY what Mark E. Smith was saying. A lyric sheet can also be really harmful, like in the case of the copious shit writings of the Rolling Stones, which is a drag cause everything else is so cool about the Rolling Stones. So yeah, lyric sheets are bad 99% of the time.

Paste: What sort of effect do you hope your music has on other people, or the world at large? What would you say to someone who describes Destroyer as emotionally distant? Do you consider your music unsentimental?
Bejar: I think Destroyer music courts an emotional reaction just like all music tries to at some point, I bet. The fact that it's me talking and it's not me talking at the same time should have no effect on the emotional outcome of a song. I mean every word I say way more than everything everybody else is always saying, I swear. Destroyer songs are always romantic and political and that stuff is emotional. And poetry is emotional, it stuns you, it doesn't trade on stories or characters or concepts. And I always go for sweeping melodies, at least I think I do, even if I leave them behind when it comes time to sing them. And the band is emotional.

Paste: What's your relationship to your songs once they've been birthed; what kind of song daddy are you? Do you have favorite Destroyer songs? Which ones are the black sheep?
Bejar: I really like listening to the song "Widow's Walk" by Swan Lake. I don't listen to my own music often but that one, when I first heard the finished product, I listened to often. I really like playing songs from This Night with the Destroyer band. Black Sheep: Shooting Rockets is not a song I would necessary invite into back into my house, though I really like how it turned out, maybe even proud. What else - the band hated playing 3000 Flowers, so we just practiced it in the studio a couple times before recording it & Haven't played it since. Me, I thought it was pretty good...

Paste: How do you distinguish between a song that's right for the New Pornographers, a Destroyer song, a Swan Lake song?
Bejar:
New Pornographers: Write lyrics on the spot, stick to rock genres I really like, like "Under Pressure" or "Whatever Gets You Through The Night." Lay off lyrics in favor of melodic momentum and production. Rock. Picture other people singing. The only time I ever sit down and say "I'm gonna write a song" and then write a song.
Swan Lake: Still not sure.
Destroyer: Sky's the limit, unless the band refuses to play it cause they don't like it. Know that it will change.

Paste: Is Trouble In Dreams the official Destroyer make-out album, or what? Is it a sequel to Streethawk, or Rubies, or any specific previous Destroyer album? How did putting together the Hello, Blue Roses album influence Trouble In Dreams, if at all? What were the biggest differences between creating Rubies and Trouble In Dreams? (Bonus question: Kelly Clarkson reference in "Foam Hands": Yay or nay?)
Bejar: Trouble In Dreams has the most in common with This Night, followed by Your Blues. I say this for technical reasons, but those are really the only kind of reasons I can come up with when comparing one album to the next. I don't know how the Hello Blue Roses album influenced T.O.D., they are so dissimilar. HBR was so free and easy and generally fun to make, T.O.D. was the opposite of that. Rubies was way less of a constructed beast than T.O.D., I think, it's hard to remember. Rubies was purposefully cohesive and breezy and adult. Trouble In Dreams couldn't be contained like that. I don't know what Kelly Clarkson is, a singer with a song called "Foam Hands," I'm guessing.

Paste: What's the status of Destroyer as a band as opposed to Destroyer as a solo entity? At this point, have you solidified the lineup with some sort of permanence?
Bejar: Destroyer is whatever goes to tape or whoever shows up on stage, at any given moment.

Paste: As someone who participates in numerous musical endeavors with women but (so far as I can research) has kept Destroyer a Y-chromosome party, where do females fit into Destroyer-world (other than as lyrical foils for foibles)?
Bejar: I feel like there's a reason behind this, but I, to date, don't know what that reason is.