with all these people outside my line of
work. And still, every time I go home to
my seven acres, surrounded by trees,
there’s still something that needs cleaning
up.
IE: What did you learn about yourself in
the process?
JB: Just to stick with things that were a lit-
tle more healthy, I guess. Looking back on
about myself. I also live with a family
where everyone kind of brings the best out
in each other, so nobody can just sit back
on their laurels. And if you have a good
partner and good people around you, you
wanna be the best you can, and that some-
times means that you really have to push
the envelope a bit and take yourself to
another level.
01•2019
my anxiety and a lot of the stuff I react
with, I realize now that a lot of the issues
with drama or aggression that I had kind
of take their toll on your partner. I mean,
I’m not a dramatic or aggressive person in
the house, but I had to find another way
[to deal with it] when the anxiety got real-
ly acute that I could actually see it clearly
for once. So I had to stop and ask myself,
“Okay — what is its impact on me? What
is its impact on my family? And what am I
gonna do to manage this for myself and
make it less traumatic for my family?” So
you push more into your health, your fit-
ness. And now, for one thing, I run every
day. I run every day to keep the crazy
away. Plus meditation, therapy, all that
kind of stuff. These are things I’ve been
doing for years and years. But every once
in a while you’ve really got to buckle
down.
IE: They also say that rich is the examined
life.
JB: Yeah. But I don’t want to make it all
IE: You finished the record over several
sessions. But it sounds like your crucial
move was going to Melbourne with your
wife, for her own studio work.
JB: That was one of the best times of my
life. I didn’t lose myself in her sessions at
all — I stayed home, homeschooled my
kid, and basically supported my wife, who
had supported me on the road for the last
ten years. I didn’t know what I was doing,
and I was happy with that because I was
home-schooling my son, and my sense of
value kicked in more at that point. But it
wasn’t triggered by being lost in her pres-
ence. Definitely not.
IE: What does a “Brown Eyed Bird” have
to do with anything?
JB: That’s about wanting to pull away
from all of the chaos that is modern life
and just make life simple. Sometimes life
can get a bit complex, and you’re like,
“Can we simplify this shit?” We live in
debt and work our asses off, and I think I
10 illinoisentertainer.com january 2019
Continued on page 18
January 18
Soilwork Verkligheten
Deerhunter Why Hasn't Everything
Joe Jackson Fool
Juliana Hatfield Weird
Lost Under Heaven Love Hates What You Become
Maggie Rogers Heard It In A Past Life
Pedro The Lion Phoenix
Sharon Van Etten Remind Me Tomorrow
Steve Gunn The Unseen In Between
Switchfoot Native Tongue
The Twilight Sad It Won't Be Like This...
Toro y Moi Outer Peace
Whitehorse The Northern South Vol. 2
Papa Roach
January 25
Backstreet Boys DNA
Blood Red Shoes Get Tragic
Bring Me the Horizon amo
FIDLAR Almost Free
Meghan Trainor Treat Myself
Michael Franti & Spearhead Stay Human, Vol. II
Mike Krol Power Chords
Mono Nowhere Now Here
Rat Boy Internationally Unknown
Rival Sons Feral Roots
Say Anything Oliver Appropriate
Sneaks Highway Hypnosis
Steve Hackett At The Edge Of Light
Swervedriver Future Ruins
The Dandy Warhols Why You So Crazy
Kid Koala Music to Draw To: Io
FIDLAR