don’ t influence lyrics— they do. It’ s just more in pieces, and it’ s spread out between different songs.
IE: Why title the album Out Loud? GK: It doesn’ t really have a big meaning— it just sounds like expressing myself, I guess. It’ s just me expressing myself.
IE: All of your early records were done using relatively primitive technology. How have all the recent improvements in technology made your job easier? And do you fear or welcome AI? GK: Oh, that’ s a whole different can of worms there, AI. But the big change, of course, is going from analog into tape into digital, and one would think that it’ s all good, because there’ s more tracks and an unlimited amount of plug-ins for effects, compressors, equalizers, and reverb— that sort of thing. And you’ d think that would be a good thing. But it also just puts more colors on the palette, and what you think is good can make it more difficult to make decisions. So you have to be careful with the technology— there are way more options and unlimited tracks. I mean, keep in mind that we started off with a stereo at first and then a four-track, and we did the best we could with that. But we couldn’ t have imagined that we would eventually have 200 empty tracks to fill. But that can work against you, too, because then, when do you stop? So you have to have discipline, which is what I’ m saying, and try to think
of it still in the analog world.
IE: And now you can just multi-track your own voice into that trademark ethereal blend. GK: Yeah, we worked really hard on all that stuff. And you can really do more with digital, but you can also overdo it, too. If you have too much overdubbing, it can sound homogenized and not as
dynamic. So again, you have to be careful with it, but it’ s an amazing technology. And it’ s allowed anyone to make a record, essentially. You can just employ Apple’ s GarageBand— it’ s cheap, and you buy a little interface, and you’ re ready to go— you’ re making records.
IE: In a nutshell, what was your experience on Elektra like? GK: It was the most exciting time of my life, and I think we all would say this— it was the most frustrating, too. All of the things you’ ve heard about record labels? It’ s all true, you know? And it is a business at the heart of it all, and that’ s what you can never forget. When we started doing it, there was a studio engineer telling us— and this was when we were first doing a single for Bomp—“ You have to understand that the record labels are just banks— the system on that is just banks.” In other words, it’ s a business, and that’ s just how it runs. They’ ll say they like you, and they MAY like you, but the business will rule. Whether it’ s
Continued on page 14 newreleases May 1
American Football LP4 Kacey Musgraves Middle Of Nowhere Maya Hawke Maitreya Corso Melanie C Sweat = The Black Keys Peaches! The Claypool Lennon Delirium Great Parrot-Ox... Toadies The Charmer Tori Amos In Times Of Dragons Young the Giant Victory Garden
May 8
Broken Social Scene Remember the Humans MUNA Dancing On The Wall Social Distortion Born To Kill The Lemon Twigs Look For Your Mind!
May 15
All-American Rejects Sandbox Kevin Morby Little Wide Open The Field Now You Exist
May 22
Bleachers everyone for ten minutes Visible Cloaks Paradessence
May 29
Dogstar All In Now Guided by Voices Crawlspace Of The Pantheon Kurt Vile Philadelphia’ s been good to me Paul McCartney The Boys Of Dungeon Lane Violet Grohl Be Sweet To Me
American Football
Social Distortion
10 illinoisentertainer. com may 2026