AVC: Has Modest Mouse heard the record?
MK: Not that I'm aware of. I know that he got it, 'cause I sent it to him—I sent him and the band and the manager a copy of the CD, but I've not heard any definitive response from anyone as to whether they like it. It could be because, you know, they don't like it, it could be because they're doing a million other projects. I know Isaac does A&R and produces bands, and he's got Modest Mouse. [Laughs.] Maybe it's just under his radar. Or he doesn't care. I don't know.
AVC: Looking back at all your covers, do you see a common thread?
MK: Not really, but like, right now, the Modest Mouse covers record, it's too close to me for me to know exactly why I've done it. A few years from now, I might be able to look back and say, "Okay, this is why." That's how everything is. It's like a bad relationship—you're like, "Why am I involved in this?" And then two years later, you're able to look back and go, "Oh man, you know, I was really insecure, and I was—." You know what I'm saying? I think that with the AC/DC record, looking back on that, that was my little opportunity to say, "Hey, I'm shallow, too." [Laughs.] I have depth to me, but I also have another side that is, you know, sexual, or there might be sides to me that the average person who doesn't know me, who has this illusion of me, isn't aware of. With the AC/DC record, I was able to sort of say some things that I felt like saying through Bon Scott. [Laughs.] It was just my way of singing some shallow songs about girls and one-night stands. It's like, "Hey, I want to sing about that shit, too!" [Laughs.]
AVC: You've recorded under three different names, but you've steered all three projects. At this point, how do you decide which name you'll use?
MK: Well, I don't know. It made sense when I had done the Ghosts Of The Great Highway record—I gave it a name as just sort of an idea. I wanted to put on a new coat, bring something different to it, and I think that it worked. Journalists that hadn't talked to me in five years, who were bored with Red House Painters, were all of a sudden asking me about this new band I was in. [Laughs.] It was actually a Red House Painters album with a different name—I mean, Jerry [Vessel] and Anthony [Koutsos] played on the record. I wanted to confuse people and sort of bring attention to the record from the press, and it worked—the record ended up selling way more than anyone was expecting it to. And because of that, it just made sense—again, on a purely business level—that I called the next album Sun Kil Moon, just to sort of keep the momentum. If I was 22 years old, I wouldn't give a shit, and I'd call it whatever, and I would purposely shoot myself in the foot, because I didn't care if I was living in somebody's closet. But now I'm in a place in my life where I'm thinking about my future and I'm thinking about what's best, so it's just the right business move for me to call it a Sun Kil Moon record.
AVC: So what's happening with Red House Painters?
MK: It's funny, because we're all better friends right now than we've ever been. I'm really close with those guys—Phil [Carney] from Red House Painters has been traveling with me for some tours, and Anthony from Red House Painters played on the last two Sun Kil Moon records. But basically, this band just never really got to the next level, where it needs to go in order to keep going. You see bands that have been around for a long time, and I think it's because a certain level of success is conducive to keeping them together. I mean, when Metallica was going to break up, they went out and spent $40,000 on the therapist to keep it together. Why? Because there's a lot of money to be made there, and there was a lot of interest in keeping that going. We were a poor band doing things on shoestring budgets, and traveling around in 16-passenger vans, and that's fucking awesome when you're 25 years old, but when you're pushing 40 and two of the guys in the band are now selling real estate, it's a hard grind to say, "Hey, you guys, let's go to Europe and not make any money, and travel around in a little van, and freeze to death in Helsinki." I'm not saying we're broken up, but the motivation to keep doing a thing that we already did several times, the interest starts to wane. There's no negative energy, there's no bitterness. We've never been a band that's been live, die, breathe, eat, think Red House Painters 24 hours a day. We all have different talents and abilities and other things that we think about besides Red House Painters. I wouldn't say we're never going to play together again. I'd just say we're probably on the longest break we've ever had.
AVC: But at this point it sounds like you're enjoying the freedom of being on your own.
MK: Yeah, I am. The truth of the matter is, though those guys have been there for the long haul, I think they would agree that Red House Painters has, overall, been the Mark Kozelek solo project. [Laughs.] It's always been my songs, it's always been my ideas, I've always had the final say of everything that happens with this band. Calling it Red House Painters was just a way of smoothing out the ego on my end. It would have made complete sense for me to call it the Mark Kozelek Band. I just didn't want to do that. [Laughs.] I think from the beginning, I've been kind of a loner, and I've always been pretty independent. I've always felt a certain amount of aloneness in what I do, from the beginning all the way up 'til now. And yeah, now that the other guys in Red House Painters are out doing different things, it's been nice being able to do the Sun Kil Moon records and bring in different musicians without the slightest bit of guilt. I enjoy not having a set list, and not having to worry about the accommodations for the other six guys, and not having to worry whether everybody's going to be there the next morning, or we have to track a guy down. You know, this is indie, this is independent, and it's not glamorous. [Laughs.] While I'm out there by myself, I don't have to worry about anybody but me. I don't have to split the money five ways, so I can get a nice hotel every night, and have a pretty comfortable ride doing it, you know? [Laughs.]
AVC: You've appeared in three films: Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, and Shopgirl. Have you enjoyed acting?
MK: Well, I haven't done any acting. I've done the movie thing, but I haven't done any acting, you know? I would like to get into it more. I'm not really hungry to do it—I'm not going to move to L.A. and pursue it, get an agent and all that crap—but I would welcome more of this if it came, and if an opportunity came around again, I would like to really do some acting. I'd like to play a part rather than a guy that's playing guitar and saying, "Hey, let's go get mojitos," or whatever. I'd like to see if I really got it, you know? But so far, through knowing some directors who are fans of my music, I've just managed to get a few cameos.
AVC: Is it tough watching yourself on the big screen?
MK: Yeah, it is. Some people totally get it, and some people are like, "Really? Is it that hard?" And it's like, "You'd be surprised." I mean, everybody's different: Some people just love to get their picture taken, some people don't. I'm one of those that don't. And so it's kind of tough to see yourself up on the screen and see your body and the way you move, and your voice—it's horrifying. After seeing Shopgirl, I felt like shit for a day. [Laughs.] I mean, I thought the movie was good, but it was hard for me to see myself in it. But that's just my nature, you know?
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