Since the release of the first Sunny Day Real Estate album Diary in 1994, singer-songwriter Jeremy Enigk has been an idol to legions of kids who were "emo" before "emo" really had a name. His full, rangy voice and introspective lyrics brought polish and drama to a music scene still absorbing the grunge revolution. Then, just as the band's career was ramping up, Enigk quit, ostensibly to pursue his renewed interest in Christianity, though he found time immediately after leaving Sunny Day to write and record Return Of The Frog Queen, a lushly orchestrated concept album. Upon reviving Sunny Day Real Estate in 1998, Enigk brought his new progressive sound and spirituality to bear on his mates' hard rock and pop leanings, and the result was the transcendent How It Feels To Be Something On, one of the best albums to emerge from Seattle in the '90s. After a not-bad major label debut, The Rising Tide, Sunny Day broke up again, and Enigk formed The Fire Theft with his old band's rhythm section. And now he's recorded World Waits, his second solo album, and his first to be released on his own label, Reincarnate. Enigk spoke with The A.V. Club about his start-stop career, his unusual approach to rock songwriting, and the pressures associated with being beloved for music he made a decade ago.
The A.V. Club: Does the title of World Waits refer to how long it's taken?
Jeremy Enigk: No. It's really about the world waiting in the position it's in now, politically. I feel like everybody knows the world isn't the happiest, most peaceful place. And though everybody has an idea of what's wrong, we're not changing it for the better. These songs are really about, "What are we waiting for?" This is breaking my heart. How are we going to make this a better place? It's mind-boggling. We have all the tools and we think we know the answers, but we're not doing it. Big business is killing us. The list goes on and on.
Not to be preachy. [Laughs]
AVC: The songs don't seem critical though. They seem hopeful.
JE: Yeah. And personal, too. It's how the world's state is affecting me. Because I'm always coming from the inside, from my own feelings about situations, as opposed to, like, specific quotes from the President. I'm not too literal. It's more about how if affects me personally. So no, it's not a political album. It's a personal album. How I deal with these issues.
AVC: What prompted you to start your own label to release World Waits?
JE: Basically Rykodisc, the label I was on with The Fire Theft, didn't exercise their option to keep us. I've been on three or four different labels in my career and I just felt like, you know, labels don't seem to be working out for me. [Laughs] Maybe I should start my own. It seems a lot more possible now with the Internet. A lot of bands are doing it, and given the position I'm in and the fan base I have, it seemed better for me to do it myself. So I just bit the bullet and did it.
AVC: Are you handling the day-to-day management yourself?
JE: No. My manager is dealing with most of that stuff. Which is good because I don't have a very good business sense. At this point. I'm trying to educate myself, but I've never really thought that way before. So, Steve Smith, my manager, is more or less a partner of the label.
AVC: How old are you?
JE: 32.
AVC: Have you been to college?JE: No. I didn't even graduate from high school. I quit high school to join Sunny Day Real Estate.
AVC: And it's been rock 'n' roll ever since?
JE: Yeah.
AVC: Have you ever thought of going back to school?
JE: Yeah, I think about it. Of course, I'd have to get my GED, but… I'm a musician. It's what I do. Every once in a while I think it would be fun to go to college and study archaeology or something, really just for fun. Or learn a different language. But never anything for a serious career, just more for an education.
AVC: Would you describe yourself as somebody who reads a lot?
JE: No. I do read daily, but I don't sit down and read for hours. I use my relaxing time for music or hanging out with friends.
AVC: Why did you abandon the idea of making a proper sequel to your first solo album, Return Of The Frog Queen?
JE: Because Sunny Day got back together. Initially, we were going to do an odds-and-ends record, just a few new songs and a bunch of old tracks that we'd never released. In communicating with the band again, it all just snowballed and turned into two more records, spanning a four or five year period. And then The Fire Theft happened, and the next thing I knew, it's 10 years later, and I still hadn't made another solo record. [Laughs] I just had other priorities and obligations with the bands I've been a part of.
AVC: But you had more "Frog Queen" songs obviously, because a couple of them ended up on World Waits.
JE: Right. And a lot of my songs intended for that second solo album ended up going to Sunny Day. I write a handful of songs and I use them for whatever project I'm working with at that time.
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