Q & A With Atmosphere's Own... Slug

As I sat down in front of my computer before my interview with Slug, a thought occurred to me, have I climaxed in my bloggin career too early (climaxing too early, a phrase a young man in his 20's like me never wants to hear). I mean having Slug as my first interviewee is a pretty big accomplishment and one that I'm quite proud of. As I started to think of questions to ask one of the best writers/storytellers in my opinion, a song by Slug's side project, Felt, starts to play on my mp3 player -- "20 Answers", one of my favorite songs by Felt. I on the other hand, have compiled a list of 16 questions for Mr. Sean Daley and to my surprise he was willing to answer them all! Enjoy!



















Who's an artist from any time period that you think more people should be listening to?
-x clan, willie nelson, mc shan, and the mountain goats.

How do you feel your music has evolved since first starting out?
-like most rappers, i started by emulating my heroes. now i feel as if we've managed to somewhat carve out our own lane on this highway. granted it's a skinny lane where we all drive slow and look at the scenery.

After you're done recording, done making music, whats next? Anything else left to accomplish?
-i have no clue. looking for that answer myself.

Whats the most memorable moment you have of being on tour?
-too many to list. a few worth mentioning: meeting and having lunch with rick rubin. stealing a baseball cap from jack osbourne. going to portugal, iceland, alaska, new zealand, south korea. having a wisdom tooth pulled a few hours before a show, too many more to list.

Any plans on another felt colab?
-yes indeed, but i can't tell you who is producing it, nor who it is dedicated to. those are still secrets.

Has any song that you perform on stage made you so emotional that you cried?
-it's not cool to cry in rap. so, yes. it was hard performing the song "yesterday" for the first time. almost didn't finnish the third verse. and i've only performed "the river" once due to it choking me up.

If you had a choice of one of each; movie, song, cd, tv show, what would they be and why?
-purple rain, purple rain, purple rain, the wire. i love prince. and i love the wire. sorry that my answers suck.

Where's the most interesting place you've written a song?
-on a plane, i wrote a song called "woman with the tattooed hands," about the woman sitting next to me. i didn't know her, but she kept staring at me like she hated me. so i started to write the song next to her, hoping that she would look down and notice. she didn't.

Can you pin point the moment in your life when you knew you wanted to make music?
-not really. i was pretty young, and i saw how much the cooler older people loved musicians. i wanted to feel that validation.

What are your fondest musical memories?
-too many to mention. as of now, i would suggest that the year 2007 is my fondest musical memory. the amount of time that anthony and i spent making the lemons album as well as all of the seasonal sad clowns was the best time of my career.

Have you ever had any outrageous mishaps on stage?
-ha. yeah, but most were due to my raging drunk days. i don't drink as much anymore.

How do you balance your music career with other obligations such as family,friends, partner?
-i don't balance them, i mix them together.

What aspect of making music excites you the most at this point of your career? and what aspects of music make you the most discouraged?
-at this point, i love every part of this game. i used to hate doing press, and running the pr cycles. but as of late, i've learned how to enjoy all of it.

In what ways does your home town of Minneapolis affect the music you create?
-i think being surrounded by so many other diy artists has kept us focused. we've never really seen the hollywood side of this game. i think the cold weather has kept us productive, there is not much else to do in the winter but create.

How has Ant helped you grow as an artist?
-ant taught me how to focus. priceless.

You played nirvana at the show in san francisco.... who's your favorite rock band?
-hmm. favorite? i dunno. too many to name. current favorite - tv on the radio. classic favorite - jimi hendrix. all time favorite - prince

As I thanked Slug for his time he left me with these words, "keep up the progression and productivity. stay busy and safe".

Check out Atmosphere at his myspace page or on his label's website.