As jazz fans, it was amusing for us to play jazz harmonies on these big, ugly electric guitars. |
I'm starting to get older, and began to think about mortality a little more. My mother died in 2003 and that was a big shock. When your parents start to die off, that's going to be a revelation. So for me, this album - although it might sound quite cheery - is really talking about death. |
I've never done it before. I might do a few Steely Dan things that I particularly like, but it'll mainly be my stuff. |
It's great to know that our old stuff still sounds good to our fans, just as it's wonderful to think that we've turned a few people on to jazz over the years. |
Mortality! It's intimations of mortality. I'm 58, and by that time, more people you know have died. My mother died a few years ago. And being a New Yorker, 9/11 had a lot to do with the mood of the city. |
September 11, on a global scale, and my mother dying, on a personal level, were the two major things that got me thinking about all of this. |
That was one of the elements. Just getting older and also I'm a New Yorker, so 9-11 on a broader level had something to do with it. I work as I go so I have a file of things that go back a few years and I think probably the last Steely Dan album, (2003's) Everything Must Go, had some things on this theme, too. But this is on a more personal level. |