Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Speaker 1: Studio on iHeart Radio. My name's Jordan runt Dog, but
Speaker 1: enough about me, my guest today is a legendary musician
Speaker 1: and songwriter who hails from the land down Under, New Zealand,
Speaker 1: to be specific. He first hit the global music scene
Speaker 1: as a member of the pop rock group Split Ends
Speaker 1: alongside his brother Tim in the late seventies. When the
Speaker 1: band split, he put together a new one of his own.
Speaker 1: After several incarnations, they became known as Crowded House, one
Speaker 1: of the best loved bands to ever come out of
Speaker 1: the Southern Hemisphere. They topped the charts in the US
Speaker 1: and around the world with a sublime Don't Dream It's Over.
Speaker 1: A string of superbly crafted singles followed, including better Be
Speaker 1: Home Soon When You Come and something So Strong to
Speaker 1: name but a few. For the last decade, he's worked
Speaker 1: solo with a series of family members, and perhaps most famously,
Speaker 1: is one of the newest members of Fleetwood Mac. But
Speaker 1: now he's back with a new Crowded House album. Dreamers
Speaker 1: Are Waiting is the band's first new record in over
Speaker 1: a decade, and it Teacher's help from band made Nick
Speaker 1: Seymour longtime collaborator Mitchell Froom, not to mention his own sons,
Speaker 1: Liam and el Roy. I'm so happy to welcome Neil Finn.
Speaker 1: I'm very happy to be here. Oh my goodness, so
Speaker 1: much to ask you. But first and foremost Crowded House
Speaker 1: or Bag dreamers are waiting your first new album since
Speaker 1: why now? What made you decide it was time for
Speaker 1: another Crowded House record? Well, I'm restless by nature, so
Speaker 1: I do a bunch of stuff, you know, on my
Speaker 1: own and with various other collaborators, And in recent times
Speaker 1: I've played quite a lot with my sons, Liam and Elroy,
Speaker 1: both of whom have become my favorite musicians in the world.
Speaker 1: And I just there was just this idea congealed in
Speaker 1: my mind. Played with Nick recently as well in a
Speaker 1: different context, and Mitchell and another show. So there was
Speaker 1: all these people from the past and people that deeply
Speaker 1: connected to Crowded House, and I suddenly realized that a
Speaker 1: five piece line up of Crowded House with all of
Speaker 1: these people who really have some spiritual and soulful connection
Speaker 1: to the band, might be a tremendously exciting thing and
Speaker 1: might offer great potential and I can also get me
Speaker 1: off the back of the feet. With Matt Tour, I
Speaker 1: had a new found appreciation for classic bands and how
Speaker 1: they can be reimagined. And you know, no band more
Speaker 1: so than Fleetwood Mac can still maintain that incredible charisma
Speaker 1: and meaning for so many people. What is it like
Speaker 1: you imagine making music with your sons? I mean that
Speaker 1: must be really special that to have that familiar bond
Speaker 1: but also a musical bind. What's that been like for you? Well,
Speaker 1: it came in exactly the right time. And we, as
Speaker 1: I said, Liam and Ori have been developing their own
Speaker 1: skills for many years now, and as songwriters arrangers, we've
Speaker 1: played together a lot. So in a way, that musical
Speaker 1: relationship was caught up with our parental father son relationship
Speaker 1: and become almost independent of it. Certainly the instincts and
Speaker 1: intuitions of family count for a lot, but when we
Speaker 1: all walk into the room together, it's very much on
Speaker 1: an equal basis musically. You know, some some people get
Speaker 1: the pleasure of playing with their kids. I would say
Speaker 1: it's very rare when it's a it feels like an
Speaker 1: equal collaboration. It's always bound to be some hierarchy. Hey,
Speaker 1: I get the final start in my songs, you know,
Speaker 1: like there's ation to be made, but it's all for one,
Speaker 1: one for all in this band. It speaking of it
Speaker 1: being a family affair, I understand that you your grand
Speaker 1: son played a part in the track whatever you Want,
Speaker 1: the lead single from the album. What role did he play?
Speaker 1: Understanding he inspired the song in a way? Well, he did.
Speaker 1: It was it was merely a fraction of an idea
Speaker 1: when he first heard it. It was on a demo
Speaker 1: and Liam was playing along trying to get some ideas
Speaker 1: for it as well, and but he just started singing it,
Speaker 1: jumping around him, going and whatever you want, whatever you want.
Speaker 1: So we sort of figured it was a pretty good
Speaker 1: sign and it gave us some inspiration. Really, he didn't
Speaker 1: come up with any other lines that I can remember,
Speaker 1: but he just called onto that really fast. You know,
Speaker 1: nothing like having a small kid catch onto something to
Speaker 1: make you feel like you're on you have on your
Speaker 1: onto something. Yeah, it's such a great song and it
Speaker 1: feels so so perfect for this really uncertain time that
Speaker 1: we're in now, this age of misinformation, and the video
Speaker 1: is so great with mc de marco. He's he's watching
Speaker 1: television and the forecast is fear and anxiety. Tell me,
Speaker 1: tell me more about about the meeting of the song. Well,
Speaker 1: it obviously came out of the time. I mean, the
Speaker 1: concept of yes man, sycophans and people surrounding people in
Speaker 1: power is not a new one. I'm sure ancient Rome
Speaker 1: was full of them, you know, people that would tell
Speaker 1: near anything while Rome burned. But it's certainly very much
Speaker 1: of the time, you know, with politics. I don't even
Speaker 1: need to mention he who shall not be mentioned, but
Speaker 1: the level of gathering around those quite dishonest ideas and
Speaker 1: people being prepared to sell their soul to back them
Speaker 1: up and to keep their little part of the power
Speaker 1: structure is staggering, mind boggling. So that song definitely arose
Speaker 1: out of that. Watching this day after day on TV,
Speaker 1: people standing on stage is telling bare face lies and
Speaker 1: you know, trying to keep their face straight. But it
Speaker 1: also occurred to us that it's the sort of self
Speaker 1: deception that you you convince yourself if that everything's all right.
Speaker 1: And in Max's case, he was asking the inanimate objects
Speaker 1: around the house to give him reassurance that he wasn't
Speaker 1: her had made a complete dick of himself. The night
Speaker 1: before that. Of course, he probably had the expression I
Speaker 1: heard we would sell your own grandmother to stay in power,
Speaker 1: I believe was the expression I heard that they stuck
Speaker 1: with me quite a bit. Yeah, I probably should have
Speaker 1: tried to work down into the lyric too. It's the
Speaker 1: good bye. Don't be more about about how did the
Speaker 1: music start for this album? How much of the album
Speaker 1: was made in lockdown? Did did COVID impact the mood
Speaker 1: of the songs and the manner that you recorded them,
Speaker 1: or did you have a healthy chunk out of the
Speaker 1: way before. Well, we were fortunate because the timing on
Speaker 1: the record was that we recorded some rhythm tracks in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles all together in a room, as you know
Speaker 1: traditional bands do, and most of the rhythm tracks came
Speaker 1: about that way, but we didn't get a chance to
Speaker 1: finish them in the studio because we went into lockdown,
Speaker 1: And so in some ways of perfect opportunity for everyone
Speaker 1: to get into their individual pods in isolation and try
Speaker 1: ideas which maybe you wouldn't get round from the studio
Speaker 1: because you would think I'm holding everybody up here. We're
Speaker 1: just gonna I don't know if it's going to work,
Speaker 1: but it enabled quite a lot of experimentation, so I'd
Speaker 1: say some of the atmosphere of the songs it definitely
Speaker 1: emerged through through lockdown, and some of the songs changed
Speaker 1: a little bit structurally in every way. There are a few, however,
Speaker 1: that are pretty very similar to how we put them
Speaker 1: down on the on the floor with live vocals and everything.
Speaker 1: It sounds like that you and your songs and Mitchell
Speaker 1: were in the l A area, and I think Nick was,
Speaker 1: I believe in Ireland. Was it hard to to not
Speaker 1: have that chemistry and energy in the same room or
Speaker 1: did you adapt quite quickly to the zoom and email sessions. Well,
Speaker 1: like I said, we were fortunate we had these tracks already,
Speaker 1: so we'd all shared those. The zoom calls were tremendously helpful,
Speaker 1: and we were sending files to each other, and you know,
Speaker 1: Mitchell had worked on one song one day and then
Speaker 1: I'd work on the next, and we're making great gains
Speaker 1: and comparing notes, and Nick was sending surprising, you know,
Speaker 1: heart parts and French horn parts in places he has
Speaker 1: no business being. But because he was home, you know,
Speaker 1: he was able to try things and some of them
Speaker 1: were really good. So I think it was quite we
Speaker 1: used it well and it was quite an important part
Speaker 1: of the creative process. You later Singles released a few
Speaker 1: weeks back, Playing with Fire, an amazing, infectious track. I
Speaker 1: love those Burt Backer Act style horns that are in
Speaker 1: the background. I was, it's so great. Can you tell
Speaker 1: me a little more about about that song. I understand
Speaker 1: it came from from more of a jam, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were jamming and in those sessions at Valentine and
Speaker 1: came up with well, I mean the chords, I guess,
Speaker 1: and the and the basis of the melody. But I
Speaker 1: changed it around once we got out of the studio
Speaker 1: and into lockdown and did a bit of a major
Speaker 1: reconstruction job. It's a Frankenstein arrangement. Now it's been compiled
Speaker 1: from different parts, but it really went through a massive transformation.
Speaker 1: I was delighted the way it turned out, because it
Speaker 1: didn't suggest that whole sort of back erect swingers, swingle
Speaker 1: singers kind of love was there to start off with.
Speaker 1: But it was a really nice discovery one day and
Speaker 1: I did it with my voice and then sent it
Speaker 1: to Mitchell and he sent it back with all these
Speaker 1: beautiful brass parts on it. So yeah, it's uplifting. Oh,
Speaker 1: I love it so much. I read it. Much of
Speaker 1: this is true, and this is this is a serious
Speaker 1: music nerd question. I'm sorry in advance that some of
Speaker 1: this was recorded at United on Sunset. Is that is
Speaker 1: that true? Yeah? Some of it was here, legendary facility.
Speaker 1: Brian Wilson made pet sounds there and Phil Specter did
Speaker 1: as well, sounds stuff that What was it like working
Speaker 1: in a in a venue like that was such a
Speaker 1: cool history. There is gravitas in those places that is
Speaker 1: really fun, and they sound great. They've got amazing geared
Speaker 1: by microphones, and the atmosphere deffinitely counts for something for sure.
Speaker 1: So we went to both two really quite amazing studios.
Speaker 1: We started in Valentine, which was a place that was
Speaker 1: hadn't been open since the sixties, but they found they
Speaker 1: reopened it about four years ago and still got the
Speaker 1: shag pile carpet on the wall. It's it's a real
Speaker 1: time piece. You know, what's the song? There's a there's
Speaker 1: a few famous songs that have come out of there,
Speaker 1: but every all a studio from that area was turning
Speaker 1: out some good stuff. So we we like, we like
Speaker 1: recording there. I've got a studio back here in Augan
Speaker 1: and it's a great place as well. But something about
Speaker 1: being away from your normal environment is good. There's not
Speaker 1: so many distractions. Good point. Was it a relief in
Speaker 1: a way to have this project to focus on during
Speaker 1: this incredibly tumultuous, stressful time in the world. It certainly was.
Speaker 1: We were very fortunate and we had each other doing
Speaker 1: a band rick as well. It was fantastic because there
Speaker 1: was so much communication collaboration going on. We felt like
Speaker 1: we had something between us that we could share and
Speaker 1: we had we had a good laugh in the midst
Speaker 1: of it, you know, on Zoom and something to see
Speaker 1: through that process. So yeah, in terms of who was
Speaker 1: suffering from the pandemic, we know, you know, thousand millions words.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to be glib about the fact,
Speaker 1: but it was a purely accident of circumstance. But we
Speaker 1: felt like we were quite lucky and we had a
Speaker 1: music to work on. We were safe, we were near
Speaker 1: the family, and you know, I was climbing the Hollywood
Speaker 1: Hills every day and going for a walk to Griffith
Speaker 1: Observatory and seeing far more wildlife than I normally did,
Speaker 1: so you know, there was an upside. Now I was
Speaker 1: wondering about for your creative process. Do you rate every
Speaker 1: day almost like someone would would would do a yoga
Speaker 1: practice or jog every day, or do you only rate
Speaker 1: when you have something in your mind that that you
Speaker 1: want to get out. I feel I should write every day.
Speaker 1: I don't, but in my music room here, so this
Speaker 1: is where I write, and I come in with the
Speaker 1: intention of playing the piano, and I do most days,
Speaker 1: but I get distracted with the fair is of the
Speaker 1: day and I'll end up Yeah. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just the kind of a process of willing yourself
Speaker 1: into that mode where you're dreaming away and just playing
Speaker 1: like a child. But sometimes daily life it's hard to
Speaker 1: deliver up that moment. But I do try and maintain
Speaker 1: a practice of coming in every day at least. How
Speaker 1: you superstitious about it at all? Are there any instruments
Speaker 1: that you feel like a lucky instrument or a certain
Speaker 1: time of the day or only right after a cup
Speaker 1: of coffee or something like that. Not really, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not a superstitious person. And ultimately I just believe
Speaker 1: that inspiration strikes when you once you're working, you know,
Speaker 1: if you would rely on it to start working, you'd
Speaker 1: end up feeling a bit hopeless most days. What do
Speaker 1: you do when you start to you take a breather
Speaker 1: and come back to it, or just just willpower and
Speaker 1: plow through. It depends depends on how much energy I
Speaker 1: have on the day. Sometimes if you get a good idea,
Speaker 1: it's tempting to sort of go wow and just luxuriating
Speaker 1: that little idea and go off and have a break,
Speaker 1: and when you come back you're intending to finish it.
Speaker 1: But it's really hard once you're out of that that
Speaker 1: moment of you know, the moment of inspiration does strike
Speaker 1: you sort of should try and mind it for as
Speaker 1: much as you can get at the time, it's hard
Speaker 1: to get back into the same frame of mind. Did
Speaker 1: did you you mentioned that that being on tour with
Speaker 1: Fleetwood Mac kind of put you back in the crowd
Speaker 1: at househead Space. Did it influence you on a musical level?
Speaker 1: Did somehow playing those songs take you to a different
Speaker 1: place musically when you started composing for this album. I
Speaker 1: think it influenced me musically, but I couldn't say specifically.
Speaker 1: Will point to a song where you know I'm evoking
Speaker 1: a Fleetwood mac mentality. It just was more the thrill
Speaker 1: of singing somebody else's songs and singing high and outgoing manner.
Speaker 1: It definitely influenced what I wanted to do on this
Speaker 1: record in a in a more sort of holistic way,
Speaker 1: I suppose. I mean, that must have been an unforgettable
Speaker 1: experience for so many reasons. But is there any like
Speaker 1: one lesson that that your time on the on the
Speaker 1: road with them taught you that that really sticks with you? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, they were meticulous about putting the show together musically.
Speaker 1: We had a two month rehearsal and now I've never
Speaker 1: spent that long or hardly even spent that long one
Speaker 1: to it, but but we could have done it in
Speaker 1: a month. But what I really appreciated about that it
Speaker 1: was it gave the chance for the songs to nuances
Speaker 1: of the record records to be done really well. And
Speaker 1: we were usually on the fly with crowded house, and
Speaker 1: we would do it two or three days rehearsal and
Speaker 1: be out and when to have great gigs. But some
Speaker 1: of the nuances would get lost along the way. And
Speaker 1: I'm reminded now that Liam and al Roy and Mitchell all.
Speaker 1: They all care about those nuances and they've probably been
Speaker 1: listening to us playing for the last teen years ago.
Speaker 1: Oh I missed that little part. They didn't not doing
Speaker 1: that little part, you know, and so they've learned them all.
Speaker 1: And the tour we just did of New Zealand was
Speaker 1: fantastic because some of these signature little parts are being
Speaker 1: played beautifully, their little hit you know, the little hairs
Speaker 1: on the back of your neck moments. And it was
Speaker 1: the same with Fleetwood. Mac. I really appreciated the devil
Speaker 1: level of attentions. Detail you mentioned going on a tour
Speaker 1: of New Zealand. I mean where I am right now
Speaker 1: in the United States, I mean that tours are still
Speaker 1: a pretty far away off a So how how was
Speaker 1: that for you? Getting back out there. It's amazing and
Speaker 1: we obviously knew how lucky we were. It was. You know,
Speaker 1: every other musician we know in the world was shaking
Speaker 1: their heads, going you lucky bastards. So we've made most
Speaker 1: of it and we really enjoyed every minute the audiences.
Speaker 1: We had a sense of wonder as well. I think
Speaker 1: they've navigated it well down here, our government, and we've
Speaker 1: been lucky. So we just grabbed that opportunity right up
Speaker 1: to the last minute. I could have all four and
Speaker 1: if there had him in any cases, but yeah, we'd
Speaker 1: like people a night going nuts and all in the
Speaker 1: room together. It was just phenomenal. Is a live, constant
Speaker 1: streaming event of it coming up in the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, and I'm really really excited for people to
Speaker 1: see it because I think the band is on fire,
Speaker 1: and I think there's an undeniable spirit and we're playing
Speaker 1: just playing so well. So yeah, if you've got even
Speaker 1: Remot's interest in Crowded House, be prepared to be transformed.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, and you mentioned I meant it as
Speaker 1: this earlier. You have a Mitchell in the band full time.
Speaker 1: He played on your first three albums, but from my understanding,
Speaker 1: declined to join to produce pursue production work. How did
Speaker 1: you did you get him in full time? Now, the
Speaker 1: timing was right for him and he wanted We asked him.
Speaker 1: We'd asked him to join way back in the day
Speaker 1: when he first did our record, but he was very
Speaker 1: intent on becoming a great producer that he's probably had.
Speaker 1: He's had years to ponder. Now, what a bad mistake
Speaker 1: that was, and when I asked him again, he jumped
Speaker 1: at it, and God, he's enjoying it. You know, being
Speaker 1: in a band jamming in a room is really He's
Speaker 1: a really good, instinctive, intuitive musician. Has been in a
Speaker 1: role for years where he's had to make decisions all
Speaker 1: the time, and the first time we were jamming when
Speaker 1: we don't have to make decisions, you just have to jam,
Speaker 1: he kept sort of stopping and go, well, we could
Speaker 1: make that first thing, the first verse, and saying, let's
Speaker 1: just take it easy. We're not a record yet, we're
Speaker 1: just jamming. You know that he's a really gifted jammer,
Speaker 1: and now he's loving that. You know, can't stop him.
Speaker 1: I love I love the B three sound that he
Speaker 1: has and all of his keyboard parts, so yeah, he's
Speaker 1: a master on the B three. It was such a
Speaker 1: joy to see those to the audiences faces light up
Speaker 1: when he started the solo and don't dream it so
Speaker 1: because no one plays it like him. You know, it's
Speaker 1: been amazing. Is there a song that that really you
Speaker 1: look forward to more than any l to performing each night?
Speaker 1: You know? Luckily the set that we put together for
Speaker 1: New Zealum was full of songs and I'm really loved playing.
Speaker 1: There's so many and every night maybe a different one
Speaker 1: comes through that you just revel in because you're actually
Speaker 1: hitting it an unusually good form. I really enjoy a
Speaker 1: song called Private Universe, which is off the album Together Alone.
Speaker 1: Maybe not one of our most known songs in America,
Speaker 1: it's quite well known near and it's it's got a
Speaker 1: quite a different groove, very atmospheric and mysterious and has
Speaker 1: a big old jum and bongo work out at the
Speaker 1: end on two on stage, which was really exciting, and
Speaker 1: so I always used to look forward to that. It
Speaker 1: was kind of like the emotional high point of the
Speaker 1: set right in the middle of the set, and the
Speaker 1: lights were spectacular to suit. But what is next for
Speaker 1: for you and crowded house? What can fans look forward
Speaker 1: to this year? Well, as soon as we can get over,
Speaker 1: we'll be coming to play. We'll be putting out a
Speaker 1: bunch of stuff in the meantime. As I said, the concert,
Speaker 1: the live concert, which is turned out incredibly well, is
Speaker 1: out within weeks, so hopefully people can tune in and
Speaker 1: get a taste of what we'll be doing when we
Speaker 1: do come. And I would think we're probably we will.
Speaker 1: We will be working on new material this year, given
Speaker 1: that the you know, we're still having to deal with
Speaker 1: a bit of isolation, not as busy as schedule out
Speaker 1: there in the general public. So yeah, we're going to
Speaker 1: focus on some new songs and try and get another
Speaker 1: album up by next year. Amazing, my, my, My last question,
Speaker 1: has there been a silver lining for us last year
Speaker 1: for you, something that maybe the slowing down taught you
Speaker 1: or or made you a little more introspective, or there
Speaker 1: were some silver linings for us? And like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, there was an accident of our circumstances to
Speaker 1: have some good fortune. But yeah, I mean, you notice
Speaker 1: when you have to shut down certain parts of your life,
Speaker 1: you notice the parts that you've been maybe neglecting or
Speaker 1: not fully appreciating. I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful um,
Speaker 1: a couple of grandchildren, and a family that's close by,
Speaker 1: and we'll get on really well. So we've had really
Speaker 1: good family time. I would say, we've all got closer together,
Speaker 1: and I'm appreciating being back in New Zealand, the good
Speaker 1: things about this place more and more evident. Yeah, looking,
Speaker 1: you know, like other things, I'm not I'm not missing
Speaker 1: it and things as much as I thought I might.
Speaker 1: The plane travel I'm not missing. Getting there is good,
Speaker 1: but you know, the trackling and all the miles on
Speaker 1: the road and all that stuff. But it'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to see when we start up. I did so on
Speaker 1: the dept to that quite well again. Can wait to
Speaker 1: see you back at there soon. Neil. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for your music and your time today. It's been
Speaker 1: a real pleasure. Thank you, pleasure talking to you. We
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside
Speaker 1: the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite podcasts.