Joenan Interviews Glen Phillips
November 2005
Interview with Glen Phillips

*Corey:* How long have you been creating music?
*Glen: *Forever...I was a noisy kid. Always sang in school and temple.
Started playing guitar in junior high, but was never very good (I'm lefty, learned to play righty) and never studied well. Mostly wanted to make up songs. Finally studied some theory in my brief college career, then promply forgot everything.

*Corey:* Where do you find inspiration for your songs?
*Glen:  *I don't know. Life? Death? Whatever may be in between?

*Corey:* What are some of the great things about being a famous musician? if any...
*Glen: *I've gone from being mildly famous to relatively obscure. My 15 minutes seem to have ended about ten years ago. I liked having a regular income where I could put money away for my kids' education and  retirement. I liked getting to go to Europe. I liked not having to go on the road alone. I liked free stuff, but it's funny that you only get the freebies when you have enough money that you don't need them. I didn't like the invasion of my privacy, or the way that the celebrity machine tends to focus people's interest on the least interesting parts of life, and away from the things that matter (family, friends, love, simplicity of life).

*Corey: *Do you have a favorite song, either yours or someone else's?
*Glen: *That changes. Today, it's this:
Mine: Don't Need Anything
Someone Else's: The Morning Fog by Kate Bush
It will change in fifteen minutes or less. Songs follow moods, so there are no absolutes.

*Corey:* Is music more than just a job for you?
*Glen: *Absolutely. It's what I'm most passionate about, second in line only to my family. It's also a job, which can make things psychologicaly complicated, but that's another story.

*Corey:* What are some of your hopes and/or plans for the future?
*Glen: *To make an album a year, to travel with my family, to get back to a point where I feel like my job is just making music. There's been a lot of stopping and starting, having to pay too much attention to
business and not having enough mental space to concentrate on the art. I would like to put my past behind me enough to truly enjoy the present.

.

See you in Memphis next time, -g
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