Scott Kannberg, AKA Spiral Stairs, founded infinitely influential indie-rock outfit Pavement with Stephen Malkmus in Stockton, California in 1989. After five LPs and considerable acclaim, Pavement broke up in 1999. Since, Kannberg has released two albums as Preston School of Industry (2001's All This Sounds Gas, 2004's Monsoon), gotten divorced, and finally finished up his first 'solo' record as Spiral Stairs.
Interview: 8 December 2008
You live in Seattle now. Do you ever visit the Paul Allen 'Experience Music' monstrosity?
“I've been there, but I think it’s ridiculous. I can’t stand it! For the architecture, for one. And, then, all of the exhibits are geared towards the baby-boomer classic rock generation. My generation isn’t really there.”
There’s no slacker-rock section?
“One day, maybe. Although, even if there is, Weezer will just be there [laughs]. But, y’know, it’s alright. I just wish the guy would’ve spent his money on something more useful than Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, or Kurt Cobain’s shoes or whatever.”
Do you ever think about Pavement’s place in the history of rock’n’roll?
“Not really. We're just like any other band: we played shows, we made records. That’s all it was for us. We became more popular as time went on, but I don’t want us to be one of these acts that overshadows everyone. Hopefully we’re just something that connects the dots. Like, when you’re growing up, and you like a band, and you like them so much they make you listen to other bands, other kinds of music, experience other kinds of art. Hopefully Pavement can do that for people, as opposed to ending up in some museum. I’d hate to end up enshrined like that, it’d be like being dead before your time.”
So if people were using Pavement to connect the dots, they end up working back to, what? Swell Maps? The Fall?
“Yeah, sure. I mean, there was definitely a time, when I was 21, that, yeah, Swell Maps, those records were pretty influential. The Fall, pretty influential. And I still go back and listen to them now, get excited.”
When Pavement began, did you have any ambitions at all?
“[Laughs] Not at all. In the beginning, we were excited about just making a single seven-inch single. Then we got to make another one, this time without having to pay for it. And then just making records. That was really all we cared about. We didn’t care about anything else that came up; any of that stuff was just a bonus. It’s weird, because, I know a lot of bands that start out like: ‘We’re a band! We’re going to come up with an identity! We’re going to rehearse five times a week! We’re going to send our demos out!’ We were never that band. We were probably lucky that we didn’t have to do that, because I don’t think we ever would’ve. We were just record geeks. We just wanted to make songs that sounded like our favourite records. Maybe that’s what appealed to people, originally. Maybe that’s why we got popular.”
When popularity came, was it something you didn’t even really care about?
“There were times when we started taking it for granted. Towards the end, after we made a record, we just knew that we were going to tour the world, and it was a bit ‘whatever.' But, we never wanted to be anything other than just what we were. I mean, we were barely a band. Basically, we lived in different parts of the country, and we just got together to record or go out on the road.”
You never had that ‘band as gang’ mentality?
“Oh, no, we definitely were a gang. We were very insular, and we definitely kept in our own little world. But as soon as we left tour, we wouldn’t see each other for months on end. There was never a sense of urgency.”
Was there a point where Pavement went ‘bad’?
“I don’t think so. It was always pretty fun. We had our little tiffs, people were unhappy at some points. But, all in all, it was pretty much fun. Malkmus, towards the end, with the last record, he was pretty tired of it. I think he didn’t want to have to deal with it anymore. Or, at least take a break.”
Did you take a break between the end of Pavement and the beginning of Preston School Of Industry?
“Not really, no. I was recording a bunch of songs around the last Pavement tour, and I had it in my mind that I wanted to do a solo record, anyway. And both Steve [West] and Malkmus were going to do it, too. So we just said: ‘let’s end Pavement, and maybe one day we’ll come back and do it’. Still waiting for that day, I guess!”
Have you had promoters tossing absurd sums of money out for a Pavement reformation?
“I hear that they have been. But, I don’t think Pavement’s quite ready, yet, to do anything. I actually saw Malkmus last night, he played here in Seattle. We were supposed to have a little talk about that, but instead we ended up having a little too much to drink. So, those best-laid-plans went to waste. I think the vibe might be right to do something in the next few years, maybe. We’ll see.”
Have you finished up your new record?
“It’s almost finished. It’s gonna be under the name Spiral Stairs, and it’s gonna be on Matador. This one’s a little different to those last two Preston School records. It’s a little more introspective, darker, Dylanesque, some Lee Heazlewoody vocals. It’s not really very pop sounding at all. It’s brooding, depressing music.”
Is that reflective of how you’ve been feeling?
“Yeah, the last few years I went through a divorce, and it deals with a lot of that. I like to call it my Shoot Out the Lights, after that Richard & Linda Thompson album. It’s kind of patterned after that, except there’s no woman singing on this. It’s just me.”
It’s been five years since your last Preston School LP, is that why?
“Yeah, after I got divorced, I didn’t really play music for a while. I just wasn’t really into it. I still bought records, or whatever, but I didn’t pick up the guitar for a couple of years. And then I just started writing again, and all these songs started coming quickly.”
How do you feel about this new disc at this point?
“I'm worried. I worry about records a lot, so that’s how I’m feeling. I know I should just finish it, and move onto the next thing, but I obsess about records, and this one I’m obsessed over. I really need to get it done and move on. Next!”
