Congratulations on your latest album Eytan, it's a great listen. How do you think it improves over your previous two records?

I think my new disc, "Was It Something I Said?" further refines what I was doing in my second album "Get Ready for Eytan!"
My first album "Songs about Girls (& Other Painful Subjects)" was kind of a lark. I was just having some fun writing and recording what I thought were a bunch of catchy pop tunes. But I hadn’t developed a clear concept of what I was trying to get across. When I realized that people were focusing a lot on the humor in my lyrics I decided to concentrate on highlighting that aspect of my songs. From a production standpoint, I also decided to make sure I had musicians who were on my wavelength and were good enough to do what I needed them to do.
So I think my second album "Get Ready for Eytan!" was a big step up from the first. The difference between "Was It Something I Said?" and "Get Ready" isn’t as great, I don’t think. I had already developed a sense of what my style consisted of the last time and I’d gotten e-mails from people around the world who had responded favorably. So this time is was just a matter of doing more of the same, only better. There was a real emphasis on making the stories in the songs even more funny and entertaining and on making the musicianship even better; I worked hard with the musicians to stick a lot interesting fills and counter-melodies into the mix - "annoying bits" we called them - and I think it’s paid off.

Apart from being the first artist to have two reviews done at Indie Monkey, you are perhaps best known for your song Happiness being covered by Michael Stipe of REM for the soundtrack of the film of the same name. How much of an honour was that for you? Did you have any contact with Mr. Stipe while he was recording your song?

The Indie Monkey thing might be more of an honor! I don’t know if I ever really considered having Stipe do my song an "honor" so much as an encouragement. The circumstances of the whole episode were a little strange. I was asked by the director (Todd Solondz) of the film to write a song for one of the characters to sing in the film. Based on a few ideas that they threw out, I gave him a few options, and he selected the song "Happiness." In the first cut of the film, the scene with the song was cut out of the film, actually, but as editng went on, the scene made it’s way back in. The next step was that the melody was incorporated into the score as the theme for the character Joy. Only at a much later stage did the director get the idea to end the film with another version of the song.
I guess a few well-known performers were considered, but one of the producers of the film, Christine Vachon knew Stipe from working with him on the film "Velvet Goldmine" and knew that Stipe liked Solondz’s work.  Once Stipe agreed to sing the song, I did a demo in a friend’s basement to give everyone an idea of what the song could sound like done in an upbeat manner (since the performance by the actress, Jane Adams, in the film is decidedly low-key and plaintive). Stipe liked what he heard - from what I understand - and initially asked that Sean Lennon’s band be used to do the backing track. Things were progressing smoothly until Sean Lennon dropped out at the last moment to tour Europe to support his new release, and then it was suggested - maybe even by Stipe - that I use the guys who had played on the demo.
Interestingly, Stipe - who could only be reached through intermediaries - had no particular comments or suggestions to make prior to the recording session. (For instance, he didn’t ask that the key of the song be changed.) Once the instrumental track was recorded it was sent to Stipe on a 24 track tape, and he laid down his vocals (along with his friend, the actress Rain Phoenix) in a studio in California and sent the tape back for us to mix. Along with the tape Stipe sent certain requests about how things should be mixed. These were communicated mainly through an old friend of his, Julie Panebianco. If you look at the credits of the film carefully you will see her credited as "Conduit to ‘Happiness’" (whatever that means!).
Only at a much later point did I meet Stipe, at an opening of an exhibit of the photos he took on the Patti Smith tour. I was introduced to him by the film’s director and he shook my hand, but to this day, I’m not sure if he really understood who I was I don’t think he did, actually. (Not that I expected him to embrace me like his long lost brother - and not that I wanted him to, either, but there seemed to be something missing.) My guitarist, Larry Saltzman, met Stipe later on, though and exchanged a few words about the song.

You have had numerous songs placed in TV shows and indie films like the aforementioned Happiness, the Tao of  Steve and ED. How much do you think that exposure has helped you as an artist?

To continue what I was saying before about the "Happiness" experience being an encouragement. When the film came out, I started to get a lot of positive reaction about the song. People loved it, some to the point of obsession. Now at this point I had only done my first album, which had only been heard by a very limited audience, and this whole experience made me think that maybe I could really take my music to a whole different level. It really motivated me to put a lot of time, energy, and for better or worse, money into my next album "Get Ready for Eytan!" In fact, if I hadn’t written the "Happiness" song, I’m not sure if I would have even made a second album at all.
In a way, I was living in a bit a fantasy world, thinking that all kinds of doors would be opening up for me and whatever I produced next. But even though that didn’t really happen, it was easier to get my stuff listened to, reviewed and circulated around the indie/internet scene.
Interestingly, the songs I had in the film "The Tao of Steve" have gotten me a lot more attention than the "Happiness" song. (Partly, that was due to the fact that "Happiness" was never released on a CD, due, I think to Stipe’s instructions.) Anyway, I had three songs in "The Tao of Steve," and two of them were very prominent: the title song and "(I Just Wanna Be) Your Steve McQueen," both of which appear on the soundtrack album. I don’t know how this film - a romantic comedy about an overweight guy who still manages to bed every woman he desires - did in the UK, but it was a big hit here in the States as far as indie films go; I’m still getting e-mails from people who are discovering my music from renting "Tao" on video. It’s been a great way to get my music to "the people."

Before you concentrated on your music, you went to film school and tried your hand at scriptwriting. Why did you turn from that back to your musical roots?

Rejection! What do you think?! I wrote a series of scripts that deservedly or not went nowhere. What happened was that right out of film school it looked like I had a chance to collaborate with Todd Solondz (of "Happiness" and "Welcome to the Dollhouse" fame) on a comedy screenplay about the college admissions process here in the United States. (He was able to pitch this idea to some producers based on the success of a short student film he had made at NYU.) Anyway, we wrote a treatment for a very broad and ridiculous script to be called "Admissions:Impossible," which detailed the struggle of our hapless hero’s attempts to gain entry to the most prestigious and exclusive institution of higher learning in the world: Lilywhite University. The plot culminated in a climactic badminton match, if you can believe it!
Anyway, for various reasons, the project fell through, but deluded by my near-brush with Hollywood success, I kept writing. A few years later, I did collaborate with Solondz on a script called "Eveready," which parodied films in the "Die Hard" genre, but he didn’t do much to get it out to people and I didn’t have the connections. At times I tried all kinds of various lies and ruses to get agents to read the script - some of them even worked - but still nothing resulted. Even when I came up with what I thought was a sure-fire script - a buddy film about a detective who goes back in time and teams up with his own younger self!- I still couldn’t get anywhere.
So finally I got the hint and stopped. I wanted some way to express my creative impulses, and I figured it was a lot cheaper to make my own record than to produce my own film, a few hundred thousand dollars cheaper, at the time. I didn’t think that the music would necessarily lead to anything, but at least I knew that no one could stop me from doing it!

Given the quality of your last two records, I’m glad you did concentrate on music. Who would you say are your musical influences?

I’m a big Beach Boys fan, and in that vein, I’ve also always loved the Rubinoos.  But for whatever reason, my music doesn’t seem to remind people of that kind of music.  The thing that people do pick up on is the influence of Jonathan Richman and early Nick Lowe. Obviously, they both have a lot of humor in their lyrics, which they set to simple, catchy pop melodies.
I was  a big fan of early Costello, too, and people sometimes say I sound like him, but my approach is much more straightforward. His lyrics are so complicated that sometimes you don’t have any idea what the hell he’s talking about! I want people to understand what I’m saying, or they won’t get the joke!

Your songs like 'Long Long Line', 'Can I Get Any Lower' and 'Tell Me That You’re Foolin' remind me of a little-known New York band called The Loveless. Their songs were filled with the kind of great melodies and clever lyrics that are associated with your work. Do you find it easier to write songs about people with the glass half empty rather than half full?

Hmm... I’m not really familiar with the Loveless, and I sure didn’t know they were from New York. I’ll have to check them out. I was recently compared in a review to the British band Any Trouble from the early ‘80’s I ended up buying one of their albums and enjoying it a lot.
But, to answer your question, I guess it just comes naturally to me to write songs about 'people with the glass half empty,' as you say. Part of that is just the way my own life is. Now I guess we can debate whether my life really is 'half empty' or if that’s just my perception of it. But as they say, sometimes perception IS reality. If you focus on the negative enough it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, I guess.
But apart from that, as I said, a lot of my songs are humorous. What the hell could possibly be funny about things being good?! Happiness is not a very funny subject! Greater minds than mine have expounded on the connection between comedy and pain. A few critics have compared my songs to early Woody Allen films - you know, the funny ones!- so I guess that ties in with what I’m saying in a way. Me, the Loveless, Woody Allen - maybe theirs something in the water here in New York.

Does your day job as a sound editor for a film post production house give you inspiration for your songs?

First of all, let me say, that although I work as a sound editor, all the work is strictly freelance. So while the work itself doesn’t give me inspiration for songs, I’d say that the uncertainty of freelancing, terrifying as it can be, contributes to my whole outlook on life.
Beyond that, working in film has affected my work in a couple of other ways. First of all, it has taught me not to fear the technology; since I use the same kind of digital audio workstations that are used in music recording, I know how to use it to my advantage, to work as economically and efficiently as possible. Because, even though it’s cheaper than filmmaking, unless you can do everything yourself, making music still isn’t cheap.
Also, working in film, and talking with friends of mine working on various projects often leads me to work on songs I wouldn’t otherwise have written.
For instance, a friend of mine is a casting director. A couple of years back she mentioned she was trying to help a film get made called "Sluts!" Immediately, I said, "Hey, that’s a great title. I’d like to write a song for that film." My friend talked to the director and got permission for me to read the script. I dashed a song, called - you guessed it! "Sluts!" which the director loved so much he started playing it at meetings for potential investors. The film - which was about three gay guys in their early ‘30’s who are magically transformed into beautiful teenage girls and go back to high school. Never even got made, but the song did make it oonto "Was It Something I Said?" And you don’t have to know anything about that non-existent film to appreciate the song!

You worked with some great players on the new album, such as Joe Mannix, Jon Gordon and of course Larry Saltzman. His guitar work really complements your songs. Have you done much touring with these guys?

I’m so glad that you mentioned Larry. He really can’t get enough credit. I met Larry through a friend of mine, David Carbonara, who scored the film "Spanking the Monkey". It was a guitar score and Larry was the only musician on it, I think. Larry is one of the top session guys in New York, aside from playing with big artists like David Johansen; Larry was one of the "Harry Smiths."
Anyway, I used him a little to help fix up things on my first album. Then when I got the chance to produce the "Happiness" thing, I had to have Larry on it. When that worked out well, I just knew that I had to have Larry on basically everything I did! He really complements the songs with his playing. On this last record I’d come in with ideas for guitar lines, as I said earlier, "the annoying bits", and we’d refine them. Larry would play with his effects boxes and pull all these groovy sounds out of them. It was a great fun collaborative effort, me, Larry and Jon Gordon (who recorded the album and also plays a variety of instruments on it).
But the only drawback is that Larry is in so much demand it’s almost impossible ot get him to play live with me. But I have to admit that I’m not much of a touring act anyway. I basically just play locally around the New York area, and I’ve taken to performing solo acoustic. It’s definitely a different vibe from the record, but people seem to enjoy it - particularly my absurd, deadpan between songs patter - and at least they can hear the lyrics.

What will the rest of 2001 and next year hold for you and your music?

It’s very hard to predict the future. When I started recording my first album. I never thought I’d write the theme song for a film and have it recorded by Michael Stipe. Then once I had gotten the chance to do that, I still couldn’t have predicted that lightning would strike again with "The Tao of Steve." So who knows?! I’m definitely going to keep trying to get more songs into films. I’ve always thought that that was my best chance of getting somewhere with my music. In fact, I’ve been asked by a director who’s a fan of mine to write a song for his next film.  Hopefully, things will work out. I want to try to get into scoring films, too, if that’s possible. (And on a somewhat bizarre note, I was hired recently by Nickelodeon, the children’s cable network, to arrange a version of the theme song of the British show "Bob the Builder" for a commercial.) Basically, I’m open to anything that’s fun.

Finally, if you had the chance to perform with any five artists/bands past or present, who would they be and why?

The Beach Boys - how can anyone question this one? Obviously having them harmonize with me on my songs would fantastic. I have a song on "Get Ready for Eytan!" called "Allergic to Fun" that is an homage to the Beach Boys - though in my own warped way. How great and unbelievable would it be to have them singing along on "Fun, fun, I’m allergic to fun" - (Actually, it WOULD be pretty unbelievable since, unfortunately two of them have passed away, but you get the point!)

The Rubinoos - a great underappreciated band with fantastic voices blending in amazing harmonies. When I was growing up, these guys seemed like the model for what a pop band could be. And they always seemed to be having so much fun doing it. I finally caught them live a year or so ago, and they were as great as ever. (Any 'Noos is good 'Noos, I say.)

The Ramones - it’s hard to see where I would fit in with these guys - the name Eytan Ramone just doesn’t have a very good ring to it - but since these guys grew up in my neighborhood (Forest Hills), I couldn’t leave them out. Their first four albums were a brilliant combination of pop sensibility, rock energy and comic book humor.

Chuck Berry - this guy wrote the book on rock ‘n’ roll. He was setting clever lyrics to catchy tunes before any of us were even born, showing us all the way it was meant to be done.

Britney Spears - okay, I’m not too crazy about her music, but why should that come between us?!