Q + A: Dirty Beaches Breaks into Boston

Photo courtesy Solid Gold. Taken by David Black.

Fresh from his European tour and the release of Badlands earlier this year, Alex Zhang Hungtai of Dirty Beaches called in to chat with the Quad about finding success, inspiration and good music. Dirty Beaches is playing at Brighton Music Hall this Wednesday, September 21, with Frankie Rose. 

The Quad: Do you find that you write a lot on tour?

Alex: Actually, I can’t write at all when I’m on tour because I don’t have a laptop. I have to sit down, be at home, not touring. So I end up writing a lot of stuff in my head and when I get home I actually try to make it happen.

What do you draw from for your music?

It comes from everything. You know, just finding books that I read or movies that I watch, or someone will be saying something and I’ll get an idea, that kind of thing. So I kind of think I get ideas from everything.

You got into music a little later than some, right?

Yeah, I’m 31 now, I didn’t start playing music until I was 19. So in comparison to most people who start playing in middle school or high school, I didn’t start till I was in college.

And how did you get started in the music business?

In the music business?

Yeah.

Well, I’ve really been playing on my own and in bands for the past ten years, but I wouldn’t call it a business because it… was not profitable.

You seem to be getting a lot more attention recently. How has that been for you?

It feels great, because that’s what I always wanted. Especially for someone that’s been playing for ten years in unsuccessful projects, that’s what I always wanted.

What do you think it is about this project [Badlands] that has made it more successful?

I think I was just lucky. I think people are just ready. A lot of people caught on to what I was referencing, you know, just my approach. The film community was actually really supportive. Not necessarily a lot of music fans but a lot of film fans who also listen to music, but they aren’t people who follow bands or people who follow music on Pitchfork necessarily–just people who enjoy cinema, or student film makers, etc. I’ve actually had a lot of emails from those kinds of fans, which I really appreciate.

It seems like you do a lot of things outside of just your music. Your music videos are very creative and interesting, and your artwork for your albums … it feels like you go above and beyond.

Oh, thank you…. Well, I’m just… the shittier way to call it is that I’m a control freak. I want it to be presented a certain way, I want it to be packaged a certain way. I want it to be perceived in a certain way. I’m involved in every process.

How do you think people perceive your music and the whole package?

Well, first of all, for me, as a musician myself, I really enjoy discovering stuff. I’m talking about back in the days when there wasn’t internet, free torrenting stuff, when you save up money to buy one or two records a month or two and a lot of times, [you] just kind of judge it by the cover, like, “Oh, that’s a really cool cover.” And I always get really bummed out when the content doesn’t really match up to the cover. That was one thing I made sure… I wanted a cover to be representative of the contents. For people to be like, “Oh, that’s good, I totally understand why he designed the cover like that.” And it’s worked out.

So what kind of music did you listen to when you were growing up?

A lot of stuff, because I didn’t really have a music preference until much later. Growing up, it was always just whatever was around, like my sister’s Madonna tapes, and she was also a big fan of the Cure, Depeche Mode. I was really into Janet Jackson myself.

Really?

Yeah, I’m still a fan, actually. I really love Janet Jackson; I think she’s great. The first album I ever bought with my own allowance was Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation. From there on, whatever music my friends were listening to at school. My friends were really into gangster rap and Wu-Tang and Biggie Smalls. So I grew up listening to a range of weird popular music that was around and it wasn’t until college… when I got to college I started listening to more experimental rock music, like a friend of mine – I always listen to music through a friend – and this friend of mine was really into Sonic Youth and that was just the gate opener for all the weird music that came afterwards.

So what are you listening to now?

Now it’s really quite eclectic. I’ve been a music fan for a really long time now, and I listen to stuff that I don’t necessarily play. Just because I’m playing a certain music, it doesn’t stop me from enjoying samba or mambo or choir music… a wide range of stuff. I’m also really into jazz. I really like Sun Ra, I really like Miles Davis.

Do you think moving around a lot when you were younger affected your music?

It influences me as a person. It affects you, and I think whatever affects you as a person will affect the outcome of what you produce. I think of it that way. It’s not necessarily… I don’t know how to put it. I mean, just because I’ve been in New York doesn’t mean I take influences directly from New York. Meeting different people and having different friends that introduce you to different types of music–that definitely helped a lot developing my character.

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