INTERVIEW WITH JEFFREY LEWIS

• 1st Aug 2007

I first heard Jeffrey Lewis (JL) and his brother Jack, back in 2001 when he released his startling album ‘The last time I did acid I went Insane’. I sent my CD sleeve to the U.S so he could sign it! He did that and forwarded a demo disc of upcoming material. This showed me what a down to earth guy and fan conscious performer he was. Any fans of Hunter S. Thompson’s writing style should, I feel, check him out; I think they’d appreciate Jeffrey Lewis’ (JL) criminally overlooked work. I jumped at the chance to grab a brief interview with him.

1. WHO would you most like to take down, mid concert, with your sniper rifle?

Myself.

2. WHERE do you go when it all gets too much?

I have a little shack in the woods in Maine that I built with my father a few years back. No running water, no electricity, no phone, no computer, kinda like camping but in a big wooden tent! I have a drawing desk there and a sleeping bunk and books and a tiny wood-burning stove, flashlights and kerosene lamps, an out house “bathroom”, a rain barrel to collect water, a gas-powered camping stove and a little batter-operated cassette player. I used to spend months up there, now that I'm busier with music stuff and a girlfriend and everything else I can only manage to get away up there for a week or so at a time. Its absolutely great for getting my comic book stuff done, I go to sleep at sunset, wake up early, work on comic books all day while listening to tapes.

3. WHAT do you do in your recreational time?

Email interviews of course!

4. WHY, what I imagine must be such a close bond with Jack?

He's my only sibling, we grew up together sharing a small room, a double-decker bed, then we started playing music together just at the time when we might have been getting more separated due to being away at college and stuff.

5. WHEN is bedtime?

Pretty early these days, I used to be a real night person but my girlfriend has to wake up at 7 to go to work so I wake up early with her and start my day, which means I start getting tired by 10 or 11 most nights.

Jeffrey Lewis is touring the UK in September/October. His new LP ’12 Crass Songs’ is out in October too!