As well known for his no-nonsense personality as he is for his music and studio career (by his estimate, he’s recorded 2,000 bands), Steve Albini has been a vital lynchpin in the Chicago music community, from his days in Big Black through his current work in Shellac.
After a few years focused on recording other groups, Albini is returning to the spotlight, albeit one the attention-shunning guitarist happily shares with bassist Bob Weston and drummer Todd Trainer, who together form one of the best rhythm sections in rock.
We asked Albini about his disdain for publicity, his work in the studio and Shellac’s slow work habits.
You’ve recorded acts like Nirvana, and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, but you’re still best known for working with punk bands. Is this because of a general disdain for publicity?
That’s partly it. But it’s also partly that there’s a journalistic shorthand that’s brought to bear on everyone. They always drop a few credits. William Shatner will always be Captain Kirk, you know? Basically, if what you do is noticed by anybody, it will be remembered in a very simplified, coded nomenclature, which then will be applied to you indefinitely. If you take offense at stuff like that, if you bristle, then you’ll end up being bitter for reasons that really don’t matter. That anyone has paid any attention at all to records I’ve made I find flattering and slightly uncomfortable. I’m used to working where there isn’t a lot of attention, where there isn’t public scrutiny.
Why record or play as Shellac at all, since by its very nature it’ll attract more attention?
Well, the band I’m in is a creative output for the three of us. It’s unrelated to the recording work that I do in the same way that it’s unrelated to the hair styling that goes on at the salon that Todd [Trainer] works at. Every band I’ve ever been in has been, basically, a pastime band, and Shellac is no different. I do it because it’s immensely rewarding to be in a band, and working creatively with Bob [Weston] and Todd. I think it’s a natural impulse in the same way the procreative impulse is. People like to make things and see them persist after they’ve made them.We’re doing it because we want to, and considering what a pain in the ass it is to organize everything to make it possible, I guess we want to do it really badly. [Laughs]
That’s a luxury, isn’t it, that you don’t need Shellac to make a living?
Yeah, but nothing has changed in 25 years in that regard. You work on your band in your spare time. You tour in your excess time or vacation time. Whatever money you make, you’re glad to get it, but if you had to try and live off of it, it would be a meager subsistence.
Has it really been five years between Shellac records?
I can’t remember if our last record came out in 2000 or 2001. Somewhere in there. [2000]
Does the creative impulse strike in the interim?
We only really record when we have material worth recording, and it takes us a long time to develop material. Partly because we don’t have very much time to work together as a band, and partly because we’re not interested in doing perfunctory records.
Shellac
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Bottom Lounge, 3206 N. Wilton Ave.
Tickets: $10
and
When: noon and 9 p.m. Saturday, 9 p.m. Sunday
Where: Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave.
Tickets: $10
