WEIRD PAUL PETROSKEY

WEIRD PAUL PETROSKEY

It seems that you've been obsessed with music from an early age. Can you share how it all started? When did you first see MTV and music videos? How did these early events lead to you writing your own songs? 

The earliest things I remember are TV show themes, commercial jingles and songs on Sesame Street (mostly composed by Joe Raposo).  These were all extremely catchy (and short) examples of music.  Change the production on any of that stuff and they could be punk rock songs.  The other thing was that in the late 70s, I started seeing reruns of the Beatles cartoons on television.  Sometimes before school and sometimes after school.  But I watched them every day.  That was the first popular music that I was into.  And my dad had a lot of their early 45's so I would play those on my little record player.  All those catchy hooks stayed in my mind, ran into each other and mutated into new things.  I didn't see MTV until around the beginning of 1987 because we didn't have cable TV until then.  But I started watching music videos constantly around 1983.  I just had to search a lot harder for them but they were all over network and UHF television.  

It wasn't until early 1984 that I realized I could hear the songs from the videos on the radio also.  That's when I started listening to Weird Al and then I saw that you could combine humor and music together and use material that already existed to do it.

You created many of your own versions of popular music videos with home video. Do you think this era helped you to understand songwriting better? Do you feel that listening to popular music constantly gives you an edge as a songwriter?

I'm not really sure that helped me to understand songwriting at all.  It was just something that I wanted to do outside of songwriting.  I wanted to be a director, on my own small scale.  I knew how I wanted the videos to look but it was rare that one came out even close to how I envisioned it.  That was mostly a visual project that had little to do with how I interpreted songs should be composed.  I do agree that listening to popular music gives you an edge as a songwriter, but ONLY on the condition that you have your mindset geared for it.  If you are not listening to music in that way, in other words, if you are only listening to it for enjoyment, you may not get anything else out of it.  I find that listening to music that you DON'T like works better because then you may start picking it apart to find anything that you do like.  And once you see what you like, that can inspire you to create things you wouldn't have thought of.

You shared with me that hearing The Ramones for the first time was a revelation for you as a songwriter. Could you describe that experience? Do you recall the first Ramones songs you heard? What about them did you find most inspiring?

I first heard the Ramones on October 19, 1986.  I was listening to the Dr Demento show on the radio and his guest was Weird Al.  He asked Weird Al to play a couple of his favorite songs and one of them was "Beat On the Brat".  I instantly fell in love with the song.  It was funny, it was the perfect length and it had a great sound.  I had never really heard "punk" music before that.  I only heard what was on commercial radio stations and what was shown on normal television.  I'd already recorded a few cassette albums by that time and what the Ramones made me understand was that what I was doing was not abnormal at all, it was not even unique!  I had already tapped into the "punk" aesthetic without even knowing what it was.  I couldn't find any of their albums where we lived, so I had my dad drive me to a mall out of town and there I bought their first album on July 8, 1987.  At first, I was really confused.  Every song sounded very similar and I couldn't really tell the difference between them.  After a few listens though, I was hooked.  I bought all of their albums over the next few years.  The Ramones inspired me to be myself, I was picked on and ostracized in high school and they taught me that I could cut my hair the way I wanted and who gave a shit what anyone said about it.  But the best thing they taught me was that "less is more".  Only put the parts of the song that are necessary in there.  Don't work from some outdated template of what is considered "correct".  I still find it amusing and awesome that it was Weird Al that introduced me to The Ramones.

At what point did you begin recording your own songs at home? Who was your audience back then? Who offered feedback and support for your songs? What were your songwriting goals starting out?

I started recording my own songs at home in 1984.  I wrote the first one on April 3, 1984 and it was a parody of "You Might Think" by The Cars called "What You Might Think About Mr. Lebbeda".  Mr Lebbeda was my history teacher in 8th grade.  I thought he was boring and annoying.  Looking back, that was pretty "punk" to write a song insulting your teacher.  Of course, I got the idea to do parodies from listening to Weird Al.  I recorded my first cassette EP that summer.  I'd already been talking and singing into a tape recorder since 1978, so it was just an extension of what I'd been doing for years.  At that point, my audience was just me and my family, specifically my sister who did the backing vocals for me.  Once I started recording full length cassettes in 1985, my audience expanded to some of the open-minded kids in my school who would borrow them.  There wasn't much support starting out, I have always been my biggest supporter.  Otherwise, I wouldn't still be doing what I do, today.  As for my songwriting goals, I was mostly trying to be funny.  I'd wanted to be a comedian from an early age but had never been good at telling jokes so I started using music as a better medium to communicate that.

Humor has always been prevalent in your songs, from the earliest to most recent. Has this always been something you've naturally felt inclined towards? How did you anticipate people reacting to your songs?

Wanting to be a comedian was the whole reason for that.  I was too shy to stand in front of people and try to tell jokes.  Comedy is extremely hard to do well and if you don't do it well, it's uncomfortable for everyone involved.  Putting the humor into songs for people to listen to, or having a guitar to hold onto as a "crutch" in a live situation made things I little easier for me.  I anticipated that people would laugh at my songs and they did, but they were actually laughing at ME, because the songs weren't really funny and I couldn't sing.  It took years to figure out what was and wasn't funny and get to the point where I could sing somewhat well.

How did the offer to release "Lo Fidelity, High Anxiety" come about? Were you sending demo tapes to labels back then? What were the conditions of that deal, and how did it feel to have an official release out?

In 1990, my drummer at the time and I started a label called Pop Bus (a little joke there) to release the first Weird Paul 7", Sucking Chest Wound.  That led to a buyer at Dutch East India contacting me to buy 15 copies of every cassette that I had released up to that time.  There was a new guy signing bands at Homestead Records then and he got really into my music and contacted me asking if I wanted to be signed.  I hadn't done anything to try to get signed, I'd only sent out one demo tape that I can remember, and that was to Ralph Records because I thought they were the only label weird enough to understand what I was doing.  The conditions of the deal were that I was to deliver the masters which Homestead would then own the rights to for a period of time, I think it was seven years.  I would be paid $1500 for them and then nothing more unless enough units were sold to recoup that cost.  Then I would receive a percentage of royalties.  But that cost was never recouped.  We actually placed our own condition in the contract, that it had to be released on vinyl, because they were only going to release it on CD and cassette.  They had an option for two more albums.  The guy who signed me, Ken Katkin, could see some shake-ups on the way, so he got out of there and the new guy who replaced him had no interest in optioning the follow up albums.  I was beyond excited to have an album out on a very respected label that had signed so many incredible acts and at the time, my labelmates were Daniel Johnston and Sebadoh.

What was your process for recording "Lo Fidelity, High Anxiety", and how has that process evolved over the course of your recording career? Do you feel that your efforts over the years have made you more competent as a producer of your own material?

The process for recording Lo Fidelity Hi Anxiety was different than the process for recording any other album I ever released, because we went to a guy's home studio and he recorded and mixed the whole thing for us, on 4-track.  That's still the only album I have ever recorded in someone else's studio, other than the Weird Paul Rock Band album.  If you take Lo Fidelity Hi Anxiety out of my discography for this question, then my recording process has evolved drastically in just about every way.  I started out recording on the most primitive equipment there was, then used a 4-track recorder from 1990-2004.  My 4-track broke, so in 2006 I decided to just buy a computer because I could use the computer for more than just recording.  Using a computer changed everything, because it made it a lot easier to fix mistakes and try to get closer to how I wanted the songs to sound in their final form.  When I started out, I would have all the parts of the song figured out before I started recording it.  Now, I usually lay down the guitar track as a guide and then I figure out what the drums and bass will play and what will go on top of it - keyboards or more guitar.  After producing my own music, especially in the last 10 or 12 years, I have come up with the "Weird Paul sound" - even though I write songs in many different genres, they still all sound like me.  It would be interesting to produce someone else's album and see what it would sound like.

I recall you telling me that you always wanted your songs to have more tracks and more dynamics than what you're able to achieve on your own - is this a recurring goal? Do you spend time listening to your own recordings, and do you enjoy listening to your own songs?

My songs are closer now to sounding like they do in my head than they have ever been.  I have access to more of the sounds and instruments and recording techniques.  I have always composed above my ability to perform the music.  But I have also gotten better at singing and playing over the years.  Things might not be exactly like I want them, but it's as close as I can get.  Drums are one thing that I still cannot play well enough, but I'm happy with some of the drum tracks I've done.  Back in the 80s and 90s I used to listen to my own recordings a lot more than I do now.  But I still get some of them out now and then because I do enjoy listening to my own songs.  I have always said, I wouldn't record a song that I didn't like listening to.

Because you're arguably more famous for being a YouTube personality and original vlogger, do you ever feel concerned that your creativity and songwriting get overlooked by fans and critics? To what extent do you prioritize your songwriting compared to your other video adventures?

In the last 4 years I have done progressively less and less music and more and more videos.  2017 was the apex of that, I barely did any music at all and put all my energy into YouTube.  I realized too late that it was a mistake.  Now I am finally working on a new album and I'm really glad, even if it means making less YouTube videos and scaling back somewhat on my internet presence.  New music will lead to more videos, anyway, eventually.  I do sometimes wish I was known more for my music, but in reality, it's just different segments of my fan base.  Some are definitely more into the music than the videos.

Fame is a goal that you've expressed to me as being "your destiny". Would you be satisfied if you became famous for your videos and personality, but not given as much credit as a songwriter? Would it be more satisfying for you personally if your songwriting became celebrated in its own right without allowing you to achieve a higher level of fame?

I feel like "achieving a higher level of fame" is not even questionable at this point.  It is already happening and it may be that after I am dead and gone, I will even become the most famous I will be.  Even if that is still many decades away.  But it's very important to me that the fame will also include my music.  That's why I don't create a separate YouTube channel for my music videos - it all has to be one thing.  Someone once told me back in 2006 that I hadn't even peaked yet as a songwriter - and that was after over 20 years of making music.  Now it's another 12 years after that and I don't think I may have peaked, yet.

You've expressed that you are constantly running your operations on a resource deficit - faulty gear, lack of funds, etc. Does this stress impact your creativity? Do you feel at times that your focus has become so far-reaching that there's a danger of burnout?

Any kind of stress impacts everything.  I tend to not want to start a project unless I know I have a large chunk of time set aside for it.  And having such a period of time has gotten harder and harder over the years.  My most prolific times of making music (1986-1989 and 2007-2011) were during times when I didn't have a job.  So I think that is indicative of how my creative process works.  Not being stressed about deadlines or needing to be somewhere at a certain time is the most important thing for me as far as creativity.  Concentrating on constant upward movement in the world is very time-consuming.  You have to keep in the public eye to keep the momentum going.  Once you get to a certain level, you pay people to do it for you.  I'm between the level of no one noticing and lots of people starting to notice.  So I still have to work hard at it, mostly on my own.  In order to start working on music again, I have had to stop answering all my YouTube comments and I've started posting less stuff on social media.  There absolutely isn't time for everything, so decisions have to be made on what is the most important thing at a given time.

Your son has helped out with several of your videos and seems to be a supporter of your music and YouTube output. Do you feel that he truly "gets" what you're going for as an artist and would-be celebrity? Does he relate to your struggles and ambitions? What are his ambitions currently? 

He went through the phases of liking my music, then being a rebellious teenager who didn't like it or at least didn't want to say he liked it.  He likes some of it at this point but it's not the kind of music he really listens to, he was really into dubstep for awhile, maybe he still is.  I think he understands how much I struggle but I don't know if he really understands my ambitions or not.  I think he mostly just knows me as his dad.  He likes to race cars and I think that's great.

Among your many past journal excerpts you post on social media, there seems to be a recurring theme of depression and despair that pops up from time to time. Do you feel that being blessed with creativity also involves being cursed with depressive tendencies? Is your own well-being a matter of focus and priority through it all?

They say the funniest people are among the most depressed.  I do think that creative or intelligent people can be more prone to depression because those are people that are always thinking.  And the more you think about things, it can seem like a lot of stuff is hopeless or pointless.  Like "why bother" or "why am I doing this".  During my most depressive phases of my life, I would tend to waste lots of time when I could have been making more things happen for myself.  The downbeat songs I have written were just little peaks during those times.  So trying to keep out of those dark places is another whole task, so I can function.  

You've described your songs as consisting of many parts of other songs you've heard or melodies that you've channelled from other sources that you then piece together in your own way. Do you feel that songwriters are more conduits than creators? Is there a sense in which all melodies are already out there somewhere, waiting to be channelled through the right individual?

I do believe that all melodies are already out there and have been used.  Since there is SO much music out there and more being written every day, no one can know who has already used a melody that they have written.  Aside from music that you hear on the radio or on TV, which would be obvious as far as realizing it's already some other song.  There are songwriters who really are just using the same few chords that have been used umpteen times already.  That's not very interesting to me.  I'd rather take a melody that already exists and just change a small part of it so it's at least somewhat new.

Your lyrics have always been a point of interest to fans and newcomers. Writing about mundane objects or activities but pairing these topics with melodic, catchy, bombastic music seems to be a fairly original concept. Which songwriters inspired you the most lyrically, and which ones inspired you the most as melodic composers?

Lyrically, certainly Weird Al.  That's the kind of stuff he writes about.  The Ramones, I think is also pretty obvious.  Jonathan Richman is another great example of someone who writes songs about things as well as emotions.  Jad Fair and Daniel Johnston.  Robert Pollard would be another more recent inspiration, though he's a lot more obtusely poetic than I care to be.  I get a lot of melodic inspiration from soundtracks - spaghetti western music is especially a bombastic kind of composition.  Joe Raposo was one of the best melody writers of all time.  Listening to a lot of power-pop also is inspring, accenting certain notes and dropping the drumbeat in and out at specific times.

As you continue on with life, do you think that your focus will remain the same? Are there other life goals besides Weird Paul-related goals that take precedence in your life? What's on your bucket list as an artist, and also as a human being?

My focus has differed a lot during my life so far and I have no idea where it will go next.  Things seem to be changing quickly again for me and whatever surprises come along will steer me down new paths.  I have to admit that I do not have many different life goals than "Weird Paul"-related goals, because I AM Weird Paul.  The goals are all the same and most of them are creating and being recognized for what I create.  As a human being, mostly I just want to be able to live comfortably because I still have not really had that experience since I became an adult.  I've been struggling all along.  If I could get past that, maybe I would find that there are other things I'd like to experience.