Given the attention you’ve received from the indie crowd through your inclusion on the Garden State soundtrack and on the television show Scrubs, did you feel any temptation to try to capitalize with, say, a Shins-esque pop album or an Iron & Wine-y folk disc?
I never really think in terms of style of album, though maybe I should. I just think of recording what I think are the best songs I have. And there’s never a temptation for me to try to sound like someone else. I think that happens without really trying; subconsciously you take note of what’s around, but it’s not something I do consciously.
For better or worse, your solo career will always be compared with the early success of Men at Work. Do you feel like new disc Are You Lookin’ at Me? can take you to another level as a solo artist?
I think this is the best record I’ve done, but it’s been challenging to get played on the radio. The first single, “Are You Lookin’ at Me?,” is being met with a lot of resistance, which is very frustrating because people really like the song when we play it live, and you feel people would like it if they were just exposed to it. You know what you have has an audience, but trying to access that audience can be a constant obstacle course. They say my record is too commercial to be played on alternative radio and too alternative to be played on commercial radio. It’s a strange situation to be in. But I don’t spend that much time thinking about it.
There’s a Men at Work MySpace page (myspace.com/menatwork) topped with: “Men at Work reunion? You decide!” Is that an official site, and if so, is an original-lineup reunion imminent?
I think it’s just a fan who would like to see the band get back together but has no real understanding of what that would take. For something like that to happen the band members have to want to do it, and you have to figure out why you would do something like that—financial reasons, maybe creative reasons—and if none of those reasons exist there’s no point. There’s nothing wrong with doing it for money, don’t get me wrong, people have gotta put food on the table. But it’s not something that I have any particular interest in doing. And I know at least one of the other members of the band wouldn’t be interested, so there’s no real possibility of that happening.
With The Motels. August 11, 8 p.m.,
$12.95-$27.95, The Club at the Cannery, 617-5585.