Jeffrey Lewis is a bit weird. But not in a watch-out-cos-I-might-touch-your-kids kind of way. It's more of an inoffensive-eccentric-oddball kind of thing that endears you to him almost immediately. He's like the cute younger brother who never has to do any household chores, but you forgive him anyway "because he's just really creative."
Jeffrey lives in New York, writes songs, illustrates those songs as comics and then makes really funny little videos of the whole thing, which you can find on Youtube. Above is the video to a song of his called Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror, from his and his brother Jack's City & Eastern Songs album. It's about him meeting the (currently) more successful songwriter, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and asking him why artists bother, basically. At the end he gets raped. It's really very good.
Jeffrey and Jack Lewis
Don’t Panic: In Back when I was four you mention how, "back when you were 50" you "felt okay and sang my daughter funny little songs". What song would you sing to your daughter, if you had one? Wait - do you have any kids?
Jeffrey Lewis: No, I don't have any kids. Whatever hypothetical songs I might sing for hypothetical children will hypothetically be written after they're born! I think. Or maybe some Jonathan Richman songs.
DP: How is working with your brother Jack? Any tensions from touring with family?
JL: Making music and touring with my brother is always great, though of course when you're that close to someone there's no reason to be polite. So there's lots of honesty... like, "your new song sucks!" He says that to me a lot. Then I'm like, "no, it's just your bassline that sucks, shut up!" Then the other band mates get into it so it's like a big family! Any band probably becomes like a family when travelling like this. It's always pretty fun.
DP: Do you think the family is as important as it once was?
JL: It's probably different all over the world in all different cultures at all different times but it's gotta mean SOMEthing to everyone, right?
DP: You let your fans in on quite a bit of your family life through your lyrics, and they seem to give a lot back to you. You have heaps of fan-made music videos. Do you see a lot of familiar faces at your shows?
JL: Do you mean family members? My parents come to our shows in
He's in his mid-60s and has tons of great stories and bits of wisdom. He's got a real heavy kind of voice, and he's really tall - the sort of character that just commands attention. That was a really cool family sort of tour, especially with my girlfriend Helen along on keyboard and recorder.
DP: You mentioned in another interview that you're a fan of Daniel Clowes and Alan Moore (Jeffrey wrote a thesis on Watchmen). Both excellent artists. Are there any up and coming comics that you'd like to let us know about? How do you feel about the increasing popularity of webcomics, especially as a route for non-established artists to build a fanbase?
JL: I almost never read web comics. If people are able to build a fanbase through that medium then more power to 'em but I'm still stuck in the past of going to a comic store and seeing what they have and picking up stuff that looks interesting to me. One of my favourite comics over the last few years has been Snakepit, done by a guy named Ben in
Every night before he goes to sleep, no matter how drunk he is, or where ever in the world he is, he scrawls out a three-panel comic strip describing his day, and whatever punk or metal song he happens to be listening to at that moment. Almost nothing happens to him. Every day is like "I went to work, I came home, I got drunk." But it's hard to describe how great this comic is. It's really a lot better than it sounds! He's been doing this comic for years! I've got all of them (I even appear in a couple episodes!).
DP: Are you going to confirm some
JL: Yes, I've got some festival things happening in the summer and fall... End of the Road fest and some other things.
Check out Jeff's website or last.fm for more comics, songs and videos!
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