Features

Adam Goldberg’s LANDy

Where do you get your lyrical inspiration?

Early on (long before any of this stuff was recorded) I’d write poems or songs and set music to them, but for the most part these days it’s the other way around or it’s done simultaneously. A lot of times I keep the lyrics that I’m singing just to work the tune out. That’s a nice long pretentious response to a question that could be more simply answered: myself and all my little issues.

How did you meet Stephen Drozd of the Flaming Lips and what was it like working with him?

I was a huge Flaming Lips fan and it had come to my attention that Steven had a man-crush on me. I met him after the first show of theirs I saw. I then reciprocated his crush. He’s simply one of the most talented and humble people on the planet. Our sensibilities were simple enough, thankfully, that I could play him a demo, call out some instrumentation and arrangement concepts and he could translate these into ridiculous parts and harmonies in the time it would take most people to make a record…or live.

Have you performed live as LANDy yet? If so, what can one expect at a LANDy concert? If not, what are your plans for performances?

We’ve played twice as a seven-piece. I just added a trumpet player, the great Andrew Lynch (who plays and engineered some of the recent stuff). It’s terrifying and frustrating and all that studio control just goes right out the old window. But I’m determined and I’m really proud of everybody. Nobody’s a ringer and we’re all struggling to make sense of this in live setting, but it’s really coming along I think. Violin, trumpet, melodica, keyboards, Space Echos, etc. Trying our best to make it a show, to have a vibe, rather than just “playing” the songs. We’ll see…

How did you find time to focus on music with all of your other film/television projects?

I’m, some might say, a bit manic at times. And the acting never really interfered since it just exercises a completely different muscle. And I probably am unemployed roughly half the time anyway.

What can we expect from Adam Goldberg/LANDy in the future?

You can expect LANDy to rock your world—depending on whether or not these recently discovered accessory ribs of mine continue to impinge on a huge nerve cluster.