The Uncarved Blog

David Lynch, (Non-)Musician: The L.A. Weekly Interview

By Gustavo Turner Thursday, Jan 20 2011

[Music Ed.’s Note: On January 31st, David Lynch will release an expanded edition of his recent single “Good Day Today”/”I Know” on the Sunday Best label. The collection features remixes by several prominent electronic artists and special packaging by renowned UK designer Vaughan Oliver (of 4AD fame).

Check out also our selected David Lynch discography (including instructions for the perfectly Asymmetrical David Lynch mixtape) and our exclusive interview with Vaughan Oliver about the “Good Day Today”/”I Know” single.]

Here’s David Lynch‘s recipe for success, taken from his inspiring little manual Catching the Big Fish: “Try to get a job that gives you some time; get your sleep and a little bit of food; and work as much as you can. There’s so much enjoyment in doing what you love.”

This philosophy, plus a healthy helping of Transcendental Meditation, of which he remains a vocal advocate, allowed Lynch to become an intriguing visual artist, with works in painting, collage, cartooning, photography and art-film. Later, this approach helped him make the mysterious jump into Hollywood filmmaking, where he remains one of the few working heirs to the great surrealist auteurs of cinema.

And it’s a philosophy that Lynch is now applying with renewed focus to yet another art form: music. Anyone familiar with his film work has long figured out that Lynch is a genuine sound freak: Witness the uncanny industrial soundscapes of Eraserhead, the unforgettable aural stampede that elevates The Elephant Man, his 180-degree redefinition of Bobby Vinton and Roy Orbison in Blue Velvet, the groundbreaking romanticism of the Twin Peaks score, the jagged, deranged edges of Lost Highway and, especially, his covert beatnik musical Wild at Heart. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say he possesses the keenest ears among all major living Hollywood directors.

Lynch soon will be relaunching his website, davidlynch.com, as a way to broadcast the result of a series of musical collaborations (or “combos,” as he likes to call them) with other artists, under the supervision of his personal engineer and main partner in sound, Dean Hurley, at the filmmaker’s prolevel home studio, Asymmetrical Studio.

Hurley says the website “will feature unreleased singles, experiments and instrumentals created through the years,” including the legendary Thought Gang project, a full album of noir avant-jazz recorded alongside the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me soundtrack by Lynch and longtime associate Angelo Badalamenti.

We met Lynch for a conversation about his music at his luminous homebase/art studio in the Hollywood Hills. (The italics below are an attempt to convey Lynch’s distinctive manner of speaking, an infectious way to share his enthusiasm. In Lynch’s world, some things are not just great, they’re “really, really, really great.”)

DAVID LYNCH: I’m not a musician, but I play music. So it’s a strange thing.

Click on this link to read the complete interview, page 1, January 20, 2011, published in the LA Weekly News on David’s 65th birthday http://bit.ly/dVOWWA.

Also see flavorwire: 65 Things You Didn’t Know About David Lynch | Moviefone: Lunch Break: Happy Birthday, David Lynch! | Houston Press Blog: The Best of David Lynch on the Web. And two days later from Vanity Fair’s James Wolcott’s Trance and Transcendence.

This entry was posted on January 20, 2011 at 6:40 pm and is filed under Articles, David Lynch Foundation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.