Interview with Robert Hunter and Greg Anton, August 25, 1997

They're a Band Beyond Rehearsal

xian

How often does the band get together just to work on material, or rehearse?

Greg

Oh, once every couple of years whether we need it or not.... Sometimes we get together a lot, and sometimes we don't.

RH

You've got to get those weeks that are just writing weeks. That's part of the whole cycle. You have to take that time away from gigs, time to rest up after the last bunch of gigs. Then you go into the studio and spend some of that time when you could be out making money, gigging, to write new songs.

What's Next for Hunter?

xian

So are ever going to see a joint bill, with Zero and Robert Hunter?

RH

Go away.... Chut up!

Greg

I thought somebody told you personally to "shut up"!

I don't want anyone figuring out how I might fit into their picture of a larger scene

RH

I don't have big plans for what I'm doing. I'm just trying to keep it manageable. I don't have big ambitions, just to write my own material and get out of the house once in a while, but I can't do more than about two-and-a-half weeks out there. At my age, it's a hobby.

xian

Maybe it has something to do with how you define success. Perhaps right now success means continuing to write songs that you're happy with.

RH

Yeah. For me, that's what it is, and I don't want anybody getting dependent on me or figuring out how I might fit into their picture of the larger scene. The point is to do it for pleasure.

xian

Do you feel like you have that space now? Are you at a point in your life where you can do anything you want to do?

RH

I can call my own shots because I know what those shots are and I know what they're not. I don't get led very easily, to do things I don't want to do.

xian

Are you working on anything new?

RH

Oh yeah. I've got some stuff. [Gets up and walks to piano, points to tape.] You can't have that machine on, though.

xian

OK, I won't tape it.

<click>

Hunter then played me The Song Remains, a tune he's been discussing in his journal lately. It's hard for me to recall the music that passed my ears then, untaped, but it was beautiful and the song sounded fully realized to me, without hearing the words.