It is a witty, well-written and heartbreaking look at how Dean Wareham worked his way through private school, Trotsky and Lenin in university, punk rock, post-punk and new wave, before eventually becoming the lead singer of the influential, minimalist indie band Galaxie 500 (revered by record-store clerks, music reviewers and alt-rock kids the world over).
When his love affair with Galaxie ended, he formed Luna (wooshy guitar and lyrics about the day-to-day). When Luna disbanded in 2005, Dean & Britta (slinky and loungey boy-girl action) took form. Through this, he tells of how his marriage and bands fell apart and what has kept him going for 16 albums. Readers and music fans are richer for it.
Read his thoughts on being called “arrogant” and the feedback he’s had so far from Black Postcards.
On the eve of Dean & Britta’s tour for “The 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests” (music Wareham was commissioned to write by the Warhol Museum), the New York-based singer reflects on the stand-out moments in his life and book and his current project.
On Rock Bios and Being Honest
Q: There are some tremendous rock bios out there: Hammer of the Gods (Led Zeppelin); The Dirt (Motley Crue), Scar Tissue (Anthony Keidis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers); Marilyn Manson’s The Long Hard Road Out of Hell and Slash among them. They are about outlandish, enormous characters. If you could will a bio into existence, who would it be? And have you read any other music bios you’ve enjoyed?
Wareham: For about a week I was in the top 5 rock memoirs on Amazon, alongside Eric Clapton, Nikki Sixx and Slash. I was the only one who had not been a junkie. But most of these music memoirs are ghost-written, and while they’re amusing, they all start to sound the same to me. So that’s the other unique thing – I actually wrote it myself. Writing books is hard, and time-consuming. I will look forward to Keith Richards’ memoir, if he can remember anything. White Bicycles by producer Joe Boyd is a good one.
Q: You’ve always seemed rather straightforward, cool. Perhaps it is the New Zealander in you, the one you say in the book who won’t let you share your feelings too easily. But here you are, doing so, rather matter-of-factly. “I am a bad person,” you write.
Wareham: Yes, as a New Zealander I’m not used to expressing my true feelings aloud. But I did it. And there were days I cried while writing – because when you write about the toughest days in your life, you live them over again.
Q: There are many heartbreaking moments in the book. Aside from the disintegration of your marriage, which is enormous, what were the hardest moments to relive and why?
Wareham: Well, the divorce thing was it really. My life hasn’t been particularly traumatic – not yet.
Sad Stories and Soundtrack Sounds
Q: A favourite character in the book is Terry Tolkin (a friend and former A&R rep whose poignant and heartbreaking story Wareham shares as a thread through the bio). A sad and wonderful moment is the “fake telegraph” that comes from (former Luna bassist) Justin Harwood in time for your final Luna show. Which are some of your most cherished moments from the book and your time in the bands?
Wareham: The letter from Terry is a high point in the book, emotionally. He may be a flawed character, but there is something heroic about him. He really lived for the music. And Justin’s telegram gets me too. But I didn’t seek out cherished moments – I wrote more about the pathetic ones.
Q: You’re no stranger to writing music for films. You’ve done music for the films Sideways, Mr. Jealousy and I Shot Andy Warhol among them. But in taking the commission from the Museum to write about the 13 Most Beautiful, what stood out the most to you about the screen tests? Do the films together elicit an actual mood or theme? Who’s your favourite beauty and why and how did it translate into the music?
Wareham: What stands out is that many of these amazing people died too young – Paul America, Edie Sedgwick, Ingrid Superstar, Freddy Herko, Nico. The moods of the tests can be very different. Some are light and bouncy, others put you in a dark mood. Nico was the most beautiful – to my eyes. We decided to record the Dylan song “I’ll Keep It With Mine” – purportedly written for her.
Black Postcards is published by The Penguin Press. Dean and Britta are currently touring the US and Vancouver, Canada for The 13 Most Beautiful. Dean & Britta’s latest album is L’Avventura, and they will perform the Warhol show Vancouver on January 30th as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Wareham will be reading from Black Postcards and performing in Vancouver at Zulu Records on January 31st.
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