Q and A

Things that make you go M

Folk sensation M. Ward on process, inspiration and what’s next

Interview by Mike Pooley | Dec 16, 2009

Dated

Sun, Dec 16

M. Ward / M. Ward is the kind of musician that seems to have it all figured out. He has a successful solo career, he is in the supergroup Monsters of Folk, he collaborates with talented artists like Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis and the members of My Morning Jacket. He’s also the “Him” to indie-goddess Zooey Deschanel’s “She” in She & Him. After Ward released and completed a tour for his own album, Hold Time, he followed it with an album and tour for Monsters of Folk. Somewhere in-between he found the time to produce and record with Deschanel for their second album, Volume 2. Ward took some time to catch up with Honolulu Weekly ahead of his December 16 show at Pipeline Cafe.

So, you just got home from your tour with Monsters of Folk.

I did, I just got home about seven days ago. It was an incredible tour, but it’s nice to be home in Portland and I’m very excited to go to Hawaii.

Have you ever been here before?

No, it will be my first time ever, so I’m taking a week for a vacation on Kauai. A lot of my friends have been singing the praises of Kauai for as long as I’ve known them and even though its a very busy time of the year, I’m very happy I am getting the chance to make it happen. I can’t wait.

After your time in the islands what are your plans for the New Year?

After Hawaii, I’m coming back to Portland and there is a record I just finished with Zooey for the She & Him project and that will be starting up again in 2010, so I’ll be getting ready to start the interview process, starting the tour and getting the band together.

Has the creation process changed much with you and Zooey on Volume 2?

The process is pretty set in stone, she writes the songs and I produce and arrange. It’s incredibly smooth with her, so the process for Volume 2 is the same as Volume 1.

How is it going from Monsters of Folk into a different project like She & Him?

Its a completely different thing and as someone makes a living creating and getting inspired by the different environments, its perfect me to be able to jump from project to project.

Do you find it hard deciding what songs go where, when jumping from project to project?

Well I write a lot, I’ve been writing a ton since high school and well I’m always going back to old songs and making them new again. I’m always writing new songs also, so there is never a shortage of material. So you try your best to listen to the demos and find out where they want to go. The Monsters of Folk project was a very unique project where you get to work with your friends and you finish these songs that you’ve started, which is an amazing experience. We hope to do more in the future; we don’t have anything on the calendar right now as far as recording or playing any shows or anything. We just had such an amazing time on this last tour that we are all very confident that something will spring up once our calendars open up.

You mentioned being inspired by different environments, do you find yourself being inspired by your travels?

Normally, it’s the last place you can imagine that inspires you. I believe we live in a world of paradox and a show that you think will be the most difficult show of your life ends up being the easiest and vice versa. You will wake up in the morning and you have plenty of time to get to the venue, those are the times where you are an hour late. The times that you feel that you are going to be an hour late, you get there and you are just sitting around for hours. So I think that for me, inspiration always comes at the place and time that you would least expect it, and I think that’s a good thing.

Do you think that being in a place like Hawaii is going to bring out some inspiration for you like it has so many other artists?

Well my favorite time to write is when I have some time to turn my phone off and my computer off and have a little bit of down time, and that’s what I have scheduled for Hawaii, so I am just really looking forward to this trip.

After such a busy 2009, I’m really curious to see what you have planned for 2010.

Right now I am just entirely focused on the She & Him project, it’s all I have on my calendar. I’m just really excited for people to hear this record.

It’s the end of the year and it’s the end of the decade, what are some highlights for you?

You know, when people ask me to look back on the year, I can’t help but think about and the first thing that comes to mind, which is Obama being elected and seeing the footage from Washington D.C., with the huge crowd on the lawn… everything just pales in comparison.

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