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Music

The lore of Wilco

Bassist John Stirratt discusses his band's fight with Warner Bros., its technology or lack thereof, and its success despite a revolving cast of players.

By BRIAN ORLOFF
Published February 10, 2005

[AP photo]

Wilco includes, from left, John Stirratt, Nels Cline, Pat Sansone, Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche.

By now, Wilco might be known more as the band that successfully took on a major label than for its Americana-tinged art rock. Then again, the Chicago rockers' music isn't exactly being ignored. Critics have not stopped raving about A Ghost Is Born, its latest album, and fans are galvanized by the band's searing live performances.

After releasing critically acclaimed but never chart-topping records for Warner Bros., Wilco took an arty turn on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, experimenting with ambient, electronic effects. The label rejected it as utterly noncommercial, and the band struggled to be released from its contract. After a protracted fight, Wilco signed with boutique label Nonesuch Records and released what would become its biggest commercial success.

Another facet of Wilco's lore is its revolving cast of players. The band, led by Jeff Tweedy (who also plays guitar), now includes Glenn Kotche (drums, percussion); Mikael Jorgensen (keys, laptop); Nels Cline (guitars); Pat Sansone (multiple instruments); and John Stirratt (bass). Wilco brings its show to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on Wednesday.

Stirratt has been with Wilco from the start. He called from his Chicago home to talk about the band, its unique take on technology and what it's like to work with Tweedy.

Your story has become mythologized by those who love to point out what they see as the foolishness of major labels.

It's kind of funny. . . . In a lot of ways we benefited from the major label system. We represent the last of bands that were actually nurtured, bands that were given a chance after three or four records to sell even though we weren't selling anything. We were making records at a time when it was a more benevolent major label. I think that's allowed us to continue today, because it's hard doing that on an indie over the years. . . . (People) love a story like that, like an underdog story. . . . There was an absolutely true aspect of that, but on the other hand, just to look at that situation, we had a lot of people that we really liked at the label.

What about all the lineup changes?

I always rejected the idea of being a revolving door, but once LeRoy (Bach) left, it really officially became a revolving door. I can't think of things working out in a better way than they did. . . . Everyone has a great idea of what we were trying to do on the record and, I think, there's a lot of playing off of each other with all the touring we've done, and just a lot more listening onstage.

You record on reel-to-reel tape, . . . but musically you're embracing samples and electronics, so the music becomes technologically mediated. It's a pretty unique position.

It is, and it's still kind of decidedly retro in a way. A lot of the tools we have are '70s and '80s analog, and to still record it on tape, I'm sure there are people who are still more stringent. . . . I think there just has to be an organic element in there somewhere, but Mikael, I think, would probably reflect the technology that is very new in terms of programs, but everything else has been around for a while.

Was he working with you offstage for a while? And then he moved on?

He was engineering . . . and he had an instrument, the laptop and these programs that no one else had in the band. We thought getting him involved would be great, so we thought it might be fun for him to do manipulation onstage. . . . Then he emerged onstage with a small keyboard and it made sense for him to get a full keyboard rig. The manipulation still exists in the band, the laptop work, but he's become more of a full-fledged keyboard player.

People have all sorts of images of Jeff. Talk about him as a musical partner and bandleader.

He has a very brave side to him in terms of music. . . . It's funny you used the word bandleader. I think that's one aspect of it. He's had a pretty egalitarian attitude. He doesn't get in there and start yelling out parts. He lets things evolve in a very nice way. So, bandleader . . . could evoke the wrong things. . . . I think he's been able to use his knowledge of rock history very well, not to mention his music collection. His sense of wonder in music is very intact.

PREVIEW: Wilco, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa. $25. (813) 229-7827, (813) 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100.

[Last modified February 9, 2005, 13:23:08]