2. AfterhoursPadania
I met Afterhours in 2003. We played a couple shows together in Italy. They subsequently asked me to produce their next record. So I went to Sicily and did this record that translates as Ballads For Little Hyenas. They did a record after that but Padania is the record that came out two years ago. By that time I had become really good friends with the band. Manuel [Agnelli], the singer, had played in The Twilight Singers. I had played in Afterhours. I loved all their records. They’re one of those bands that would reinvent themselves each record. But nothing prepared me for the stylistic leap that they went through on Padania. And to do a record that deep and encompassing that late in your career is almost unheard of. It’s one of the best rock & roll records I’ve ever heard by anyone ever.
It calls to mind the best parts of The White Album, the best parts of Captain Beefheart, the best parts of Can, the best parts of Neil Young. Very experimental sides too. And it’s all incredibly, beautifully Italian. I’m literally in awe of it as a piece of rock & roll. This is something I’ve been living with for three years and I still listen to it. I just had it in my car again. There’s just so many songs that I love on it. The title track is incredibly beautiful. And they also did an acoustic version of the title track that makes me wanna cry, it’s so beautiful. I was not only in touch with them while they were making it, I heard the demos as they went along. And I loved the demos so much I was like, "Wow, don’t mess with these too much." But of course they didn’t listen to me, and that’s a good thing cause they blew the demos away with the actual record.
