Q. Although you guys typically take several years between albums, what took you so long this time?
A. Largely the reason that everything takes as long as it does is because Adam is involved in a lot of projects. We tour for a year and a half when the record comes out, and then it’s a while of writing, and then it’s a while of trying to get back in the studio. This record probably would’ve come out earlier than it did, except we definitely butted heads on this record a lot more than we did on any other record. There was a lot of fighting.
Q. Since the sound of the record isn’t markedly dissimilar from your past work, it would be interesting to know why. Does that mean somebody did a lot more compromising in the past and you’re just not doing that anymore?
A. When we made the last record, I was not doing well in a lot of different ways, drunk a lot of the time. I didn’t contribute a whole lot to the last record, and I think we settled into a situation where Adam was taking control of a lot of things. I only wrote three songs on the previous Fountains of Wayne record, so when this one came along I had a lot more to bring. It was just a matter of bringing everything back into balance, and there was a lot of fighting about it. (Laughs.)
Q. Are things good now?
A. I guess it’s the corniest thing in the world to say that I think it’s the best thing we’ve done, but honestly this is the record I’m happiest with the final result, even though it was the hardest one to do.
Q. Do you think the fact that you don’t drink so much anymore has anything to do with your satisfaction?
A. Yeah. (Laughs.) That’s true.
Q. It’s been 15 years since your debut album. Does it seem like a long time ago or just yesterday?
