Steve Poltz Interview: SXSW 2010

With almost 20 years of nearly non-stop touring under his belt, Steve Poltz is quite possibly the hardest working man in the indie folk-rock scene. He co-founded the Rugburns in college, and not even his day job (as a plastic nipple salesman) could distract him from his true calling.

In 1992 he left the world of plastics to play music full-time. In 1998 he went solo, co-wrote Jewel's 'You Were Made for Me,' and released the album 'One Left Shoe' with Mercury Records. He also released 'Answering Machine' -- 56 tracks of 45-second outgoing messages from his home answering machine, rumored to be a favorite of Neil Young. (Steve had the opportunity to meet Neil Young in a wedding buffet line where Steve reportedly said: "Wow, these quesadillas are great. The tortillas taste real home-made-y.") He has since left Mercury Records, created his own label and released five more albums, including his most recent release, 'Dream House.' We recently met up with Poltz and got his take on quitting your day job, writing children's music, and whether or not he ever got a second chance with Neil Young.

I understand that you've broken your hand.

Yeah. I broke it skiing in British Columbia. Note to bands out there: don't go skiing in the middle of a tour. One of you is probably going to get hurt. I'll probably be playing guitar again, hopefully by April. I have a guitarist on the road with me, and he's learned all my parts.

How did you come up with the name the Rugburns?

When we were playing this little bar, we would have people send up band names on napkins. The coolest name is what we would be for that night. We'd change our name every week. Someone sent up Rugburn 451, after 'Fahrenheidt 451' by Ray Bradury, so we just shortened it to the Rugburns, and it stuck.

How did you go from selling plastics to playing music full-time?

I've always played music, since I was six. I play guitar, which I really love to do. When I had my job, we were always in bars on nights and weekends. It became bigger than I thought it would. We started developing a big following and, next thing I knew, the places were selling out. I just thought: You know what, If I don't quit this job now, I'm never going to do it, and I'll get used to making this good salary and I won't want to quit. I'll start buying things, like houses and cars, and I'll get tied into never being able to do what I really want to do -- playing music and writing songs. So I quit my job. I'll never forget that day, because it scared me. I had $30,000 in the bank, so I was pretty lucky. When I blew through it, that's when everything good started happening.

How so?

When my back was to the wall, I said I have to get a record deal, I have to tour, and so I made it happen because it was a matter of survival. Plus, I'd quit my job, and I didn't want to have to go back and have everyone say "See..." Some people were jealous when I quit. It was like, "Oh, you can't just go have fun." You know what? Actually, I can. The funny thing is, I work harder now than I ever did back then. [I have] way more fun because it's my own career.

Why did you go solo?

[The Rugburns] were together from '83 until '96. We were together long enough to hate each other's guts. We love each other now, but if you're with any band that long, sometimes things can implode. I don't even remember why, that's the cool part. I just played a show with those guys, and we're all hugging each other. It's family. I love those guys more than anything, but there times when I think we all wanted to strangle each other.

How would you describe your solo sound?

I would say quirky and melodic pop folk. With stories interspersed between.

Is there anyone you would compare yourself to?

No, because it always comes out sounding stupid. "I'm like the Beatles." No, you're not. The Beatles are like the Beatles. I think I just sound like me.

What are your musical influences?

The soundtrack to 'Jesus Christ Superstar' by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. I think it's because I listened to it so much as a kid that it seeped into my head. I love that the songs have stories to them. They took the Bible, and what we were taught, and put this humorous bent to it. It's almost an irreverent bent. The first time I heard ['Herod's Song'], that used to make me laugh so hard, because I was raised Catholic. I was an altar boy, and I'd make sure my mom wasn't listening when that part came on.

What was the inspiration behind 'Answering Machine'?

That was just me being on a major label and them saying I could only put out a record when they let me. So I said, fine, I'll put this out on my own. I had all these 45-second songs -- outgoing messages on my answering machine at home. I wasn't even keeping them. I would just write one and then it would disappear. And my friend noticed that was happening and he thought that was a shame, so he started taping them without me knowing about it. He would call up and tape them, and he had compiled about 56 of them and put it onto a CD, and we put it out.

Did you ever get a chance to talk to Neil Young again, after the "home-made-y" incident?

I did get to talk to him again, recently. My friend knows him really well, and we just talked about music. It was pretty fun.

You also have a children's album?

Yeah, it's called 'The Barn.' My friend wrote this story and put all the voices together. He worked at a radio station, and the one thing he was missing was music. I happened to come in [to the radio station] to play, and he said "You know, I like how you just make up songs. Do you think you could make up some songs for this?" As he put it on, I was listening to the story, I just started writing songs for it. So we put out this kids' record, and I play Dusty the Dirtbike. It was so fun. It was really cool because a lot of people that come to my shows have seen me since the early '80s and now have kids. I've got to make a new kids' record, because people need stuff for their kids.