"I am not that thrilled about the way our records sound anyway. Don't get me wrong, I work hard on them and I want them to sound fantastic but I'm happy to have another interpretation of them anyway"
About this Quote
Coyne is doing that rare rock-star move: deflating his own product without deflating his own labor. The line starts with a mild confession - "not that thrilled" - that refuses the usual mythology of the definitive album, the sacred master recording. He’s not performing self-hatred; he’s signaling restlessness. In a music culture that treats records like finished monuments, he positions them as drafts: earnest, imperfect, still negotiable.
The tightrope is in "Don't get me wrong". Coyne anticipates the fan and industry reflex: dissatisfaction equals laziness or contempt. So he adds the work ethic clause ("I work hard") and the aspirational one ("I want them to sound fantastic") to protect the emotional contract with the audience. Then comes the real tell: "another interpretation". That word choice reframes production not as truth but as translation. A record isn’t the song; it’s one possible version, shaped by taste, gear, budget, band chemistry, and the era’s sonic fashion.
Contextually, Coyne comes out of a lineage - especially in psychedelic and indie rock - that prizes transformation: remixes, alternate takes, live reinventions, covers, even deliberate lo-fi "mistakes" as texture. The subtext is both humility and control. By welcoming reinterpretation, he looks open-minded, but he’s also asserting an artist’s right to re-author his own catalog, to keep the songs alive by refusing to freeze them. It’s a quiet argument against nostalgia: the point isn’t to preserve the record; it’s to keep chasing the feeling it tried to capture.
The tightrope is in "Don't get me wrong". Coyne anticipates the fan and industry reflex: dissatisfaction equals laziness or contempt. So he adds the work ethic clause ("I work hard") and the aspirational one ("I want them to sound fantastic") to protect the emotional contract with the audience. Then comes the real tell: "another interpretation". That word choice reframes production not as truth but as translation. A record isn’t the song; it’s one possible version, shaped by taste, gear, budget, band chemistry, and the era’s sonic fashion.
Contextually, Coyne comes out of a lineage - especially in psychedelic and indie rock - that prizes transformation: remixes, alternate takes, live reinventions, covers, even deliberate lo-fi "mistakes" as texture. The subtext is both humility and control. By welcoming reinterpretation, he looks open-minded, but he’s also asserting an artist’s right to re-author his own catalog, to keep the songs alive by refusing to freeze them. It’s a quiet argument against nostalgia: the point isn’t to preserve the record; it’s to keep chasing the feeling it tried to capture.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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