FILTER REISSUES
“Nigel didn’t know my name…”
Bob Nastanovich speaks to Stevie Chick.
No fear: Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich.
You said that Terror Twilight is Pavement’s most “poorly received” album…
“We were extremely spoiled when it came to reviews – if anything, we’d always been overrated. Terror Twilight was the record where people decided, ‘It’s OK to dis Pavement now’. But part of the reason we’re doing this now is that fans have been clamouring for this reissue for the last decade. I really like these songs, they’ve stood the test of time.”
Stephen Malkmus shouldered almost all of the song-writing responsibilities on the album – did that cause tension?
“Terror Twilight was basically just Stephen. He was not aggressively critical about it, but he did say that it was hard being in a band with people who had stopped listening to music and new things. For us to expect him to carry us and, in some cases, even teach us our own parts, became a growing source of frustration for him. I feel Terror Twilight was maybe the first Stephen Malkmus album.”
You mention in the sleevenotes that Nigel Godrich focused on Malkmus, to the expense of the rest of the band.
“A few days into the recording, I was pretty sure Nigel didn’t know my name. And then I was able to find a nuance in a conversation where I proved he didn’t know my name (laughs). But he was a fan of the band and he wanted to make a Pavement record. I think we were probably difficult to work with, especially at that time. I saw him that summer, and he apologised to me. I’d told that story in the press about how he didn’t know my name, and he felt really bad about that. I said, ‘You did a great job on the record. You record a band, that doesn’t mean you have to become mates with the people.’”
Did you know the end was coming?
“We had a basic game plan for a sixth Pavement album. We were practising new songs – at least three or four songs of what became [Malkmus’s 2001 solo debut] Stephen Malkmus, would have been on the sixth Pavement record. But as touring for Terror Twilight went on, it became more and more laborious for Stephen. He wanted to experience being in a band that rehearsed and created and jammed together on a regular basis, just like 99 per cent of the other bands in the world. On the final week of the tour, he told me he couldn’t keep being in a band like this any more. He thought it’d be more healthy for him as an artist to try something different. And I was so exhausted, so unwell after weeks of touring, so fried, I was perfectly fine with that. I was amazed I got to be a part of it in the first place. And I was amazed when he told me in 2009, ‘We’re gonna do a Pavement reunion tour next year.’ I’d assumed in 1999 that we’d never play again. And then I assumed, after the seven or so concerts we did in 2010, that we’d never play again. But there you go. It goes without saying that I’m the last person he’d ever have to ask if they’d want to play again, because I love it so much.”