We spoke to Bryce Dessner - guitarist for New York indie darlings The National and, along with his brother Aaron, curator of the new Dark Was The Night double disc CD - about pulling together a who's who of the indie world for the Red Hot Organisation's AIDS Awareness charity.
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Congratulations on the Dark Was The Night project, it seems like a pretty massive undertaking.
Yeah it was. It took us about three years so we're glad it's finally out.
Was it a struggle at times to pull it all together?
There were definitely certain artists that we just knew had to be on it. As much as we had a lot of progress early on we were sure that we were just going to keep working. Everyone was working on different time schedules. It was mostly all good. It was pretty much just a great experience of working with people. Most of the artists were so generous with what they gave.
Was it pulling a bunch of friends or were you trying to get together artists for different reasons?
Well strangely enough who we started with were pretty much our friends. But also in a way they were the core of the record. Y'know like Sufjan Stevens, Antony, Arcade Fire and Grizzly Bear. These are all people we know really well. That we've either played with or they live near us or they're friends. So in a way they represent a few different strands of what we're into and what's happening, and we really felt like building it around those artists. Y'know Grizzly Bear helped us get Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio and Arcade Fire helped us get Blonde Redhead. So it sort've went like that a little bit - as we got into it we got connections to other artists. We had a really long wishlist of people that we wanted. Most of whom ended up on it. There's quite a few who we couldn't get. Whether through timing or we couldn't actually get through to them. But in the end, you know it was pretty close to what we wanted.
Anyone in particular you wanted that missed out?
Well there's Animal Collective. A band that we really respect that was into doing it but just couldn't get it together. Also LCD Soundsystem which I think is one of the greatest bands in New York. James Murphy really wanted to do it, but he was just too tired and, you know. We tried to get Radiohead but couldn't get a response from their management. So, there were quite a few.
John Carlin (Red Hot founder) just gave you the run of it, it sounds like.
It was nice that way, they just gave us total creative control. Which I think really allowed us to shape it. I think what we gave it just as artists ourselves, the kind of intensity that we bring to making our own records, we put that into the charity. Really that's what made the difference as far as it being a quality record. Both in terms of the sequencing and the production of it as well as the material. That said though, y'know it is a charity record. We would give people as much direction as we could, even play with them in the studio at times. But at the end of the day, we weren't going to reject people's charities (laughs). So by being inclusive it's pretty big and it's pretty diverse. So that's what we wanted it to be about.
Sometimes compilation charity albums can be where B Sides go to die. Was there still a sense of trying to make a strong record?
I think by working directly with the artist we would you know, discourage them from giving us B Sides. There definitely are some B Sides on the record, you know the Arcade Fire song from the Funeral era. But with a band like th Arcade Fire and their song, we were excited enough about it that it made sense. And it was also an exclusive song. Actually Thom Yorke from Radiohead did offer us some B Sides but they had been released in some form before. And we really didn't want to do that.
There's been a pretty strong tradition of records coming out through Red Hot. Was there a sense of trying to live up to what the organisation has already achieved?
We didn't really feel daunted and I think that's mostly because we really believe in the artists who are on it. Most of whom, in our generation, are just really good songwriters. Even the best bands amongst us, I think when it comes down to it it's less about a certain vibe or fashion or whatever. It's more actually about the songs they're writing. I think if anything the Red Hot tradition of great collaborations - how they've let the concepts be far flung - really helped us. That was part of encouraging people like David Byrne to work with Dirty Projectors or getting Kronos Quartet on the record where they really stick out as being something different. Those kinds of things we felt really empowered by the Red Hot model.
Ultimately it's great if it makes a bit of money for the organisation as well. Was that such a factor as just raising awareness?
Well Red Hot is really just an umbrella so all the money raised goes to actual HIV and AIDS charities around the world. And the artists are able to choose different charities they'd like to donate to. So it's not really a fundraiser for Red Hot it's just that Red Hot are the production company that makes these things. And for me that is ultimately the bottom line, you know what we want to do is raise money for this charity, that's the goal so...you know, we're hoping to sell a bunch of records. On the other side of it I guess, it is a fairly high profile compilation so it's kind've bringing attention back to the epidemic and the social issues involved with it. And I think it's a good time to be doing that.
Is HIV something that has touched your lives personally?
I do have some friends who are HIV positive. I've not lost anyone to the disease. But certainly growing up in America in the '80s it was public topic number one during the Reagan years. And not always handled in the best way. For John Carlin who founded Red Hot, certainly, the artists he was working with as an entertainment lawyer in the early '80s, many of them died. So I think he really has a personal story with that. But I think for us, the epidemic is still a huge problem - it's a serious humanitarian issue in Africa. So I think in a way we're far removed from there but it's something that is just a really clear issue. For all of these artists, you never have to explain that. Everyone was totally on board with trying to work with us on this.
Arguably a lot of these artists would have fans of maybe a different generation that would've never really considered AIDS being a problem, at least in their own country.
Yeah possibly. Certainly the issue of safe sex, it seems like people of our generation are taking that less seriously. Which you know, is a problem (laughs). I think bringing attention back to it now is a good thing.
And so what are The National up to at the moment?
I'm actually in the studio at the moment - we're working on new songs. We just built a recording studio over the summer in Brooklyn. So yeah we're doing a ton of writing basically and we're getting into the recording of another album. We're planning some live events, like at Radio City Music Hall in New York on May 3rd, for Dark Was The Night with lots of the artists. Then we have like a week of touring in the US and maybe a week of festivals in Europe. But other than that we're pretty much home trying to make a record. And our singer (Matt Berninger) had a baby just recently. Which is something different for us (laughs).
Are there plans to come back to Australia?
I think...you know we had an offer to come back, in I guess like the Spring. But timing wise it didn't work out. We loved coming to Australia it's such an amazing place, it's really one of the most beautiful places in the world. So we'll definitely come back, but it probably won't be til about 2010.
Dark Was The Night, featuring Arcade Fire, Feist, The National, Sufjan Stevens, Buck 65, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Conor Oberst and more, is out now