[MUSIC PLAYING]
HOZIER: Thanks for having me.
And admiring your office, I
have to say, it's gorgeous.
Not a bad place to come to work.
I'm going to sing you the title
track from the album, which
is a song called
"Wasteland, Baby!"
And it's just kind of--
I don't know-- about our
particular age of anxiety.
And it's a verse for, yeah,
all sorts of things, be it
nuclear winter, or political
civil violence, or just
economic-- not economic,
but environmental collapse.
[HOZIER SINGING "WASTELAND,
 BABY!"]
[APPLAUSE]
JASON ANDREAS: Thank
you for the song.
We appreciate it,
"Wasteland, Baby!"
Yeah.
HOZIER: Thank you.
Yeah, pleasure.
JASON ANDREAS: Beautiful, yeah.
And thank you for
stopping in today.
We were just talking backstage.
You've got a very busy
day of show schedule,
and we appreciate
you carving out
some time to come chat
with us here at Google.
HOZIER: It's a pleasure.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Yeah, absolutely.
HOZIER: Yeah, thanks
for being here.
JASON ANDREAS: I was looking
at your tour schedule.
We were just talking about
the next couple of stops.
But the remainder
of your tour, you've
got the Fillmore tonight
in Detroit, which is
my favorite venue in the city.
And then you're on through
the rest of United States.
But you've got some huge stops.
You've got Bonnaroo,
Lollapalooza, both here
in the United States and abroad,
Glastonbury, Electric Picnic.
HOZIER: Yeah, that
should be fun.
JASON ANDREAS: You've got
five nights at the Hammerstein
Ballroom in New York to
finish the tour, five
nights at the Palladium in
London before you come home.
How do you balance all
of that out, right?
How do you balance the
wicked tour schedule
with bringing energy to
the stage every night
and spending time
meeting with fans
during the day, all of that?
HOZIER: You sometimes don't.
It's the truth.
You kind of-- I
think the best way
is taking one day at a time.
And you kind of
wake up, and you see
what's ahead of you that
day, and you deal with it.
We just did a
six-day, on-the-chart,
we did a show of some kind.
And yeah, you kind of
brace yourself for that,
maybe look after yourself a bit
more than you normally would.
But you sometimes just don't.
And it's kind of a
mind-over-matter thing.
JASON ANDREAS: We used
our Google massage room
as an impromptu green room.
And I was afraid Andrew might
fall asleep in the massage--
HOZIER: Oh, my gosh, yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: --chair
before he came out here.
HOZIER: It's good
vibes in there, man.
JASON ANDREAS: Nice
he made it out, yeah.
We had the scents
going and everything.
Yeah, the tea.
HOZIER: Yeah, had
the lavender going.
JASON ANDREAS: Nice.
I might head there
after the talk.
HOZIER: It's great, loved it.
Yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Is
there a difference--
I assume there is-- but a
difference between preparing
for a show at a place
like the Fillmore, which
holds 7,000, 8,000 fans, versus
playing at Glastonbury where
there's going to
be 100,000 fans?
How do you approach
the preparation
for the difference in crowds?
HOZIER: Yeah.
There's something fun
about an intimate room
and an intimate kind
of theater or a club,
even-- you do miss clubs.
There's something
conversational, even,
about that.
Going out there,
and if there's going
to be 60,000 or 80,000
to 100,000 people,
you just try and psych
yourself up for that.
A festival, you have no
soundcheck or anything
like that, and
things can go wrong.
So you just go out there
and try to bring the energy.
And you're trying to just
project out a bit more.
I wish I had more experience
with that because I'm still--
I mean, yeah, the nerves
hit you on a gig like that.
JASON ANDREAS: I
was going to say,
do you get nervous still
playing every night?
Or it's bigger festivals
bring out the nerves?
HOZIER: It can.
Definitely bigger festivals
will bring out the--
you kind of swap the butterflies
for the crows, as it were.
But yeah, even the small
one, you get that jitters.
And it depends on
how you're feeling.
If you're feeling in good vocal
health, then you're up for it.
But yeah, there's
always that little bit
of nerves, which
is a good thing.
JASON ANDREAS: Well, let's
talk about the new album.
You guys can see it right here
between us, "Wasteland, Baby!"
And you performed the
title track off of it.
So your initial
album five years ago,
self-titled, was a huge
success, to say the least.
And then you took some
time to prepare this album,
and it debuts at number one in
the United States of America
on the Billboard chart,
which is unbelievable.
What's that feel like?
HOZIER: It's a good feeling.
[LAUGHTER] It was
a good feeling.
JASON ANDREAS: I would
have guessed that, yeah.
If I had to guess good or
bad, I would guess good, so
thank you for confirming it.
HOZIER: Yeah.
It was nice.
No, I think it was
more so knowing
that there was people who were
listening to the music, who
were up for listening
to the music,
and holding on to some
of that fan base was--
yeah, that's great.
JASON ANDREAS: Sure.
And it was the first rock
album to top the Billboard
in like six months, seven,
eight months, something
like that in the first of 2019.
So rock and roll
is not dead, is it?
HOZIER: It's in palliative care.
It's sitting up in
a hospice somewhere,
but it's still going.
JASON ANDREAS: Keep it alive.
We appreciate it.
Cool.
So I read-- I was looking
through a couple of interviews.
And you were talking about
this album, in particular,
and the entire
feel of the album,
from start to finish,
all of the tracks.
And you talked about it having
an optimistic overarching feel
to it.
But at the same time, there's
a lot of different messages
within the songs.
Is that pretty accurate
to say that this is meant
to be an optimistic record?
Was there a certain theme
or feel that you were
trying to accomplish?
Or did all the songs kind of
come together individually
to create that feel for you?
HOZIER: Yeah, I think there
is an optimistic core to it.
I kind of view it as like maybe
14 different points of view.
I kind of characterize it as
all kind of sitting around
the same awful kind of turmoil
or awful kind of bonfire
of our times.
And they're all just
screaming into that bonfire.
Some of them are hopeful, and
some of them are despairing.
But I think
"Wasteland, Baby!," why
I like that song in particular,
I think that sums up,
look, even in the worst,
worst case scenario,
there's still this potential
for a squeeze of the hand.
And there's still an act
of comfort and comfort
between two people.
And that being something
that's real and actual,
and reaching for
that as something
that there is something
optimistic there, I suppose.
JASON ANDREAS: Sure.
And with all the news you read
on a daily basis, a lot of it's
negative.
It's nice that there's
a silver lining, right?
You're looking for
that silver lining
and knowing that it's
still there, right?
HOZIER: Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Did your
creative process change between
your initial album, "Hozier,"
and this album, "Wasteland,
Baby!?"
Was there a
difference in how you
went about writing
the different albums,
now that you have some
experience under your belt
for this one, versus your
very first record that
went six or seven times
platform, right off the bat?
Is there a difference in
processes for you for that?
HOZIER: I was on the road for
a long time with that album--
2 and 1/2 years.
And so I wanted to
take some time out.
I wanted to approach the
writing in a similar way
that I had, with a
similar ethos, and just
taking time with the songs on
my own in a kind of quiet space,
and avoid the sort of
carousel of writing rooms,
and stuff like
that, and co-writes.
And I think I was
definitely leaning
into it a bit more
having fun with rhythm
and actually just enjoying--
having fun with the voice
as well, having fun with the
actual layer, the character
of the voice.
So on some of the songs,
they're a bit more flippant--
sometimes at the risk of
sounding glib as well, too--
but having a bit more fun
with writing the songs.
JASON ANDREAS: Sure.
And you did take five
years in between albums.
And I feel like in
today's day and age,
you've got some bands, some
musicians who are releasing
a record every year.
Did you feel pressure,
either from the record label,
from yourself, from fans to
release something sooner?
HOZIER: I didn't.
Yeah, of course, the
pressure's there.
I weighed that up
against the pressure
on myself,
self-contained pressure,
to make sure I was just
happy with the work.
And as I said, there's ways--
I was 2 and 1/2
years on the road.
I was pretty tired after
those 2 and 1/2 years.
I found it difficult
to write on the road.
I was keen not to
create something quickly
for the sake-- for
something expedient.
And there is, there's
great opportunities to it
when you get in with this
writer or this pop writer--
record a song with this person.
And if it didn't feel right--
it's just that I wanted to
make sure it just felt right.
So yeah, took a bit
of time with it, but.
JASON ANDREAS: I think
we're OK with it,
though, because it
turned out brilliantly.
Yeah.
HOZIER: Well, thank you.
I hope people like it.
JASON ANDREAS: So another five
years for the next one, right?
HOZIER: Yeah, hopefully not.
I promise that.
JASON ANDREAS: One of the
songs I love on the album,
besides all of them,
is "Nina Cried Power."
So this actually
was a song that was
released on an EP
in, I believe maybe,
October, November of 2018.
So it actually was, I
guess, the lead single,
I suppose you could say.
And then it made its
way onto this album.
It's a really great song.
It was actually listed by
former president Barack Obama
on one of his favorite songs of
2018, and a lot of great press
around it.
And it really kind
of calls the spirit,
I guess, this kind of homage
to musicians who have also
been activists, right?
Nina Simone; Mavis
Staples, who's
actually singing on the track,
Booker T., which a lot of us
know here in Detroit.
What's the importance
of that song to you?
And how do you feel, as
a writer and a singer,
of bringing social issues
or social kind of narratives
into songwriting?
HOZIER: There's a lot of
questions in that one.
JASON ANDREAS: I think I
asked you six questions.
HOZIER: No, no, no, no.
JASON ANDREAS: I apologize.
I just kept going.
They felt good.
HOZIER: No, no, no, totally.
The song definitely was--
I'd hoped it would be kind of
like a love letter to an era
when many people were writing--
I suppose we joke about rock
and roll not being dead--
people writing
subversive songs, songs
that looked at the world around
them with a subversive eye,
but also with a hopeful
eye and just sang out
about things or the values
that, oftentimes, we all share.
And we're approaching
and confronting
the things that we
are not happy with
and we're not comfortable with
in the world that we live in.
So whether that's Woody Guthrie
writing a song like "Tear the
Fascists Down" or Pete Seeger,
or Bob Dylan, or Patti Smith,
or, as you say, Billie
Holiday, Nina Simone--
just people who I
suppose wrote bravely
and wrote about the world
that they hoped to see.
And Mavis Staples
embodies that entirely.
Her work, her catalog
embodies that.
She's an incredibly
important artist in my eyes.
So there's that.
So I was hoping to
write a kind of a--
just something that
looked towards that.
With regards to how
important I would
feel about writing something
that tackles social issues,
I don't know if I view it as--
I have a great interest in it.
And I think that's more so--
the way I view it is that,
like, all songs just,
whether you're intending
to or not, they all reflect
the world that we live in.
If I was to write a very
happy song about going out
dancing and clubbing
and stuff like that,
it still is a reflection on
just the world around us,
like any piece of art.
But I think what
interests me is just
writing something
that tries to credit
and tries to name
the good and the bad
and trying to be
honest about it and try
to be honest about
how you experience
the world around you.
And sometimes there is elements
of social issues there.
There's elements of political
issues there, maybe.
JASON ANDREAS: Sure.
And the video for that song,
in particular, as well--
all your videos
are very powerful.
I think the one for
"Nina Cried Power"
is especially powerful because
it features a lot of activists
and a lot of activists
that took part
in activism around the
freedom of Northern Ireland
and the fight for
freedom and rights
in Northern Ireland, which is
obviously very close to you.
So you've incorporated now that
into the visual side of things
as well.
HOZIER: Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think that was trying to--
I suppose, again, in a time
where there is a fatigue,
a fatigue sets in with regards
kind of political movements
and political turmoil,
things like protests.
And fatigue is
real, and it's huge.
And then there is,
then, the eye-rolling
and the vilifying
of people who do
make that their life's work
of trying to ameliorate
issues or injustices.
And it was just trying to
point towards, at home, people
who have made real life
differences for what life
is like and how it is
experienced for people,
and certainly in
the state of Ireland
or, indeed, in Northern Ireland
with the Civil Rights movement
in the '60s, which was
influenced and was accelerated
by the Civil Rights movement
here as well too, which
is, I suppose, where there's
a nice link there, but yeah.
But it was nice just to
name that and credit that.
JASON ANDREAS: It's
a fine line to walk,
like you said, right,
between oversaturation,
but you're also
pulling inspiration
from what's around you, right?
And that's what a lot
of songwriters do,
and you do it particularly well.
HOZIER: Yeah.
Yeah.
And as I say, there is, there
is that risk of oversaturation.
But the way I view it,
all of these things,
everything we have to be
thankful for and everything
that we enjoy in life, is
delivered by people making
decisions-- conscience--
and acting upon it and exerting
pressure against state power,
or whether that is in Northern
Ireland with the Civil Rights
movement or that is more recent
social progress in the Republic
of Ireland, yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: You come
from a very artsy family,
a very talented artist family.
Your father was
a blues musician.
Your mother was a visual artist.
In fact, as I understand
it, she was the force
behind the cover of this
album, if you guys can see it,
and your other albums as well.
Was this really shot underwater?
HOZIER: It was shot underwater.
JASON ANDREAS: It was?
Yeah.
HOZIER: It was.
Yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Not some fancy
visual effects or something.
You never know these days.
HOZIER: Yeah.
No, we did a photo
shoot underwater.
And then a composition
was made from a few shots.
And then this, itself,
is actually a painting,
just as the first
album was a painting.
And that kind of started
when I was unsigned and kind
of borrowing--
unsigned, I had no
artwork for when
you print off a CD on your
laptop and are hawking it off
at gigs.
JASON ANDREAS: Selling out of
the boot, through your car,
right?
HOZIER: Exactly, yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Or trunk.
HOZIER: Yeah, I used
to steal my mom's--
steal-- borrow my mom's artwork.
She had a series of
paintings I really liked.
And we just kind of
continued on from there.
But yeah, that's her painting.
JASON ANDREAS: Any creative
differences with your mom?
Did you get in any
fights over the way
the album was portrayed?
HOZIER: We were
pretty fortunate.
But we have a policy of
Clear, Honest Communication.
JASON ANDREAS: That helps.
HOZIER: Yeah, CHC, which
is just like, if you
don't like something, you better
speak up now, or you know--
yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: My mom's
in the audience, too.
So--
HOZIER: Oh, no way.
JASON ANDREAS: --if Mom,
if I ever release an album,
you can absolutely
paint the cover of it.
So get started on some ideas.
Again, I don't want to
take away from this album
because it just came out, and
it's doing brilliantly well.
But you also talked about
having a lot of ideas stored up
for the next album.
If this album was
meant to be optimistic,
do you have an idea of where
you'd like to go directionally
for the next album?
Is it something that you're
thinking about already?
Do you have songs
ready to go already?
HOZIER: I have a lot of
ideas of a few songs.
I have a huge amount of work
that actually didn't make it
onto this record, which I would
love to kind of find a way
to get that out, just get that
out there, and let people hear.
Because it's no good sitting
in a folder on a laptop.
And yeah, as for the
next album, yeah, there's
a lot of ideas even
wrapping around.
Even, every time I get
a few weeks of quiet
or a few days of quiet, I find,
yeah, more ideas are coming.
So I have to say,
I'm quite excited.
And releasing this album
kind of made me very,
very hungry for just
moving on again.
And by the time we
release this album,
it's been sitting in my
pockets for a long, long time.
JASON ANDREAS: Right.
It's new to us, not to you.
HOZIER: Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm eager to get going.
JASON ANDREAS: So you sang with
Mavis Staples on this album.
But you don't feature a
lot of featured artists.
Is there anyone that
you'd love to sing
with on your next album?
HOZIER: Tons.
Tons of people, yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Everyone.
HOZIER: Yeah, tons of people.
I would love to do a bit
more collaborative stuff.
I keep saying this, but my
teenage years were kind of
formed by Tom Waits' work.
He was my tree house as a kid.
He was my kind of hiding place.
I fell in love with his work.
And the weirder, the better.
the darker, the more twisted,
the better.
I would love to work with
Tom Waits in some capacity.
Yeah, but that would
be my dream number one.
JASON ANDREAS: If
you're watching,
Tom, let's make it happen.
You were recently nominated
for an Ivor Novello
Award in singing
and songwriting,
which is a prestigious award
for Irish and UK songwriters.
I think the ceremony was maybe
last week or a week, week
and a half ago, for
"Nina Cried Power."
What's that mean for you to be
represented and honored for,
not just albums that
sell well, but also have
a deep meaning behind them
and really kind of honor
the writing that goes
on behind the scenes?
HOZIER: Yeah, that's a good--
that is, again, it's a good
feeling, not to sound evasive.
But it's a good feeling.
Writing, for me, is like--
it's the first love, and
it's the first passion.
And there is a kind
of an excitement
that writing,
creating some new idea
gives you that nothing
else can give you.
And I was there for church
a couple of years ago.
And that room was just a who's
who of just incredible writers,
I think.
There's just Elton
John has been around.
And then it's just ridiculous.
I have to say, it's
just ridiculous who's
kind of bopping
around those things.
So yeah, it's a good feeling.
And I have to say,
in that category,
there are some
amazing songwriters.
So I was delighted, yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Well,
congratulations.
One other thing that I
read, too, about this album
is that you sold
a lot of albums,
obviously, the first
week that it was out.
And you continued to sell an
incredible amount in following
weeks.
But you've sold a lot of
physical records, which
I think is awesome.
So we've got a vinyl
cover right here.
I'm a big vinyl addict myself.
And it's really interesting.
You, in particular-- and I
think this is attested to you
as an artist, and your fans, and
also the genre of rock music--
a lot of folks are
leaning more into things
like vinyl and
cassette, where we're
in a very digital streaming age.
Do you think there's a
shift that's occurring?
Do you think about those
things when you're writing?
Do you think about
physical records
versus the digital
streaming aspect of things?
Does that even matter
to you, or are you
just happy to see records move?
HOZIER: No, it does.
It definitely-- you would hope
that the album that you make
works as some cohesive whole.
But that was tricky
because there
were so many songs I couldn't
fit on it, but definitely.
And I think it's
nice because there's
something wonderful and tactile
about having something physical
and having something
to hold in your hand,
not only because it's something
you can register if needs be,
and you can ensure as well, too.
But then there's
something tactile.
There's a wonderful ritual
to sitting down and listening
to an album front to back.
And so it is.
It's nice to see that
people are kind of engaging
a little bit with that too.
JASON ANDREAS: You're
in a Google office too.
We're very much on the
digital side of things.
HOZIER: Of course.
I know.
I don't mean to be-- yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Probably
going to get fired for this,
but I love--
there's just something
about holding the music.
I love going to
bookstores versus reading
digital books too so--
HOZIER: I hear you.
JASON ANDREAS: I
feel like you get
the spirit of the
album in your hands
when you're holding on to it.
HOZIER: Totally.
Totally
JASON ANDREAS: Well,
speaking of technology,
we ask a lot of the
musicians who come through,
what is your relationship with
technology as it pertains--
I guess, less so to music
streaming and more so
in terms of how you stay
connected with your fans?
You're very active
on social media.
Is that you, or is that a team,
I guess, is my first question.
HOZIER: Yeah.
Sometimes.
JASON ANDREAS: Sometimes, yeah.
HOZIER: So if it's, in
some way, promotional,
if it's me looking like
I'm selling something,
I have nothing to do with that.
JASON ANDREAS:
Yeah, that's nice.
HOZIER: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thank goodness.
But if it's something
silly, or flippant,
or just like, why the
hell did he say that,
that's probably me.
JASON ANDREAS: How do
you feel about the role
of social media
and digital and how
you interact with your fans?
Fans have a lot of a
more intimate voice,
and so do you in
an era like this.
What are your
feelings around that?
HOZIER: Yeah.
It's a fantastic tool.
It's an amazing tool.
And incredible things
have been done, I suppose,
with that tool.
And so as long as you're--
you've got to be sensitive,
and you have a direct line
to a lot of people there.
So I really enjoy it.
I've gotta say, I
really enjoy it.
I get a good laugh
at some of my fans.
JASON ANDREAS: As you
say, it could be great,
but it can be really bad too--
HOZIER: Oh, yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: --if you're
not careful with it.
HOZIER: Yeah, totally.
JASON ANDREAS: I've seen a lot
of horror stories of people
posting the wrong things.
HOZIER: Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: We were
talking a little bit
about digital streaming too.
And I feel like,
digital streaming,
depending on how you look at
it, there's goods and bads.
But one of the
great things is it
allows you to release different
types of music very quickly.
I was recently listening
to Spotify's "Under Cover,"
and you did a brilliant cover of
Destiny's Child "Say My Name."
Has anyone heard that yet?
Anyone?
Aw, it's amazing, yeah.
How did you go about
moving into that process?
And why was that the
song that you chose?
HOZIER: It's always tricky when
you're asked to do a cover.
I think that was for
Spotify, which was--
JASON ANDREAS: Yeah, absolutely.
HOZIER: --which was fun.
You can be caught on the
hop when you're on the road.
Because it's like, hey,
we've got a cover idea.
So we had been
rehearsing quite a bit
with this new
group of musicians,
the band who are now with me.
And we had just started
falling into Destiny's Child,
the melody from that,
just like singing it.
And then Alex, my bass player,
would just throw a chord
progression against it.
And we were just kind
of just jamming it.
We had been jamming it.
So it seemed like
it was within reach,
an idea was within reach, and
an arrangement was within reach.
And it's definitely songs like
Destiny's Child, some Eve,
and some '90s and early 2000s--
JASON ANDREAS: You're
speaking my language now.
HOZIER: Yeah, it was being
played a lot on the bus
at the time.
So we were like, we just
wanted to honor that.
JASON ANDREAS: Yeah, I love it.
Any other dream
covers you'd put out,
if there wasn't "Say My Name"?
What else would you guys cover?
HOZIER: There's so many
that you would toy with,
and that you dare
not ever go near.
[LAUGHTER] I can't for the life
of me think of it just yet,
but yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Hang outside the
tour bus and listen closely.
You might hear a
few things, right?
HOZIER: Exactly.
JASON ANDREAS: What
about-- so tons of people
have covered "Take
Me to Church."
What's the process for that?
I mean, do you love
hearing the covers?
Do you listen to the covers?
Not only from official artists
who are doing it and posting it
on Spotify or Soundcloud,
things like that,
but you also have a lot of fans
who are doing it and posting it
on YouTube-- not just that
song, but many of your songs.
What's your thought on that?
HOZIER: Yeah.
No, again, that is, it's great.
If it's an artist, then
yeah, that's a real honor,
I have to say.
Because I know, if
you're on the road,
and you're asked to
do a cover, you're
only going to pick
something that you really,
really, really like, and
there's something about it
that you love.
So that's a really nice--
that's a real honor if
it's another artist.
With fans, I have to say, if
somebody else takes your work
and makes it part of
their own, in some part,
whether that's a piece of dance,
or whether they're covering
it, or covering it for--
it could be a high school
talent show or whatever--
it's just nice.
The song becomes
something that's
more than just your-- it
becomes something away from you
and something a little
bit bigger than you.
And I'm a firm believer that
songs are meant to be sang,
and they're meant to be shared,
and they're meant to be sang,
but not by musicians either,
you know what I mean?
Music is not--
JASON ANDREAS: In
the shower, right?
HOZIER: Yeah, totally.
Music is not something that's--
JASON ANDREAS:
That's where I sing.
HOZIER: Yeah, totally.
And it's not just--
the thing of what separates
a musician from somebody else
is a nonsense division, really.
I think songs should be sang.
They should be sang a
lot more by everybody.
So yeah, it's a good feeling.
JASON ANDREAS: You've
mentioned before that jazz
and blues have played
a lot of influence
in the music that you write
today and some of the things
that have kind of
laid a foundation
for your musical background.
We're in Detroit today, right?
What about Motown?
Any Motown musicians
that you can think of
or that have played a particular
large role in influencing you
in the way that your
sound has come out?
HOZIER: Huge amount,
huge amount, huge amount.
And because I was
kind of coming to--
like the first band I
was in, we were basically
a soul covers band.
I was 14 or 15 and joined
this group of older kids.
They needed a vocalist.
And we covered a lot of Stax,
and we covered a lot of Motown.
With Stevie Wonder, obviously,
a young Stevie Wonder would be--
I know he was kind of--
you ever see that documentary
"Standing in the Shadows"?
JASON ANDREAS: Absolutely.
Yeah.
HOZIER: Absolutely
amazing piece of film.
But Motown itself, yeah,
was a big part of kind of--
just its sound and
hearing soul music
as a kid for the first time,
it kind of lit a fire under me,
or kind of set off a light
switch that never went off.
So yeah, it's great to be back.
Sadly, yesterday,
which was our day off,
the museum was
closed, I believe,
which was a heartbreaker,
but we'll be back.
JASON ANDREAS:
Motown Records, yeah.
You're always welcome
to come back, yeah.
You've mentioned touring,
writing, all of these things
that I'm sure keep
you incredibly busy.
You talked about a
2 and 1/2 year tour,
plus your first album.
Outside of all of that,
producing music, writing music,
touring, meeting with fans,
what else do you like to do?
What keeps you busy?
What keeps you kind of fresh?
HOZIER: Yeah.
My brother chastised
me recently.
He said, I have no
hobbies whatsoever,
which I sometimes fear
is a little bit true.
And if I'm not kind of resting,
yeah, I try to be reading,
I have to say,
poetry more recently,
just because it's short.
It's something
that's short form.
I don't have a lot of
time, certainly don't have
a lot of long concentration.
So I was reading a huge
amount of Seamus Heaney
over the last year, I suppose.
Apart from that, yeah,
if you get a bit of time,
if you get a day off to catch
up on some TV show or whatever--
touring is very, very--
it's tricky to kind
of squeeze in anything that
you can, but reading if I can.
I'll go there.
JASON ANDREAS: Tell us a
little bit more about life
on the road.
What's a typical week look
like for you while you're out?
I know you're heading to--
you came from Pittsburgh.
You're heading to
Grand Rapids next.
We talked a little bit about
the incredible tour schedule
that you have coming up.
What do you do to
keep your mind fresh?
What's a day look like for
you while you're out touring?
HOZIER: Yeah.
So the last week, in particular,
was a fine example of just--
the shows would be routed,
I mean, long before.
So maybe you do three, three
on, one day off, then two shows,
and then one day
off, or whatever.
But in the meantime,
let's say, we
did Richmond, Virginia,
which was a wonderful room,
wonderful audience.
In the meantime, you've
got an opportunity
to do "Good Morning
America" in Central Park.
So Richmond, Virginia,
head straight to a plane,
arrive into New York at around
2:00 AM or something like that,
two hours sleep, boom, up
"Good Morning America."
And then head on out to
Boston at around noon that day
or something like that,
and so Boston Calling.
Following day, you're in--
where were we yesterday
or the day before?
JASON ANDREAS: Pittsburgh.
HOZIER: Pittsburgh.
So it's all kind of going.
And then in between
that, you might
have your little things
that are, let's say,
you're creating some live
content for something
that might be exclusive
for some platform.
And you might have
to do a bit of mixing
on that, a bit of work on that,
sorting out a cover, or just
the admin of it as well, too.
Yeah, but I found,
having discovered things
like mindfulness, makes life
so, so much, much, much easier.
But yeah, you just gotta
look after yourself.
JASON ANDREAS: Any questions?
AUDIENCE: My girlfriend and I
of five years-- coincidentally,
we started dating when
your first album came out--
HOZIER: No way.
AUDIENCE: --something
that we shared together.
HOZIER: I can't take
credit for that.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
[LAUGHS] Maybe you can.
So we saw you in Austin
City Limits this past year.
It was a big trip that we made.
HOZIER: Ah, cool.
AUDIENCE: I was just curious,
are there any sort of venues
that you really
get excited about?
And what is your mindset
going into one of those?
HOZIER: Yeah.
ACL was one of the
most enjoyable--
the first time I ever
played that in particular.
Because I was sick,
we had to cancel
my first planned
appearance there.
Came back a year later
because I got really ill.
One of my favorite
festival experiences--
I got to say, the crowd
just blew me away.
And it's a great--
I love Austin.
AUDIENCE: Oh, yeah.
HOZIER: It's a great town.
With venues, I don't know.
There's ones that are kind
of like real hallowed spaces,
and you kind of--
that can be quite overwhelming.
Doing Red Rocks
for the first time,
is stunning, stunning place.
You just try and psych
yourself up for it, I think.
I try to get to the
point where it doesn't--
try to get in your own head,
try to get to the point
where it shouldn't matter
what stage you're on.
Whether you're in front of
100 people or 100,000 people,
hopefully, you can still
deliver the same thing
that you want to deliver.
And that can be a challenge
because it gets in your head
sometimes, yeah.
But I don't know.
There's certain rooms.
The Olympia in Paris
is a beautiful one.
As I said, Red Rocks.
These things used to freak me
out a lot when I was first,
first starting off
and, say, doing
Bowery Ballroom for the
first time in New York City.
But I don't know.
I don't know if that
answers the question.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, no,
it definitely does.
Thank you, again, for coming.
HOZIER: Thank you.
No, thank you.
Congrats on the
five years as well.
AUDIENCE: Hi, I'm curious.
You have so many
different songs.
This might be a hard question.
So first one that
pops to mind, what
is a really special song
that means a lot to you?
And what is the deeper
root behind that meaning?
First one that pops to mind.
HOZIER: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
It's really hard to answer that.
And some of them, obviously,
are more intimate to me
than I would--
for reasons that I
wouldn't divulge.
I think I always loved
"Like Real People Do."
I don't know why.
I think that always just
reminds me of something.
And also, I think
that work, I think
that the kind of imagery in
that song is tied a lot--
to me, first falling in love
with Seamus Heaney's work
and his series on bog bodies,
which I won't go into.
But he used to write, basically,
mummified remains found
in bogs in Ireland and in
central Europe and stuff
like that.
And his poems used
to fascinate me.
And then tying that into
just my own experiences
of first falling in
love, et cetera--
that kind of feeling of
being exhumed in some way.
And then "Like Real People Do"--
And then-- I don't know--
I really like "Wasteland, Baby!"
I had a lot of fun writing
"Almost Sweet Music"
because it's just names of
songs, trying to make up
a narrative with song titles.
And also, they're songs
that I fell in love with
and I fell in love
too, I have to say.
So yeah, so that's a tricky one.
But hopefully, that's
some sort of answer.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
I can't wait to go and
relisten to those now.
AUDIENCE: So I'm curious--
does your OCD ever take over
when you're listening to music,
whether it's yours or otherwise?
We talked about vinyls
and things like that.
Do you have to have a full
floor-standing speaker,
subwoofer set up, or
do you-- headphones?
HOZIER: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: What's
your take on that?
I'm just curious how
you listen to music.
HOZIER: Yeah, it depends.
It depends on if I'm listening
to my own or if I'm listening
to somebody else's.
If I am listening--
my OCD really kicks in when
I'm listening to my own.
And so the mixing
process can be painful.
AUDIENCE: Do you obsess
about what came out
versus how it gets recorded?
HOZIER: You do a
little bit, yeah.
Or you obsess over minutia,
you know what I mean?
That bass needs to be
plinkier, plunkier.
That bass needs to be a
little bit, tiny bit brighter.
And to anybody else,
this is completely--
you've either got it right
or you didn't at that point,
you know what I mean?
It either conveys what it
needs to do, or it doesn't.
And yeah, so you spend weeks.
Can you brighten this?
Can you take some of the top
end out of this high hat?
Whatever.
And then, yeah, I
would be listening to--
let's say, when I'm mixing three
different pairs of headphones,
whatever I have,
one pair, like pods.
On the phone as well, too, how
does it sound on the phone?
How does it sound on the laptop?
How does it sound on
my best headphones?
How does it sound on my
shittiest headphones?
So when I'm listening
to anyone else's music,
I'm far more chilled out.
You know what I mean?
And I enjoy that.
I enjoy that process
of kind of-- what do I
carry on the road?
It's like a pair of
noise-canceling Bose.
What are they called?
They're the QuietComfort
35 or something like that,
or 35 II's.
I don't know.
They're a fine
pair of headphones.
But I'm far less
picky when it comes
to just enjoying people's work.
Yeah.
JASON ANDREAS: Well,
Andrew, thank you once again
for coming in.
Guys, one more round
of applause for Hozier.
[APPLAUSE]
HOZIER: Thank you.
JASON ANDREAS: Thank you.
Thank you so much.
HOZIER: Yeah, thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
