Q&A: Jim James on His Dark Period, Going Solo and My Morning Jacket's Next Album

"I was going down a dark path," My Morning Jacket singer Jim James says of his personal life in 2008, when he fell offstage in the middle of a show in Iowa. "Too much activity and not listening to myself. I've been really bad and I'm trying to change." The accident forced the band to cancel the rest of their tour, but it ended up a productive time for James. While laid up, he began recording his new solo album, Regions of Light and Sound of God, inspired by Lynd Ward's 1929 graphic novel God's Man.

As he sits on a New York rooftop for an hour-long conversation with Rolling Stone, James looks rested and optimistic. He gamely discusses his dark path, the future of his bands Monsters of Folk and My Morning Jacket and his serious issues with the modern music business. "Nine times out of 10, it's a fucking product scientifically engineered to fucking move units," he says of current music. "Nobody gives a shit anymore."

This record is much different from the last My Morning Jacket record. Was it hard to go to a mellower place after Circuital?
Not really; it's such a different thing. Circuital was just so much about us as a band.  We captured every song live, including the main vocal. That is probably my favorite My Morning Jacket record because it's really the essence of us being us. The solo record is just a completely different essence of just me trying to figure out stuff. 

50 Best Albums of 2011: My Morning Jacket, Circuital

The record was inspired by God's Man, a graphic novel from 1929. How did you discover it?
I got it from Gary Burden, who did the artwork for Evil Urges. He just gave it to me as a gift because he thought I would like it. When I opened it, I was just blown away. I felt kind of like the me that lived in 1929 when it came out was probably a big fan of it. It felt like I was seeing it again, you know? But I'd never seen it.

Also, I had fallen offstage and gotten injured and thought maybe for a minute that my life was done here on the earth. And then I fell in love and had this beautiful reawakening and stuff, and that's something that happens in the book and I was kind of getting into the book at the same time this stuff was happening to me, coincidentally. So it took on this heavy thing and I kind of just starting scoring the book. Like, I was just, like, just looking at the book and this music was coming out and evil music was coming out for the bad parts. It all spilled out in this really weird déja vû.

You've talked about going on lots of long walks at home. Is that how you wrote some of this record?
A lot of it just kind of comes from moving. Moving and motion tends to make things pop up. But things pop up for me really at just odd intervals or at random times that aren't really convenient, so I'm a big fan of the voice memo recorder on my phone. That's the only way I can remember things. I won't listen to it for a month later and I'll be, like, "I don't remember doing that at all." If I wouldn't have saved it, it'd be gone. I feel like it's our duty as a songwriter to remember those gifts.

My Morning Jacket has so many different sounds, whether it's "Holding on to Black Metal" to "Wonderful (The Way I Feel)." When you write, when do you know whether a song will be acoustic or eight minutes and heavy with tons of experimentation?
I think that's why I like variety so much. . . In "Holding on to Black Metal," for example, if I was writing that and part of my brain was, like, "I don't know, should I try to make it acoustic?" I would be, like, "Well, I mean, I could." I'll often question a song. If it starts more straight-ahead rock, I'll be like, "Could I make this, like, more danceable?" At least, for me, each song comes with a message. It comes in a distinct enough fashion that I try to honor that fashion and maybe sometime later I'll change it live or something, I'll try to play it different or record a different version of it but I try to let the idea come in and then put my mark on it working on the idea if that makes sense.

Was there less pressure to make these songs big-sounding sounds that might come off really well live?
For this record, I didn't want there to be any pressure at all other than just me liking it, 'cause I didn't have any time rush. I really didn't even tell anybody that I was making it because I just wanted to make it at home, you know? It's not like, "I'm going to New York for a month to make this record! And I gotta fucking make it!"

How long did it take you to make this record?
It was sporadically over the course of two years. Probably a year and a half, two years but that's just kind of whenever I could. If we were between tours for two weeks or something, I'd work on it at home.

How did you write "A New Life?"
Well, that just kind of came out of the beautiful part of God's Man. There's a scene where the main character's chased out of town and he falls off a cliff and is lost and kind of injured and this woman finds him and nurses him back to health and they fall in love. And they have a child together and they have this new life. That had happened to me. I had fallen offstage and gotten injured and gotten super dark and fell in love, and all that was happening at the same time I was loving this book.

It seems like your stage fall was a little more serious than some people thought.
It was horrible. I'm not complaining about it because it was meant to happen to me. In whatever way, I made it happen. I'm not saying it's my fault, but it was meant to happen to me.

Did you just step off in the wrong direction?
Yeah, I was in the front of the stage, and there's usually those rows of subwoofers. Before then, many times, I'd step on to the subwoofers to be closer to the crowd to play guitar. I thought I was stepping on the subwoofer, but I stepped into the air and fell into that pit down in front of the crowd. It was right at the end of a song because I was stepping down and all the lights went out and I just stepped into nothing and fell. It wasn't really that far but it was just so hard. That influenced the darkness for sure. I really identified with that part of the book, too, of the artist's fall, because I felt like I was falling mentally, too, at the time. I felt like I was going down a dark path in life and then it resulted in that physical fall, you know? Both were happening.

What dark path were you going down?
Too much activity and not listening to myself, you know? I knew I should have done other things. I've been really bad and I'm trying to change. You get into these life patterns and you get so sucked in. You almost don't listen to yourself, even when you know you need to change. Your body will be screaming at you, "This is wrong for you!" and you just don't listen. It's this struggle between your heart and your body and when you don't listen, you lose. You fucking fall off the stage.

What did you need to change about yourself?
Everything. Spiritually, physically. There's been a lot of ups and downs but I'm just trying so hard to listen to my heart. I think that's really hard for everybody to do. It's like God or the universe or whatever gave us this gift of a compass. We've all got this compass inside of us that says what we should really do, but we fucking ignore it so much of the time. That's part of growing older and whatever: making mistakes, because that's the only way you can know, to look at your mistakes and say, "Ok, I fucking made this mistake over and over and over again. How do I not make it again?"

Do you ever think about your life if My Morning Jacket hadn't become successful? Would you be able to live with having a regular job?
I think about that a lot, especially when I'm super tired from touring. I went to college for like a year and a half with the intention of doing some kind of art therapy or some kind of teaching of art, because I feel like art is a more free area in school than music is. I feel like music is too mathematic for me. Music school's so hard. It's math. It's fucking math. I just honestly don't know how to quantify it. I just couldn't handle that part of school, music school. I don't think it's wrong, because I feel like some of the most spiritual, brilliant musicians. . . our band is very schooled. And I'm so glad that they [are] 'cause when we do sections with somebody else or when we do sections with strings or horns, I'm like, "Uhh, I want it to sound like it's grey and it's purple and it's up in the clouds," and they're like, "It's a B diminished seventh chord, with an augmented fifth." You know, all that kind of technical talk.

What will your tour for this record be like?
I want to tour for this record and I'm going to bring a band because I want to play the record as it is recorded, with all the instrumentation. I'm sure I'll probably do a couple of songs each night acoustic and stuff like that, but I want this show to be more of a danceable affair. I feel like there's a lot of rhythm in the album, and I really want to celebrate that. I definitely love to play acoustic, too, so there'll be some of that.

When you're in a happier place, are you ever afraid the quality of your writing will decline?
I feel like our generation got sold the biggest fucking crock of bullshit that in order to be an artist, you have to be fucking miserable, especially Kurt Cobain. I loved Nirvana growing up and I still value their music and I feel bad for him for being miserable because I wish he would have had a happy life. But he perpetuated this myth that, in order to be successful, you've got to be shooting heroin, you've got to be fucking a miserable person. And I grew up buying into that and believing that. Even some of our great heroes like Neil Young and Bob Dylan project a lot of darkness and shit. But then you listen to Curtis Mayfield or Stevie Wonder or Bruce Springsteen and you see these brilliant artists projecting hope, [saying] we're in this together.

Did Monsters of Folk influence the new record?
Yeah. Working with those guys influenced me in lots of ways, probably more ways than I can count.

Do you still talk to Conor [Oberst]?
Yeah. Oh yeah. I still talk to those guys all the time. 

Will Monsters of Folk record again?
I hope so. We all want to. Everybody's just always so busy; it was so hard to make the first one happen, but I know everybody wants to.

Maybe I'm botching this, but in part of God's Man, the character compromises his art, and that's when things start to go bad for him. You're in a business where people can trade their integrity for short-term success.
Oh God, you see that all the time. You see it more often than not.  I don't know. It's fucked up.  It's a fucked-up world. The music business is fucked up!  It's so often you see people rewarded for the wrong reasons. You know, you see these people rise out of nowhere with little to no talent that are put together by corporations. That's the thing people don't realize, that all these people that you see rocket out of nowhere to superstardom: occasionally there's someone who's an awesome musician, but nine times out of 10, it's a fucking product and it's scientifically engineered to fucking move units. Or be controversial or be this or that, and people don't notice that but yeah I think most of those people. . . it's sad. I think they're taking the short route and it gets them that massive fame very quickly, but then they're gone.  Nobody gives a shit anymore.

How has My Morning Jacket avoided that?
Well I feel very fortunate to come from a really good family and friends that I feel like they help me keep in check and I want to make them – I want to try and make them proud, you know? I fuck up all the time, but I I don't feel like I've ever sold my soul to the devil and I don't feel like I've ever sucked anybody's dick to get anywhere. I don't feel like I've ever played that game. But I also know the sting of having your music used for something that you didn't want it used for or seeing that like happen. It feels so horrible. 

Do you hope My Morning Jacket become bigger than they are now?
I'm grateful to be successful and I'm grateful that we can make a living and I hope we can maintain our integrity forever. That's really my only dream.  The notion of bigness or smallness, I feel like that comes and goes in such waves that are kind of out of my control. All I can do is try to make records that we believe in and that's what we've always done.  And sometimes we put them out and people are like, "I hate these guys.  They're fucking hacks." And other people are like, "I love these guys." If we can somehow just be true to ourselves and be able to keep making a living and be sane and have love in our lives and love in our hearts for each other, that's all I really want.

Any music you're really into right now?
Yeah. There's this band called Floating Action that is from North Carolina. It's like my life's work to turn people onto this guy, [singer] Seth Kauffman. I feel like he's the most underrated person in music right now and nobody knows about him. And it's weird; it's like nobody will give them the chance that they deserve, cause his shit is deep. He's got an album called Desert Etiquette and then I put out his new record, Fake Blood, on my little label, and I swear to God I'm not just saying this because I put out the record: it's transcendent stuff that if nobody fucking catches onto it now, 20 years from now, somebody's going to fucking find it and they're going to be like, "Why didn't anybody fucking care?" It's that deep. 

Have you been working on Jacket songs?
It's going awesome. I actually just kind of finished up this whole process of getting this record done and it's like this new wave of voice memos coming for the Jacket record that I'm just now starting to get super excited about it. 

What's it going to sound like?
You know, I don't want to say, cause I got like this new vision for it that I think is going to be super fun, but I don't know if it's going to work yet.  So…

Want to elaborate?
No. Because I don't know if it's gonna work. We'll see.

Something new that hasn't been done before.
Well I don't know if I'll say that, but it'll be cool.

Was there a reason you switched to playing solo as Jim James instead of Yim Yames?
Yeah. I talked about it with friends and I thought Yim Yames was hilarious, but a lot of people just didn't understand and I just got so many questions about it.  And I thought people were talking about that too much, more than the music or whatever. After talking it over with some friends I thought, "I'm just gonna go back to Jim James, cause I'm not trying to, like, annoy people."  I just thought it was funny. But sometimes I'm wrong.

You're a big Neil Young fan. Are you into his current work?
The last Neil Young record I really enjoyed was Prairie Wind.  I thought that was a fucking beautiful record. I like everything that Neil does. Neil's a big hero of mine, but I really came to this realization: I saw Springsteen in Louisville, and I've never been giant Springsteen fan.  I only liked things here or there and I wasn't like a giant fan. I saw him in Louisville and he was fucking phenomenal! It was like seeing the sun shine for the first time or something. It was like he was so positive and it felt like every motherfucker in that place was his best friend. You know he touched everybody. He was crowd surfing. He was fucking running around and shit. When you see Neil and Bob, they're, like, all pissed and you feel like they don't give a fuck if you're there or not. I'm so sick of that, and seeing Bruce I was like, "Fucking-a, man!  Thank you! I paid a lot of money to be at this fucking show and you care I'm here." It was just, like, such a revelation.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Q&A: Jim James on His Dark Period, Going Solo and My Morning Jacket's Next Album

"I was going down a dark path," My Morning Jacket singer Jim James says of his personal life in 2008, when he fell offstage in the middle of a show in Iowa. "Too much activity and not listening to myself. I've been really bad and I'm trying to change." The accident forced the band to cancel the rest of their tour, but it ended up a productive time for James. While laid up, he began recording his new solo album, Regions of Light and Sound of God, inspired by Lynd Ward's 1929 graphic novel God's Man.

As he sits on a New York rooftop for an hour-long conversation with Rolling Stone, James looks rested and optimistic. He gamely discusses his dark path, the future of his bands Monsters of Folk and My Morning Jacket and his serious issues with the modern music business. "Nine times out of 10, it's a fucking product scientifically engineered to fucking move units," he says of current music. "Nobody gives a shit anymore."

This record is much different from the last My Morning Jacket record. Was it hard to go to a mellower place after Circuital?
Not really; it's such a different thing. Circuital was just so much about us as a band.  We captured every song live, including the main vocal. That is probably my favorite My Morning Jacket record because it's really the essence of us being us. The solo record is just a completely different essence of just me trying to figure out stuff. 

50 Best Albums of 2011: My Morning Jacket, Circuital

The record was inspired by God's Man, a graphic novel from 1929. How did you discover it?
I got it from Gary Burden, who did the artwork for Evil Urges. He just gave it to me as a gift because he thought I would like it. When I opened it, I was just blown away. I felt kind of like the me that lived in 1929 when it came out was probably a big fan of it. It felt like I was seeing it again, you know? But I'd never seen it.

Also, I had fallen offstage and gotten injured and thought maybe for a minute that my life was done here on the earth. And then I fell in love and had this beautiful reawakening and stuff, and that's something that happens in the book and I was kind of getting into the book at the same time this stuff was happening to me, coincidentally. So it took on this heavy thing and I kind of just starting scoring the book. Like, I was just, like, just looking at the book and this music was coming out and evil music was coming out for the bad parts. It all spilled out in this really weird déja vû.

You've talked about going on lots of long walks at home. Is that how you wrote some of this record?
A lot of it just kind of comes from moving. Moving and motion tends to make things pop up. But things pop up for me really at just odd intervals or at random times that aren't really convenient, so I'm a big fan of the voice memo recorder on my phone. That's the only way I can remember things. I won't listen to it for a month later and I'll be, like, "I don't remember doing that at all." If I wouldn't have saved it, it'd be gone. I feel like it's our duty as a songwriter to remember those gifts.

My Morning Jacket has so many different sounds, whether it's "Holding on to Black Metal" to "Wonderful (The Way I Feel)." When you write, when do you know whether a song will be acoustic or eight minutes and heavy with tons of experimentation?
I think that's why I like variety so much. . . In "Holding on to Black Metal," for example, if I was writing that and part of my brain was, like, "I don't know, should I try to make it acoustic?" I would be, like, "Well, I mean, I could." I'll often question a song. If it starts more straight-ahead rock, I'll be like, "Could I make this, like, more danceable?" At least, for me, each song comes with a message. It comes in a distinct enough fashion that I try to honor that fashion and maybe sometime later I'll change it live or something, I'll try to play it different or record a different version of it but I try to let the idea come in and then put my mark on it working on the idea if that makes sense.

Was there less pressure to make these songs big-sounding sounds that might come off really well live?
For this record, I didn't want there to be any pressure at all other than just me liking it, 'cause I didn't have any time rush. I really didn't even tell anybody that I was making it because I just wanted to make it at home, you know? It's not like, "I'm going to New York for a month to make this record! And I gotta fucking make it!"

How long did it take you to make this record?
It was sporadically over the course of two years. Probably a year and a half, two years but that's just kind of whenever I could. If we were between tours for two weeks or something, I'd work on it at home.

How did you write "A New Life?"
Well, that just kind of came out of the beautiful part of God's Man. There's a scene where the main character's chased out of town and he falls off a cliff and is lost and kind of injured and this woman finds him and nurses him back to health and they fall in love. And they have a child together and they have this new life. That had happened to me. I had fallen offstage and gotten injured and gotten super dark and fell in love, and all that was happening at the same time I was loving this book.

It seems like your stage fall was a little more serious than some people thought.
It was horrible. I'm not complaining about it because it was meant to happen to me. In whatever way, I made it happen. I'm not saying it's my fault, but it was meant to happen to me.

Did you just step off in the wrong direction?
Yeah, I was in the front of the stage, and there's usually those rows of subwoofers. Before then, many times, I'd step on to the subwoofers to be closer to the crowd to play guitar. I thought I was stepping on the subwoofer, but I stepped into the air and fell into that pit down in front of the crowd. It was right at the end of a song because I was stepping down and all the lights went out and I just stepped into nothing and fell. It wasn't really that far but it was just so hard. That influenced the darkness for sure. I really identified with that part of the book, too, of the artist's fall, because I felt like I was falling mentally, too, at the time. I felt like I was going down a dark path in life and then it resulted in that physical fall, you know? Both were happening.

What dark path were you going down?
Too much activity and not listening to myself, you know? I knew I should have done other things. I've been really bad and I'm trying to change. You get into these life patterns and you get so sucked in. You almost don't listen to yourself, even when you know you need to change. Your body will be screaming at you, "This is wrong for you!" and you just don't listen. It's this struggle between your heart and your body and when you don't listen, you lose. You fucking fall off the stage.

What did you need to change about yourself?
Everything. Spiritually, physically. There's been a lot of ups and downs but I'm just trying so hard to listen to my heart. I think that's really hard for everybody to do. It's like God or the universe or whatever gave us this gift of a compass. We've all got this compass inside of us that says what we should really do, but we fucking ignore it so much of the time. That's part of growing older and whatever: making mistakes, because that's the only way you can know, to look at your mistakes and say, "Ok, I fucking made this mistake over and over and over again. How do I not make it again?"

Do you ever think about your life if My Morning Jacket hadn't become successful? Would you be able to live with having a regular job?
I think about that a lot, especially when I'm super tired from touring. I went to college for like a year and a half with the intention of doing some kind of art therapy or some kind of teaching of art, because I feel like art is a more free area in school than music is. I feel like music is too mathematic for me. Music school's so hard. It's math. It's fucking math. I just honestly don't know how to quantify it. I just couldn't handle that part of school, music school. I don't think it's wrong, because I feel like some of the most spiritual, brilliant musicians. . . our band is very schooled. And I'm so glad that they [are] 'cause when we do sections with somebody else or when we do sections with strings or horns, I'm like, "Uhh, I want it to sound like it's grey and it's purple and it's up in the clouds," and they're like, "It's a B diminished seventh chord, with an augmented fifth." You know, all that kind of technical talk.

What will your tour for this record be like?
I want to tour for this record and I'm going to bring a band because I want to play the record as it is recorded, with all the instrumentation. I'm sure I'll probably do a couple of songs each night acoustic and stuff like that, but I want this show to be more of a danceable affair. I feel like there's a lot of rhythm in the album, and I really want to celebrate that. I definitely love to play acoustic, too, so there'll be some of that.

When you're in a happier place, are you ever afraid the quality of your writing will decline?
I feel like our generation got sold the biggest fucking crock of bullshit that in order to be an artist, you have to be fucking miserable, especially Kurt Cobain. I loved Nirvana growing up and I still value their music and I feel bad for him for being miserable because I wish he would have had a happy life. But he perpetuated this myth that, in order to be successful, you've got to be shooting heroin, you've got to be fucking a miserable person. And I grew up buying into that and believing that. Even some of our great heroes like Neil Young and Bob Dylan project a lot of darkness and shit. But then you listen to Curtis Mayfield or Stevie Wonder or Bruce Springsteen and you see these brilliant artists projecting hope, [saying] we're in this together.

Did Monsters of Folk influence the new record?
Yeah. Working with those guys influenced me in lots of ways, probably more ways than I can count.

Do you still talk to Conor [Oberst]?
Yeah. Oh yeah. I still talk to those guys all the time. 

Will Monsters of Folk record again?
I hope so. We all want to. Everybody's just always so busy; it was so hard to make the first one happen, but I know everybody wants to.

Maybe I'm botching this, but in part of God's Man, the character compromises his art, and that's when things start to go bad for him. You're in a business where people can trade their integrity for short-term success.
Oh God, you see that all the time. You see it more often than not.  I don't know. It's fucked up.  It's a fucked-up world. The music business is fucked up!  It's so often you see people rewarded for the wrong reasons. You know, you see these people rise out of nowhere with little to no talent that are put together by corporations. That's the thing people don't realize, that all these people that you see rocket out of nowhere to superstardom: occasionally there's someone who's an awesome musician, but nine times out of 10, it's a fucking product and it's scientifically engineered to fucking move units. Or be controversial or be this or that, and people don't notice that but yeah I think most of those people. . . it's sad. I think they're taking the short route and it gets them that massive fame very quickly, but then they're gone.  Nobody gives a shit anymore.

How has My Morning Jacket avoided that?
Well I feel very fortunate to come from a really good family and friends that I feel like they help me keep in check and I want to make them – I want to try and make them proud, you know? I fuck up all the time, but I I don't feel like I've ever sold my soul to the devil and I don't feel like I've ever sucked anybody's dick to get anywhere. I don't feel like I've ever played that game. But I also know the sting of having your music used for something that you didn't want it used for or seeing that like happen. It feels so horrible. 

Do you hope My Morning Jacket become bigger than they are now?
I'm grateful to be successful and I'm grateful that we can make a living and I hope we can maintain our integrity forever. That's really my only dream.  The notion of bigness or smallness, I feel like that comes and goes in such waves that are kind of out of my control. All I can do is try to make records that we believe in and that's what we've always done.  And sometimes we put them out and people are like, "I hate these guys.  They're fucking hacks." And other people are like, "I love these guys." If we can somehow just be true to ourselves and be able to keep making a living and be sane and have love in our lives and love in our hearts for each other, that's all I really want.

Any music you're really into right now?
Yeah. There's this band called Floating Action that is from North Carolina. It's like my life's work to turn people onto this guy, [singer] Seth Kauffman. I feel like he's the most underrated person in music right now and nobody knows about him. And it's weird; it's like nobody will give them the chance that they deserve, cause his shit is deep. He's got an album called Desert Etiquette and then I put out his new record, Fake Blood, on my little label, and I swear to God I'm not just saying this because I put out the record: it's transcendent stuff that if nobody fucking catches onto it now, 20 years from now, somebody's going to fucking find it and they're going to be like, "Why didn't anybody fucking care?" It's that deep. 

Have you been working on Jacket songs?
It's going awesome. I actually just kind of finished up this whole process of getting this record done and it's like this new wave of voice memos coming for the Jacket record that I'm just now starting to get super excited about it. 

What's it going to sound like?
You know, I don't want to say, cause I got like this new vision for it that I think is going to be super fun, but I don't know if it's going to work yet.  So…

Want to elaborate?
No. Because I don't know if it's gonna work. We'll see.

Something new that hasn't been done before.
Well I don't know if I'll say that, but it'll be cool.

Was there a reason you switched to playing solo as Jim James instead of Yim Yames?
Yeah. I talked about it with friends and I thought Yim Yames was hilarious, but a lot of people just didn't understand and I just got so many questions about it.  And I thought people were talking about that too much, more than the music or whatever. After talking it over with some friends I thought, "I'm just gonna go back to Jim James, cause I'm not trying to, like, annoy people."  I just thought it was funny. But sometimes I'm wrong.

You're a big Neil Young fan. Are you into his current work?
The last Neil Young record I really enjoyed was Prairie Wind.  I thought that was a fucking beautiful record. I like everything that Neil does. Neil's a big hero of mine, but I really came to this realization: I saw Springsteen in Louisville, and I've never been giant Springsteen fan.  I only liked things here or there and I wasn't like a giant fan. I saw him in Louisville and he was fucking phenomenal! It was like seeing the sun shine for the first time or something. It was like he was so positive and it felt like every motherfucker in that place was his best friend. You know he touched everybody. He was crowd surfing. He was fucking running around and shit. When you see Neil and Bob, they're, like, all pissed and you feel like they don't give a fuck if you're there or not. I'm so sick of that, and seeing Bruce I was like, "Fucking-a, man!  Thank you! I paid a lot of money to be at this fucking show and you care I'm here." It was just, like, such a revelation.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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No Doubt's Tony Kanal on New Album: 'We Always Knew It Was Going to Happen'

Most albums aren't recorded overnight; just ask Steely Dan or Bruce Springsteen. However, No Doubt's upcoming Push and Shove, out September 25th, is one of the longest-gestating pop albums in recent memory. According to bassist Tony Kanal, it's a triumph that the album – the band's first since 2001's Rock Steady – was completed at all.

"We always knew it was going to happen," Kanal says, "but there was a lack of clarity as to when it would happen. We went through a period when we thought, 'Wow, will this ever get done?'"

The winding road to Push and Shove began in 2007 while lead singer Gwen Stefani was touring behind her second solo album, The Sweet Escape. In June, during the encore for one of her shows in Irvine, California, the other members of No Doubt joined her onstage for a four-song set that included their hits "Just a Girl" and "Hella Good." "The response was so amazing that we said, 'We have to start working,'" explains Kanal.

Fall Music Preview 2012: The 24 Albums You Need to Hear

Not long after the show, the band convened to start writing new material, but Stefani was still exhausted from touring and was expecting her second child. The band was also hit with collective writers' block. Those songwriting sessions and further ones in 2008 yielded little, and the band decided to give it a rest. "We know when it's right and when it isn't," Kanal says. "We had to get that feeling again."

Things only began clicking again in November 2009 after the band's successful summer reunion tour. Kanal says he was skeptical of hitting the road and performing only old material, but the band was so energized afterward that they decided to give the new album another try. One song, "Undercover," finally emerged, but work still progressed slowly throughout 2010, since Stefani was now the mother of two and only available three evenings a week. "We'd order in food and spend the first hour talking about life and kids," Kanal says. "Between us, we have nine kids. But it was like, 'This is fun again.'"

Finally, earlier this year, the band spent five months focusing on new material with producer Spike Stent (whose résumé includes Oasis, Madonna and Coldplay). Even then, the band frantically rewrote and tossed out material. One track, "Back in Love," was almost scrapped until the band realized the intro could make a terrific chorus, resulting in an entirely different dance song, "Looking Hot." When the album was almost done, Stefani suggested they needed a ballad, and out came "Undone" – but again, only after it was nearly abandoned. "Gwen went on a family vacation in England and emailed me from there and said, 'I think there's something here with this song,' so we went back to work on it," says Kanal.

The band's love for reggae and dancehall still comes through in the lead single, "Settle Down," and the title track (which featured a verse from Jamaican dancehall singer Busy Signal). "We want to sound modern, but we're still influenced by ska, reggae and Eighties UK bands," says Kanal. "There's no way to escape who we are." Kanal calls "Heaven" the band's "homage to OMD, Depeche Mode and the Cure – the stuff we love to reference."

The one thing Push and Shove doesn't have are leftovers for future deluxe editions. "In the past, we'd write 20 songs for a record," Kanal admits. "This time, our time was limited. So, no, no outtakes!" More seriously, Kanal adds, "For everyone, taking that long break was very healthy. Gwen needed to get that out of her system. She couldn't have made those [solo] albums with No Doubt. And we've learned that if you try to force it, it doesn't work with this band."

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No Doubt's Tony Kanal on New Album: 'We Always Knew It Was Going to Happen'

Most albums aren't recorded overnight; just ask Steely Dan or Bruce Springsteen. However, No Doubt's upcoming Push and Shove, out September 25th, is one of the longest-gestating pop albums in recent memory. According to bassist Tony Kanal, it's a triumph that the album – the band's first since 2001's Rock Steady – was completed at all.

"We always knew it was going to happen," Kanal says, "but there was a lack of clarity as to when it would happen. We went through a period when we thought, 'Wow, will this ever get done?'"

The winding road to Push and Shove began in 2007 while lead singer Gwen Stefani was touring behind her second solo album, The Sweet Escape. In June, during the encore for one of her shows in Irvine, California, the other members of No Doubt joined her onstage for a four-song set that included their hits "Just a Girl" and "Hella Good." "The response was so amazing that we said, 'We have to start working,'" explains Kanal.

Fall Music Preview 2012: The 24 Albums You Need to Hear

Not long after the show, the band convened to start writing new material, but Stefani was still exhausted from touring and was expecting her second child. The band was also hit with collective writers' block. Those songwriting sessions and further ones in 2008 yielded little, and the band decided to give it a rest. "We know when it's right and when it isn't," Kanal says. "We had to get that feeling again."

Things only began clicking again in November 2009 after the band's successful summer reunion tour. Kanal says he was skeptical of hitting the road and performing only old material, but the band was so energized afterward that they decided to give the new album another try. One song, "Undercover," finally emerged, but work still progressed slowly throughout 2010, since Stefani was now the mother of two and only available three evenings a week. "We'd order in food and spend the first hour talking about life and kids," Kanal says. "Between us, we have nine kids. But it was like, 'This is fun again.'"

Finally, earlier this year, the band spent five months focusing on new material with producer Spike Stent (whose résumé includes Oasis, Madonna and Coldplay). Even then, the band frantically rewrote and tossed out material. One track, "Back in Love," was almost scrapped until the band realized the intro could make a terrific chorus, resulting in an entirely different dance song, "Looking Hot." When the album was almost done, Stefani suggested they needed a ballad, and out came "Undone" – but again, only after it was nearly abandoned. "Gwen went on a family vacation in England and emailed me from there and said, 'I think there's something here with this song,' so we went back to work on it," says Kanal.

The band's love for reggae and dancehall still comes through in the lead single, "Settle Down," and the title track (which featured a verse from Jamaican dancehall singer Busy Signal). "We want to sound modern, but we're still influenced by ska, reggae and Eighties UK bands," says Kanal. "There's no way to escape who we are." Kanal calls "Heaven" the band's "homage to OMD, Depeche Mode and the Cure – the stuff we love to reference."

The one thing Push and Shove doesn't have are leftovers for future deluxe editions. "In the past, we'd write 20 songs for a record," Kanal admits. "This time, our time was limited. So, no, no outtakes!" More seriously, Kanal adds, "For everyone, taking that long break was very healthy. Gwen needed to get that out of her system. She couldn't have made those [solo] albums with No Doubt. And we've learned that if you try to force it, it doesn't work with this band."

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'Duets' Recap: Going Solo

Bridget Carrington performs on 'Duets.'

Duets sent a mixed message during its penultimate episode last night, which was called "Superstars' Choice" even though the main focus was on the amateurs picking one of their own songs. Yes, after what seemed like an infinite amount of duets week after tedious week, the homestretch was largely based on each of the final three singing solo. That's kind of a defeatist attitude for a show called Duets, dontcha think?

But let's back up, because at the beginning of the hour one of the hopefuls was eliminated based on viewers' votes: Bridget Carrington. Her departure leaves John Legend partnerless (like Robin Thicke before him) and the finale overflowing with testosterone.

While unfortunate, Bridget's exit wasn't surprising, considering she had a shaky performance last week. But really, Jason Farol should have gotten the pink slip . . . yet he wasn't even in the bottom two! (John Glosson actually stood alongside Bridget, awaiting his fate.) How or why that drip has lasted this long is beyond us. He keeps getting pushed forward as if he's already signed the coveted Hollywood Records deal. That scares us because, of the three left, he's the least deserving of a recording contract, but it's possible he could come out on top because of the way the judges have gushed about him all season, particularly this week.

For the night's performances, each amateur sang both with their partner and by themselves. Below, we break down who we think will win next week and why.

The Whole Package: J Rome
This guy pretty much has had the competition sewn up since he stepped onstage back in week one. Seriously, it was like "just add water" to this insta-pop star: He has the looks, he has the vocal chops and he knows how to work a crowd. However, that rock star-ready savvy could also be his Achilles' heel. As American Idol has proven over the years, viewers don't always crown the most polished (or deserving) person the winner. Still, week after week he has delivered strong performances, and this week was no different.

For his duet with mentor Jennifer Nettles, he sang the Script's "Breakeven." Maybe it wasn't the strongest or most exciting song choice, but it worked. He sounded good, looked the part and, as always, really gelled with Jennifer. For his solo song he also picked something a little unexpected, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" by Stevie Wonder. As always, he dominated the stage like a seasoned pro, proving he can shine without a celeb by his side. As if we didn't know that already. 

The Voice: John Glosson
If the show was based on vocal ability alone, this guy should win. But it's not, so we're predicting he'll be the first to be knocked out next week. Although his voice is velvety smooth and nearly pitch-perfect, he's lacking some stage presence and a contemporary vibe. Case in point: The fact he sang Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion's "The Prayer" alongside mentor Nettles for his duet. While it showed off his range and ability, it was both obscure and snoozy. The most impressive thing about the whole performance was watching Jennifer sing in Italian with a country twang. For his solo, he chose Rascal Flatts' "Bless the Broken Road," which might also elude a younger, mainstream audience who's more likely to vote. Plus, he seemed a bit shaky stepping out from behind Jennifer's shadow, sounding a bit pitchy for the first time ever and missing his usual charisma.

The Wild Card: Jason Farol
We're almost inclined to think the judges latched onto this marblemouthed shy guy for shits and giggles because they were so bored or weren't really paying attention. Either way, we'll say it again: We have no clue how he got this far. He should have been tossed the first week of eliminations – or the second, or the third. But for some reason, he kept hanging on. Now, he could win the whole damn thing, especially since the judges have practically tripped over themselves heaping praise on him. All we see is a wet rag.

For his duet with mentor Kelly Clarkson, he sang "Me and Mrs. Jones," which he once performed a cappella when he was in the bottom two for, like, the umpteenth time. He might be the "best looking," with his exotic baby face and dapper suits, but he's just so boring and unpolished it would be a joke if he won. But that didn't stop Robin Thicke from claiming he "brought down the house" during his awkward solo rendition of Bruno Mars' "Runaway Baby." To us, he sucked all the life and energy out of the song and somehow made it both boring and cringe-worthy. A truly amazing feat. So if you want to reward that, America, by all means, crown him the winner.

Should win: J Rome. As we said, he's the whole package. His biggest competition is Jason since, aside from voice-of-reason John Legend, the judges really went to bat for the Filipino "heartthrob" at the end of the night. Plus, the producers gave Jason the coveted "pimp spot," which let him perform right before voting opened.

Will win: J Rome. We have faith that America will do the right thing and crown him the victor. Now, don't go dashing our dreams.

Last week: A Less Than 'Unforgettable' Night

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'Glee' Recap: What's Going On?

Rachel leads New Directions as they perform at Regionals on 'Glee.'

Look, no one could ever accuse Glee of not having lofty goals. In its most recent run of episodes, the show has mostly nailed the big moments: Schue and Emma's engagement, the Michael Jackson episode and an unintentional (but well-done) Whitney Houston tribute. For the winter finale, the show set its standards even higher: combining a teen suicide attempt with the latest installment of the show's ongoing singing competitions, a wedding and a cliffhanger that'll last the next seven weeks. The result was an emotional rollercoaster that at times may have been jarring or heavy-handed, but overall did what a winter finale should: gave us plenty of surprises, while setting things up for the future. The songs almost took a back seat, but they still shone:

Rachel and Kurt are looking at bridal magazines at the coffee shop when Sebastian approaches. "If it isn't a non-Barbra Streisand and old Betty White. Where is Gay Cyclops?" he says by way of hello. Sebastian comes bearing a threat: he'll post horrible Guys with iPhones photoshop images with Finn's face all over the internet unless Rachel drops out of regionals. "That's glee club terrorism!" she cries. The New Directions are angry, but Schue won't let them take action and, instead, tries to use it as a lesson to tell them this is the kind of thing they'll encounter more and more as they get famous. Rachel and Finn argue. Now that she (thinks she) has the guy, she's back to her career-driven self, and she is adamant about performing because it'll help her get into NYADA.

Sue summons Quinn to her office to tell Quinn that she, Sue Sylvester, is "with child," and she asks Quinn for tips on overcoming morning sickness. In return, Quinn asks to rejoin the Cheerios, because she's feeling all nostalgic and wants to finish her high school career the same way she started it. Look, it's easy to see what spurred Quinn into her "dark days," and that she's come out of them. But she's turned into the robot poster child for Moving On from Difficult Situations. Sue turns her down.

"Cough Syrup":
A furious Blaine invites Kurt to the auditorium, where he wants to try out a new song for regionals he thinks fits the "inspiration" theme. He certainly injects emotion into his performance of Young the Giant's tune about breaking free, flawlessly delivering the vocal. But Blaine's song serves more as a wistful soundtrack to Karovsky being bullied at his school: He enters the locker room to find someone has spray painted "Fag" on his locker. He turns, aghast, to find all of his teammates gathered behind him, mocking him as he leaves. Later, at home, he finds similar taunts on his Facebook page. As the rest of the song plays out, we watch a distraught Karovsky do what he sees as the only solution: prepare to commit suicide. Thankfully, his father finds him in time.

Figgins calls Sue, Schue, Miss Pillsbury and Coach Bieste to his office to have a conversation about how to address Karovsky's suicide attempt with the students, and what they could have done to prevent it while he was a McKinley student. Meanwhile, the God Squad begins their latest meeting by praying for Karovsky and his family. Newly Wise Quinn declares what he was doing was selfish, and she can't ever imagine sinking that low, even during very difficult times. Kurt comes in, calls her out on playing martyr and says that she has no idea what Karovsky was facing. He admits he feels responsible – Karovsky kept calling him, and he kept not answering.

Schue has a pow-wow with the glee kids on the auditorium stage, confessing he almost committed suicide himself his junior year: "Everyone has something that might take them up to that edge." They all go around sharing big things they're looking forward to, things they'd miss if they ever thought about committing suicide. As with all of Glee's Big Morals episodes, this one lays it on thick at certain points. But this is a genuine moment, as the New Directions share their dreams, which range from watching their kids take their first steps (Artie) to Sex and the City 3 (Sugar).

"Stand":
Karovsky's suicide attempt also causes deep changes in Sebastian: When Santana, Brittany, Kurt and Blaine confront him in the coffee shop, they find him deeply apologetic for all of his evil schemes. He tells them the Warblers will dedicate their performance to Karovsky and donate money to Lady Gaga's Born This Way foundation. In a flashback, we see that he insulted Karovsky while they were out one night, and he feels responsible. While Sebastian's change of heart is 100% for the right reasons, we were just getting used to the idea of a well-played villain on the show.

The Warblers' a cappella version of Lenny Kravitz's "Stand" is jubilant, lyrically hitting home. In the audience, Finn gets all of the rival groups to stand and cheer on the competition.

"Glad You Came":
Looks like the Warblers have kept up the tradition of using only one lead vocalist, as Sebastian leads the transition from Kravitz to U.K. boy band Wanted. This song is more typical Warblers fare, and it's almost comforting to see them singing something as slick-sounding as their performance.

"Fly/I Believe I Can Fly":
After Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow's Golden Goblets give what Puck deems a well-done performance, the New Directions are up. In the pre-show huddle, Finn and Rachel reveal they're getting married after regionals. They invite everyone and thank them, whether or not they've been supportive.

Once again, the New Directions hit all the right notes by seamlessly weaving what sounds like an absurd combo (Nicki Minaj and Rihanna's rap-laced duet and R. Kelly's Space Jamz ballad) into an uplifting and thematically appropriate mash-up. Santana and Blaine do an impressive job on Minaj's rap verses, while Rachel, Artie and Mercedes split tastefully understated solos. Bonus moment: Rachel's dads enjoying the show in the audience.

"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)":
This wins for the most overt title tie-in to the theme of regionals (and tonight's episode). It's great to hear Brittany step in to follow Santana on lead vocals. Mercedes jumps in at the chorus, and she and Santana finish out the song on a powerful note. What we can't figure out is why there appear to be girls on stage who are not a part of the New Directions. Are we seeing things?

"Here's To Us":
Rachel steps out to start the Halestorm song solo, center stage. Her dads are kvelling in the audience and we find ourselves wishing again there was more on-screen time for Hiram and Leroy. The New Directions girls join Rachel on stage while the boys come out in the opera boxes. It's bouyant and celebratory, and Rachel kills it. Our one complaint? The regionals performance lineup was low on male solo time. It doesn't matter: after weeks of build-up, the New Directions beat the Warblers to claim the regionals.

After the show, Kurt goes to visit Karovsky in the hospital. "I'm really happy you're alive, David," he says. "Me too," Karovsky responds. Pulling a page from Mr. Schue, Kurt has Karovsky envision his life ten years in the future, as a big sports agent in a big city somewhere far away from Lima, leading a great life with his partner and their son. Karovsky admits he's happy at the thought, and he accepts Kurt's offer to be friends.

Setting Things Up for the Future:
Newly (genuinely?) mellow Sue tells Schue she wants to help the New Directions win Nationals, no strings attached. She also gives Quinn her Cheerios costume back, and Quinn tells Rachel she does want to attend the wedding after all. She goes home to get her bridesmaid's dress – but gets stuck in traffic. Meanwhile, the collective parents of Rachel and Finn are freaking out over their kids getting married, and they come up with plots to thwart the wedding that include Patti LuPone, Barbra Streisand and epileptic seizures. We never find out if these plans happen, or if the wedding goes off without a hitch: While Quinn is texting Rachel back to say she's on her way . . . she gets into a car crash. Fade to black – "to be continued."

Bottom Line: We can only hope Glee continues this streak of episodes when it returns in April (minus "The Spanish Teacher." Let's not draw from that one, OK?).

Last Episode: Head On Down to the Love Shack

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Dave Grohl on the Foo Fighters' Grammy Success and Going Analog

Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Nate Mendel of The Foo Fighters backstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.Larry Busacca/Getty Images For The Recording Academy

The Foo Fighters took home five Grammy awards Sunday night, including Best Rock Album, and delivered two memorable performances, one of them rocking with Deadmau5 on the first ever EDM segment of the Grammys. But their biggest triumph of the night may have been Dave Grohl's  Best Rock Performance acceptance speech, which has taken the web by storm. "Dave Grohl Grammy Speech" is the second subject that comes up when you type his name into Google.

Accepting the award, Grohl said, "To me, this award means a lot because it shows the human element of music is what's important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most impotant thing for people to do...It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer. It's about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head]."

When Rolling Stone spent some time with Grohl at various Grammy events over the weekend, he echoed those sentiments as he talked about the bare bones recording of Wasting Light, which was recorded in analog in a garage. "To me the biggest advantage of going analog is the restrictions that it implies, which gets you to perform in a way that you’re actually being a human being," Grohl said. "We thought about heart and performance. And I would rather people not tune their vocals, I would rather people not grid their drums."

Will their success then Sunday night inspire other bands to pick up that challenge? Emily Lazar, who mastered the album and became the first woman ever nominated for mastering a Best Album nominee, hopes so. "I think that would be a phenomenal response because there’s nothing like real organic old-school rock and roll," she told us. "I think part of the charm and integrity of this record and the reason it rocks so hard is because it’s real and there are moments that are not perfect. They’re absolutely fantastic musicians, each and every one of them, but there are still human moments. And that’s what makes it so wonderful, to me anyway."

When we first discussed this on Wednesday night we joked that the one problem is that most rock bands can't play like the Foo Fighters. But Lazar doesn't think that should stop other bands from at least trying the analog approach. "I think a lot of bands can do it," she says. "They might not be able to achieve the mass appeal that Foo Fighters did, but I think there are a lot of bands that can do it, I’d love to hear them try."

Grohl, for one, definitely concurs analog brings back the raw sound." I would rather that bands sound like bands and when you go analog that’s kind of what you get."

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Dave Grohl on the Foo Fighters' Grammy Success and Going Analog

Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Nate Mendel of The Foo Fighters backstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.Larry Busacca/Getty Images For The Recording Academy

The Foo Fighters took home five Grammy awards Sunday night, including Best Rock Album, and delivered two memorable performances, one of them rocking with Deadmau5 on the first ever EDM segment of the Grammys. But their biggest triumph of the night may have been Dave Grohl's  Best Rock Performance acceptance speech, which has taken the web by storm. "Dave Grohl Grammy Speech" is the second subject that comes up when you type his name into Google.

Accepting the award, Grohl said, "To me, this award means a lot because it shows the human element of music is what's important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most impotant thing for people to do...It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer. It's about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head]."

When Rolling Stone spent some time with Grohl at various Grammy events over the weekend, he echoed those sentiments as he talked about the bare bones recording of Wasting Light, which was recorded in analog in a garage. "To me the biggest advantage of going analog is the restrictions that it implies, which gets you to perform in a way that you’re actually being a human being," Grohl said. "We thought about heart and performance. And I would rather people not tune their vocals, I would rather people not grid their drums."

Will their success then Sunday night inspire other bands to pick up that challenge? Emily Lazar, who mastered the album and became the first woman ever nominated for mastering a Best Album nominee, hopes so. "I think that would be a phenomenal response because there’s nothing like real organic old-school rock and roll," she told us. "I think part of the charm and integrity of this record and the reason it rocks so hard is because it’s real and there are moments that are not perfect. They’re absolutely fantastic musicians, each and every one of them, but there are still human moments. And that’s what makes it so wonderful, to me anyway."

When we first discussed this on Wednesday night we joked that the one problem is that most rock bands can't play like the Foo Fighters. But Lazar doesn't think that should stop other bands from at least trying the analog approach. "I think a lot of bands can do it," she says. "They might not be able to achieve the mass appeal that Foo Fighters did, but I think there are a lot of bands that can do it, I’d love to hear them try."

Grohl, for one, definitely concurs analog brings back the raw sound." I would rather that bands sound like bands and when you go analog that’s kind of what you get."

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