Ken Andrews - Secrets of the Lost Satellite

The detached paramour behind slept-on ’90s space-pop overlords Failure (not to mention On and Year of the Rabbit), is taking a sabbatical from being alt-rock’s studio go-to guy (A Perfect Circle, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tenacious D) to unveil this solo album on his new record label. Members of Beck’s backing band add a serene warmth to the cold electronic templates, and Ken Andrews‘ doomed romantic purr is as potent as ever.

The songs on this record seem less cynical than they’ve been in the past.

ANDREWS: For people who really know my past, they’re gonna find it to be… not completely different, but it’s gonna have new aspects to it, which I’m really into. It’s really difficult for me to make the same exact record over and over; maybe that’s why I keep changing the names of my projects. However, it’s pretty obvious that I can’t escape a basic sensibility that seems to be in everything that I do no matter what. I wasn’t interested in doing this record unless it had something intrinsically different, and I think the main thing is that I invited more collaboration.

At this point do you enjoy production or performing more?

ANDREWS: I think if I can keep it balanced time-wise and energy-wise, [performing is] cool. I am gonna do a tour off this, just right on top of the release, a three-week major market-only tour. And it’ll be fun. Psychologically, if there was a plan to keep touring, I would probably be a little depressed right now. [Laughs]. The idea of staying out for months on end promoting the same record is a little hard for me to swallow at this point in my life. If you really analyze it, I get to spend a lot more time being creative [producing other projects] than if I’m only doing my artist career, ’cause artists tend to spend maybe a quarter or a third of the year doing the actual artistic part… unless they’re the kind of artist that’s improvising their music every night or doing spoken word or something.

A few posthumous Failure releases have trickled in the last few years. Does the enduring cult interest make you consider a reunion?

ANDREWS: To me it would just feel weird and not natural. And then there’s the actual reality, which is I know—and I don’t have a problem saying this in the press—I know Greg [Edwards, co-founder] won’t do it. We’ve spent some time together making the DVD [2004's Golden: Unreleased Sounds and Images] and this Essentials [double-disc best-of] thing. I think he wants to prove himself outside of Failure, and I totally get that. I guess I probably do too; I kind of feel like maybe I don’t have quite the same intensity on that tip because I’ve been so busy doing other records and stuff. His band [Autolux] has a total policy of not talking really about the past at all and I’m completely different. My head is like, “Hey, do you like my old stuff? You might like this!” [Laughs]

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