Cherry Soda comes out next week. This is my 9th LP as WAVVES, which is pretty fucking crazy. I keep getting asked by managers and agents for press quotes, so I figured this time around I’d just write some of my thoughts down here instead.

18 years into doing this, and the week before a record comes out, it still feels exactly the same. Which is pretty cool, because usually when you do something enough times, the excitement or fear starts to fade. You get numb to it. Somehow, I haven’t.

A friend once described putting out a record as walking naked in front of everyone. I think that’s probably true, especially with WAVVES, because the songs tend to be pretty personal, sometimes almost uncomfortably autobiographical. So every time we get ready to do this, I still get that feeling in the pit of my stomach.

OH MY GOD, PLEASE LIKE ME.

A lot of artists say they don’t care what people think. Fuck the trolls, fuck the critics, fuck all that blah blah blah. I think most of them are lying. So much of being an artist is wanting to prove to people that you’re worth something. That you have something to offer. That you’re here. That you’re good enough.

Hey Dad! Hey Mom! LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!

There’s also this strange, almost out of body process of revisiting the most personal, painful, and traumatic moments of your life and somehow turning them into melodies. Like, hey, I feel really fucking depressed. I think I’m gonna sing about it. Okay dude. It’s a bizarre thing to do. But what a blessing it is to be able to do it. I honestly don’t know why I do it, or why I keep putting myself through it, but I do. And 18 years later, somehow, it still feels just as scary and exciting as the first time.