Q Town Magazine interviewed me for this month’s issue (on stands now in Virginia, online HERE. Check out the full transcript below! I talk about the usual things people talk about in interviews: cocaine, butt sex, being a jerk, fucking my life up, Jesus, etc.

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From Q TOWN Magazine (August 2010 Issue):

It’s been quite a trip for Portland electronica artist Logan Lynn. From his first studio album, This Is Folk Techno in 1998 to his latest From Pillar To Post, Lynn transports us away to his buzzing trance-like world. Famous for edgy lyrics and playful beats, Lynn creates excitement on MTV, Logo, VH1, Spike and in the pulsating indie music scene.

Q town recently caught up with Logan to chat about hooking up with The Dandy Warhols, his connection to his fans, and how queer culture influences the mainstream.

QT: Your style has been called electro-house mixed with folk, which is a really interesting combination. How did these two come together for you?

LL: I was always really interested in both genres separately growing up and coming into my own musically as a songwriter. At some point in the late 90’s I started blending the two together. Back then nobody really understood what I was doing. I would have shows and people would just stand there and scratch their heads. I could tell they were like “What the hell is this guy doing?”, but that was mostly because they just had no reference point. That was WAY before The Postal Service or some of those groups that came along in the mid 2000’s. Once that all started getting big is when people really started to gravitate to my music. I repackaged and re-released the same record in 2005 that I had released in 2000 and the reaction was amazing so I immediately recorded all the songs I had been writing during that 5 year hiatus from making records and got the ball rolling for my self-titled record in 2006. I’m glad people get it now.

QT: How did you hook up with the indie-rock band The Dandy Warhols and what has that experience been like for you?

LL: I was working on an ad campaign for a company in Los Angeles in 2005 & we hired a photographer from Portland named Ray Gordon who I ended up partying with for days in LA. He fell in love with some of the new material I played him and just happened to be really good friends with Courtney Taylor-Taylor (the Dandys’ frontman). He knew they were starting a label, Courtney and I met, he got really into my record, they signed me in 2007 and released my last record “From Pillar To Post” on their Beat The World label in 2009. It has been really great to have access to their studio and to be able to learn from them. It has been quite the journey from there to here.

QT: Can you tell us the inspiration to the lyrics behind your sharply-titled single, “Bottom your way to the top”?

LL: Well, I was in a very long-term relationship that started ending in 2007, but eluded finality until a little over a year ago. At one point, as our 6 years together were dissolving, the words “Just go and bottom your way to the top, then” was yelled my way….so I wrote a song about it. That whole record (“From Pillar To Post”) is about that time in my life. I was immersed in cocaine partyworld and was losing my love. I didn’t react very well to the breakup initially. I acted out in ways that were, well…song-worthy.

QT: We really love the video for “Bottom your way to the top”. In addition to being a musician you’re also a visual artist. Did you help contribute to the concept behind the video?

LL: Nice one! Thanks. I am always involved in some aspect of everything, but I think much of my success has been found in letting the people I work with do their jobs (be it on songs or videos). I have yet to drink my own Kool-Aid to the point where I think I know how to do everything better than everyone else. That’s bullshit. Anyway, the director Jeffrey McHale (from Chicago) had a very clear vision. I came to him because I felt like he and I had a similar point of view. It turned out that we did. He introduced me to an illustrator named John Parot who came on board to illustrate the video which Jeff then animated. Interestingly enough, John Parot is a contestant on Bravo’s “Work Of Art: The Search For The Next Great Artist” this season. He does amazing work. I love that we got him on that video. His drawings are really what next-leveled that one.

QT: What would you say is the best part of being a performer?

LL: I love the connections I make with people. I think because my songs are so personal they tend to find people that are similar to me. That’s been the case thusfar at least. That connection, that shrinking of the world to a size I can deal with, has been the best part of all of this so far. I like feeling like my crazy is understandable my hundreds of thousands of people. Like…other people aren’t running away from my ugly parts on display so maybe I’m not such a fucking psycho after all?

QT: You’ve been a fixture on MTV, VH1, Spike TV and Logo Online and you’ve got a huge following. How did it feel to break into the biz?

LL: It felt different than I thought it was going to. It is amazing that I get to live out my lifelong dreams and have been able to get to the point I’m at currently with this whole thing…but I’ll be honest and say that I always had it in my mind that I would get here and suddenly be happy, suddenly feel like I belong. Unfortunately, that is not the case so I’ve had to mourn the loss of that delusional notion as it has become clear that there just simply is no golden ticket. I love singing, I love writing, I love that there are so many people who feel a connection with me and my songs…but it’s isolating, too. That’s sort-of the nature of the beast I guess…but I wasn’t prepared for that part. It gets lonely on the island, ya know?

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I was interviewed for the premier issue of Dirty Magazine (available in July) and our chat is currently one of the feature stories on their website! You can check it out HERE or just keep reading below.

From Dirty Magazine: (July 2010)

“LOGAN LYNN’S LAST HIGH: LOGAN LYNN – MUSICIAN, PORTLAND RESIDENT, SELF DESCRIBED “EMO-PROPHET” – TALKS ABOUT HIS STRICT CHRISTIAN UPBRINGING, COCAIN ADDICTION, AND THE JOYS OF JOY BEHAR.

LL: I was pretty young when I started making up my own lyrics and melodies. Basically, as soon as I could speak I started to sing. There are cassette tapes of me singing original material dating back to when I was two or three. The first proper song that I wrote, recorded, and performed was when I was 12. I had just gotten heavily into drugs and wrote a song about Windowpane [LSD] that I recorded in my cousin’s studio and then performed at a Christian talent show. Needless to say, I didn’t win.
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OK, so…the title of this post is a bit dramatic and unfair. 2009 actually brought with it some really amazing things. My new record “From Pillar To Post” was released and was received better than my little brain could have imagined…First by the press, then by all of you guys. It’s been really great to finally get to share where I’ve been since 2007 with you after going into hiding shortly after I got signed with “Beat The World”. Thanks so much for listening, for helping to spread the word about my tunes, and for reminding me constantly why it is that I write songs in the first place.

On the flipside to all of this professional joy, the past year has been quite a journey for me personally. 2009 was the first year since 1994 where no Alcohol or Cocaine entered my body. Like…NONE. I got clean in the beginning of 2008, so it was tainted by a couple of months of freebasing and I didn’t quit drinking until December of ’08…but this year was clean, start to finish. I’m nearing the 2 year anniversary of my last journey to cracked-out partytown…I know for normal people that doesn’t seem like a very big deal, but for me and for anyone who has ever known or loved me, it’s noteworthy. I’m finally at a point with the getting well that it’s not such a constant struggle to function. All I really have to say about that is…FUCK YES!!! FINALLY!!!!!

At this point, I have torn down every part of my old life and am about to start over. After over 6 years of moving in one direction together, my partner and I split up in July and I’ve spent much of the past 6 months since just regrouping, catching my breath, mourning the loss of that companionship (and that of one of my dogs, Spike, who went to live with “other dad” when he left), and making a new plan. I made decisions this year that kicked me WAY out of my comfort zone and have left me feeling vulnerable and beyond frightened at times, but I’ve managed to navigate through and have finally hit the light at the end of the dark tunnel. I feel great sorrow for this loss in my life, and it is a neon example of how some things which I broke when I was high are just unfixable, no matter how hard anyone tries. I wish him nothing but the greatest happiness and hope the new year brings peace and healing for both of our sad, broken hearts.

That same week in July I went to stay with my Mom and Dad in the Oregon desert. We spent the first part of the week in a raw emotional state, talking out old festering wounds and repairing cracks in the foundation of our family unit that had been made long ago. We cried for the better part of the week, but managed to come back together at some point while I was there. That time with them is the most beautiful experience I’ve had in my life so far and things are forever changed as a result of those moments together.

I’ve made a lot of new friends this year and am really excited to be starting a new decade this week with all of you in tow. I feel light again, like things are clearing up. I am determined to bring my personal life up to speed with my professional life this year…gonna make some happy stuff happen!!!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!!! See you on the 7th at Doug Fir in Portland! It’s gonna be a really good show. “Cars & Trains” and “The Gentry” rule the skool.

xxLL