It brings you right back to that moment

Cris Cohen: I read that the songwriting for the album “Color TV” stretched over 20 years. With songs that went back that far, when it came time to record, did you make adjustments, so those songs reflected where you are currently, or did you keep them as time capsules?
 
John Easdale of Dramarama: I would say they were more of a time capsule, particularly the songs that deal with substance abuse. I wrote them when I was still struggling to get clean. Actually, I left them off the last two albums I put out. They were just a little bit too close for comfort at the time, and they fit into the narrative of this album really well.
 
Cris Cohen: With the passage of time, are you able to have a little distance between where you are now and the emotional state you were in when you wrote them?
 
John Easdale: Definitely. It is more like looking back on something rather than being in the middle of something.
 
Cris Cohen: But then, when you record, do you have to kind of pull all that back into yourself to get the same emotion as when you wrote it?
 
John Easdale: It is funny, because, when you sing a song, it does not matter if it is a song I wrote 35 years ago, 25 years ago, or 10 years ago. It brings you right back to that moment. And hopefully, if I am doing it right, I channeled that moment. And that moment in time and those emotions come back, and that spurs on the energy of the song.