'The work has to be its own reward' - Interview with Howard Fishman.

MIA CAVEN: Your music was released in 2002, which is the year i was actually born, and i love, as i mentioned, do what i want. what made you want to release music in that year?

HOWARD FISHMAN: It was a different time –– before streaming, and before downloading. Back then, part of being a working musical artist meant regularly going into the recording studio and making new albums that fans would then buy and consume. It was a more sustainable model than today, when most music is free and it's confusing for indie artists like me to figure out how to finance new recordings.

M: Where did the inspiration for do what i want come from?

HF: The album  "Do What I Want" was made in the wake of 9/11.  There's a lot of anxiety, sadness, and freaked-outness in those songs. 

M: Not only do you make music but you write a lot too. Did you grow up loving both music and books?

HF: I sure did, and I still do. 

M: You mention a lot of other artists throughout your career; Lynch, Dylan, Converse. What is it about those that inspire you that makes them weave into your work?

HF: I derive inspiration from artists who are sui generis. 

M: As I mentioned, the music release (Do What I Want) was 2002. Do you intend to or want to release music any time soon?

HF: This album was the third of the ten albums I have available, so there's been a lot more since then, and there will be more to come, yes.

M: As someone who also makes music and writes, the two intertwine a lot. What would you say that intertwining looks like for you daily?

HF: They're just different modes of expression for me. I do the one that feels right that day. Or, sometimes, I do both!

M: What's your advice to people who love to write and make music and don't know what to do with it or where to go with it?

HF: I try to be sure not to attach any feelings of self-worth or "success" to the response I get (or don't get) to my creative work in the marketplace. The work has to be its own reward. Trying to adjust it to what I think an audience might want, or having expectations about it generating cash and prizes, is always a losing game, in my experience.

M: How does it feel to know your music, over twenty years later, is being played still around the world?

HF: It's great to know that an album I made twenty years ago is still finding new fans.

M: what do you feel your message with your music is?

HF: That's for listeners to decide. I don't have an intellectual agenda when I make music.

M: I like to end on a fun one. If you had to choose writing or making music which would you choose and why?

HF: They're not really separate, since I write the music I play. But if you're asking whether I'd choose music writing/performing or writing essays and books, right now I'd say the latter, only because I've already created a body of work as a musician, and I feel like I'm just getting started as a prose writer.