5. Neil YoungEverybody Knows This Is Nowhere

When I joined Eleventh Dream Day I was 23 years old and my exposure to rock music was still pretty narrow. I was aware of some punk and avant-garde music and Television was probably my favourite band, still is. But I was not familiar with Neil Young at all. When I joined I was broke and Baird [Figi], the other guitar player, got me a job at a record store. So here I was playing with people who were hipping me to the music that interested them and I had a whole record store at my disposal. I discovered that Crazy Horse WAS a punk band and that Neil Young jammed with Devo.

Apparently ‘Cinnamon Girl’, ‘Down By The River’ and ‘Cowgirl In The Sand’ were recorded while Young had a 103-degree fever – what are the most testing conditions in which you’ve recorded songs?

Eleventh Dream Day has made a couple albums during heat waves. Actually both of those were made in Kentucky. As times goes on it takes Tortoise longer and longer to make albums. That can be trying.