According to Elijah Wood, a long-term Apples fan, Schneider is "enigmatic," although he concedes that they're "not an image band." He's fascinated by rock's "darkside" pin-ups, particularly Iggy Pop, whom he is scheduled to play in a biopic later this year — a prospect that, he says, "scares me to death." And no, he says, he won't be taking smack for the sake of verite. But ultimately it's the music that most appeals to Wood.
"As I get older, 'darkness' is more intriguing because it's so about-face to what I've done in the past," he says, possibly referring to the Paula Abdul video he appeared in aged eight. "But I'm not that into 'method' — it can be a bit up its own arse. I don't feel like it's a catharsis for me, and there's nothing I feel I have to resolve through performance. It's more to be a part of something creative. That's why I wanted to start a label: to be around creative people."
What does he make of Kiefer Sutherland, who has his own bijou music imprint, or Juliette Lewis — Hollywood stars who seek cachet through rock 'n' roll?
"Everybody wants to be a rock star to a certain degree," he says. "If you're into the iconography of rock and you see these bands growing up ... . It's fair enough if people want to live out their rock dreams. Besides, the opposite is also true: musicians have been fascinated with the film world as far back as the Beatles."
So who looms larger in Wood's imagination: De Niro or Dylan? "De Niro's pretty fucking cool." Taxi Driver or Blonde on Blonde? "Probably Blonde on Blonde. I'm such a music nerd."
As for Schneider, he feels confident he has made the album to back up his sponsor's optimism. "As a producer, I never was able to hit it out of the ballpark before. But from beginning to end this one holds up," he says.
With its sonic particles linking songs of pure-pop beauty, is New Magnetic Wonder his equivalent of Brian Wilson's Smile? "Oh gosh, I wouldn't compare it to something as great as Smile. But Smile definitely raised the bar for me. To know that something begun in the 60s had finally been finished [in 2004], it was, like, 'Wow, it's do- able.' It almost destroyed the person who wrote it, but he [Brian Wilson] came back and finished it! It was like he built a rocket pack and he got up there again. It was extremely inspiring. And now I'm fine-tuning my rocket pack, too."
NOTE: New Magnetic Wonder is released on Simian on Monday.-
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