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00:00:00 Q: We’re here today in New York City, which is where you were born. Do you still spend most of your time here?
00:00:06 A: You know, I try to, because I feel like people who are born in New York never really want to leave it entirely. You always kind of wind up back here. But I’ve been doing a lot of work in L.A., because Capital’s based out there. And also, for the films, I was really focused on completing those films for a long time. It took a lot of work. And I had to be there, because that’s where Michele, the director is. And that’s where the crews are and that’s where the industry is for making film stuff. So I’ve been in L.A. a lot. But New York is where my heart is, to be honest.
00:00:31 Q: Do you spend time in London?
00:00:34 A: You know what? I’d never spent time in London before last summer. I mean, I’d been there for two days, three days, just as a tourist. But I’d never spent like a month or two months there. And I honestly -- I had like one of the most beautiful times in my life. It was just so -- so lovely. And I went to the country, in Gloucestershire and I just never realized how magical England really is. So now I kind of have this sort of like, Anglomania. I’m like really obsessed with getting back there and spending more time there, because you know my dad’s English. So I just always felt like -- I felt like that part was missing from my life a little bit. And I want to go back.
00:01:17 Q: Beautiful place. Friendly Fire is your second album. Your first was 1998s Into the Sun. And the question begs to be answered why you waited eight years before making another record.
00:01:27 A: Well, it’s interesting because people assume that if you’re not putting records out and you’re a musician that somehow you’re doing nothing or something. But I mean, for me, it’s a very specific thing to put out a record publicly, promote it, tour it. That’s like one specific game. And, the truth is, I just didn’t want to do that. Not that I’m against that process or anything. I think a lot of people have that ambition. But my life isn’t necessarily focused in that direction. I consider myself to be an artist. You know, not to be pretentious, but I’m focused on making art, making film, making music, trying to make cool stuff. I mean, not necessarily promoting Sean Lennon as a product or anything like that. To be honest, a lot of times I feel kind of uncomfortable when I’m doing that. It’s just not -- it’s not who I am, really. So I just didn’t feel like it for those -- for those years. 
But now I do and it’s because -- it’s because I’ve made this project that I really think represents me in a way that I can really get behind. And I was able to kind of find a new way of expressing myself, which wasn’t just songs and wasn’t just the record, but was kind of combining it with these conceptual kind of films, and visually expressing myself as well. And I did an animated film, too, that I actually drew I drew like hundreds of drawings. Just every frame. I got to draw it and really construct this kind of surreal dream world that was representative somehow of my subconscious or whatever I was going through with relationships and friendships. And I just felt like I’d really figured this thing out, this way that I wanted to do things, which is kind of a multimedia thing. And so now I want to put it out there. I’m really in the mood to do it. 
00:03:15 Q: I’m glad you’re taking the time today to talk, because Friendly Fire is a really special record. To these ears, it sounds like a concept record about love and relationships, using war as a metaphor. Am I kind of on the right track with that?
00:03:26 A: Yeah, definitely. You know, the difference between my first record and this record is that the first record I was 20 when I made it and it was kind of an optimistic, romantic view of love. It’s called Into the Sun, which really just meant kind of looking at the sun and going there hand in hand with the woman that you love and having this kind of overly-romantic fantasy, which was basically a naïve, youthful view of the universe. And this record is much more grounded in reality. It’s the same thing. It’s about being in love, but it’s about how painful that can really be and when love disintegrates and when you feel betrayed by the people that you love. 
00:04:13 - END OF INTERVIEW

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