Waits is the kind of artist who's likely to answer a question with a question. Hey, there's nothing wrong with being big in Japan. The new album was produced by Waits and wife Kathleen Brennan. He fiddles with his reading glasses, pauses a beat, the gears clearly turning. The collection of songs was co-produced and written by Waits and his wife, Kathleen Brennan, and features collaborations with a number of Waits' longtime sidemen.
Waits claims to have been built rather than born.
We believe him. It's a square, barren concrete bunker, perfect for dragging the odd piece of metal across the floor to create just the right kind of clatter. An adjacent room is an explosion of brilliant color. Filled with various instruments and amps, the room's ceiling and walls are hung with random rectangles of spray-painted cardboard featuring vaguely agrarian themes. In the entrance hallway there's a dusty soda machine and the skeleton of an early-'80s video game.