Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy is not a fan of the iconic Star Wars saga despite naming the group's latest surprise album Star Wars.

According to and interview with Tweedy in the print edition of Rolling Stone (via Stereogum) released this morning, the guitarist knew nothing of the forthcoming movie.

"In fact, I didn't even know there was a new Star Wars movie coming out until my lawyer told me. Everybody advised me against it, because there is a heavily protected trademark involved," he said.

Rolling Stone covered a number of topics with Tweedy, including why he decided to release the album as a surprise, why he chose the image of a cat as the album's cover art and plans for future recordings.

The cat was simply a painting hanging in the Wilco loft. As Tweedy walked by it everyday he thought it should just be the album cover. He said the jarring nature of the painting recontextualized with the title Star Wars seemed beautiful. "The album has nothing to do with Star Wars. It just made me feel good," Tweedy said.

On the surprise release of the album, Tweedy said he thought the value of the band's music was diminished by slowly rolling out singles, to the point where he didn't like the music once it was all out in the world.

"I was really dreading the modern roll-out pattern. Usually by the time the record comes out, I hate it. I hate talking about it. I hate all the people that have weighed in on it," he said. "I think it's done a disservice to our records, the way they've been heard in dribs and drabs, and a lot of people think they've heard a whole record after hearing one song. That's not the way Wilco records work."

See More Wilco, Jeff Tweedy
Join the Discussion