What was the experience of revisiting this album like for you?
JAMES MERCER:Yeah, I mean, it did bring back a lot of memories.
I think the whole idea of a 20th anniversary makes you reflect a little bit.
Credit: Marisa Kula Mercer
Those early days were just really heady and very fast.
Our lives picked up quickly.
What was that transition about?
Subpop
Flake was very ’90s in that we all kind of wrote songs together.
We were pretty heavily influenced by bands like Superchunk; what were they called back then, power pop?
And also Pavement and bands like that.
We kind of had a blend of all sorts of things.
So I was doing what I liked.
I needed somewhere to put them, so I began recording in my little bedroom.
That was the seeds of what ended up beingOh, Inverted World.
Yeah, that’s a big difference.
I did introduce a number of songs to Flake that ended up being Shins songs.
I did enjoy having control over it.
Certainly there was no intent there to create some sort of trend or anything like that.
I think there was this craving for some earnestness.
Because the ’90s were like the decade of irony, right?
Yeah, that’s what it was.
It’s obviously changed the whole lot.
I appreciate both of them for helping.
It’s a different world right now.
A few months later I was told there were 30,000 computers that had that EP on them.
I think that was also something that helped us get signed.
We didn’t feel much at initial release.
It was a big deal for us, you know?
This guy who’s in a TV show, he’s going to direct it.
It’s going to be this indie thing."
It was completely because ofGarden State.
And so we got a bus!
You play at a lot of these colleges and you get quite a bit of money.
So it was a big change for us.
I read a story that the master tapes ofOh, Inverted Worldgot stolen from your home at one point.
I was burgled, and I just wasn’t clever enough to have made copies.
I think I didn’t realize the value of those things.
They just took it.
It was just my mistake of going on tour and not really having my house watched carefully.
Did not having those files affect the remaster process at all?
No, because we did have the original DATs that were used by the mastering company.
What was taken were the original audio files.
And so there’s no remixing capability except, strangely, for “New Slang.”
I had put that on a DVD and so I was able to recover that.
So strangely that was the one that was recoverable.
I think “The Past and Pending” is my favorite.
It just works on me probably more than the other songs do.
What are you proudest of from the remaster?
It was kind of my idea to do this whole thing, so I’m proud of that.
And it seems that there has been!
It feels like something to celebrate.
I mean, it was a watershed moment in my life and in my very dear friends' lives.
Yeah, I just feel thankful.
I kind of dreaded that whole idea.
Honestly I was like, that’s it!
Man, we got the band, we can tour.
The shows are going well.
I was like, I’m done, this is my life.
Has revisiting this album made you think about doing new stuff?
Should we expect any new music on the horizon?
Well, I’m always writing.
I’ve got new songs that I’ve recorded.
I don’t know when it’ll come out; there hasn’t been much pressure on us.
We fulfilled our obligation with the last contract, so who knows what’s going to happen?
