Previously published in SLUBS magazine, Brisbane Australia. 

Weird Paul Petroskey is a lo-fi musician in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. He has been writing and recording music since 1984. I first heard him through his documentary which features interviews with a bunch of great musicians one most notably being Lou Barlow from sebadoh.

What made you gravitate towards lo-if music?

WP: I started out making music by working with what I had, which was a microphone and a tape recorder. I never had what you could call "good" equipment and sometimes recording could be difficult. which made me want to keep the recording process simple. I also had a desire to work quickly, because that way I would have more time to create more music. So I gravitated towärd lo-fi music because of my recording circumstances and the decisions I made about time and simplicity.

My first release was 1987's IN CASE OF FIRE, THROW THIS IN. I recorded the 32 songs in a couple months' time. I was 16 years old and sold copies of the cassette to my classmates at my high school. I was also able to get occasional airplay on a local college radio station.

My 28th album is coming out in September 2013 on Thick Syrup Records. Though, I have appeared on nearly 60 released albums.

Who did you look up to as a young DIY musician?

WP: My idols as a child were comedians, because I loved how they could make people laugh. I thought that power was amazing. Bob Hope was the first, then I discovered Steve Martin only slightly later. Once I discovered music in my early teens, my idol was Weird Al Yankovic and in my late teens, The Ramones and Devo. These were bands that often had funny lyrics but the music was also fun and/or interesting.

What kind of impact did hearing Daniel Johnston for the first time have on you?

WP: I first heard Daniel Johnston on a college radio station in the summer of 1989. The song was "Big Business Monkey". My first reaction was that they must have been playing a song I'd never heard by my sister (Wacko Sheila), who I'd been recording albums with. I became totally obsessed with Daniel's music, buying every album he'd released. I began composing and recording on chord organ (I'd played chord organ since childhood, but it became my second instrument after hearing Daniel). 

This influence culminated in the release of my 1990 album MY LAST TAPE, which is somewhat different from any other album I recorded.

What do you have to say to young people these days who wanna put out tapes and stuff like that?

WP: My advice is to just go for it - don't worry about putting too much time and effort into it. It's your own individual talents that will make it the special thing that it is. No amount of money or time will change that. Some people waste years not releasing anything because they feel like it's not good enough or won't sound right. There's no reason to feel like anything you do is disposable. Treat everything you do as genuine MUSIC. You can consider your creations no less important than U2, Bruce Springtseen or Michael Jackson. If it exists, it's art!