Hi everybody it's Andy Richter and you're listening to the three questions.

Today I'm talking to Steve Albini he is a legendary punk, a proud Chicago resident

audio engineer and although he hates this phrase, he's a record producer.

By his own estimate he's worked on several thousand albums including records by

Nirvana, the Pixies, PJ Harvey, the Breeders, Cheap Trick. And as a musician, Steve was a member of the very

influential band Big Black and currently records and performs with his band Shalack.

He's speaking to us from his electric audio recording studio in

Chicago. Here's my conversation with Steve Albini. Hello everyone I'm going to say good morning because it's morning it's we're at

you know seven a.m.ish here and I am talking to the very busy Mr. Steve Albini you know current Chicago and I'm a former

Chicagoan and you you stayed you never left yeah it's the best city in the

world honestly like offer for you know, if you if you rank everything on a you know on a scale and then you just take the aggregate score

Chicago is the best city there's ever been, you know. You can do more

stuff here. There's more interesting people here. You know, if you're doing

anything like creative with your life where you have to involve other people and things like

you know fabrication or construction or electronics or shipping or like any of those

things Chicago is just infinitely more convenient than any other place.

The arts and music community here is unparalleled.

I really do feel incredibly lucky that my random choice of a university put me here.

Yeah, because you went to Northwestern correct? I went to Northwestern to study journalism

Technically I am a degree to journalist. We got to get to like

that career change. You know? But what did you fall in love of Chicago right away when you got there?

When I came to Chicago I had spent the previous 10 or 12 years of my life in Missoula, Montana, which is physically and aesthetically beautiful place,

...