Monday to Friday, Courtney Taylor-Taylor walks two miles to work. Since the world went into lockdown, he’s been holed up back home in Portland, mainly drinking wine and making music at Old Portland, The Dandy Warhols’ pied-à-terre wine bar housed inside the band’s longtime Odditorium clubhouse and studio, which entertained the likes of David Bowie, Duran Duran, and Gus Van Sant in its earlier days.
“It’s the perfect length of walk to get your head together, loosen up, shake off the morning depression and record,” says Taylor-Taylor of his new, daily routine. “Sometimes I don’t get anything done, because I start drinking wine instead. There’s always a huge stockpile of wine just sitting there, so by the time lunchtime rolls around I’m like ‘that would go great with an Alsatian Pinot Gris or Pinot Blanc.’”
Indulging in a 15-year-old Bordeaux one day and a Barolo the next, Taylor-Taylor is still trying to wrap his head around the daily monotony of this past year as he pieces together The Warhols’ 11th album and a weekly series of 30-second songs the band has been releasing every Friday on their YouTube and TikTok pages.
“It’s just so weird to be stuck in this Groundhog’s Day,” says Taylor-Taylor. “It does get very depressing. It’s really unnerving. I spent so much time this year being nervous, and it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning. Everything just seems really drab, and pointless, and slightly frightening.”
Tina Eves 