Also expand your mind with David Duchovny Through the Ages, an authoritative timeline of David Duchovny through the ages.
Long ago in New England, a young man entrenched himself in Ivy League academia, first earning a B.A. from Princeton, followed by an M.A. from Yale. Both were in English literature. The twentysomething intellectual stayed on to pursue his Ph.D., thoughtfully ruminating on Magic and Technology in Contemporary Fiction and Poetryâthis being the title of his dissertation. Alas, that dissertation went unfinishedâfor the young man was distracted by something glinting in the distance, off in the far-away west.
So the young man abandoned his bookish trajectory and set forth on a journey to Los Angelesâand soon, he launched an illustrious career as an actor. His name would soon come to be known far and wide: David Duchovny.
David Duchovny spent years being other people: Twin Peaksâ cunning DEA Agent Denise Bryson; The X-Filesâ obsessive FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder; Zoolanderâs retired hand model J.P. Prewitt; Californicationâs troubled novelist Hank Moody. But Duchovnyâs also tried his hand at directing, and has also written two novels, 2015âs Holy Cow: A Modern-Day Dairy Tale and 2016âs Bucky Fucking Dent. In 2015, he also dropped a debut record, Hell or Highwater, featuring 12 tracks of alt-country/dad rock. This week, heâll bring those tunes to Portland.
Regardless of what your favorite Duchovny work isâhis acting, his writing, or his newfound musical expressionsâhis passionate devotion to creativity, in all its myriad forms, inspires all who come in contact with him. Thatâs what happened to me, at least, when I spoke to him, on the greatest day of my life.

MERCURY: I had no idea you played music before I heard your debut. Whatâs it like to be a touring musician now, after your decades-long career as an actor, director, and author?
DAVID DUCHOVNY: It came as a surprise to me, because I picked up a guitar six or seven years ago, just kind of for myself. You know, the idea of writing songs had never occurred to me until I started playing. Iâve written, I have words, so lyrically it seemed to be something I could do. But the fact that I could hear melodies as well was shocking to me. But still I thought, âOkay, these are just songs Iâll play for myself or whoever else is in the room.â And then I met peopleâbetter musicians than meâwho were willing to play better than me and to record, produce, and fill songs in, to write bass parts and riffs that I could never write. So, you know, I wrote the bare bones of these songs, I wrote the chords and the melodies and the lyrics, but to record a song is so much more than that. I was lucky to find people who saw enough in my songs to want to fill them out. And then to perform live is a whole different kettle of fish, you knowâitâs like, I donât have a great singing voice. Iâve worked on it, I work on my tunefulness, I work on my ear, but itâs not natural... I do fuck up, you know.Did you ever get stage fright?
I didnât. I donât know why. I canât explain why, because it has all the elements of something that would make me seize up in fear, for sureâsinging in public without any kind of help. But at some point early on, I just realized that a song is not about getting it perfect. A song is about communicating an emotion or a feeling.... That doesnât really have much to do with singing the song as perfectly as you recorded it; it has to do with whatâs happening in the moment in that setting. Itâs like, âLetâs just connect. Letâs just be real, be present, and letâs see if we can take a journey here tonight.â And in that case itâs not about whether Iâm hitting a B or a B-flat. Itâs about what kind of a journey we are all taking here tonight.
You have a lot of experience writing, but was coming up with lyrics any different?
Itâs very different, because lyrics are kind of magical within a songâbut then you can see them written down on a page and theyâre flat, theyâre trite, or theyâre clichĂ©d and they donât work at all. Part of the great thing about writing lyrics and matching them to music is that all of a sudden these clichĂ©d moves, these kind of vague formulations that weâve all heard before about slipping into darkness or whateverâthat suck if youâre a poetâwork lyrically because the music somehow fills it in.
That reminds me of âThe Things,â my favorite song on Hell or Highwater. It seems like youâre also grappling with the futility of words there.
Thatâs the first song I wrote. Iâm very aware of it not being a confessional. I donât want to write a song thatâs just like, âHey, on April 10 this happened, this person did that and that person did this.â For me it was like, how do I write a song thatâs really vague but impactful, and just keep talking about âthe thingsâ that they did... I feel comfortable talking about my personal experience using that vague language, and it becomes kind of poetic. Therefore itâs less personal, so that you can adopt it, so itâs universal.

The distance makes it more relatable for listeners.
Right, which is weird. Itâs the kind of thing when I talk about clichĂ©s in songs; the clichĂ© somehow makes it more relatable.
Do you think your decision to try music was at all related to any dissatisfaction or frustration with words?
I think I was looking for other modes of expression. Trying to find a different voice, even if it was through the sound of the guitar or me trying to sing. It was like, âLetâs sing the words and see what itâs like to do that. Letâs put the feeling through strumming this guitar.â Because Iâd spent a long time expressing myself, expressing feelings through characters as an actor. I think there was a certain dissatisfaction, or even a hunger to try something else.
Making music is obviously new for you, but it seems like youâre a big fan. The alt-country sound and conversational tone of your lyrics on Hell or Highwater remind me of Neil Young, and the way you sing reminds me of Lou Reedâs ambling delivery. Who are some of your all-time favorite bands?
Well itâs funny, when you mention influences Iâm more like you when it comes to my own music, where Iâm like, âOh, that sounds like...â but I wasnât trying to do it. Itâs just in there. Definitely Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, the Stones, the Beatles, although I canât sing like Paul or John. More like Ringo (laughs)... Iâll be playing music from my phone and Iâll hear a phrase somebody sings a certain way and Iâll go, âShit, I totally ripped that off.â But I didnât know (laughs).

Well, all of our experiences are so cumulative...
Exactly. Weâre gonna cover âSweet Janeâ this tour. Iâve just been listening to a lot of Lou Reed recently, like âPerfect Dayâ and âHeroin.â He was a really unique performer.
Is there anybody making music right now that you really admire?
Yeah, I really like Wilco. Iâve liked R.E.M. for a long time. Um... I donât listen to the most popular stuff so much, not because I donât like it, itâs just... in a way, Iâm kind of insulated. Or I kind of insulate myself... I like Tame Impala. I like Broken Bells.
Youâre working on a follow-up album. Is there anything that youâre actively trying to do differently?
Not actively. Well, maybe actively. I think weâre branching out a little and I think that maybe itâs a little harder rock sound. Maybe a little funkier, less country-folk... I think Iâm getting more emboldened to try different production styles, and give individual songs different flavors in that way.

It seems like youâre this modern-day Renaissance manâyou have all these different creative outlets, starting with your career as an academic. Do you ever regret not getting your Ph.D.?
I guess that Iâll always regret that I didnât finish the degree, but... I donât think I was gonna go into teaching at a college level. So I regret not having written [my dissertation], I wish Iâd written it, but I donât regret the two years more that I wouldâve had to have taken to write it. Those were two years when I started pursuing acting and auditioning, so I was busy doing my thing, it wasnât like I was just sitting on my ass. I know why I didnât write it. I donât know if itâs a regret, but do I wish it were written? Sure.
Is it frustrating that some people still only see you as Fox Mulder? Or any of the characters youâve played?
Of course you want people to just be in love with your music, but Iâm not naĂŻve enough to think that people donât know me from somewhere else. I also use itâI wouldnât be able to play the size of a room Iâm playing if people didnât know me. Thatâs totally legitimate, and Iâm fine with it. I donât think anybodyâs gonna like my music because they like me as an actor. They may listen to it because they like me as an actor, but the music has to stand on its own, and Iâm perfectly fine with that.
Youâve tried your hand at a variety of creative endeavors, but would you say that music is the main thing you want to focus on going forward?
No, I donât think I can focus on any main thing going forward. I still love acting, I love directing, I love writing, I love making music. I know Iâll never be a great guitar player or a great singer. At best, if I work very hard, I will be a mediocre guitar player. I just want to be good enough to write songs, and Iâm kind of there already. I donât want to get up there and wow you with my guitar solos. I mean, Iâd love to, but itâs not gonna happen.... There should be enough time to do all of those things. I hope so, if Iâm lucky.