Jim Eno, drummer of Spoon and a music producer, is set to visit campus Tuesday.
No one thinks they’re on the road to success until they’re there.
Jim Eno didn’t start playing in a band till his junior year of college. At North Carolina State University, he was more dedicated to completing his degree in electrical engineering than his ascension as the drummer for one of the most recognized and celebrated American rock bands of the past decade — Spoon.
Eno will discuss his career, the future of the music industry and more when he visits Ohio University on Tuesday. The event is hosted by the Scripps College of Media Arts and Studies and will be structured as an on-stage interview conducted by OU lecturer Josh Antonuccio.
The event is designed to help students looking to work in the music industry and give them advice on how to get into the business, whether it’s as a musician or any of the myriads of professions available.
“I never thought I would do music, ever, full time … I never thought you could make your living doing music,” Eno said. “Everyone always asks ‘how do I get into the music business?’ ... There’s so many ways that you can’t even answer that question. I just go through a little bit about how I got into it and hopefully people will learn from that.”
Eno has done a number of talks at the University of Texas in Austin where he lives and works out of his studio Public Hi-Fi, where Spoon recorded its latest album. OU is the only other university to host Eno.
For Madison Yee, a sophomore studying media arts with an emphasis in media and social change, the event will be not only a great way to see someone she’s a big fan of but also a good learning opportunity.
“I’m definitely interested to see Jim Eno’s opinions about how the band has developed through each album and the different concepts for each of them,” Yee said. “I know they’ve had many people come and go in the band and (I want) to see how he feels about being so successful at this point in his life.”
Eno has evolved beyond just being a drummer. On top of his intense touring schedule with Spoon, he maintains a lot of production work for bands such as Bright Eyes and Black Joe Lewis.
In recent years, he has also curated exclusive sessions for Spotify at SXSW, booking artists such as Father John Misty and The Shins. In that way he said he hopes to keep up with the vastly shifting music industry.
“We’re in a big transition time right now,” Eno said. “People aren’t buying CDs but people are streaming and the streaming numbers don’t equate to sales numbers yet.”
@wilbur_hoffman
wh092010@ohio.edu
