LEVY: Why do the Experience Music Project? ALLEN: I didn’t think anything had been done to really commemorate the contribution that Jimi Hendrix had made. So we started collecting artifacts for that. Then we started thinking about rock and roll that originated in the Northwest, so we expanded. Then we wondered about the purpose of the museum. Jimi was a self-taught musician, and I’m pretty much self-taught. [I felt] if you give the young people the keys to the kingdom of rock and roll, just a feeling that they can make their own music, then they’ll find their own path through music.
How did you work with Frank Gehry on the EMP building? If you listen to Jimi’s music, the guitar is going wayyy up and wayyy down, all over the place, exploring the boundaries… It’s rock and roll architecture, very in-your-face, intense and larger than life.
On the CD you recorded with your band, Grown Men, your lyrics are such downers, songs like “The Kingdom of the Lonely.” Are you “lost in a maze,” as one lyric goes? [Laughs] No, no. Hey, at some point, everyone’s just wondering what’s going on. Some people say it’s easier to write a sad song than an up song. For my motivation or inspiration, I guess I did draw on some life experiences that were more down than up.
You have considerable investments in both the entertainment world and high tech. Do you see that as a dichotomy or a unity? I think that the range of interests I’m involved with does reflect things I love and am passionate about. The entertainment world is much more about personal relationships and a continuous creative process, while high technology is about spurts of creativity and long periods of execution. They have traditionally been very different worlds, but these worlds are marrying as time goes on.
Do you still get that same thrill from Hendrix? Oh, my gosh, yes. You can listen to that stuff over and over again and still find new things in it. It took me more than 20 years to learn to play “Purple Haze.”
