Erik Stein

Scoop Marketing

August 2, 2017

12:00 PM CT

Operator: The following is a recording for Erik Stein with Scoop

Marketing on Wednesday, August 2, 2017 at 12:00 PM Central Time.

Erik Stein: Hello, everyone. I’m Erik Stein from Scoop. Thank you for

joining us today for this media teleconference with Donald Fagen and Connor Kennedy

in advance of the start of the Donald Fagen and the Nightflyers tour. The tour begins

tomorrow at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York and will hit more than 20

cities (domestic) before wrapping in San Francisco on September 16. We expect to

have time for at least one question from all of you, most likely two. We’ll provide you an

audio recording and transcript later this week. Please keep your questions focused on

the Nightflyers tour. I’ll now turn the call over to our Operator, Travis, to explain how to

get in the queue to ask a question, and he will begin the Q & A portion of the call.

Operator: Thank you, sir. At this time, we will open the floor for

questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press the star key, followed by the

one key, on your touchtone phone now. Questions will be taken in the order in which

they are received. If at any time you would like to remove yourself from the questioning

queue, just press star two. Again, to ask a question, please press star one. Our first

question comes from Gary Graff with Billboard.

Gary Graff: Gentlemen, how are you today?

Male Voices: Good.

Gary Graff: Alright, good, thank you. Donald, it’s been 35 years now

since the Nightfly. I guess does it feel like 35 years, 35 minutes, 350 years? And what’s

your sense of your solo work especially compared and contrasted to what you’ve done

with Steely Dan)?

Donald Fagen: Well, I think my solo albums attempt to be more – I just

think the songs tend to be more personal, maybe, and where in contrast with the Steely

Dan material in which Walter and I were perhaps more journalistic in some ways, that is

to return and telling stories about stuff we – commenting on things and so on. That

happens with my solo stuff too, but generally speaking, I think, they’re more

autobiographical or whatever.

Gary Graff: Yeah, that would make sense, and yeah, you come into

the Nightflyers tour after the two – Classic West and Classic East. How are those, and

also, can you update us on Walter and his situation?

Donald Fagen: Yeah, Walter, yeah, he’s recovering from a procedure, and

hopefully, he’ll be fine pretty soon. The Classic East and West were fun. You know, I

think it’s been a long time since we opened for another band, and that was a little

stranger than I thought it would be, because I realized that a lot of the audience,

probably a majority of the audience was there to see the Eagles, and I think – I don’t

think we’re, although we have certain things in common, I don’t think it’s a perfect fit, so

that – I’m used to the audience being mainly interested in Steely Dan. And that was a

little different. But they were good though.

Operator: Our next question comes from John Barry, Poughkeepsie

Journal.

John Barry: Hi, Donald. Hey, Connor. I hope all is well. Donald, I

wanted to ask you about the Hudson Valley and how it informs you and shapes you.

You’re a Bard College graduate, Woodstock resident, and the Nightflyers are all from

Ulster County. Just wondering how these things – do they continue to shape you –

Ulster County and Bard and living in the Hudson Valley, and how all that played into the

evolution of the Nightflyers?

Donald Fagen: Well, yeah, I’ve been living up in the Woodstock area for a

long time, and my stepdaughter, Amy Helm, also lives there. I used to take part in her

dad’s midnight rambles over at Levy Helm’s’ barn.

John Barry: Sure.

Donald Fagen: And so I got to know a lot of the musicians up here, and I

think that I first saw these guys over at the annual Bob Dylan’s birthday concert, and I

remember seeing them do some Dylan material, and I was just really impressed with

what a great band they were. So when I wanted speak to them on a different kind of

material, some solo material and so on, they were just there. And they’re really good.

John Barry: Does Ulster County and Hudson Valley – does it affect

your creativity or how you express yourself as a musician, where you live in the

mountains and the beauty and everything?

Donald Fagen: Well, it is a beautiful area. I don’t think it affects me that

much. I’m sort of more in my own head, and all I need is a room and a piano and a

Marlboro cigarette.

Operator: The next question comes from Jeff Neisel with Cleveland

Scene.

Jeff Neisel: Hey, Donald, the last couple of times you guys came

through town, you came to town with Steely Dan. You seemed to really be enjoying the

live show and performing live. Can you talk a little bit about that? I mean, historically,

you kind of have seemed to have shied away from doing live stuff. But it seems like

you’re embracing it nowadays, huh?

Donald Fagen: Yeah. Absolutely, when we got off the road after touring

for a couple of years – I think it was in ’74, and it really had to do with the conditions

back then for touring were much more difficult. We were opening for a lot of heavy metal

bands, so often, we didn’t get the kind of soundcheck we wanted. The sound equipment

back then was not quite what it is today. And traveling conditions. So we decided we’d

rather be in the studio making records. But when we got back together about ’93, it was

a lot of fun. And we’ve been touring since then, mostly in the summertime or spring.

And it’s great playing for people, and it’s certainly a lot -- although touring is not the

easiest thing in the world, It’s a lot easier than all that stress in the studio.

Jeff Neisel: Yeah, the shows here have been great. I’m looking

forward to seeing you with the Nightflyers. Thank you.

Donald Fagen: Yeah.

Operator: Our next question comes from Ben Crandell with Sun

Sentinel.

Ben Crandell: Connor, Donald, this is certainly a pleasure. I have a

question for each of you. Connor, can you talk about your relationship with the music of

Donald Fagen, Steely Dan, his influence both musically and as a human being? Is he a

role model, and where so you feel his influence the most?

Connor Kennedy: Well, I’ve been listening to Donald’s music for a while now,

and I guess I kind of am realizing more and more that I’ve been listening to it a lot longer

and a lot more often than I realized, which I guess is a testament to the music being

what it is, which is great. And we’ve – yeah, I mean, I’ve always known – I used to see

Donald play with Levon Helm as the Ramble in Woodstock, and yes, to be playing this

music is a great honor.

Ban Crandell: Donald, last year, you were asked if you were working new

Steely Dan music, and you said it would be hard to overcome the cultural environment,

which you compared to a “whacky Kurt Vonnegut novel”, and here we are, one whacky

year later

Donald Fagen: Yeah.

Dan Crandell: Can you talk about which novel you were thinking of, and

are you any closer to a new Steely Dan album?

Donald Fagen: Well, in the last Kurt Vonnegut novels, you know, his view

of political leadership was at least one of the themes. I guess Cat’s Cradle has some

material related to that, also, “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater”, even “Sirens of Titan”, I

think. And generally speaking, his view of the world was really – life is basically chaotic,

and people are generally out for themselves, for the most part, and I think- I remember

him during the Bush administration. He commented that most of the people who seem

to be in Congress and the White House were actually psychotic. And I’m not sure he

was correct at the time, but I think the facts have finally caught up with Kurt Vonnegut.

Operator: Our next question comes from Alan Sculley with Last

Words Features.

Alan Sculley: Yeah, hi, guys. Thanks for doing this today. I think I’ll ask

this one to Connor. You know, you talked a little bit about the ramble there, and in a

way, this will tie in with some of the things you talked to, but it sounds like that’s kind of

the whole connection between you and Donald and kind of this whole circle of people

that are kind of connected. And I wanted to go back to that. I know you started out

there. You got a job taking out the trash, basically. You were really young there.

Connor Kennedy: Yeah.

Alan Sculley: - at the barn. I’d just like to have you talk about the place,

some of the favorite things that you saw and did while you were there –

Connor Kennedy: Yeah.

Alan Sculley: And how the shows you were around back then, how they

kind of shaped who you are musically.

Connor Kennedy: Yeah, well I

Donald Fagen: Connor, I didn’t know you took out the trash.

Connor Kennedy: Yeah, that’s what I did. Yeah, you know, I really just

wanted to be there at the time, because I had begun to play music. You know, I wasn’t

really playing with anybody at the time, just practicing, and I knew that something was

going on there. I didn’t really know who Levon was, and then I was brought there by my

mom, who had a coworker who was a volunteer there. I went to see Hubert Sumlin, who

I just knew was one of Jimi Hendrix’ inspirations. I knew he played with Howlin’ Wolf.

And so I went to see Hubert, and I was totally just mesmerized by what was going on

there. And these guys were playing. You know, Levon and Hubert were playing Blues

with Jaime Viveno (ph 0:12:03). Yeah, so I did – I took out the trash just to be around

that, and really what it did was every week, seeing these people come in, all different

kinds of musicians were coming to see what was happening there. And people were

coming from all over the world to hear what Levon was doing with his band. And it really

lit a fire underneath me, so go home. The shows were Saturday night. I’d usually spend

Sunday practicing and just really trying to, aspiring to get to be on the stage with those

musicians. And I’ve had the chance to do that now with most of them, except for Levon,

but you know, what happened there was really a great thing for everybody that I think

was around at the time. So I was blessed to get to be there.

Alan Sculley: Really. Sounds like it opened your ears to a lot of different

music that you wouldn’t have heard otherwise.

Connor Kennedy: Yeah, well, I mean, that was kind of the thing about Levon

and what he did was that it really was kind of a melting pot of different stuff. I mean, if

Donald was there, they would do a Steely Dan song, or they would do, you know, if Phil

Wes came, they would so some Grateful Dead stuff. There were some other Americana

people, it would go that direction. There was always something different, and it was like

a real meeting place for American music.

Operator: Our next question will come from –

Donald Fagen: (Overlapping 0:13:55). I have a question. When did you

first meet Amy?

Connor Kennedy: I first met Amy through, Amy, actually, I think the first time

we really met was coincidentally the first gig that I ever did, which was really strange, at

the Woodstock Farmer’s Market. I think I was probably 15 or something. And I saw

Amy, and I recognized her, because I think I was working at the barn already at that

point. It’s kind of weird now in hindsight, but it was like the first time I ever like had a gig

to do and to sing and play, and to meet her on that occasion was kind of bizarre now,

because we’ve become such good friends.

Operator: Our next question comes from John Staton, Star News.

John Staton: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking time. Curious about playing

with the new band on this tour, and you’re playing some older songs. You know, as far

as the songs, the ones that folks are familiar with, is it a matter of maybe breathing new

life them, or giving them a new twist, or are you just trying to stay more true to how

people are used to having them sound?

Donald Fagen: Well, as far as the stuff from my solo album, the NightFly

and so on, the only time when we actually ever got into those, I went on tour with some

of the guys from the Steely Dan band in 2006, I believe. I went on a brief tour. And it

was really funny, because they’d never been played live ever. And I think that month or

two is the only time I’ve ever actually played them live. There may have been a few we

played Steely Dan. I remember playing New Frontier at a Steely Dan show once or

twice. So they’re really new to me, because these guys actually have taught me the

chords to a few that I completely forgot.

John Staton: And then, you know, for Connor, and also for Donald too,

there’s a big kind of age gap between you and the band is much younger. What kind of

dynamic has that been creating on stage? I know you all are just kind of getting out

there, but is that different than sharing the stage with maybe guys – (inaudible 0:16:23)

Donald Fagen: I don’t know – they remind me of fellow of Bard students

actually, when I was at Bard in the late ‘60s. I don’t think they’re the sort of stereotypical

millenials. They have a real sense of tradition and soul, you know?

Operator: Just a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please

press star one. Our next question comes from Steve Persall with the Tampa Bay Times.

Steve Persall: Hello, Donald. A long-time listener; first-time caller.

Donald Fagen: Hi.

Steve Persall: Wondering – look at the lineup here with the band, and the

oldest guy here is 28-years-old. I’m wondering if this infusion of youth has any kind of

impact on your performance, the way you’re approaching rehearsal, the way you’re

approaching (audio skip 0:17:18).

Donald Fagen: It’s great, you know. It’s great hanging around with 20

something’s. They know all of the good places to eat in town, and I’ve been eating a lot

of exotic foods for me, at least, things I don’t usually do, you know, the wraps with a lot

of goods, oriental sauces in it and things like that. It’s like the menus say things like

“your protein will be such and such”, and your carbohydrates will be such and such”. I’m

more like a grilled cheese guy. (Laughter).

Steve Persall: I had a question for Connor here, too, as a follow-up.

You’re working with a guy here who’s known for being a perfectionist. What has Donald

said he expects from you and the others in the band?

Connor Kennedy: Perfection. I don’t know. (Laughter).

Donald Fagen: I don’t think I’m a perfectionist, really. I think that’s

probably overdone. But yeah, why not?

Connor Kennedy: No.

Donald Fagen: Go ahead. Go ahead.

Connor Kennedy: No, you know, we fix things when they’re broken or we try

to. It’s been pretty diplomatic, I think.

Operator: Our next question comes from Cara Pound, Compass.

Cara Pound: Yeah, you guys played a secret show the other night in

Marlborough, and you performed covers, “Like Shakedown Street” and “Beast of

Burden”. Do you anticipate covers to become a mainstay in this upcoming tour?

Donald Fagen: Yeah, I love doing covers. Yeah, I did some shows

recently, maybe a couple of years ago, with the band, Dukes of September with Boz

Skaggs and Mike McDonald. And that was all about covers, you know, the kind of music

that got us into the music business – Motown and Beach Boys and whatever, so I really

enjoy doing that kind of thing.

Cara Pound: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Tom Conway with South

Bend Tribune.

Tom Conway: Hi, Donald and Connor. Donald, you’ve been around a

long time, where you know what people used to pay for music and buy it on vinyl–

Donald Fagen: (Overlapping). Yeah, those were the days.

Tom Conway: And now people expect it for free and streaming to them.

How does that affect you?

Donald Fagen: Well, yeah, I really can’t make a living from recording

anymore. I don’t think any of the solo albums, the last three anyway, (inaudible 0:20:41)

recouped their budgets. But luckily, I’m really into playing live, and that’s how musicians

make a living these days for the most part, unless you’re a half-naked teenager.

Tom Conway: Connor, knowing this and hearing from Donald that you

used to be able to make money, how does a young guy like you be motivated to

continue making music?

Connor Kennedy: Well, I’ve been trying to make money playing music since I

was 14, so I’ve kind of been just doing that. I haven’t really had a real job – just getting

crafty and learning, it’s put a certain amount of pressure on you if you want to do that.

So, it’s trying to rise to the occasion, trying to get studio work, working on peoples’

records, doing whatever you can, really.

Operator: The next question comes from Sonya Alexander with

Medium.

Sonya Alexander: Hi, guys. Thanks for the taking time out today. This

question is for both of you. What new music are you guys into right now, besides your

own?

Donald Fagen: I don’t hear a lot of new music. I still listen to the same,

you know, 40 jazz records that I listened to in high school for the most part.

Sonya Alexander: Um-hum.

Donald Fagen: Every once in a while, I hear something that attracts my

attention, but how about you, Connor?

Connor Kennedy: I’ve been trying to find more new music that I like. You

know, there’s a lot of people out there who are making good music. I guess I really like

Jenny Lewis. I’m a big fan of hers and her songwriting, her records. But mostly, I’m also

like listening to a lot of older records from the ‘70s.

Sonya Alexander: And Donald, what personal advice would you give an up

and coming musician right now, trying to get into the business?

Donald Fagen: Well, just listen to a lot of different types of music. You

know, I started as a jazz band. I listened to a lot of bebop and hard bop. But I also like

sort of modern classical music like Stravinsky and (inaudible 0:23:46) and that sort of

thing. Well, also jazz going back to the ‘30s like Duke Ellington and so on. And then I

do like music from R&B from the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Operator: Our next question comes from Jeremy Bonfligio with

Herald-Palladium.

Jeremy Bonfligio: Hi, guys. Thanks again for taking for taking time to do this.

Appreciate it.

Donald Fagen: Yeah.

Jeremy Bonfligio: Donald, the one to ask you, what is was about Connor and

his band that you decided that you wanted to do this tour and bring him out and explore

this music again with a talented group of young musicians?

Donald Fagen: Well, when I saw first them, they seemed to be a cut above

some of the other local musicians. They had a really good feel. All the guys were

accomplished, and Connor, as the soloist, is really special, I think. He’s got a lot of juice,

you know, and he did some really interesting things aside from the excitement of his

style of playing, you know?

Jeremy Bonfligio: Yeah. And then following up on the music, Donald, I’m just

curious what you’ve kind of been able to discover or rediscover about these songs. You

mentioned you never really ever had a chance to tour them. So what are you learning

about them now, kind of reproducing them in a live setting, that maybe you hadn‘t

thought of much before or at least for a long time?

Donald Fagen: Well, yeah, maybe I noticed that the stuff we’re doing,

more of the solo stuff, they really play really well live. I think they’re actually kind of a

combination of the music and lyrics. I think they’re really cinematic. I think, and different

from music of the time they were recorded, and also, I think really different from music

you hear today. That has to do, I think, a lot with just the – again, it has to do with the

music I listened to all my life, I think. So the influence to writing, and also, I think they’re

funny, you know, the lyrics. They’re amusing to me. A lot of them are satirical or just tell

good stories. So I think audiences will be – I hope they’re interested in it.

Operator: Our next question comes from Shannon Heupel with

Montgomery Advertiser.

Shannon Heupel: Hi, guys, Donald and Connor. Great to talk to y’all.

Donald Fagen: Hi.

Shannon Heupel: I’ve heard from Connor that this was, that he has briefly

come out with an album of his own, and most of the guys in the band have played a part

in that. Is having a group that gelled together like that have a big impact in selecting

them to be in the Nightflyers?

Donald Fagen: I haven’t heard Connor’s record. (Laughter). It’s a horrible

thing to say.

Shannon Heupel: Well –

Donald Fagen: We’ve been pretty busy. I’d love to hear it. I mean, I’ve

heard some of his tunes, and we’ve even had a couple times to try to write together,

which I thought was pretty good. But I’m really looking forward to hearing it. (Laughter).

Shannon Heupel: Well, looking back, Connor, do you think you’re going to be

able to sneak in any of your own tunes during this tour?

Connor Kennedy: No, I don’t anticipate that. And I’m happy playing what

we’re playing. It’s enough for me.

Donald Fagen: Okay, well, we should get together and check (laughter

0:28:39) that, you know? In fact, you know, maybe we’ll end up doing a majority of

Connor’s music. Who knows? (Laughter).

Operator: Our next question comes from Jude Warne with The Vinyl

District.

Jude Warne: Hi, Connor. It’s nice to talk to you again.

Connor Kennedy: Yeah.

Jude Warne: And hi, Donald. Donald, a great deal of your solo material

features seemingly cynical characters that also possess like an undertone of romantic

(inaudible 0:29:10) that I found is pretty popular in the great noir protagonists of literature

and cinema like Philip Marlowe, and I was wondering if –

Donald Fagen: (Overlapping). That’s fair. That’s fair.

Jude Warne: I wondered if you envision yourself in this way also, like as

the protagonist of your life experience, like having a soft spot for what you love, despite

your intellect’s best intentions?

Donald Fagen: I think that’s a very fair way to describe the music. It’s hard

to say. I think it’s sort of egotistical to put myself in a position of having the same kind of

bigger-than-life personality as, you know, some of the people in noir literature, like say,

Philip Marlowe, something like that. But I am attracted to that sort of thing, and I always

think that the best of noir literature. You know, Noir is actually a word that is fairly

recent. They didn’t call it like that when it was written. But there’s something about that

vision of life to me that seems true to real life, I think. And then, what passes as realism,

and I think you’re right – there’s a romance to it. There’s a cynicism to it, skepticism,

and also humor, also. So I think that’s become part of my style.

Jude Warne: Yes, I think – I was watching The Big Sleep recently again

–

Donald Fagen: Uh-huh.

Jude Warne: -and Philip Marlowe seems like this knight in shining armor

that’s trying to work his way through this muck of all these crazy and corrupt characters,

even though he seems that he’s a bit cynical.

Donald Fagen: Right.

Jude Warne: He does stand out as being the one guy who’s doing the

right thing.

Donald Fagen: Yeah, it’s like Al Franken, you know. (Laughter).

Operator: Our next question comes from Barry Courter with the

Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Barry Courter: Hi, guys. Thank you both for doing this.

Donald Fagen: Yeah, okay.

Barry Courter: I’d like to ask kind of two questions. First, Donald, how –

you’ve done a lot of collaborations in the past. What sort of things go into your accepting

or not accepting, and along those lines, I’d love to hear how the sort of conversation

went with you and Connor about what this project would entail, what you each kind of

said, “I’d like to get out of this”, or “Here’s how I’d like to see it go.”

Donald Fagen: I don’t think that I really asked those questions. I think it

was really more of a really musical relationship, and it has to do with our personal

relationship had just developed, and with the other guys in the band. But I think we all

see things in a similar way, I think, musically. And that’s the main thing.

Operator: Our next question comes from Steve Penhollow from

Whatzup magazine.

Steve Penhollow: Hi, guys, thanks for taking the time. Donald, somebody

touched upon this before, just the current musical, the current climate in the music

business. Do you think, if you were coming up now, do you think Steely Dan could get a

foothold in the business as it exists right now, or do you think that just wouldn’t work out?

Donald Fagen: Of course, that’s impossible to say, but -

Steve Penhollow: Right.

Donald Fagen: - I was amazed that it worked back in the ‘70s, you know,

we certainly weren’t part of the mainstream of popular music then either, or at least as

the first few albums that developed. So yeah, I’m still amazed that they set us up on the

radio and that we acquired so many fans.

Steve Penhollow: Right.

Operator: Our next question comes from Gary Graff, Billboard.

Gary Graff: Hi again, guys. Donald, you actually do have kind of a new

song out there, courtesy of Todd Rundgren. Can you tell us about “Tin Foil Hat”?

Donald Fagen: Yeah. Well, I was actually on a brief vacation with my wife

in Hawaii, and Todd lives there. He has a house there. And we’re friends. And he’s

doing an album in which he collaborated with a number of people. So he asked me if I

wanted to do it, and since I was right there, we got together one day, and we were just

talking about the current political morass. And, you know, I said, everyone feels so

helpless, at least the people I know, in the face of this incredible disaster, and we

thought we’d write a funny song. And we did it very quickly. It was not something we

thought that much about.

Gary Graff: And Trump hasn’t tweeted about it to get the song some

attention?

Donald Fagen: No, not in the least. (Laughter). I understand that Todd

has some trouble with some threats and things like that from Trumpkins, but no

(laughter), I’m glad to be under the radar, actually in that sense, yeah.

Operator: We have an email question from the Northwest Indiana

Times. Donald, what keeps you energized in the craft of performing music live?

Donald Fagen: Well, you know, especially when you get older, you don’t

get that much of an opportunity to have these kinds of peak experiences, but playing

every night is fantastic. I think it keeps you young, especially playing with these guys.

Operator: As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please

press star one. Our next question comes from John Barry, Poughkeepsie Journal.

John Barry: Hey, Donald, I was very glad to be at the show at the

South Bend Marlborough the other night, and I could go on and on about what it was like

from the audience. What was it like for you, the first public show with the Nightflyers?

What was the energy like, the dynamic? I saw there was a lot of body language

between you and Connor. How did that show go for you?

Donald Fagen: It was a lot of fun. I think we were all a little nervous. It

was the first time we played in front of people. But you know, the audience seemed to

really enjoy it. And it was really fun, I think. The first sort of actual show will be

tomorrow and Friday at the Capitol in Port Chester. And I think we’d be lot more

nervous right now if we hadn’t done that show.

John Barry: Thank you.

Operator: We have another email question. Connor, what are you

most looking forward to on this tour?

Connor Kennedy: I’m most looking forward to seeing how the band develops

and evolves with the material, and if we start to work in some new stuff and change the

arrangements. I think we’ve just been setting ourselves up hopefully for that kind of

dynamic to continue to develop. And I know that the band is capable of functioning on a

level where we can change things, and everyone talks about stuff. And it’s going to

keep it fresh, I think. I’m excited to see where it goes.

Operator: Our next question comes from Alan Sculley with the Last

Word Features.

Alan Sculley: Hi, Donald and Connor again. You know, you brought up

the fact, Connor, that you have your self-titled album, how neither I guess Donald hadn’t

heard it yet (inaudible 0:38:26), and I know you also had this album out a couple of years

ago when basically the same guys, Connor Kennedy and the Mistral. I’m just curious

about what it sounds like, the kind of music that you’re making as a solo artist. And I

don’t know what the plans are going forward as far as the guys, who most of them make

up the Nightflyers. Connor, I don’t know if you plan to continue solo, or kind of what the

thought is.

Connor Kennedy: I don’t know. I mean, for a while, I just kind of have been

writing really (inaudible 0:38:57) songs and playing guitar and singing and play some

guitar solos. And now that I have been doing a lot more than that and kind of, I never

really – I don’t know. I’m hoping that I’m learning all this music and playing it. I’ve been

listening to it, but I never learned any of it, so I think it’s inspiring me in a different way.

I’m looking forward to writing some more stuff and working harder than I have in the

past. But it’s mostly just kind of like what people would call “singer/songwriter” rock. I

don’t know what people call music anymore. It’s like everyone calls everything “rock”.

So we were calling ourselves rock ‘n roll for a while because of all the mix of blues and

R&B and stuff we looked into. I don’t know. Just music.

Alan Sculley: Yeah. Sounds like you’re having fun exploring it all and

growing as you go?

Connor Kennedy: Yeah. Hopefully, I’ll have a long time of doing that.

Alan Sculley: Good. Well, thanks again.

Connor Kennedy: Yeah. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Jude Warne with The Vinyl

District.

Jude Warne: Yeah, I spoke to you, Connor, last week. And you

mentioned that you guys had listened to some (inaudible 0:40:17) music at the

rehearsal. And my editor at Vinyl District and I were wondering if it were on vinyl or CD

or Spotify. And are you guys vinyl enthusiasts or record shoppers in general?

Connor Kennedy: Yeah, I am. I wish I had a better turntable and speaker

system. And actually, we were having a conversation about how we wanted to hear the

NightFly reissue coming out on vinyl. I mean –

Jude Warne: Yeah.

Connor Kennedy: - the times that I’ve heard really great – like growing up in a

time when nobody was really listening to records, I actually always kind of had a

turntable. It was always kind of broken, as is the one I have now. But I had the

opportunity to sit in front of some great stereos of people who have put a little effort into

it and listened to like some old jazz records. I think I even heard some Steely Dan stuff.

And I think I’d be interested to see how it would affect being a musician in terms of

listening to music and the way it was meant to be heard, so I definitely am an enthusiast.

Operator: Our last question comes from Gary Graff, Billboard.

Gary Graff: Okay, guys. Earlier in the conversation, Donald mentioned

the two of you doing some writing together. Donald, where are you at in terms of a next

album, either of your own, or I guess with Steely Dan?

Donald Fagen: I’d love to go into the studio with these guys. I’ve got some

new material. We actually haven’t had a chance to work up too many things, but I’m on

the road. I’m hoping to show the guys some of the new stuff I’ve been writing, and it will

be fun developing that with a band. Generally speaking, in recent years, the way I

worked is just alone, and doing arrangements by myself and so on or with Walter. So it

will be fun, actually having a band to try this stuff out on. I don’t think I’ve done that

since the early ‘70s probably.

Gary Graff: Are you finding that in your writing, is the tenor of the times

like Tinfoil Hat, is that also part of what you’re writing now?

Donald Fagen: I usually don’t write any outright political stuff, but you

know, I mean, inspiration can come from many things happening, you know, currently as

well as stuff that’s just in your head.

Operator: That concludes our questions for the day. I’d now like to

turn the call back over to Mr. Stein.

Erik Stein: Thank you for joining us today. Before we conclude, I

wanted to ask Donald or Connor if they have anything else to add before we close.

Donald Fagen: Connor?

Connor Kennedy: No, no.

Donald Fagen: Okay, I think we’ve covered a lot of ground there. And

we’re just looking forward to playing this music for people and seeing how they respond

and seeing how the music develops along the way.

Erik Stein: Thank you. And if you’d like to get more information about

the tour or photos, review tickets, etc., please do not hesitate to contact my office. YOu

may all now disconnect.

Donald Fagen: Thank you.

Connor Kennedy: Thanks.

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