The Cover Stories project was in full swing when Erik Schmidt and I came aboard. Here, we reminisce about the good and the bad parts of working on this exciting anthology.

Derek Handley “Erik, what was your favourite part of the project?”

Erik Schmidt “My favorite part was actually choosing which album to ‘cover.’ I like strolling down memory lane courtesy of my CDs. Although, now that I’m thinking about it, that was also one of my least favorite parts. I tend to take my music collection rather seriously. I felt like choosing one album over another would cause issues within the CD racks. Fortunately, no social rifts have yet developed.”

Derek Handley “Well, it’s good to know you didn’t start a CD civil war. Choosing the music was different for me. First I chose the album I was listening to most often at the time, Cake’s Comfort Eagle. Then I realized it wasn’t the right choice for me, and I switched to Die Toten Hosen’s Unsterblich, which had more of a personal meaning.”

Erik Schmidt “And what was your favorite part about the project.”

Derek Handley “Definitely the Sample Mondays. That energy, the excitement of reading the stories… that was great.”

Erik Schmidt “You’re right. Those were a lot of fun.”

Derek Handley “What did you find hardest about the project?”

Erik Schmidt “I think the thing that was most difficult was dealing with the mass emails that would come through from everyone in the group. Sometime during the project, I got a Blackberry cell phone with email. It kept going off/vibrating. It grew to the point of being irritating.”

Derek Handley “I can imagine! For me it was the copyright issues…”

Erik Schmidt “That was rough, especially for some people. I remember I had to change titles, but some people had to rewrite! The first story I wrote is called Kings and Queens in the anthology due to permission issues, but it was inspired by Sugartooth’s Black Queen.”

Derek Handley “I remember that you said that story was your easiest to write.”

Erik Schmidt “It was the easiest. I wrote it in about 30 minutes. Some guy I knew in high school would wear a Japanese flag-style bandana and eat ketchup packets when he played for the chess team. I always thought that was hilarious. The title Black Queen just lent itself to a story about chess, so there you go.”

Derek Handley “Some stories just write themselves. For me it was Beauty, inspired by Schoen Sein. Others took weeks. But in the end it was a great feeling to see the finished product. I’m glad we got through those tough copyright issues.”

Erik Schmidt “Totally. It was worth it.”

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Next week on the blog: The Copyright Story