We spoke to Chuck Prophet about “Always a Friend,” the opening cut on Real Animal:

I suspect that you’ve known Alejandro a long time, probably even dating back to his Nuns days, but I think this is the first time you’ve written with him. What led to you work with him on his new record?

He had an idea that it would work. And he was right. He asked me to come out to his place in Wimberly, Texas. We then spent a year splitting time between my little office space in San Francisco and his garage-cum-manspace in Wimberly. It took us a while to get up to speed. But Al has this incredible faith and patience. He’s very patient. I’m like, “What’s with the whole patience thing?” He tells me, “Bro, that’s the Mayan thing.” There were days of us just laying around talking. We spent a lot of time laying on the carpet in the dark talking. And listening to Mott the Hoople records. And naps. Lots of naps. But when we got worked up into a lather, it would flow through us. I often thought that if someone were to see us-if someone were to look in the window at us when we’re in the throes of it-they might be tempted to call the cops.

The full interview is here: