Jack Quaid of HBO's 'VINYL' on Clark Morelle's Alice Cooper Adventure & More! [EXCLUSIVE Q&A]

How did VINYL come about for you?

Just the same way that most actors do - I had an initial audition with a casting director and, about a week later or a couple weeks later, I found out I had a callback with Martin Scorsese. That's where it becomes abnormal. I went to his hotel room because he was just seeing people in there and it was just great just to have a callback with the guy. I was so nervous, but he immediately put me at ease just because he's a very funny, affable, smart guy and I was so happy to just meet the guy and when I got the part I was just freaking out!

What attracted you to your character, Clark Morelle?

I love Clark because, maybe despite some of his more weasely tendencies or maybe who knows if I have those, he is largely who I'd be if I had that job because I don't think I'm cool enough to hold down a job at a record company. So that was really fun to play. I really liked playing this kind of square- a guy who's not quite cool enough in this world of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. That was so much fun.

How did you research this role? A&R reps aren't really around anymore...

Not really no, because now you can just listen on SoundCloud or whatever, but back then these guys had to - the kind of fun and a little bit terrifying part of it- you had to go out every single night, stay out until like four or five in the morning listening to bands, gauging crowd reaction and trying to find that new sound. Then they'd have to get up early in the morning and they'd probably sleep two hours and then go back in the next day to the office and have a full office day and then go back out again that same night. So that was nuts!

For research we had consultants on set who would kind of tell us little tidbits, but for me, what really helped was reading this book called Hit Men, which outlines certain key players in the record business going back to the '50s. So that was a cool window into there. Then to research the time, what really helped me was watching the Woodstock documentary and immediately following it up with Gimme Shelter, the [Rolling] Stones documentary because it provided a window into that cultural shift of like free love '60s to like dark gritty intense '70s. That really helped me find an identity for the decade.

Besides almost losing your head trying to sign Alice Cooper, what else can we expect to see from Clark's story?

Oh man well without giving too much away, he definitely has a lot of growing up to do and he's in a really tough business, so he experiences the highs and lows of that and goes on a really fun journey. I'm really excited for you guys to check it out. I loved playing this guy and the stuff he gets to do in the first season is just insane ... so look out world!

Are there any bands that you're passionate about that, if you were in this role, you would go to extreme lengths to work poach?

Poaching's wrong, but at the same time I love Alabama Shakes. I'm a big fan of Dr. Dog. I've been listening to the VINYL soundtrack... Honestly I've been listening to a lot of that, but if we're talking modern bands, who's up there? I really like Tame Impala. Honestly, they're really good. Yeah, that's what's been rocking my car lately.

Were there any bands from the '70s that you discovered or re-discovered from working on this show that you're really digging as well?

I didn't really know that much about The New York Dolls and then with the show I really, really got into them. They're just incredible and the fact that we got David Johansson to do "Personality Crisis," that's awesome; I was a big fan of that. I did get very much into, I mean I knew about Alice Cooper and I loved "School's Out" and all that stuff, but I really did a deep dive with him and I really love his music. Really, my music knowledge expanded tremendously over the course of season one and now that we've got a season two, I'm excited for it to go even further!

You have famous parents and so do a couple of the other younger stars on the show. Did that like factor into working together, in any way? Did it make it easier to relate?

No; I mean, sure that maybe came up once, but honestly the thing that made it easy to relate to those guys was they're just great guys. The whole set was just topnotch people. With Juno [Temple] and James [Jagger], they're just incredible guys. We would all go out, we would all hang out on the set and I just became friends with everybody. We became like a family. So that might have come up like once, but I just got to relate to them on a way more personal level after that and they were incredible.

What do you hope viewers take away from VINYL this season?

I hope viewers really get kind of a new passion for rock n' roll because I definitely did. I feel like the show captures this spirit of why people love music and I love how we do it because it really got to me by the end of the course of shooting. Learn to appreciate music more, that's kind of what I hope and I also hope they have a good time watching because it's a rollercoaster and I can't wait for people to see the rest of it!

Do you have any other projects you're working on?

I'm in a sketch comedy group. We put stuff on YouTube, we perform live. We just optioned a movie so we're working for that, writing wise. Acting wise, I can't tell anybody what it is, but I booked a movie for the fall. We'll see what happens, schedule wise with VINYL now, just trying to find the next thing, but VINYL season two is kind of my go-to now. I'm really excited.

Are you experiencing a new level of fame because of VINYL?

Yeah, it's a different universe. It's a weird thing to say, I haven't gotten more famous and I don't really care. The only thing I care about is if people are digging the show and digging my character and get something out of it. That's all I really care about, so whether or not they recognize me on the streets... whatever, that's fine and if they're fans of the show that's awesome, but the recognition, I don't really need; the "Can we get a picture with you" thing, but if they want to I'll do it!

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