Week 90: Voices to Hear
I was really trying to post something else, but in the end I’ve run out of time and all the other posts I started today would not find their way to an end. What I was able to finish are these interview questions that John from the Voices to Hear blog sent me.
He has an interesting take on the music blog and I recommend you all take a look. I hope I'm not breaking some Mrs. Manners rule of blogging by posting them here also. Because lacking anything else to post and knowing you are all dying to hear my opinion, that's exactly what I'm doing. Here's the six interview questions from Voices to Hear and my answers:
1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
The question of being or not being a singer or a guitar player or a songwriter never really occurred to me. My uncle played music and when I was a little kid, he handed me down one of his guitars; I learned a song on one string and have been playing ever since. Already when I played that first song, I felt like some kind of guitar player and all I’ve ever needed to feel like a guitar player is a guitar in my hands. Certainly there have been times when I’ve wished I was as good of a songwriter as Nick Cave, or as good of a guitar player as Gabriela Quintero, or as rich and high as Keith Richards, but those moments pass and in the end I am the guitar player that I am and the rest is just dust in the eyes.
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?
I listen mostly to Spanish, Latin and Brazilian music - rock en Español, classic salsa, flamenco, bossa nova, nueva trova, samba... I did go see Tom Waits on this last tour after being a fan for many many years. It was awesome and an incredible inspiration, and the concert will go right up there with the best concert experiences I’ve had, and probably the only one in a larger venue. He really made that 2400 seat auditorium seem like a little bar.
I also listen to some countryish/folkish american music, stuff like the Avett Brothers and the everybodyfields. And there is of course all the local live music I see in our little towns of Carrboro/Chapel Hill, most of which is mindbendingly good, people like Dexter Romweber, the Squirrel Nut Zippers (who just played a show last night at a small club in town), Southern Culture on the Skids, the Moaners, the Dirty Little Heaters, Twilighter, John Howie Jr, The Spider Bags, Pinche Gringo, and many many more. I am lucky to live in a very musical region.
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?
This is I hard question, I don't really know the answer, my guess though would be, any time we play a great show? I forget the details of the best shows and I forget what made those great shows so great. It's more than just the musicians all playing perfectly, more than having an involved and appreciative audience. There is something that happens sometimes when everything is right and then there is that something extra that takes it over the top. When it's happening I can almost tell what it is, but as soon as it's over, then I don't know anymore. If you told me it had to do with the moon or the stars, I wouldn't be able to say that it didn't cause I don't really know, it is indeed a little magical.
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?
Music can and has changed the world, but writing music to try to change the world doesn’t seem to work often and it doesn’t feel right. Trying to make music to change the world seems like parents who try to force their kids to go into a particular career. Music will do what it will, I just write it and play it.
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?
It bores me to talk about technology. Yes it's there, yes I use it. Yes technology continues to improve the ease with which we record and play and listen to music. But ultimately music is still created in some fairly basic ways, blowing, striking, plucking, and now with sound generators.
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?
The beat up, worn out shoes of someone who’s walked around the world.
He has an interesting take on the music blog and I recommend you all take a look. I hope I'm not breaking some Mrs. Manners rule of blogging by posting them here also. Because lacking anything else to post and knowing you are all dying to hear my opinion, that's exactly what I'm doing. Here's the six interview questions from Voices to Hear and my answers:
1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
The question of being or not being a singer or a guitar player or a songwriter never really occurred to me. My uncle played music and when I was a little kid, he handed me down one of his guitars; I learned a song on one string and have been playing ever since. Already when I played that first song, I felt like some kind of guitar player and all I’ve ever needed to feel like a guitar player is a guitar in my hands. Certainly there have been times when I’ve wished I was as good of a songwriter as Nick Cave, or as good of a guitar player as Gabriela Quintero, or as rich and high as Keith Richards, but those moments pass and in the end I am the guitar player that I am and the rest is just dust in the eyes.
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?
I listen mostly to Spanish, Latin and Brazilian music - rock en Español, classic salsa, flamenco, bossa nova, nueva trova, samba... I did go see Tom Waits on this last tour after being a fan for many many years. It was awesome and an incredible inspiration, and the concert will go right up there with the best concert experiences I’ve had, and probably the only one in a larger venue. He really made that 2400 seat auditorium seem like a little bar.
I also listen to some countryish/folkish american music, stuff like the Avett Brothers and the everybodyfields. And there is of course all the local live music I see in our little towns of Carrboro/Chapel Hill, most of which is mindbendingly good, people like Dexter Romweber, the Squirrel Nut Zippers (who just played a show last night at a small club in town), Southern Culture on the Skids, the Moaners, the Dirty Little Heaters, Twilighter, John Howie Jr, The Spider Bags, Pinche Gringo, and many many more. I am lucky to live in a very musical region.
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?
This is I hard question, I don't really know the answer, my guess though would be, any time we play a great show? I forget the details of the best shows and I forget what made those great shows so great. It's more than just the musicians all playing perfectly, more than having an involved and appreciative audience. There is something that happens sometimes when everything is right and then there is that something extra that takes it over the top. When it's happening I can almost tell what it is, but as soon as it's over, then I don't know anymore. If you told me it had to do with the moon or the stars, I wouldn't be able to say that it didn't cause I don't really know, it is indeed a little magical.
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?
Music can and has changed the world, but writing music to try to change the world doesn’t seem to work often and it doesn’t feel right. Trying to make music to change the world seems like parents who try to force their kids to go into a particular career. Music will do what it will, I just write it and play it.
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?
It bores me to talk about technology. Yes it's there, yes I use it. Yes technology continues to improve the ease with which we record and play and listen to music. But ultimately music is still created in some fairly basic ways, blowing, striking, plucking, and now with sound generators.
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?
The beat up, worn out shoes of someone who’s walked around the world.
Labels: Thursdays, Voices to Hear
1 Comments:
I like your answers Carlos. I think mine would be similar.
With number three I might be a bit darker and say that every great moment has had an equally deflating moment sometimes simultaneously or at least intertwined with the same event. Although the older I get, and the less caught up in things, the greater all musical experiences can be. My current greatest moment is playing for Clara who is a very polite patron.
As for number four, this is a question I think about a lot but have not answered. I lean towards the world changing music rather. Many artists who write "message" music (Neil Young, Jon Langford for example) have flat out said that music doesn't have any power to change the world.
I think Bono and Bob Geldoff would tell you the same thing. They tried with music, found out how ineffecient it was and, because it means enough to them, continue to attempt to change the world through other means...though arguably equally unsuccessfully.
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