Your last release explain what the idea behind what you wanted to achieve with this album?Well, these are hard times in most of the world right now. I’m reminded of the mid-Sixties, before the whole social revolution of the hippie counter-culture came along and shook up the status quo. Nowadays, if anything as naïvely idealistic as the hippie movement emerged it would just be laughed at: we’re much more realistic in this day and age. With that in mind, I wrote these new songs from an optimistic realist’s point of view: times are tough, but what can you do? What would a revolution look like in 2010? To me, it’s taking the small step of getting out of bed in the morning and working hard at something you believe in. I believe that we’re all good at heart and that, one way or another, we can all find some common ground in the truly global challenges our societies face nowadays.
What’s been the journey from the original concept of this album to actually getting it made and finished?
Well, my last U.S. national tour ended in a bus crash. My tour bus was totalled, and most of our equipment was destroyed. I cancelled the rest of the tour and sent the band home. The songs for the new album were written over the course of the next year. Fans of mine came to my aid to fund the recording of the new record. In the meantime, a lot of fans came forward with music-biz jobs to help me recoup all of the capital I lost on the cancelled tour: I ended up touring the American Midwest playing steel drums in a Caribbean band, I ended up teaching songwriting at a university. Now the album’s out and I’ve got a hit single here in the States; I feel like that qualifies all of the effort from that difficult year.
What keeps you going as a musician?
It’s always amazing to hear that the music matters to someone. So long as I keep getting that feedback, I’ll keep making music.
Where do you want to be in the future, whether it’s on top of the world, or just plodding along?
I think everyone has a right to be making a living doing something that other people value. Being a singer/songwriter seems to be my "thing". If I’m making a living and there continues to be an audience for my music, I won’t complain.
So it’s your chance to convey to our faithful readers how you would describe yourself, your future plans and ideas, your musical and creative ideas you want to explore, in your own words please?
Touring America has been great, but I hope to get over to the UK and Europe and tour in order to find out whether the grass is, indeed, greener on the other side. The European and British festival scene, for example, sound like an absolutely blast. The US is a great music market, but it’s huge. Because of the country’s sheer size, it’s hard to take on unless you have a ton of marketing dollars behind you – and even then, it’s hard to be heard above the din.
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