Howdy folks!
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Daniel Tashian
London!
Thank you all so much! David Hepworth, Danny Baker, Jonathan Morley, Mike Charles, all at Kensaltown and Andy…it’s been a wonderful stay and I don’t want to go home…well….actually I kind of DO want to go home, but only because I miss my wife! I feel really grateful to have chosen a life in music and I continue to be inspired by the great artists who have come before me, Sir Elton is on BBC at the moment and I am marveling at the mastery of his musicianship and singing. Also, I need to give credit to some other people. Maybe I feel guilty (and also very touched and excited!) by Danny Baker calling The Silver Seas the best group in the world and so therefore, maybe I feel the need to deflect the praise in some sort of mock deference, but whatever the case may be, I feel indebted to the following people for, well, hacking away at the jungle with machetes so I could cruise down the path in my SUV – Richard fucking Hawley. The man is a constant inspiration. Especially the songs “Coles Corner” and “Born Under a Bad Sign” and “Remorse Code” – also, I can’t deny the huge influence of Morissey and Johnny Marr as well as Steve Winwood and the wonderful Traffic. For some reason, when one gets the opportunity to name check heroes, if you aren’t prepared, things slip by, so that’s what this post is about: appreciation. Paul Simon. The man is 70 and making some of the most wonderful music. Burt Bachrach and Henry Mancini and John Barry and Bernard Hermann and the wonderful Joe Jackson all made me want to be classy! The things John Lennon did on Double Fantasy show a boy how to become a man. The lion-hearted Bono and U2 and REM originally gave me the idea to start a band. And Prefab Sprout introduced me to the major 7th chord. Tom Petty and Paul Kennerley remind me there are always more songs to be written with 3 chords. Sometimes you need a few more. The Velvet Underground make chaos and dissonance a thing of exquisite beauty. The Stones remind me that “soul” is not something restricted to black people from the south. Tom Waits showed me the progression of a true artist. Feist and Peter Bjorn and John remind me that new “classics” can still be made all the time!!! Mark Knopfler admitted to closing his eyes and imagining a lone Scottish piper atop a misty hill at dusk when trying to think of a good melody. I regularly do this. Occasionally it works! The Police made me practice the drums, which I still play, and I’m finding a new connection to. They also seemed to try to explain adult relationships to adolescents. Something I still attempt from time to time. This may all sound kind of hot-air-ish, it’s not like all these people haven’t been richly rewarded for their talents, but it’s more that I recognize that music is built on accretion. I’m grateful to be a small layer of sand in a pyramid that’s been being built for a long long time. Thanks so much to all in London for really, for a moment, making me believe I could do something great.
So jealous!!!! Great trip!!
Wow, what a great blog post. Very inspiring and great perspective. When I first heard Josh Rouse it was the Subtitulo album. My first impression was “This is ‘Two Wheels Good’ but with real instruments!” I flipped out. I was never interested in Nashville before, but suddenly I felt here was a marriage of what I loved about Britain married with the “authenticity” of what I felt was Nashville. Chateau Revenge gave me that same feeling. The feeling of everything I love about U2 married with this warm, authentic feeling.
Maybe an oversimplified way of saying it is the “soaring” spirit of Britain mixed with the “Earth” of Tennessee. There’s a reason that these two cities across the ocean from each other are so attracted to each other.
Daniel – Heard you on Danny Baker (well, on a podcast – can’t get BBC London in Dublin) and was hugely impressed.
Mr Baker may be prone to hyperbole, but he’s not too wide of the mark here. And hope you make it to these shores in the not too distant.