I am truly fond of Michael Des Barres, both as a person and as an artist. In a more just universe he would be a household name for his rich, thought-provoking, rock and soul stylings. Things have been rather chaotic all round for the past few months, and I realised with a start that it had been months since we last spoke, so I gave him a ring...
JON: What has been happening on Planet Michael for the
last few months
MICHAEL: I have a radio show – two radio shows – that have a huge listenership
on FM and on the internet. I’m doing
‘200 Motels’ at the LA Philharmonic on October 23rd playing the
Devil. I don’t know if you’re familiar
with that. It’s being staged with the Philarmonic’s 80-piece orchestra,
30-voice choir, and I’m playing the character narrating the piece. I’ve got a live album,
‘Hot and Sticky’, that I did at the Viper Room coming out. Christmas I also
have a ‘Best of Silverhead’ collection.
We found a song that none of us remember recording (which is
spectacular!) which is on the album and live cuts from a BBC concert. And, you know, I’m doing various shows, more for charity
organisations than actual sort of promotional shows.
I’ve been working with two organisations; one
is Little Kids Rock which raises money and awareness for inner-city kids to get
instruments. You know we live in a
country where soldiers get guns and kids get nothing. And also this
organisation, which is for orangutans, which are in danger of extinction
because of the forests in Indonesia being destroyed for palm oil. So I am
very involved in – sort of – activism; I’m even more concentrating on being
part of the solution and not the problem. I believe the cannabis law should be
completely reconfigured to accommodate the pain that people suffer; the
autistic children that can be helped by
cannabis, which I think is particularly potent because of my own sobriety,
which is that for 33 years I haven’t had a joint or a drink.
So right now I
feel, after having dipped my toe in the murky waters – the muddy waters if you
will – of rock and roll and seeing how the vagaries of it are terribly
interesting to me; I’ve learnt an enormous amount about myself in relation to
ambition, and to getting music to people. The only thing that gets me off this
playing live to people and writing and also turning people on to other people,
and hence the radio shows.
One is called
‘Roots and Branches’, which is pretty self-explanatory; I play songs in twos –
for example I’ll play ‘The Velvet Underground’ and then I’ll play ‘The Strokes’
and we’ll talk about the similarities, or some old blues man and ‘Led Zeppelin’
or James Brown and Prince, or Little Richard and Iggy. Whatever the couplets
are, it’s fascinating to see the similarities and influences in the origins of
rock and roll. And the other show is the
Michael Des Barres show which is a talk show – on Thursday I had Roseanna
Arquette. I’ve been speaking with Bruce
Dern, who I predict will win an Academy
Award this year. Ed Begley Jnr, who’s an environmentalist actor here, Bob Forrest
who is a drug cousellor, and Jed Nelson; you know – many interesting people.
And I’m getting a great deal out of it because I’m sharing these peoples’
intelligence with the audience, and it’s been an incredible year of
self-discovery always <laughs> and fun.
JON: Well those names you’ve just told me for your show, those are pretty
big names.
MICHAEL: Yeah – Steve Jones. An amazing
quote from Steve was that – you know he had a Dickensian abusive childhood
which is beyond description; never went to school, never learnt to read or
write, and now he’s in his 50s looking for some acres and a house up in
northern California; very well off shall we say and he sat with me and he said,
“even though I’ve been through hell as a kid and the subsequent furore that
surrounded ‘The Sex Pistols’ and the innovation and the revolution of ‘The Sex
Pistols’ I realise that I wouldn’t have been able to make that kind of rage-full,
aggressive type of music unless I had had a childhood like that.” So for me, it
was such closure for him and to hear him say it – you know I had 200,000 listeners
– to these people was just truly incredible. And it’s moments like that from
these, because I have a rock and roll-a-dex besides a Webster’s dictionary, I
can get these people on the show and – you know – as a peer I’ve experienced
similar situations and so one can get beyond the mask, beyond the product
that’s being marketed and get to this human being that’s responsible for this
life, and I’ve been very lucky.
JON: I think that’s a really interesting thing to do.
MICHAEL: Well, it’s like you. You are
passionate about music and because of that, you’ve been able to speak to all of
your – you know people that have influenced you and entertained you, and
inspired you. It’s the same principle Jon. And it’s a reciprocal exchange. I’m
sure as Pete Townshend said in his book, he would work out what he was doing,
how he was doing it, how he felt about it with journalists. He would talk to journalists in a therapeutic
sense; tell them everything, tell them the truth and hear himself say certain
things which would then inform what he was doing, and I feel the same way about
what I’m doing.
JON: The thing I found interesting about Pete Townshend book was how
different the private of Pete Townshend
to the public of Pete Townshend was.
There were whole swathes of his life that nobody had ever heard about.
MICHAEL: Well I think that’s been since Rudolph Valentino, and – you know –
Rudolph Valentino didn’t ride through the desert on a horse when he wasn’t on
camera either. It’s nothing new that an artist is different from his public
persona. The thing about Townshend is, I think the similarities between the
fact that he wrote anthems….I once asked him (I interviewed him at South Side
this year and I asked him) “What is the
difference between the ‘Who’s’ legacy and the Rolling Stones’ legacy?” and he
said “The right anthem. Our songs relate to the human condition not the
Babylonian debauchery or the flash of the Stones” And he’s right. Because he wrote about his
life, “I Can’t Explain”, “My Generation”.
These are songs that people can relate to any time, so - you know –
images kill you. People have been killed
by somebody else’s view of you, and it didn’t kill him. Also he shifts and changes with each quote,
Pete, he’s a very mercurial genius.
JON: It was probably the best rock biography he’s ever read
MICHAEL: Unquestionably, because he is a literary man. He’s gone deep. Very early on he got into spirituality with
Meher Baba. I think that he is the guy.
I interviewed a guy called Michael Walker who wrote an incredible book
called ‘What you need is in the Limo’,
and it’s based on the year 1973, which was when the ‘Who’, Alice Cooper,
and ‘Led Zeppelin’ toured America. And his thesis in the book is that is the
year that ‘60s rock was superseded by the new rock superstar. The photo of Zeppelin in front of a ‘plane
changed everything. Up to then it was mop-tops, after that it became big
business. And Pete is very much quoted in that book and I asked Michael Walker,
“Who do you think has the lineage, the most important legacy?” and he said,
“Townshend.” Which I absolutely agree with.
JON: Yes, I can’t argue with that at all.
So, changing the subject. A year ago you and I were talking about our
favourite records of the year, and we both agreed on Bob Dylan’s new one.
What’s your album of the year so far?
MICHAEL: I would say Jake Bugg.
JON: I’ve not heard that.
MICHAEL: I suggest you do.
JON: You’re about the third person this week who has told me I should
MICHAEL: There is no question that he is the most relevant, important,
authentic voice of a new generation
[EDITOR'S NOTE: I did check out Jake Bugg's debut album and Michael is correct - it is completely remarkable]
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