Ken Stringfellow - Rock's globetrotter

So be it.

At 3:28, after convincing four different people at the reception desk that the singer is upstairs waiting for me, I cross the threshold of room 404. Ken greets me warmly and checks the clock on his cell phone: "We've got twelve minutes."

The first questions I'd like to ask you concern the idea I've formed of you as a "contradictory man", an impression I got from your biography, from the title of your latest album ("Soft Commands", released in the summer of 2004) and from your live shows.

In your biography you say you're too old to make music, that there's no real reason for it, and that recording albums is just a way to "pass the time".

You were joking, right?

I was trying to find a way to be provocative. In a way there's some truth to it — you can think some things are important, and some musicians tend to think those things are important. That's an attitude I wanted to keep myself out of. I don't really believe anyone is too old to make music, it's irrelevant, but you do have to look at yourself with a critical eye, and some people tend to get lazy.

Not you.

I'm not lazy yet.

The second thing that gave me the idea of "contradiction" was the title of your new record, "Soft Commands" — those seem to me like two words in contradiction with each other.

Yes, more or less. Two terms we don't normally put together. When I chose that title I had in mind something that doesn't need to shout to get your attention. Not like noise, which is something we try to avoid — it's more like a little mouse in the corner making the tiniest sound that forces you to turn around. That title means I'd like to grab people's attention without making too much noise.

Your show really surprised me. Your songs have a dark streak to them, and yet the whole time you were joking, laughing and involving the audience (complete with "Meet The Audience", a sort of improvised talk show). Is that a way for you to have fun, a way to entertain, or a way to "defuse" the seriousness of your songs?

I'm not trying to defuse my songs, I'm just trying to make the audience feel at ease.

A lot of my songs are, in a way, quite stern and serious. I think if I just performed them straight through, it would be alienating. If I just stood there, said nothing and only played, people wouldn't know what was going on — I'm opening up my world to them, and I can't "meet" them, and I need to "meet" them. Sometimes I have to work around the music in order to "meet" them, and I often have to find strategies for that. I don't always resort to joking around, it changes from night to night, and it also depends on how the audience reacts.

Let's go back to "Soft Commands". It was recorded in various parts of the world (the press materials mentioned New York, Senegal, Stockholm, Seattle, Paris, Vancouver, and Hollywood, his hometown)…

It was written in various parts of the world, but it was recorded in Sweden and Seattle.

I brought onto the record the places where the songs were written, because I thought it was interesting to include these places and what my life is like and how much time I've spent moving from place to place. What this does to the music is a bit mysterious, but I believe it gives me a perspective on how many things I find consistent in human nature. Maybe the food is slightly different, the language is different, but people's dreams and fears tend to be quite similar in the end, and even though the countries are very different from where I've lived – and I'm talking about Asia, Africa or other places – beneath all the cultural details, you find human beings with similar motivations and actions, similarly similar dreams and goals, and it's reassuring to know that. There are people who don't travel, who never leave their city and look at the rest of the world with suspicion and see the inhabitants of other countries as "strange", and I think it would be a huge shock for them to discover that it isn't like that.

Reading your lyrics, it seems like you're addressing one particular person. Is that just my impression?

I'm glad you got such a "personal" impression, but, in a way, it's simply about hearing "you", "you", "you", "you".

It's a bit like "addressing" someone with that song. It's like when I "address" my daughter, without giving her any particular advice. You find a lot of inspiration watching someone so small (if I remember correctly, his daughter should be just under six months old) when their personality is still taking shape. But these are things I also say to myself, reflecting on the passing of my life and of other people's lives. You know, having a daughter opens up a different perspective that forces you to look at your own life, it's like a new beginning for me, but it's also like saying... how do I explain it clearly?... it forced me to reflect on myself much more than I ever had before and to notice how much I see myself reflected in other people, I see myself reflected a lot in her and that will happen more and more as she grows up. This is a good time to think about the life I've lived and the one I'm living without any particular judgment, divine or prophetic. It's simply about being conscious of living the life we have, with all its components. At least as far as I'm concerned, all my experiences have given me emotions, and the worst moments of my life were when my emotions were absent. It hasn't happened often, but when it did, it was like not knowing whether I was dead or alive.

You've always collaborated with tons of artists (besides R.E.M., Mudhoney, Minus 5, Lagwagon, Adam Snyder and many others) and you're constantly seeking out new ones. On your website there's even an invitation to get in touch with you...

I'm always interested in collaborating. Even during the shows I do solo there's a collaboration, a collaboration with the audience. It has to be that way because it would be really boring for me to sit alone and just sing my songs — I know because I've done it. For this last tour I did some songs with Cristina ( Cristina Donà opened 9 of his 16 European dates) and the songs went from three-dimensional to four-dimensional, they were "elevated", and I like that.

I'm very decisive in what I do and, in recording this album, I played a lot of it myself (the credits list organ, bass, guitar, mandolin, percussion, piano, drums, keyboards and other instruments I'd never even heard of, like the guiro, for instance), but, at the same time, I'd like to collaborate more with other people (you tell me if that isn't a contradiction!).

I only have time for one more question.

Damn, I had at least 4 or 5 more... (my gaze is drawn to his computer monitor, behind him, which switches off: energy saving!)

I know a certain familiarity with the internet is needed, and your songs can be bought on iTunes (only the American store, for now). What's your opinion on music file sharing?

I don't really have a proper opinion. I think it's simply added a new way for music to reach people, and it's certainly interesting. I think it's a way that helps things grow. It certainly adds to the complexity of life, you've got a new thing to deal with. I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that sense: I try to listen to CDs, and that already seems like an outdated method. I don't have an iPod, I'll definitely get one, but right now I have so many CDs I still haven't listened to that I'll keep listening to them in the car or on a good stereo, also because I think it sounds much better. Once I've listened to all of them, then maybe I'll move on to mp3s.

Time's up. The limousine downstairs is waiting.

But if you happen to find Ken Stringfellow walking down the street, stop him and get him to tell you about his middle school teacher: it's worth it!

(Milan, 2005)

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