Stan Ridgway - Songs From the Big Heat

Stan Ridgway is a pleasant, likeable fifty-something who, despite being wrecked from the trip and jet lag and a bit worried because Alitalia has lost all his luggage, gear included – during the interviews they'll give him the good news that they've found everything – can't come up with any excuse not to be funny and chatty.

I sidle up with a sly grin, settle blissfully into the chair between the singer and the radio host and, with an angelic smile, wedge my fantastic little recorder – held together with plasters and tape – between the singer's mouth and my friend's microphone, starting my interview from the end.

… so it was a bit like making a film, I'd take his paintings and … it's hard to explain, if I had it here I'd show you… simply music that went alongside his drawings. He was going through a divorce at the time and that's when all those miniatures came out, the ones we now find in "Blood", which deal with "pain" and "fear", so the music is like that too. I don't really know what else to say about it. You can check out the project on either www.stanridgway.com or (smiling) on www.markryden.com.

Mark took care of the whole packaging.

If you don't know who Mark is, it probably won't mean much to you, but once you know, you go: "Wow, Mark made a record with Stan, that's bizarre!". But if you don't know who he is, it's a bit like saying I made a record with Bob the Milkman.

But how did this collaboration come about and what was it exactly about?

What was it about?

Yes.

Look, that's the same thing I asked Mark when we finished the CD, because Mark never explained it to me exactly, but it's simply about the miniatures dealing with the themes of fear and pain. Just that.

And how did this collaboration come about?

We're friends, it all happened very naturally. One day I told him we should do something together and he told me it would be fantastic.

At this point my friend gets up, leaving me alone with Ridgway, who seems rather surprised to see us swap places amid kisses and hugs.

On your latest album ("Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads and Fugitive Songs", 2004) there seems to be a kind of return to the atmospheres we found on "The Big Heat" …

Hang on a second (he turns to the record label's press officer) yes, thanks, a beer. A light one, on tap. (On the table sits the glass that once held his vodka tonic) You were saying?

… that I found the same atmospheres as "The Big Heat", but seen through a more mature lens. Is that just an impression?

Well, that's a great question, but I really don't know how to answer it.

You know, it's like looking at you (he points at me with both hands) when you were 10 years old and then seeing you now and saying: "There's a lot of you now that wasn't there when you were a kid". Do you see what I mean? I think it's pretty natural that you always try to do your best, but I never listen to my old records. When I make a new record, I don't think about doing things similar to the old records, every time I think about improving, about pushing myself further, about doing things that are always very different, and I'm always convinced of that until someone comes along and tells me: "Hey Stan, there you go again!".

A lot of people, a lot of artists, only have one sound and it's always the same one, they just keep finding a new outfit to put on it. There's nothing wrong with that, that's simply how it is and what it is. They just have that particular point of view that sets them apart, and when your point of view changes, then you've done something new, even while doing the same thing over and over.

My favorite musician is Miles Davis, and Miles Davis always seemed to sound the same because of his voice, but what changed was the style of the music all around him. And yet, whatever Miles did, he was always himself.

Do you think, then, that your way of writing songs has changed in some way over all these years?

When I was with Wall of Voodoo I don't think I was always aware of what I was writing.

Well, Wall of Voodoo really were innovative. Was that something you actively pursued, or a sound that came about on its own?

Actually, we did a lot of things together, really as a "band". As far as I was concerned, I was the "train engineer", I took care of the "architecture".

It was my idea to put together and mix all those very different "influences".

Marc Moreland was mainly a heavy-metal-style guitarist and was interested in playing things that were different, he didn't know exactly what they were, but he had so much talent that I told him: "Mark, you should listen to this Marconi, you'll love it!" (I wonder if he means PFM? Forgive me, I didn't think to ask him at the time!!) and when I played it for him he was thrilled.

The same thing happened with Joe (Nanni). Joe was a jazz drummer and I had him listen to Captain Beefheart.

Wall of Voodoo's music was really unique at a time when we were trying to get rid of every cliché. Doing that was something provocative. It was a challenge that took a lot of time. I don't think there's anything wrong with "embracing" clichés, but the result always has to be new, though at that point in my life, with Wall of Voodoo, I needed to do something that had never been heard before, or at least try to. I'd probably do it again.

"Sometimes I tune the guitar for a song and think: 'Ok, I'll do this one this way,' but I don't do it all the time. Sometimes I just sing a country song, but 'presenting' it in a different way. On this new record there's a song called "My Rose Marie", the story of a soldier, and it's basically a song about the Civil War. It's very simple, but very direct and 'popular'. But without these 'directives', you could imagine anything.

…I hope I've answered your question.

Yes, and that brings me to my next question: you've always stayed somewhere between American singer-songwriter folk music and a kind of new wave. Are you more comfortable being compared to Cash, Dylan, Waits, or to Devo and Talking Heads?

(He reflects) … I don't think I can be compared to any of these names. I look at these people and I see that we're all on the same level, with the exception of artists from another generation - Johnny Cash definitely influenced me as a kid, Tom Waits influenced me too, but in a different way because he's only eight years older than me. I like Tom Waits a lot and he's influenced me a great deal. I also like Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Miles Davis is one of my favorites. But I also like Devo - in fact Mark (Mark Mothersbaugh, singer of Devo) is a friend of mine.

Music has always been mixed up inside me, it's something very eclectic. I'd probably be a lot more successful now if my tastes and influences hadn't been so eclectic.

I like a lot of different music that I wouldn't even know how to describe.

And what about the American music scene? Do you keep up with it?

A little. The last thing I found really interesting was "The Handsome Family", do you know them?

The ones who did "Mmmm Bop"?

Noooo!!! Those are the Hanson brothers, they're the kids!! No, no, these are "The Handsome Family", do you know them?

Never heard of them…

Then I'll add some Interpol songs for you.

The record label's press officer makes me understand that my time is up. I answer her with a nod, and Stan notices: "Are we done already?"

(A little pouty) Yeah. "Ooohh, but you still had all those questions to ask me (pointing at my notebook open on the table)". If it were up to me I'd have kept going, but it wasn't possible. Even so, I feel satisfied…

(Milan, 17 January 2005)

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