rock´n´roll is dead - johnpaul
johnpaul is dead - rock´n´roll
good morning my dear, its a bright day. just got back from an interview that sparked once again some of that passionate and thought-to-be-unbreakable love i used to have for music.
the last six month did my head in. the soundtrack to our lives seemed to be either dictated by some pathetic hiphop-retards - and/or all these british hype-bands, that get great reviews, record ambitious albums but still leave me behind with the twisted feeling i hadnt felt since the first day i tried clerasil on a spot on my forehead. and you now what - the spots were gone within days and most of these british pop-sensation didnt last longer than monica levinsky interning at the white house or a big box of blue gauloises.
which gets me straight to the point.
berlin, four seasons, room nr. 303, 1 pm and 10 minutes late...
walked an incredibly chilled looking richard ashcroft into the room, sporting a beanie, some oversized googles, twisted jeans, a big box of ciggis (which we smoked within the 40 min of our nice chat) and a well drafted lager. cheers mate
mr. bitter sweet himself came to the hauptstadt to promote his upcoming third solo-album. and kids out there believe me: this time he will be no longer the ex-verve singer. the time has come to give ashcroft the credit he deserves. cause after all, if he hadnt been as fucked on some pretty heavy doses of coke and some other powder he would have released "urban hyms" as his first solo album - and not as the biggest verve-album ever, shooting down the star called brit pop with 18 songs in one go.
but he made the mistake and got the band back together cause, as he puts it, he"was scared as a little fucker could possibly be" in 1997 after realising the potential of his songwriting.
8 years after taking the worl by storm sir richard is back in form, ready to share the "keys to the world" with anyone out there worth listening.
let me give you some brief highlights from the upcoming interview:
_ "all we are left with is music and football. our generation will never be able again to trust politicians"
... "the queen invited me for a music night and i didnt go - why? - becuase i couldnt bring my wife - and i am sure i would have not been allowed to smoke for 2hours or even more. thats not worth it."
... "pete doherty might be a great talent. he just hasnt proven it. the only reason why the media gets so hyped about him is becuase all the other stars on stand-by have even less to offer than some fucked-up junkie with a big mouth and some coked up-ex-girlfriend."
..."drugs do work, of course!!! - but the line between bad and evil is very very thin. after i stepped one to many times over that i wrote "the drugs dont work" - - - i still like to cross that line but i dont lie to myself and think it gets me anywhere but really fucked"
... "chris martin called me the best singer on this planet? well, he is goddam right. and you now why i respect chris martin and his mates? because they never try playing cool. they are "just" nice guys who really care about stuff - and write beatuifull and rich music"
and for all the music fans left out there: remember the unkle-project? mo wax? song nr. 5? a lonely soul? yes? at least some of you? well, mr. ashcroft will actually record a whole album with josh davis (yes, you dumb fuck, dj shadow). hooray!
hail hail rock´n´roll
