A Conversation With Brian Kennedy - Part Two

ST: Just to get back then to Kate and the initial influence. You had heard "The Man With The Child In His Eyes".....

BK: That’s right. When I was about 12 or 13, it was one of those kind of illegal situations where we were in my best friend’s brother’s bedroom with the vinyl record player. And he put it on. And first of all the experience of the crackling....the speakers...the warm stuff that I can articulate now, at the time I was just absolutely transfixed with her voice, the words, the song, the mood of that song. More so than Wuthering Heights....

ST: Is this the single then that you put on?

BK: No it was from the album. We just happened to put it on that track "The Man With The Child In His Eyes". And I was just knocked out. Really knocked out y’know. And I just thought to myself..God if...I don’t know what I thought at the time but I remember thinking if I ever get to make music I’ve got to send it to that woman. Just to tell her thank you for making it seem...I really plugged into that recording. It was a real inspiration, and it became more of an inspiration as I got older in fact...and then when I got to know her a bit it didn’t....it made me more of a fan actually.

ST: Really, yeah?

BK: More of a fan. Because, well first of all it was easy to separate meeting her and the music...but at the same time, some of the best people I’ve ever met are very down-to-earth, very straight ahead, and that’s what she’s like. In my experience of her, my limited experience of her...but that song...it’ll always remain special because it was one of the first things I ever heard. And especially with me starting to really wake up as a singer...it’s important...it’s a real...when I think of my childhood and key moments of music, that’s right in there.

ST: And talking about cover versions etc..where throughout her whole body of work...are there certain songs that you thought....that you sing in the shower or whatever....

BK: Well, I was going to do a version of Army Dreamers.

ST: Really?

BK: Yeah...’cos I love...

ST: Acoustic and....

BK: Well, not only that but I just love the subject matter. It’s funny and it’s very sad at the same time.

ST: Yeah, it’s one of her most beautiful songs in a way, it’s so touching....

BK: I love it. It’s so well written. It’s an amazingly written song. And, I talked about doing that, and she said she’d be very keen to hear it and all that...and..but again..these things are talked about, and often they just don’t happen. So then I moved off and made my own record and I didn’t record that song. But if there was ever a tribute record or something and I was ever considered for that record...

ST: Oh, I think you might be...

BK: I may do that one....or...what else have I been listening to? Actually, I was driving yesterday and I was listening to....you know that 12" re-mix of The Big Sky? I love that.

ST: Yeah, yeah, with all her family on there...

BK: It’s really good....

ST: Looking at the clouds....

BK: "That cloud looks like Ireland"

ST: "It looks like industrial waste"

BK: Yeah...it’s very funny.

ST: I was gonna ask you...somebody asked you once in an interview about "Carrickfergus"...you’re often asked to sing that song and you say yourself it’s one of your favourite songs to perform because it’s about yearning. And I think that’s true of so much of Kate Bush’s work, she kind of captures that kind of thing....

BK: Yeah. I think so.

ST: And it comes through in your own work as well very often....

BK: Well, I think especially if you are singing words that you’ve written yourself...and of course "Carrickfergus" I didn’t write....but I connect to it so heavily, I couldn’t even really tell you why. It just seems really ancient that song. The emotional quality of it seems very very ancient...and here’s me singing it today later on, 1999, in a cafe in Dublin for AIDS Alliance, for a worthy, very sad 20th century...blues, really....disease, y’know. I think if you’re a writer, and especially where Kate Bush is concerned, because she basically writes every single thing that she does, I think there’s a deeper connection to the spirit of somebody if they’re singing their own words. And given that the voice is the ultimate instrument really, because it comes from how you’re made up as a....physically as a person. What particular muscles connect with which ones in your throat, what accent you’ve grown up with and so on...to basically formulate the sound that then comes out of your throat. Some people....the combination of some people is irresistible, the combination of some people makes you want to cover your ears!

ST: Yeah, ha ha ha!

BK: It’s really interesting why that is. And why some people without even trying get to the core of you with one sentence, and some people don’t. I mean, at all times I think it’s a two way thing, music is the language of emotion, that’s what it is. And the voice, surely then is the sound of emotion. That’s what it sounds like.

ST: About yourself, because it’s only fair that you should get a plug on this thing..not just Kate Bush...

BK: I’ll happily talk about Kate Bush....

ST: How are you getting on with your new album?

BK: It’s basically done. I mean, I know, at this point I’ve recorded about four albums.

ST: Four albums worth of material?

BK: Oh yeah, there’s about 45, 46 things down now.

ST: Wow! Are you entering the realm of the box set?

BK: (chuckles) Well, see one of these days I suppose it could be the "live & unreleased" box set with exclusive pictures...won’t it, I suppose...

ST: Oh yeah..."reissue, repackage..."

BK: Actually one of the best things I have, (one of the times) I saw Kate Bush, I went round to her house and she cooked dinner this time. And she gave me her box set.

ST: Lovely, it’s great isn’t it?

BK: It’s so beautiful. And it hadn’t been out that long. So I was really, I was amazed to get that, it was amazing...now what was I saying about my record? (Laughs) Well, I recorded about seventeen songs in a church. Mostly un-accompanied...and with Calum MacColl and me, a couple of guitars and so on.

ST: Where was this?

BK: In Belfast. I also did a few short stories that I’d written myself and narrated in locations around Northern Ireland.

ST: Yeah I’m dying to hear your stories because I’ve heard you talking about them, are they coming out in published form or....?

BK: Well, hopefully eventually, but my plan would be for the next studio album to have a limited edition CD and have me reading one or two on there, and the recordings are already made. So it’s just a question of the record company agreeing and us all agreeing on the best way to do that. And every now and again release them like that, so that they have a bit of a life. And then, at some point have a book, y’know, ‘cos I’ll just write them whenever I get time and whenever I feel inspired to do it.

ST: What sort of things do you write about?

BK: Well obviously they’re autobiographical to some degree...because again it’s...see I think of it all as one voice, whether I’m singing or talking or writing, or whether it’s a story or a song or a poem, it doesn’t matter, it’s just the voice. And my whole thing is my voice. So naturally, I mean I write about things I know about, first of all. And what I know about the most is where I grew up, how I grew up...and what music means to me, what love means to me at a particular time, and what lack of love means. And so on and so on. So all those things, human things, are in there, just in terms of how..that they’re going through my "sieve", y’know, that’s all. And I’m honest, very honest in them. And, hopefully they’ll see the light of day.

ST: So, when was the last time you saw Kate?

BK: I saw her about two years ago, the last time I saw her. We did a show with Van, and Robert De Niro came and Bob Geldof and Kate and a couple of people, and we all went to dinner at this place called Julie’s in Notting Hill.....

ST: Oh my God....to be a fly on the wall.

BK: It was extraordinary...I mean...

ST: Like some sort of surreal dream....

BK: It was...that's what it was like. Ray Charles was playing and I think Robert De Niro was somehow connected with him, so that’s why he was there. And, again, I never met more friendly people. I mean at the end of the night he came straight over to us and shook our hands, looked us right in the eyes and told us how much he enjoyed our performances, y’know, really made an effort to say hello and thank you, and off he went...and Kate was there, and I talked to her for a bit, and she said she’d had a year off and was gearing up to start stuff again..that was two years ago, so I....

ST: We hear little bits every year or so..(laughs)

BK: Yeah....

ST: Well, y'know, the gist of my web-site is really just to kind of try to take the focus off y’know any kind of idolising her as a figure and more, just getting back to basics...

BK: Well, appreciating her as an artist.

ST: And also that people know that she’s alive and that she’s working on material....

BK: Sure, yeah. Well, I think people should be appreciated while they’re here, you know. Joni Mitchell was ignored for years, and people so often don’t really celebrate people until they’re dead, and you just think...Kate Bush...is one of the most gifted individuals in the world, you know? That’s how good she is. She’s a true artist in that she does things how she wants to do them, regardless. And so she should. And I’m glad of it, and I think if every record is of the quality that her records are when we do get them, then they’re worth waiting for. Like Paul Buchanan (The Blue Nile) says, somebody said to him: "Why do you make so few records?" and he said "Why do people make so many?"

And so we wound up the interview at that point. I'd like to hugely thank Jane Sagr, who runs Brian's web-site, for all her efforts, without whom this chat wouldn't have taken place. Thanks! And of course enormous thanks to Brian K, who very enthusiastically made himself available in the midst of a very busy schedule. Brian is exceptionally friendly, warm & considerate. A great person and hugely talented artist who deserves every success with his album and future projects. Thanks again Brian!

To find out everything you need to know about what's happening with Brian Kennedy and his music then visit the excellent Official Brian Kennedy Web-site http://www.briankennedy.co.uk This conversation took place on Friday 18th June 1999

Top