A Conversation with Thomas Dolby  (continued)

PM: You're cited by far flung artists as a major influence. What do you think about hip-hop or about techno, or electronica? Anybody out there turning you on musically?

TD: I think maybe hip-hop has slightly had its day. I was really more interested in the backing tracks, really, than in the lyrics. In fact, I've quite often found a lot of inspiration, really, in hip-hop and then rap backing tracks. The way that they used sampling technology and drum machines and so on, I found very interesting. But culturally, I mean, obviously, a lot of the lyrical content just didn't particularly float my boat--

PM: Go figure, yeah.

TD: Yeah, I mean, go figure. Regardless of genre, I've always been into eclectic songwriting with a voice, with a lyrical voice. And that could be Paddy, it could be Tom Waits, it could be Van Morrison, it could be Joni Mitchell, it could be Roger Waters.

PM: Sure.

TD: I can tolerate, I can enjoy, or I can deal with almost any musical style if there is a personality there that speaks to me.

PM: I just heard several cuts at CDBaby off your recently released Live in Chicago DVD. That sounded great.

TD: Oh, good.

PM: That is what? That's a DVD of a show a year previous?

TD: Yeah, so I've done a one-man show over the last year, year and a half, really to just sort of get back into music and cut my teeth again. I've got new songs, but felt like after 15 years away I had no right to go straight back into the studio. I needed to sort of repay my dues as a performer.

PM: Go play.

TD: Yeah. And to do that, there is a muscle group required that tends to get out of condition.

PM: That atrophies, sure.

TD: So I needed to get out and do it. And having done that, and sort of worked through that, I now feel ready to go back in the studio and start making some new music.

PM: And your voice sounds great. Did you have to do a lot of singing to kind of feel like, "Okay, I think I'm in shape for this"?

TD: Yeah. I took a couple of lessons, recorded them, and then I carried cassettes or MP3s of my own singing lessons with me wherever I went, and whenever I'm driving in car, I'll warm up with them. It's quite hard to recondition my voice after that much time. I have a different range now, a different set of things I can and can't do.

PM: Yeah, it's a little bit lower, just like Paddy's acoustic versions of these songs.

TD: Right.

[There are audio clips from that CD, The Sole Inhabitant, on the Listen page, as well as a Puremusic review of the album here. And to look as well as listen, there is now a concert DVD available--see links at the end of the interview.]

PM: You said you were not even remotely religious. Are you at all inclined toward what could be called metaphysical or spiritual matters, as opposed to, say, religious ones?

TD: Somewhat, but it's not something that I indulge very much, and certainly I wouldn't join a club or a church that would have me as a member.

[laughter]

PM: Are you a big reader? Is that part of your routine?

TD: I wouldn't say so, particularly, no. Probably more than average, but I'm not a voracious reader at all. My kids are actually much bigger readers than I am.

PM: What are they like? How old are your kids, and what are they up to?

TD: Two teenage girls and an eleven-year-old boy. Yeah, I mean, they're very individual special people. My oldest daughter, who's 16, was just in New Orleans giving a speech about Hogwarts at a Harry Potter convention.

PM: Wow!

TD: She's sort of a de facto world authority on the architecture of Hogwarts.

PM: That's unbelievable! [laughs]

TD: People read it at Cambridge, which is sort of interesting.

PM: You must be very proud of her.

TD: I am, indeed. We don't have any idea how the same gene pool produces such different people, but it does.

PM: Yeah. It's a wonder.

You've been very kind with your time today. It's really nice to meet you.

TD: Thanks, Frank, likewise.

	listen to clips
	print (pdf)
	buy the new re-issue of Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen here or here
	buy Thomas Dolby's live CD The Sole Inhabitant here, his Chicago concert DVD here. He'll also has a new EP, Live at SxSW, out soon--visit thomasdolby.com for details.
	Bedford's Sprout Pages are considered the very best for info on the band. But we especially enjoyed the cool, less-longstanding fansite prefabsprout.net--don't miss their vast video collection.
	thanks to Dan Phillips for his live photos of Thomas Dolby
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