Seeds And Sparks 2

Continued from part 1...

As if my art exam immortalisation wasn't enough, a few days later I found myself the subject of a song. I interviewed the singer and harpist Michael McLinn earlier this year, for issue 4 of DrunkenWerewolf magazine. The moment this edition gets published, I'll be posting the interview here. I was really pleased with it, as Michael's approach to his musical and visual identity makes for fascinating reading.

Turning up at Monkey Chews in Chalk Farm in Tuesday night, I was looking forward to seeing him play live. Unfortunately, logistical constraints had prevented him from bringing his harp with him, but any disappointment on my part was soon dispelled by the news that he had written a song specifically inspired by our interview and would be performing it in his three-piece set that night.

We chatted before the set and I freely admitted that a couple of my interview questions had been a little provocative, just to see how he'd respond. He said that he'd found it challenging to address some of them, occasionally hard to put the thoughts into words. Don't worry, I said to him; as Gavin Friday used to say, some things can only be sung. Dancing about architecture, and all that.

Nevertheless, my heart sank a little bit when the opening line of the song - called Werewolf - was something along the lines of "I never want to speak again". However, as it progressed I began to hear it in a more positive light: a song of transformation, about the relationship between words, music & performer and the frequent necessity of adopting a new persona to get your message across.

Fertile ground for my imagination right now, given my recent thoughts on concepts of identity in popular music. The werewolf is the archetypal lunatic alter ego, often the result of making some kind of pact with the devil. And what is ego-driven rock 'n' roll - even when played by a softly spoken harpist - if not the devil's music? Interesting that myths ancient and modern often end up at the same source.

Ever since I came across the Stuff White People Like blog a couple of weeks ago, I can't say the word "creativity" with a straight face. However, I remain eternally fascinated by the creative impulse: where it comes from, what drives it, how choices are made and what the results say about their creator. Playing a small part in the genesis of both Michael's song and Niece #1's painting gives me immense satisfaction.

Posted by Hg on Friday 28 March 2008 at 14:42.
Received 1 comments so far.

Thanks for the link to that SWPL post on Apples - I missed that. Heh. I think this comment pretty much sums up my own feeling on the matter.

Comment by Dave on Friday 28 March 2008 at 19:30.

http://www.hydragenic.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hydragen/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2007

The previous post was Seeds And Sparks 1.

The next post is links for 2008-03-28.

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