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A Life In Movies: John Doe · All The Right Movies

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All the rent movies. Hi everyone, from all the right
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movies you're listening to ATR meets the Movie interview show
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where we talk to people in entertainment about their
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favorite films. On today's show, I'm talking to
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the great John Doe. John is a musician and founding
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member of Seminole LA punk band X.
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With over 40 years in the industry, John has released over
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20 albums with X and as a solo artist covering a wide range of
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musical styles. He's also a prolific movie and
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TV actor, appearing in films such as Salvador Roadhouse,
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Great Balls of Fire, Wired Up and Boogie Nights.
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He's back with an outstanding new album, Fables in a Foreign
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Land, and here to talk about some of his favorite films.
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Thanks for coming on the show, John.
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How are you doing? Oh, good.
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How are you doing, Luke? I'm pretty good.
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Yeah. Fantastic.
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Great to have you on the show. Thank you.
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Well. Thanks for asking me.
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I don't get a chance to to talk about this except with the other
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friends who are cinephiles and and should be fun.
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It should be, yeah, fantastic. And you've picked out some great
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films to to speak about as well. Well, should I just get right
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into the first film? We'll we'll give it a moment or
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two and then we'll get in and see that you're eager.
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No, I, I, you know, I just want to keep it, keep the ball
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rolling, you know? Yeah, it's dispiriting to listen
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to podcasts where people just talk about, you know, BS.
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He's like, really? Is that the best you can come up
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with? Don't you have an?
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Don't you have an editor? Don't you have an editor?
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Yeah, but anyway. Our podcasts often go beyond 2
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two hours, so maybe he might be saying that about our podcasts.
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Oh God. Oh, God almighty.
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No, I, I'm it's going to be, it's going to be a gas.
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Yeah. It must be late there, though.
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Or is it very early? No, it's very late.
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Well, it's very late. I suppose.
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It's just past 11:00 at night. Gosh.
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Way past my bedtime nowadays. It's worth it though.
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Yeah, good. I'm I'm thrilled.
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So where are you speaking from, John?
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I'm in Austin, TX from my home. Very nice.
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I actually spoke to a musician who lived in Austin, TX about 3
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or 4 months ago. He's called Pat Byrne.
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He's an Irish singer who moved over there a few years ago.
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Really strange. Small world, strange
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coincidence. It is a small world.
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There's a friend of mine who who sings in a an Irish band called
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Gaelic Storm right here that do very well in the USI.
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Mean that seems as though it's the Mecca or or quite the hope
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for for musicians and music in Austin, TX.
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Well, they've they're self named the live music capital of the
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world. Oh, well, yeah.
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I mean, yeah, how can you argue with that?
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But it's one of those things that I think they just said, OK,
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from now on, we shall be known as and just said it.
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And then, you know, put in a little bit of paperwork or
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something and then you know, then you're that you know, it's.
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Like I think you could. Maybe I could try that for here?
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Yeah, you could, you could, you could say, you know, like, well,
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they, they do that in the US like with, you know, National
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Pepper Tree Day and just something obscure, you know,
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National Light Bulb Day. And if you do it and you fill
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out some paperwork, then it can be like.
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That can be the thing, yeah. Wow.
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Let national guys name Luke Day and and you can all celebrate.
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That's weird. But but yes, Austin has a
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embarrassment of riches when it comes to musicians, especially
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in the kind of Americano, West Western swing, country, you
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know, outlaw country type type music.
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That's great. Fantastic.
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So coming to you live from Austin, TX, we're going to talk
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about 3 movies that John has picked out.
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How would you categorize these, John?
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Are the three of your favorite films or ones that have just
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stayed with you over the years? Definitely ones that have stayed
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with me. They're different genres, but
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they they still have that hero's journey, even if it doesn't end
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out and end up. Well, when you say pick 3
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movies, it's daunting. I I'm sure you've heard that
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before. Yeah.
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So it's just like, these are the three that came to mind.
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And I thought, good, let's just go with that.
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So what about the first film then?
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What's the first one that you've picked out, John?
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1st movie is out of the past. Fantastic Yeah.
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Written by Daniel Maine Warren, adapted from his novel directed
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by Jacques Toner and released in 1947, Out of the Past stars
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Robert Mitchum as Jeff Markham, an ex gumshoe is who is forced
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out of retirement to repay a debt or to feared mafia heavy
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wit Sterling, played by Kirk Douglas.
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A cross country tale of cross and double cross.
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Jane Greer plays the femme fatale at the heart of Jeff and
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Wit's nefarious relationship. Why are we starting with this
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one, John? I think it's on many people's
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list of maybe the most representative, most famous film
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noir movie, which is that's one of my favorite genres.
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I actually, I don't do a whole lot of acting these days because
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I'm pretty busy with music, but I actually got to play the lead
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guy in a remake of DOA, the Evan O'Brien movie.
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Yeah, I saw that on the Internet while I was doing a little bit
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of research and I was quite interested to find out a little
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bit more about that. Well, if there are any N England
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distributors and or representatives that would like
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to take on this movie and distribute it, we'd be happy to
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entertain an offer. No, but for out of the past.
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I mean Robert Mitchum is just the quintessential antihero.
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I don't give a shit no matter what you say.
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And it's, it's his natural demeanor that just sells the
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whole thing. I, I did some research on him
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just because he's so cool and he's indescribable.
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I mean, he said, you know, he was talking about it.
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Well, he was talking about people going to, to acting
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class, you know, going to school for acting, which is, you know,
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maybe the difference between US style and British style of
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acting. He said something like learning
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to act is like learning how to be tall.
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And, and some of the I mean, he has so many great quotes.
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He's like the, you know, the Georgie best of, of fucking
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quotes. Another one was when I decide
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whether I want to do a movie or not, I find out how many times I
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have to fall down and what kind of accommodations I have.
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Hopefully I can be looking at water.
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You know, it's just it's great. And and in this in this movie,
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it's really Jane Greer who's who's kind of making, making all
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of it turn. I mean, she is the one who is
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who's at the heart of everything.
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And the men are just kind of like they're just trying to
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catch up. But at the same time, she's also
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willing to change and do and be anything.
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She's so, so convincing what she's saying that you think, oh,
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she's turned a corner, but then it's double cross and then a
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double cross and then a double cross.
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Yeah, I mean, right up to the very end.
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And, and yeah. And, and Kirk Douglas, you can
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tell that that he's so tightly wound and, you know, you, you
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can tell that the acting styles are very, very different and
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they probably didn't like each other.
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And that was good. Yeah.
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In in real life. Is off of the film.
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No doubt, Yeah. And, and the, you know, the, the
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cinematography is great, The script is great, The story is
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great because it always keeps you on the, you know, wondering
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what's going to happen. Even if you know what's going to
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happen, you're still watching it develop and and it's very clever
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in in that way. I think on a first watch,
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there's no way you could know what's going to happen from 1
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scene to the next, even on a second, third, fourth, because
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it does get very confusing about what's going to happen or what
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already has happened or what that links to come the
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second-half of the film. But it's just, it's just, it's a
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magnificent film. I was riveted.
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Yeah, and I, I probably watched it.
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I've probably watched that 5-6 or more times.
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It's it's, it's incredible. Roger Ebert called it the the
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greatest smoke and movie of all time because there's just plumes
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of smoke and everything. I try to convince my partner
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that people look cool smoking and she's not having it.
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But I I still say no, look at that.
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Look, this is the nonsense. She's Yeah, she's still she, you
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know, she's just glad that I quit smoking a long time ago and
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put up with that. But yeah, people do look cool
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when they smoke. Are you kidding?
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Look at every French film, for God's sakes.
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Of course. Well, Roger, Roger Ebert is
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correct. We I agree with with him on
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that. Yes.
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The also the kid who plays the, you know, his friend, the deaf
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and dumb kid. Oh yeah.
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Is is so he's so natural. With and being able to convey
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those emotions without any any dialogue is is really, really
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effective. Yes, yeah.
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And it's also set in in one of my favorite places, which is an
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epic area of California up along the Owens Valley on the eastern
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side of the Sierras. I would stack that up against
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any place in the world of dramatic and and epic sort of
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places. And that's that corridor along
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the Highway 395. It goes, you know, past Mammoth
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Mountain and through Lone Pine and Bishop and up to Bridgeport.
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And it's, it's still very sparsely populated.
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And because it's, it's hard living up there, you know, it's,
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it's very harsh. But looks incredible.
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Stunning. Really, really dramatic.
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Oh yeah. And there's, there's quite a
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road trip taken. There's San Francisco twice.
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He's down in Mexico, NY, LA, Lake Tahoe.
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It's a real sense of location. Even though I'm I'm certain that
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a lot of these were sets, you do feel the the miles travelled.
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Yeah, the the the part in Mexico when when he first meets her was
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that's just that that would be a scene to, you know, we, we can
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talk about. But the way that they shot that
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was was just brilliant because you believed it.
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And if you believe that, you know, if you believe that
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premise, there's a reason why all this shit is going down of.
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Course. Then then you're in.
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Then you'll then you'll believe the rest of it, you know.
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And that's that's something that, you know, some films don't
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actually achieve that crucial peace.
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And if you don't buy into that crucial piece, then it's like,
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yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I guess I lost us.
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Yeah. She's not that.
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She's not that good looking. She's not that charming or or
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he's not that, you know, great. Yeah, he isn't.
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That doesn't strike you in that way.
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So what about a favorite scene for this one, John?
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Are there? Are there any that stood out for
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you? I think what he can I, I don't
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know exactly. It's towards the like 2/3 or 3/4
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the way through when Mitchum confronts Jane Greer and you
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think that you think that they've resolved it.
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I, I can't even remember exactly what it is, but it's the point
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at at which after you've been fooled and fooled again and then
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fooled again and it's and she's changed.
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You finally think that she is, that she's going to be true to
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him and he does too. And then and then they plan
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their their kind of getaway. That moment there is is so
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because he's been burned. And but he still has this that
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core belief, you know, maybe from the time they spent in
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Mexico. Yeah.
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And he's so skeptical of everything.
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He knows that, you know, Kirk Douglas's character is going to
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do everything he can to get him. But he still has this hope.
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And, and maybe it's the hope that I'm, I'm attracted to the
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hope and the, and the fact that that, uh, Jane Greer is so
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convincing. Yeah, I mean it, that there's
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that the moment where he's been framed, but he hides the body in
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the closet and then goes back and she asks the Porter to go up
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to the hotel room to check on the guy, to prove that he's not
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there, to prove he's dead or must have been Robert Mitchum's
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character, right? Yeah.
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And then they and then they come up with that plan and.
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And you're convinced. You think, yeah, she's.
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She's on the level now, but no. Brilliant, yeah.
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Fantastic. I never stopped hating him,
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Jeff. I couldn't help myself.
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I was caught, too. We don't have to be against each
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other now. Hardly, no.
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We can break out of it. All we need is the briefcase.
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Then we've got them, Jeff. We can get anything we want from
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them. I'd like that affidavit you
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signed. We can get it.
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It's in Neil's office safe. We can make Mita get it.
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We can make them do anything. Sure.
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OK, well, we'll, we'll move on to the next one, John, if that's
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all right. We'll move on to Black Stallion.
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Yes, The Black Stallion I I owe all the people in The Black
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Stallion a great debt because it was one of the movies that I
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could watch with my children and did not cringe.
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Yeah. A little bit here, yeah, but the
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Black Stallion, take it, Luke. Well, released in 1979 and
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adapted from the 1941 classic novel of the same name, ET
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writer Melissa Matheson has a screen writing credits, Carol
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Ballard on directing duties and Francis Ford Coppola as
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producer. It stars Kelly Reno as Alec, a
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young boy left stranded on a desert island after the boat he
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was travelling on with his dad sinks.
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He strikes open an unlikely bond with a wild horse on the island
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and when rescued, brings it home with them where their
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relationship grows. So Black Stallion was a
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surprising choice, shall I say, John?
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Not that I know about your tastes, but just considering the
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year that it was released and how old you would have been at
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that year. And then I thought it must have
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been something to do with watching it with your family is.
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That right? Yes, but I but I didn't start a
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family until I was maybe until 10 years later.
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Nine years later. Right, OK.
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I loved it from the very beginning and a big reason is
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because I am a horseman. I have horses.
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I've loved horses for 40 years now.
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But it's the, it's the soundtrack.
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The soundtrack is the, is the cherry upon the ice cream
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sundae. It it's just, and Hoyt Axton
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blows my mind because he's so natural and and he's such a,
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he's such a like, who doesn't want a dad like that?
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So warm, isn't he? Yeah, but he's, but he's a, he's
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a Rascal and he, and he's, you know, he's just gambling shit,
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you know, and, and then, but once Mickey Rooney comes into
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the picture, it's a little different.
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And, and I can't say that's my favorite part.
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I do like Mickey Rooney. I, I think he's, it was kind of
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awesome for him to, to have that opportunity at that, at that
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time in his life. And, and I, I give them a lot of
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credit for that because he totally sold that.
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Then it becomes a little more predictable.
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And, and even though it's set in that time period, it is so
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peeling and stuff, but the, it's the first half of the movie that
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that is everything to me. Yeah, it's wonderful.
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That's that location, the cinematography.
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And like you said, it's Carmine Coppola's music, it's Francis's
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dad. And that you can feel that from
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the first moment where they're on the boat.
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There were those musical cues that that really build kind of
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intrigue and tension. Don't really know where the
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story's going to go. Well, I certainly didn't anyway.
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And just, yeah, a surprise. The first time I'd seen it and
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I, I was hooked. I was in immediately.
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Yeah, and the and and the. I don't know.
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Did the kid do any other movies? I'm not, even though I didn't I.
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Don't think so. No, I'm not, though I briefly
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looked and and from what it looks like, this was his, it was
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biggest star and his biggest role.
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And I believe he did all of the, well, the majority of the horse
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riding, the bareback horse riding on the saddle on the
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beach. Yeah.
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And you can tell from the shots. They went to a, they went to a
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bunch of horse barns and said you got any good looking kids
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out here? You got any good looking kids
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out here that can ride? I mean, they, they certainly
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didn't teach that kid how to do that.
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No, no, it must have. Yeah, it must have known.
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I think it strikes a chord that is the so deep in in every, I
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mean, my daughters felt the same way of who wouldn't want to
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experience that moment? You know, as dire as it may be
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and as sad as it may be, and the way that they, they, they shot
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and, and told the story of how sad he was realizing that his
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dad was probably gone. And they took those moments.
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They took those moments to to draw you into the kids character
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so you could see the rest of the movie from that perspective.
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Maybe that's another one of those pivotal points where they
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they really pulled you in slowly and and delivered, you know,
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because what a dream, what a beautiful dream to to have this
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companion and and the fact that there was so little dial, there
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was like no dialogue for the first, you know, after they get
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off the boat for so long. Brilliant, Just brilliant.
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Visual storytelling from that perspective, I think it's about
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30 minutes where there's no dialogue.
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Exactly. Incredible.
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Wow. I wonder if there's any other
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films that have done that except for Asylum Move.
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There was a one that I watched because of an interview like
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this. I spoke to Brendan Benson, who's
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a musician, and he and he chose a film called Quest for Fire,
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and it was set in Neanderthal times and that has literally no
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dialogue. Right.
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That was the only one I could think of.
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Well, there you go. But then you know when once it
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gets into the modern times. What's her name?
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Oh God. Terry Garr.
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Terry Garr is is just luminous and but has the, you know, grit.
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She's not just a pretty face and she has that, you know, she's
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tough. She's going to take care of this
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kid. You know, there's a wonderful
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moment where he he's trying to to convince her that he he would
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race in, he would run in the race and she won't have it.
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And he tells this really emotive story about how the Black saved
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saved him in the water. And it's really gut wrenching
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because you get to understand, like, verbally, yeah, how that
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made him feel. Whereas we never found that out
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before. We just dealt with it through
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his tears and his emotions. But to hear it from his mouth,
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really quite affecting. Yes, well, that that could be
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one of the scenes we talk about, But but I would say the the IT
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is the hero's journey and it does have that happy ending and
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and it you know, like I say, there's a few movies made for
19:42
kids that you can watch without cringing.
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And then, you know, my kids are older, so they hadn't kind of
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cracked the code of, of making you know, cartoons watchable and
19:55
funny and things like that as well.
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It was more Disney princesses. And it's like, Oh God.
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Please, please can we not watch The Little Mermaid again?
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Yeah. But the Black Stallion did me a
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great favor in the I loved horses.
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I loved just watching this. And they hit all those right,
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those right beats, you know, the right moments.
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And a favorite scene, John, What if you can cast your memory
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back? Probably Hoyt Axton coming back
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from the poker game and the, and, and giving him the, the
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little statue of the black stallion, saying that he won
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this from the, you know, guy from Arabia and the warmth and
20:39
the, the pocket knife thing and, and all these little elements
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that are that are going to, you know, we're going to play into
20:46
the to the rest of the film. But the this kid who you're
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going to be seeing the movie through has such a solid footing
20:55
in his relationship with his dad.
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Here, I'd better take that. You're a little too young for
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that. Oh, look at that watch, man.
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Here, I better take that. That's a pretty watch.
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You know, I think it's about time I got myself another knife.
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So I ought to give you this. And never know when a knife
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might come in handy. You want some gold?
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There are lots of gold. OK, so final choice, John,
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what's your third film? Frozen river.
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Fantastic. Written and directed by Courtney
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Hunt and released in 2008, Frozen River stars Melissa Leo's
21:35
Ray, a mother of two struggling to make ends meet during the
21:38
holiday season after her husband skips town with her house
21:41
deposit money. She strikes up a criminal
21:44
relationship with Native American Lila, played by Misty
21:47
Upham, smuggling immigrants over the Canadian US border while
21:51
trying to keep her family unit intact.
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Why did you go for this one, John?
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Because it didn't seem like a movie.
21:59
It it seemed as if you were just, it was a documentary and
22:01
you happened to be able to get all the juicy bits.
22:06
That one moment seemed false to me.
22:08
That one moment seemed like, oh, come on, you set that up.
22:12
And it was also around the time of the wrestler and, and I
22:16
remember people, you know, just going crazy about the wrestler
22:20
and it was good. And you know, Mickey Rourke
22:22
acted his ass off and it was amazing.
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But it was a movie and you can see that it was a movie.
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And, and I had seen Frozen River just before that.
22:29
And I thought, well, really, if you want to, if you want to talk
22:33
about people living on the edge of poverty, people living on the
22:36
edge of, of that desperation. And, and I, you know, I've seen
22:41
that I haven't, luckily haven't been that desperate, but I've
22:46
been around that when I lived in the mountains outside of LA,
22:48
I've, I've seen, you know, from when I was a kid in, in
22:52
Baltimore, things like that. And, and it's, it was so dire
22:57
and, and it, and it conveyed that so convincingly and, and,
23:01
and the way that it forced people to do things they, they
23:03
wouldn't ordinarily do. And I hadn't been aware of
23:07
Melissa Leo prior to that, so that that might have been part
23:11
of it as well, because she obviously had done a lot of
23:13
work, but she hadn't had a starring role like this.
23:16
And she she just left it all on the field, you know, I mean, she
23:21
she didn't hold back one one bit.
23:23
Yeah. Big themes about all relatable
23:26
race and social issues, but social themes including family.
23:31
All all really relatable and all very.
23:33
I mean, I know this was only 14 years ago, but still now as
23:35
prominent as it was then. Yes, and the relationship that
23:39
she had with her son, which was, you know, a teenager and, and
23:43
really fraught because he just wanted to, he just wanted to
23:47
have, you know, some food and, and something of a normal life,
23:51
you know, is that too much to ask whether they're living in
23:54
that shitty trailer? And they're, you know, that it
23:57
was just all so convincing. And her relationship with the,
24:01
with the Native American woman from Canada was seemed to be out
24:04
of the blue. You, you had no idea where it
24:06
was going to go. And, and the fact that they
24:09
could only do it in a certain period of time and was so
24:13
dangerous. Yeah.
24:14
It was just a brilliant premise, incredibly well told, well
24:19
acted. You know, the, the, the dialogue
24:22
never seemed forced or, or stagy.
24:25
And, and yeah, like I say it just, it just seemed as though
24:29
you were watching something that was real.
24:31
Yeah. Never took never took me out of
24:34
the the reality of the movie. Yeah, like you said, it feels as
24:39
though things come out of the blue.
24:40
But no, not once did I think, well, that's a bit contrived.
24:43
Everything's felt like a natural step and everything all the
24:46
right. And then it had been set up to
24:47
to make you believe that these are the choices that these
24:51
characters would make. I didn't once think that Melissa
24:54
Leo's character was going to be a human trafficker when when the
24:57
film started, but right within 20 minutes she is, yes, because
25:02
she's desperate and she needs, she needs that money for the
25:04
house. That and she's being let down by
25:06
her husband. Yeah, freaking deadbeat.
25:09
Yeah. What I like and what I think
25:12
left is left unsaid on that is the assumption is the belief is
25:17
that he's left and he's gone to Atlantic City or whatever, but
25:20
because of his addiction, we don't necessarily know he may be
25:24
lying in a ditch somewhere. Yeah, I I think you're, you're
25:28
probably right. It's the, it's the latter pretty
25:31
questionable character of questionable character.
25:38
Yeah. I'm trying to think of a of a
25:40
other parts of it. It's been so long since I've
25:42
seen it. This is a movie that I probably
25:44
only saw in the theater once. Yeah, well, the one that the
25:47
scene that really stood out for me was when there were one of
25:50
the group border crossings where the family from Pakistan bring a
25:53
bag in the car. Yes.
25:55
And Eddie and Melissa Leo character is suspicious of it,
25:59
and she throws the bag out halfway through the journey.
26:01
It kind of exposes the kind of ignorant prejudices that call
26:05
that go on in the world. And and then it turns out that
26:08
it's the couple's baby and they go out and get it and they think
26:11
it's dead, but it starts moving. You know, Thank Christ for that.
26:15
Yes. That tension and turn in the
26:18
mirror on yourself. What would I do in that, in that
26:20
situation? But it's all about family and
26:22
it's relatable because she's got a family.
26:25
What would happen if it was her children?
26:27
Yeah, I'll go with that. But I also, I do recall there,
26:34
there was there was some scenes between her and her son in that
26:39
trailer that were, that were so difficult.
26:43
They were so hard. And you, you wanted them both to
26:46
be OK. You wanted them both to be to to
26:49
get what they wanted to, to be right, to have some comfort, to
26:52
have just the littlest bit. And it was so much want and
26:56
need, even though they that they wanted and needed each other,
27:00
but they couldn't because it was the life had had cut things down
27:05
so that it was just literally bare bones.
27:08
Well, I I wish that Courtney Hunt would have done many movies
27:14
like this. I I'm looking at my phone and
27:18
and saying that she only did one other film, which is.
27:20
Insane. And then I think it starts Keanu
27:24
Reeves, and that was about 5 or 6 years ago.
27:27
Oh God, it's a poor thing. Such a talent and, and I, I
27:35
would love to see if she was to do something else, I would, I
27:39
mean, I'd go and see that in a heartbeat because if it's
27:41
anything like this, what she did on I think it's $1,000,000
27:44
budget. Just the writing and the
27:46
direction from a first time director writer is pretty
27:50
incredible. Yeah, well, those were the days,
27:53
I guess. Yeah, when?
27:54
You get get $1,000,000 for for a first time director and do a
27:58
movie like this. Aren't they all works of
28:02
passion? Aren't they all, you know, just
28:04
every, every indie movie is for the love of it.
28:09
Yeah. Labor of love.
28:12
Yeah. And if you can feel that on
28:13
screen, which you obviously can with this film, it really, it
28:17
really brings you into the story.
28:18
You buy into those characters and buy into the message that
28:21
that director or writer is saying.
28:24
Yeah, for sure here. Much money.
28:35
I still don't see why he won't just let me get a job with
28:37
Mitch. Who's?
28:38
Mitch. He's got this whole business he
28:40
runs at school. He sells pot to kids.
28:43
No, Mum, it's computers. OK?
28:44
He fixes computers. You're 15, it's not going to
28:48
happen, so forget it. This is so stupid.
28:50
We're going to lose the TV while I'm sitting in some Christmas
28:51
assembly when I could be out making.
28:53
Your job is looking after your brother.
28:54
Who's going to take care of him? This episode of All the Right
28:58
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this episode of all the right movies.
29:45
OK, so. Just to wrap us up here then,
29:48
John, I've got a few quick fire questions for you.
29:50
Just the first answer that comes to your mind.
29:53
Don't think about it too much, just just throw out whatever
29:56
whatever you wish my. Intuition is on 10 right now.
30:00
OK, here it comes. So first question, which
30:03
musician would you love to act with in a movie?
30:06
Tom Waits. Fantastic choice.
30:09
In a film about your life, what songs would be on the
30:12
soundtrack? Oh.
30:15
Tangled Up in Blue Mother-in-law by Ernie K Doe and oh God,
30:24
something from West Side Story somewhere.
30:27
I think that's the name of the song.
30:28
Yeah, great. And which actor would you have
30:32
play you in that film? Oh God.
30:36
Oh, who's just dumb enough? Who would be dumb enough?
30:41
Viggo Mortensen? Oh yes.
30:44
Great choice, no? Offense Viggo.
30:46
No, no. Viggo and I go way back because
30:49
we were both married. We were both married to the same
30:51
woman at different times. Oh, really?
30:53
Yes, we were right. We.
30:54
Were both. Married to Exene and I'm very
30:58
lucky to have him to call him a dear friend.
31:01
Incredible actor as well. Yes, he is.
31:03
Yes. He is.
31:04
That was actually one of my other choices was History of
31:08
Violence, which was just before Eastern Promises.
31:11
Yeah. And Cronenberg.
31:13
Yeah. Great movie, anyway.
31:15
Yeah. Fantastic.
31:16
And yeah, he's fantastic in it. Yes, he is.
31:19
If out of the three that you have chosen today, John, if you
31:22
could save just one of them, keep one of them.
31:24
Say, for example, on a desert island, which one would be
31:27
yours? Which one would you save?
31:29
Oh, it would be. Out of the past, hands down
31:32
great and. Finally, if you could choose one
31:35
of your songs to play as the credits roll on that film, which
31:38
would it be? Oh.
31:41
There's a song that I did called Worried Brow and and it's just
31:45
saying it's talking to a woman that he just wants to ease.
31:49
I just want to ease your worried brow.
31:51
Great choice. Or no, I actually I'm.
31:53
I'm going to choose one for my new movie.
31:55
I mean for my new, for my new record, which is called Where
31:59
the Songbirds Live. Fantastic.
32:02
That is, is that and that's not a single yet.
32:04
That's not, that's not one that's out yet.
32:06
That comes out in a couple of days.
32:07
Yeah, I'll, I'll send you a copy.
32:09
Lovely. Well, I mean, it seems like a,
32:12
an appropriate time then to discuss your new album, John.
32:15
It fables in a foreign land. It comes out in a few days time,
32:18
end of May. Can you tell me a bit about
32:21
that? Because I've, I've, I've
32:23
listened to the singles and I've had them on repeat.
32:26
I am obsessed with El Roman. So I cannot get enough of it.
32:30
I love it. Oh, good.
32:31
Oh. Good.
32:32
It's a bit of an ear worm. I think the the chorus, yeah,
32:35
it's magnificent. Well, to the.
32:38
Long story short is that it came to me, the just the title came
32:42
to me in a dream and I started thinking I don't normally work
32:47
backwards like that. I don't do concept and then work
32:50
backwards, just sort of things develop and then I write them.
32:54
But I started thinking about the this character El Romanza, which
32:58
is sort of Spanglish. It's not really Spanish or
33:00
English. But then through life, there are
33:03
people that you know that exaggerate and then you start
33:06
catching them in basically exaggerating about something
33:10
that you were part of and realizing that no, it did not
33:14
happen like that. And then you might think that
33:16
they're actually just liars. And then you start then you
33:20
start questioning your friendship with them.
33:21
And and if you're smart, you just end it quietly and and move
33:24
on. It's all also set in the you
33:26
know, I had this whole record set in the in a pre industrial
33:29
time. So it's just someone who who is
33:34
constantly exaggerating. And then I asked Luis Perez from
33:38
the band Los Lobos to write some a verse in Spanish.
33:42
And he added a whole other element to it, which is I can,
33:45
I'm, I can be your best friend. I'm going to steal your heart.
33:49
You better be careful what you say.
33:51
And then when he leaves, people don't know why or how he left,
33:56
just that he was a liar. So he he, he made an impression,
34:00
but it was a very, very bad impression on people.
34:04
And that's the Long story short. It's it's a great.
34:07
Song and I'm very excited for the album there's a lot of buzz
34:11
surrounding it and there's been a lot of kind words being said
34:13
in the the reviews that I've that I've read over the last
34:17
week or so so yeah can't wait to hear that well I.
34:22
Let me know if you have a record player and I'll figure out how
34:25
to send you an LP. Oh, wonderful.
34:27
Well, I. Do.
34:28
And that would be magnificent if you could.
34:30
And that would be wonderful. Yeah.
34:33
And you're touring the album. You've got a string of dates in
34:35
the summer and some dates with X later in the year, which is
34:38
very, very exciting. Yeah.
34:40
I mean. It's difficult going back to
34:43
work. I mean, we just, we just play.
34:45
We had some dates that we did in December.
34:48
Pretty much everybody in the band got COVID even though we
34:50
were vaxxed and boosted and all that stuff.
34:52
And it sucked. Luckily nobody had had hard
34:57
symptoms. They were pretty mild.
34:59
But you know, you're out again and you're in the thick of
35:02
things and and you know, you have to wear a mask.
35:05
And we just did three dates in Southern California and luckily
35:08
I came back. That was my number one job is
35:10
not to get sick and break back to my partner.
35:14
But I'm I'm. Of course, excited.
35:15
I want to play these songs for people.
35:18
X has got a pretty long tour with The Psychedelic Furs, who
35:21
are one of my favorites, and they made a new record around
35:25
the same time or released a new record around the same time we
35:27
did in 2020, which is a fantastic record.
35:30
Made of Rain is what it's called.
35:32
And it's good to, it's good to have a, a job during the
35:36
lockdown. I actually thought, oh, I guess
35:40
retiring wouldn't be so bad if I if I could afford it, which I
35:44
can't. But yeah, it's, it's weird.
35:47
It's, it's a very fraught, you know, because some people think,
35:50
oh, you know, the the mighty plague is over.
35:53
And it's like, it's not, it's not, it's not rainy, no.
35:57
Yeah. As safe.
35:59
As you can while you're on the road, John I, I will.
36:01
You can count on it because I don't want to get sick.
36:04
Well, John, thank you. Very much for coming on the
36:06
show. I'm a big fan and it's been a
36:08
huge pleasure. So thank you very much.
36:10
Good luck with the album and the tour.
36:12
I I wish I could. Say we're going to be in
36:14
Newcastle, but not yet. Couple of great times in
36:18
Newcastle as as I walked out of the pub dodging the puddles of
36:23
you know what? Especially on a Friday or
36:26
Saturday night. Yeah, that sounds like
36:28
Newcastle. Yeah, people warned me.
36:30
Of that and I thought, Oh no, this is just an exaggeration.
36:33
And it was it was brilliant. I I loved every moment of it and
36:39
it was brilliant and sad because it was cold and like the the
36:43
women had like short, short skirts and it was like, Oh my
36:48
God, what, what, what ultimate weird ultimate universe is this?
36:53
It was just, yeah, cinematic. They would say.
36:56
Very cinematic. Very.
36:58
Cinematic I can. Think of a few other.
36:59
Words. Yeah.
37:00
Yeah. Crazy.
37:02
Great, great. Well, thank you very much, John.
37:05
Absolute pleasure. Take care.
37:06
Pleasure was mine. We'll see you soon.
37:08
Bye. Music.