AMOS LEE – MISSION BELL

Ann Kathrin Bronner: Amos, with Mission Bell you have just released your album #4. How has been the development from the first album to the recent release?

Amos Lee: Well, you just grow as a person a little bit. And I think the songs get influenced by you. You know, you gonna take on life and things like that. I mean, it is not a whole take, but people are coming in and out of your life and you want to write songs about them. So I think it is much about the people that come in and out of your life than it is about being a different person.

AKB: Many of your songs are written in a certain period of your life or in a certain mood. Isn’t it sometimes a little bit odd to perform a song that has been written in a depressive period, but now you are maybe in love with somebody?

AL: (laughs) That’s a great question. I don’t think it is necessarily about my feelings at the moment as much as it’s about the connection that we all have to those songs. Because, yes, sometimes you don’t want to relive all that stuff all the time. But you know what, people wanna hear those songs and I like playing them. So I think you just do what you got to do. And you know ultimately it is good to be able to sing those songs, because they are all parts of my life.

AKB: So it’s just like an actor?

AL: No, because I don’t think I’m going into a different character to sing a song. You are sort of recalling memories I suppose. It is not as detailed as being an actor.

AKB: But is it still authentic at that moment?

AL: Oh yeah, for sure. You know, those emotions come because it is not somebody else’s songs. They are all songs that I wrote so it’s always authentic. Every night it’s the whole point that I’m trying to sing those songs as authentically as I can.

AKB: I could imagine that it would be easier to sing a sad song in a good period as vice versa.

AL: Maybe so. But for me it’s always just been about appreciating that I have those songs and trying to serve them every night.

AKB: When you are in the studio, how is the creative process? Are you there with your drummer and your bassist? Or with studio musicians? The guest appearances joining you? How does it work in studio?

AL: I try to do as much vocal stuff as I possibly can live. I like to do this much live singing and live band stuff, and getting the whole thing together as a concept, as an idea. You know you open yourself up just to life: You’re sitting in a room with the other people and you try to bounce the energy of each other and respond to what’s happening musically. And keep it as open and as focussed, but as improvisational as you can.

AKB: To have this certain mood just like being live on stage?

AL: Yeah, I think it is. I think it’s a little bit more focussed in the studio, because you can stop and start. But we try to do it just as a live gig, and I want to capture as much live stuff in the studio as we can, so it’s not that different. And after the recordings, mixing and mastering take a big part actually. You always try to keep things as natural and open as you can. But you know, mixing is just a delicate form. What you are trying to do is to create an ambience for the music. That isn’t necessarily ever standing out on a tone, but it’s the overall sound and feel of the music being so moving to you that you don’t understand if somebody has mixed it that way for a reason. You know you choose somebody to mix the record because you think you have a common vision or a common goal. And you think about music the same way. And when you play the songs live you want to capture as much as you can from the good stuff of the record as possible.

AKB: How important is the influence of a producer or the studio atmosphere?

AL: You are influenced by everyone you work with, constantly. The studio atmosphere is always gonna be influence on you because it is the environment you are putting your songs into, you know. So it is always gonna be something that matters to you, for sure. A lot of time I just try to work with people who I am familiar with and I do understand and like. It is like having an idea and hope that they get what I am doing. This time I just knew those guys from Calexico and appreciate what they were doing, and we had a common acquaintance. So I got in touch with them that way. It was really cool, you know, a really great experience to work with them. But though I try to work every time with somebody who has at least a slightly different point of view than I do, because I don’t really find that much stuff is interesting when it is all the same. I think that always the ultimate artist-producer-collaboration is to bring two people work from different places together.

AKB: You released your first album already in 2005. But at which age did you remark that you have this gift being a singer-songwriter?

AL: I think I started writing songs when I was about 18. And it sort of grown into itself.

AKB: But that’s rather late, isn’t it?

AL: Yeah, I guess comparatively speaking, but there is no real time for anyone doing anything like this. It’s kind of to do what you do. And I did not have a musical education as a child. I just have been a kid, going to school and stuff like that – and even didn’t consider music until I was older. After finishing my studies and working as a teacher, I got surrounded with musicians and felt real inspired by them. So I wanted to take a shot and try to do the best I could. You know, trying to chase down the dream of music and the process of songwriting. It was more like me wanting to do something that I loved and knew that I was inspired to do than it was anything else.

AKB: Do you consider yourself a singer, a musician, an artist or a storyteller? Which is your main focus?

AL: Well, I think the good thing about a person who writes songs on a piano or on a guitar is that you are sort of doing all of those things at one time. It really combines a lot of different forms. It is very social and it is very interactive. And it’s also very personal, but at the time very far-reaching. So, you get to do a lot of things and cover a lot of grounds being a songwriter.

AKB: But what is your main intention? Is it to entertain? Or is it to transport a political or social statement? Which is your intention to do this?

AL: I don’t think that there’s one intention. I think that it’s sort of the whole picture. I mean you wanna put your ideas out there. You wanna express yourself. You also wanna connect with people. I think those are the two main goals: To express yourself and to connect with people.

AKB: Do you think a musician should be political?

AL: I think musicians should sing about what they feel, and sing about what moves them and is honest to them. I don’t think you necessarily have to be anything other than sure to what you want to. I’m happy to listen to anything a musician sings that he actually believes in. That’s all I really want from somebody. If he is talking about loving somebody, or talking about some political stuff, whatever it is he wants to me, that’s what I want to hear. I wanna hear what someone’s most passionate about singing and can bring his real emotion into it.

AKB: But isn’t it sometimes hard to express these really intimate moments in your music? Sometimes it’s just like being naked on stage, transferring all your emotions to the public.

AL: No, not really. I mean it is part of what I signed up for. When you are writing songs as a musician, you’re not going like: “But I can’t tell you how I feel.” You know, that’s the whole point. And there’s a way I feel about it: If it feels real enough to come out through a song, it is real enough to sing.

AKB: And for Mission Bell, which has been the main influence?

AL: I think Mission Bell is a reflection of experience and coming to a deeper understanding of my situation.

AKB: It’s a sort of retrospective? Because the mood of the album is rather depressed, calm, reflective – also your character?

AL: When I write these songs, it is. But I think there’s for every human being lot of dynamicism in everyone’s being. I don’t think anyone is having one particular kind of character, especially if they are dynamic people. I think that’s what makes us so interesting.

AKB: So you also could do some uptempo disco songs?

AL: (laughs) I don’t know about disco. There are whiles since I have done any disco.

AKB: Hard to believe this could match... Your career started being support of Norah Jones. Did you just give her a call: “Hi, I’m Amos Lee, I would like to be your opener?” Or how did it work?

AL: (laughs) No. She came to a couple of my shows and liked what I was doing. And then, when she went out on tour, she searched who would be a good supporting act for her, and then it worked out like that. She lived in New York and I lived in Philly. But we were based in the same ideas as musicians. So I think that’s pretty close.

AKB: You have later opened Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, which is incredible for a young artist. What have been your thoughts when you got all these invitations?

AL: These have been really great gigs, and to be at one of the shows of an artist that I have always admired was just a great experience across the board for me.

AKB: But how can you preserve honesty and being grounded when you are touring with such musical icons?

AL: Well, I think what surrounds their whole scene is lots of integrity and good intention. You know, the point is everybody is trying to serve their songs every night. And that’s what the goal is, so that’s how you stay grounded. Because that’s what your job is.

AKB: Is this also internalised in your character: staying grounded?

AL: I mean like I said before, to an extent I don’t think you can say anything about somebody and narrow it down. But when I’m playing music I feel pretty grounded.

AKB: On Mission Bell you have a cover version from Willie Nelson of one of your songs. Normally you release a song, and some months or years after another artist would do a cover version. How did this come about?

AL: I am happy and thankful that Willie took the time to do it with me. It was really great! It is beautiful to hear his voice anytime. And it is a real gaze to hear his voice singing one of my songs. But it is just a reprise, just another take on the song that I felt was interesting, like a more intimate version of the song. Cause it is a real intimate tune. And you know, Willie is an American legend, and I have the opportunity for him to be on a song, and I just felt really grateful that he took the time to do it. So I wanted to include it.

AKB: Do you think his interpretation of El Camino is better?

AL: (laughs) Probably his is better! I have to say yes…