November, 1994
By Steve Malins
The legacy of Buckley's father Tim has proved enduring, but it's his mum who provided the true inspiration...
Jeff Buckley
IN THE READING Festival control room, singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley looks over the weekend's line-up. "I don't quite fit in here," he smiles, pointing to the name Henry Rollins, tattooed in black ink on the running order. An hour Earlier, Buckley had delivered his unique mixture of folk, pop, and sonic angst, contorting his voice into angelic swoops and self-indulgent acrobatics.
"Sometimes I've been so wrong on stage," he confesses. "My pants fell down one time. I played a 15-minute song with my pants down and my eyes closed. A bad gig is so disappointing. It's like being heavily condomed and still trying to make love to someone you like very much. It's just fuckin' cranky as hell."
Live, his nakedly emotional approach is a hit-or-miss affair. However, Buckley's first full album, Grace, benefits from starker, more direct editing of his songs. It's a striking work, but it has called up the ghost of the 26-year-old singer's father, cult '60s folk artist Tim, whose name appears in every article written about the prodigy. "It was somebody else's past, it wasn't ours," he argues-his mother knew Tim for only a year, and Jeff spent just nine days with him as a child. Musically, he tips his hat to his mother, who used to play him everything from "Gershwin to Charles Mingus". He adds: "I get my sense of rhythm from my mum. She's from Panama and she used to teach me all this Latin music. I'm always a little bit behind the beat, and that's my ma."
Buckley learned his independence the hard way, as "the only man in the house". After a rootless adolescence in California, Jeff eventually settled in New York's East Village. He released a mini-LP, recorded at Cafe Sin-e earlier this year, and the boho meeting place remains a favorite hang out. "The East Village is a tough, artistic community. You get to own your dark side, because you know you might have to defend yourself and kill. If your children ask you one day: 'Daddy, have you ever killed anybody?' it may be true."
By Steve Malins
The legacy of Buckley's father Tim has proved enduring, but it's his mum who provided the true inspiration...
Jeff Buckley
IN THE READING Festival control room, singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley looks over the weekend's line-up. "I don't quite fit in here," he smiles, pointing to the name Henry Rollins, tattooed in black ink on the running order. An hour Earlier, Buckley had delivered his unique mixture of folk, pop, and sonic angst, contorting his voice into angelic swoops and self-indulgent acrobatics.
"Sometimes I've been so wrong on stage," he confesses. "My pants fell down one time. I played a 15-minute song with my pants down and my eyes closed. A bad gig is so disappointing. It's like being heavily condomed and still trying to make love to someone you like very much. It's just fuckin' cranky as hell."
Live, his nakedly emotional approach is a hit-or-miss affair. However, Buckley's first full album, Grace, benefits from starker, more direct editing of his songs. It's a striking work, but it has called up the ghost of the 26-year-old singer's father, cult '60s folk artist Tim, whose name appears in every article written about the prodigy. "It was somebody else's past, it wasn't ours," he argues-his mother knew Tim for only a year, and Jeff spent just nine days with him as a child. Musically, he tips his hat to his mother, who used to play him everything from "Gershwin to Charles Mingus". He adds: "I get my sense of rhythm from my mum. She's from Panama and she used to teach me all this Latin music. I'm always a little bit behind the beat, and that's my ma."
Buckley learned his independence the hard way, as "the only man in the house". After a rootless adolescence in California, Jeff eventually settled in New York's East Village. He released a mini-LP, recorded at Cafe Sin-e earlier this year, and the boho meeting place remains a favorite hang out. "The East Village is a tough, artistic community. You get to own your dark side, because you know you might have to defend yourself and kill. If your children ask you one day: 'Daddy, have you ever killed anybody?' it may be true."
- Jeff Buckley's album, Grace, is out now. He begins a UK tour early next year
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