By Goro Nakagawa
Submitted by Sai
Translated by Tutu Fujimoto
It was by a mini album called "Live at Sin-E” released in late 1993 that I made sure myself a rumor that Jeff Buckley's live show was amazing. This small piece, just under 27 minutes long and containing only four songs, was recorded live for two days in August 1993 at Sin-E, a cafe on St. Mark's Place, where Jeff is based in New York. It is said that it was Colombia Records (or rather, A&R Man, Steve Berkowitz), who finally struck a deal because of a reputation for his great live performances, he came up with this live recording that he sang on a single guitar in order to relieve the pressure put on the artists to make their first album. Then only four songs were selected from among the five and a half hours of total performances for two days, and they were released in the style of Jeff Buckley's unveiling. It's only four songs, but it's not hard to learn about Jeff's charms and the greatness of his live show. His representative original songs, “Mojo Pin” and “Eternal Life”, and two cover songs, Édith Piaf’s “Je Ne Connais Pas La Fin” and Van Morrison’s “The Way Young Lovers Do” are included in it. Especially in the latter part of the cover song, which was played for more than 10 minutes, we were able to confirm the greatness of Jeff's performance as the song unfolded and swept freely along with the singer's own soul. Jeff Buckley's "Live At Sin-E" was a small piece, a so called mini-album, but the worth of listening was just like an epic work. About six months later, in the early summer of 1994, Jeff's solo debut album “Grace” advance cassette was delivered to a Japanese record company. This time, it was with the band, recorded in a way that was inevitably close to live performances. I was more and more overwhelmed by his freewheeling music when I listened to it. And then finally in August, I was able to watch my long-awaited live show in New York. I was finally able to see with my own eyes how amazing Jeff Buckley’s live show was. On August 12th, I saw Jeff Buckley at a special gig called "The Best Of Sin-E" at Wetlands in Tribeca. Jeff and the rest of Sin-E's regular artists, like Cattel Canek and Talking To The Animals, played in different locations that evening. Jeff, who made his last appearance with three band members, has spent more than two hours for his tremendous show, either finishing the U.S. tour ahead of the release of the album or giving a warm thanks to Sin-E, where he made his name. Almost all of the songs in debut album “Grace” have appeared, including cover songs such as "Hallelujah" and "Lilac Wine”. On the second or third encore, Alex Chilton’s "Kangaroo" played for nearly half an hour on end. (It had much more time and power than the performance of the 14 minutes contained in the mini CD “Peyote Radio Theater” which was released for demonstration.) Anyway, once the performance starts, it's full of dangers and thrills and you don't know where he’s going depending on his mood. Especially his changing vocals that followed by his sensitivity, moved me so violently that I could not stop shivering. Jeff on the stage, who sang with a shouting of love, farewell, pain, and joy, looked strangely divine. And almost three months later, in early November, I was able to see Jeff's live show in St. Louis, which resumed its U.S. tour after the release of the album. My everyday actions are not good however, and I don't meet the deadline at all. However, I was so lucky to see my dreaming, Jeff’s show twice in short time. Besides in St. Louis, I was able to interview him fully for an hour the day before his show. Below is the part of the St. Louis's interview I did in room 305 of a hotel, like an old English house, called Cheshire Lodge in Clayton, which he talked especially about his live shows and the band among other things. Incidentally, the stage of the Jeff Buckley band at Sheldon Ballroom in downtown St. Louis the next night wasn't nearly two and a half hours as it had been seen three months ago in New York, but about an hour . But the performance of a band in which music is "alive" as if members, including Jeff, are trying to see how each other breathes...and his free-flying vocal...I've seen his show a number of times (although I've seen it only twice), and it's all nothing but fabulous.
Submitted by Sai
Translated by Tutu Fujimoto
It was by a mini album called "Live at Sin-E” released in late 1993 that I made sure myself a rumor that Jeff Buckley's live show was amazing. This small piece, just under 27 minutes long and containing only four songs, was recorded live for two days in August 1993 at Sin-E, a cafe on St. Mark's Place, where Jeff is based in New York. It is said that it was Colombia Records (or rather, A&R Man, Steve Berkowitz), who finally struck a deal because of a reputation for his great live performances, he came up with this live recording that he sang on a single guitar in order to relieve the pressure put on the artists to make their first album. Then only four songs were selected from among the five and a half hours of total performances for two days, and they were released in the style of Jeff Buckley's unveiling. It's only four songs, but it's not hard to learn about Jeff's charms and the greatness of his live show. His representative original songs, “Mojo Pin” and “Eternal Life”, and two cover songs, Édith Piaf’s “Je Ne Connais Pas La Fin” and Van Morrison’s “The Way Young Lovers Do” are included in it. Especially in the latter part of the cover song, which was played for more than 10 minutes, we were able to confirm the greatness of Jeff's performance as the song unfolded and swept freely along with the singer's own soul. Jeff Buckley's "Live At Sin-E" was a small piece, a so called mini-album, but the worth of listening was just like an epic work. About six months later, in the early summer of 1994, Jeff's solo debut album “Grace” advance cassette was delivered to a Japanese record company. This time, it was with the band, recorded in a way that was inevitably close to live performances. I was more and more overwhelmed by his freewheeling music when I listened to it. And then finally in August, I was able to watch my long-awaited live show in New York. I was finally able to see with my own eyes how amazing Jeff Buckley’s live show was. On August 12th, I saw Jeff Buckley at a special gig called "The Best Of Sin-E" at Wetlands in Tribeca. Jeff and the rest of Sin-E's regular artists, like Cattel Canek and Talking To The Animals, played in different locations that evening. Jeff, who made his last appearance with three band members, has spent more than two hours for his tremendous show, either finishing the U.S. tour ahead of the release of the album or giving a warm thanks to Sin-E, where he made his name. Almost all of the songs in debut album “Grace” have appeared, including cover songs such as "Hallelujah" and "Lilac Wine”. On the second or third encore, Alex Chilton’s "Kangaroo" played for nearly half an hour on end. (It had much more time and power than the performance of the 14 minutes contained in the mini CD “Peyote Radio Theater” which was released for demonstration.) Anyway, once the performance starts, it's full of dangers and thrills and you don't know where he’s going depending on his mood. Especially his changing vocals that followed by his sensitivity, moved me so violently that I could not stop shivering. Jeff on the stage, who sang with a shouting of love, farewell, pain, and joy, looked strangely divine. And almost three months later, in early November, I was able to see Jeff's live show in St. Louis, which resumed its U.S. tour after the release of the album. My everyday actions are not good however, and I don't meet the deadline at all. However, I was so lucky to see my dreaming, Jeff’s show twice in short time. Besides in St. Louis, I was able to interview him fully for an hour the day before his show. Below is the part of the St. Louis's interview I did in room 305 of a hotel, like an old English house, called Cheshire Lodge in Clayton, which he talked especially about his live shows and the band among other things. Incidentally, the stage of the Jeff Buckley band at Sheldon Ballroom in downtown St. Louis the next night wasn't nearly two and a half hours as it had been seen three months ago in New York, but about an hour . But the performance of a band in which music is "alive" as if members, including Jeff, are trying to see how each other breathes...and his free-flying vocal...I've seen his show a number of times (although I've seen it only twice), and it's all nothing but fabulous.
In August, I saw your live show in Wetlands for the first time, and I got the impression that you are doing it very freely, whether it be playing or staging. I'm sure your every live shows will change a lot from time to time, right?
Well, it would be great if it changed thoroughly. But yeah, it’s certainly different every night. There is a lot of room left for improvisation in the performance, so it becomes different every night. I don't force myself to play the same performance, and the band members know that.
Do you decide the order of the songs in advance before going on stage? Or something like “take it as it comes”?
Not like that. There’s more rigorous side. But I've never made a set list. I know what song I should play next though. When I'm playing the intro of the song, I can hear two songs that I'm going to do next from those that I haven't played yet. And also what's the best way to finish the song that night.
Even if you play the same song, it will change a lot depending on the stage, right?
It may change a lot, but I don’t mean to aim for it. If everyone in the band has a different idea, it will happen naturally. In other words, even if it's the same song, all the members will feel different depending on the day. It may appear in tempo or become another melody or improvisation. Sometimes we throw guitars on the ground? But we’re not trying to do that. It's about enriching experience. If we don't let go of the song somewhere, we'll never lose our groove.
You are playing in a band now. When you were playing solo, were you free to play?
That's why I formed a band. It's like a Japanese ink painting. It is very delicate and the ink always oozes out because it is drawn on very thin paper. It’s going to make one picture by blotting the lines like that. Even with music, I sometimes think it would be better to do it like that. Making a set list may be a good thing sometimes in terms of that you can see the whole picture. But as far as I am concerned, I hope that doing things freely will produce a different kind of force.
About the member of your band, are they coming together naturally? Or you recruited them?
A good question. “Grace” was to be recorded in September 1993. Was that it? Yeah, that was it. Before that, I was still playing solo, but I wanted to organize my own band. I was hoping I could find a cool member to suit for that. And then I made it. I was very lucky. At first, Mickey. Bass player, Mick Grondahl. And Matt was next. Somebody recommended him to me, and on the first night I met him, we made music together, and made a song called "Dream Brother”. The band is a good match, and the fit has always been there from the start. So, I went on as a trio for quite a while. Then my friend and guitarist, Michael Tighe joined last. Because I wanted a fourth member. I tried with all sorts of guys, and Michael was the best for us. And I'd known him for a few years. The band was formed that way. It was so natural. And yet it must have been an exceedingly hurried event for them, as they might have been carried away by a whirlwind, I guess. Because I set up the trio three weeks before we went into Woodstock and started recording. So first of all, what I did was I rented a context, which is an extremely cheap rehearsal studio on the Lower East Side, and we all shut ourselves up there and made music together. Then I booked as many small gigs as I could and tried to do live shows. And then we went to Woodstock together. We can say that we are still developing. There is a great power in the band to go farther ahead.
Did you want to create a different sound from the live show compared to the recording?
I didn’t mean that. If the sound of the album is different from the live one, it is a result of natural evolution and change. But at the recording, it raised new problems about the volume of the instruments. For example, about the volume of the amp, if you want to record with a beautiful sound, you have to drop it. To do it that way, the noise will disappear. But live concerts, as I always say, are more direct and closer to the truth. If you watch a live show, you can get a better idea of what kind of music they’re playing and how much more accurate it is. You can change the tempo as you like when you play live. And also you don’t need to think about recording time. I know that would happen without bothering to think of what I want to play differently from the album. I think other people's albums are not very different to their live concerts. It’s not too difficult to do. Ray Charles is exactly the same as the album.
But in a way, your music seems to be the most contradictory to the act of recording. The most attractive thing about your music is that it doesn't become fixed in one form.
That's right. Suppose we started playing and someone did something unusual and special. But I wouldn’t ever say, like, 'What on earth are you doing? You're gonna blow it up!'. Never. Of course as long as we play in a band, there are rules. But there is a rule just about how to play it, and not much about what each person does. We should listen carefully to other members’ sounds and be aware of them. And I'm going to express exactly what I feel. In order to do so, we must always have our heart open, and we must being ready to be able to accept everything. That's how you get into people's minds deeply. But it's important to be aware of it. Well, depending on my mood, things are often staggering and shrunken.
In a 15-minute little documentary video called "Grace" made by Colombia for promotion, you emphasized, "Processes are important”. Could you elaborate a little bit more on what you mean?
Oh, that one. I think the question was something like, "What kind of result do you expect when you make something?”. And so I told him to fool your expectations always. When you're making things just for the sake of what the results will be, you have to make things harder by fooling them. The results are spontaneously produced in the process. So you should take care of each and every little thing you usually do. I think artists know all about it. But it's hard to keep that in mind because there are deadlines, things don't go well by the deadlines, or you’re inclined to something else. All the songs that I wrote, when I thought of how strange they all started, then went straight on and on as the way they are. That's exactly how it was when it was written. Men often say, "I'll make this song a lot more rocky" or something like that. But they can’t do that. Women can do it better than men. I agree with PJ Harvey who said that women place importance on the process. Women are more involved with this earth and the process. I’ve been doing my best though.
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