Art+Performance, October 28, 1994
Written and submitted by David Nagler
When one speaks of singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley, one would use such words as epiphany, passion, and, the title of his debut album, grace. Blessed with one of the most dynamic male voices in popular music, Buckley is able to present music which almost defies classification. Which is, of course, the point.
Even with just his own voice and a guitar, Buckley makes any elaborate song, which he writes take on a life of its own, and he makes any song by another artist his own. With a backup band including bass player Mick Grondahl, drummer Matt Johnson, and guitarist Michael Tighe, he brings both of these to new heights.
And hearing Jeff Buckley speak...well, that's what interviews are for.
He speaks with almost a simple eloquence.
Every word carefully in order to perfectly capture not only the meaning of his statement, but also the sound of the words.
For instance, as Buckley spoke with art+performance from a conference room at Sony, he spoke of the Europe he just returned from touring as "intoxicating" and described the recent concert he played at New York's historic Supper Club at the College Music Journal Festival as, "a huge, beautiful inviting woman that has nothing to say."
He doesn't forget his "roots."
His first release was a four-song EP recorded at New York's Sin-e Cafe, which Buckley still has a soft spot in his heart for. He says, "I'll never stop booking gigs there. It's a different kind of work that exists when you play in in small places rather than even something a little bit bigger. You can be very detailed in what you say and do, and people are able to see it."
Also, Buckley isn't one to downplay his influences, as if they were a vital part of himself. He says, "There were obsessions that hogged most of the covers, but there was always something else on the outskirts. I dug hardcore...Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, Murphy's Law, stuff like that...and Robert Johnson at the same time. I can't say which one I dug more...I think I've always been out of step with everything. I was mohawked for a long time, but I liked a lot of other stuff."
He speaks with an honesty which
can be almost chilling. In discussing the opening song on Grace, "Mojo Pin," with lines like "If only you'd come back to me/filling up my side/ wouldn't need no Mojo Pin/to keep me satisfied..." Buckley refers to a "Mojo Pin" as, "a pin with black magic in it." But when pressed further he replies, "Plainly speaking...it's a euphemism for a dropper full of smack that you shoot into your arm."
He also speaks quite candidly about the period of his life which wasn't too hopeful. "I had a big depression where I didn't want to touch anything, I didn't want to look in the mirror, I just wanted to sleep all day and die...And then I didn't want to die anymore...in fact I wanted to live copiously. So I went about doing that, and still am-trying to be born...Sometimes voodoo can come and grab you and kill you if you're not careful."
He is very ambivalent when speaking
about his father, the late folk-free jazz pioneer Tim Buckley. Jeff had little to no contact contact with his natural father, and certainly not much of any immediate feeling for his music. The first time he heard it, Jeff says, "I was pretty young-I think I was more interested in watching Sesame Street."
However, discussing the closing number on Grace, "Dream Brother," Jeff alludes to certain scars that still exist. The song was written for, "a friend that I still love very much and really look up to. There was a time that I felt like he was losing it. I guess all the time he was in control but it looked pretty careless and I was afraid for him. It stirred up ancient fears for me that I'd loose him. He has kids somewhere and I didn't want them to end up like me."
He is instilled with a desire to discover.
With an American tour underway, Buckley is more than prepared. "There are really great places in the middle of the country. A lot soul in America. I'm really glad about this tour because now I get to see exactly where I live. It's fuckin' massive. And really retarded in lots of places, but there's lots of soul in other places."
Yet Buckley is aware of the "price." He says, "It's a very a very wild existence, emotionally. You can be stretched to breaking and live like that for months and months. I'd be surrounded by strangers the whole time, which is no real connected support group. It's a pretty dangerous existence."
He truly believes in music as a sacred
entity. For one who has the means to make quite a first impression, he plays quite a few songs by other artists. But he performs these songs, from Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" to Benjamin Britten's "Corpus Christi Carol" to Big Star's Kangaroo" entirely out of his and the other band member's strong affections for them.
"Music comes up in my mind, in our minds, and I like it. It fits in an evening so I put it in, and it just evolves from there. Sort of like the same sensation of listening to the radio and just the right song comes on at just the right time. I like for us to have an 'all-access pass' to anything that we need to do at the time. The will of the psyche is the will of the band."
He has a true need and love for other
people. This comes through even in the title of his album, Grace. Buckley considers "grace" to be, "the quality about people that matters. Any hardship, any pitfall, any sling or arrow in your direction that you're forced to withstand, any abuse, or any thought of even growing old, you need that quality...grace in men is especially appealing, women are very graceful, but men usually are not, and I like it when I see it in them. It also carries the meaning of having an implication, like the beginning of something or the death, saying grace."
After speaking with Jeff Buckley, one would feel like they know everything about him, when in reality of course, they have not even hit on a thousandth of who he is. But as his music grows, so shall the true story.
Jeff Buckley's debut album, Grace, is out on Columbia Records. He will be appearing at the Green Mill Tavern on November 8 and 9.
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