STACK Issue 151 May 2017

74 / 92

of what the spirit
of the records was,
particularly the
second and third. The
second one was really
the result of the first
being so huge, and
feeling like, man, I just
want to make music
for fun without the
pressure… you feel
that brattiness on that
record. The third was
the result of a super
painful breakup. This
record, it feels like it’s
right on the surface…
there [are] so many things weighing on
everybody’s minds here [in America].”
Utilising the talents of Jeff Trott –
Crow’s producer, whom she’s known
for 23 years and describes as her
“musical husband” – the musician’s
latest album does engage with current
socio-political issues (just check out the video
for the single Halfway There featuring Gary Clark
Jr., and notice which political leader’s bobble
head is the only one not bobbing). Woo Woo
is a cheeky feminist anthem; the awesome
knocking cowbell and sweet glock of Grow Up
make it sound like a Sky Ferreira hit; and Roller
Skate questions whether the lack of human
connection in kids’ lives might affect them
badly in the long run. “[Technology] may keep
us connected but it also creates a massive
12 MAY 2017
SHERYL
CROW
continued
visit MUSIC NEWS
There are a few little identifiers that make a
song distinctly 'Sheryl Crow', and you can
find the major one on the title track of the folk-
rock-blues icon’s new album, Be Myself. It’s the
way she bends the ends of her phrases: they
swing up, almost like an Australian inflection, or
they curve down, like she’s finishing a spoken
sentence. It’s such an innate style, in fact, that
Crow doesn’t even realise she does it. “That is
funny,” she laughs. “I remember doing a master
class at Dartmouth, and one of the things
we were talking about was what creates [a
vocalist’s] original sound – a lot of the time it’s
the intervals they choose. I’m completely not
conscious of doing that.”
You can hear those conversational bends
through Crow’s past nine albums, and in
preparation for her tenth, she says she revisited
them – but only a few. “I can safely say I never
listen to my records – that would be torture,”
she smiles. “But I wanted to remind myself
Read the full interview online at
chasm,” Crow says. “If
I had a crystal ball… I
don’t know how long
humanity is going to
be able to sustain this
way of living, or if it’s
going to have to get
a lot worse before it
ultimately changes.”
(The person hollering
“Roller skaters!” on
that track is Jeff Trott:
“I’m from a really small
town, so we used to
roller skate a lot; it’s
where you went and
hooked up with people
– they’d get on the mic, “Roller skaters,
let’s dance.”)
Love Will Save The Day is the most
moving ballad you’ll have heard in
ages, and features the breathy chords
of a harmonium. “That song was the
result of a really tragic situation with
this young boy – he was 14 – who committed
suicide,” Crow explains. “His parents, they’re a
couple that I’ve met. It was one of those things
that really made me stop and think how difficult
it must be growing up in this day and age.
It’s already hard to grow up, but to have the
pressures that these kids have now… that song
was inspired by this idea that you’re never alone
– even when you’re so convinced that you’re
alone, you’re never really alone. It just takes
someone reminding you of that.” ZKR
Be Myself
by Sheryl Crow
is out now via
Warner.
BAD//DREEMS
Alex Cameron has a special
skill whereby if you ask him
about any particular teeny detail
in one of Bad//Dreems’ tracks, he
can tell you where he was when
it spawned in the band’s brain. “I
mean, I have a terrible memory
for a lot of things – the important,
day-to-day things,” he says. “But in
terms of music and melody, I can
kind of remember things easily. I
guess because I’m always thinking
about songwriting… I'm always
going back to writing in my head.”
It makes talking about the
band’s excellent second album
Gutful extremely easy; there are
no vagaries about inspiration
or motivation, just nail-on-head
explanations – and at the time
of our conversation, the guitarist
is at a surgeon’s conference in
Auckland. Funnily enough, the first
thing we hear on Gutful is body
horror-related: it’s vocalist Ben
Marwe, asking incredulously “Are
you bleeding?”
"Well, Ben was doing the vocals
for [opener Johnny Irony]
and he wasn’t really in the
zone,” Cameron explains.
“He was struggling with
it, even though it’s a
pretty up-tempo track.
With any takes in the
studio sometimes, you’re trying
to link the actual work and energy
of a particular time and place,
and you’ve got to get into the
mindset. So I thought I’d try and
inspire him.” And the way to
inspire Ben is, apparently, strip
naked, start dancing, and
then have your nose start
spontaneously bleeding. “I
don’t think he completed
the take because he
burst out laughing. But
it worked: after that he
did the next take, and
that was the take.” For
concerned fans: Cameron
doesn’t usually get random
nosebleeds, but “considering the
subject matter of that song it was
kind of appropriate.”
Utilising Cameron’s magical
mental compass, he reveals
that stand-out track 1000 Miles
Away – a guitar-heavy romp with
a definite DMA’s feel to it – was
conceived while on tour in 2015. “I
can distinctly remember,” he says,
“that we were in Brisbane at the
Woolly Mammoth soundcheck.
Ben just started playing those
opening chords you hear, and then
one by one every member of the
band joined in, and we all just
seemed to play the right thing. It
was a chance [for me] to play a bit
of guitar that was a bit psychedelic
and random. I’m really looking
forward to playing it live because
it’s one of my favourites.”
Another blue-chip cut is the
excellent Nice Guy, the message
behind which Cameron doesn’t
hesitate to explain. “It’s basically
about the problem with male
aggression, and domestic
violence, and poor behaviour by
men, which is a big thing in the
world that needs to be changed,”
he says. “It’s often excused by
people around those guys, you
know: ‘He’s a nice guy.’ I think it’s
a very terrible thing that’s been
engrained in our culture for a long
time.” ZKR
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
Gutful by
Bad//Dreems is
out now via Ivy
League.
TOURING
08/06 - 17/06