INTERVIEW : 2000-04 Joseph Arthur comes to town (theraft.com)

'This is me and this is me sitting in a room with a guitar crushing down onto my head. This is where I dream'

This is an unexpected start to the interview, Joseph Arthur holding up his guitar to camera and reeling off his first of many intriguing sound-bites. Still I am a professional and am not phased (yet !) I had recently been reading through Joseph's diary extracts from life on the road. He has been touring round the globe for some time now with the likes of Gomez and Ben Harper and chronicles his experiences in his on line tour diaries. Prolific and expressive they deserve publication in their own right.

I begin with a Paris extract - In Paris - It's easy to become.......

"Oh you're just going on about the bad ones !!!"

Are you going to publish any of the diary extracts.

"Well it is published on to the web which is great because we can publish and it so doesn't have to be good ! Even our shit - which is bad probably - I say fuck it - it's more fun to take a chance !"

I continue .... In Milan ; the audience are crowding like snakes and when the voodoo sticks are rubbed together nothing happens.....

"I was trying to describe different states of performance but there are some more positive one in there ! (Joseph reiterates for about the 3rd time.) They are probably just not as fun to read."

Correct, we English just love to love the negative side. I finally deliver the line that I have been trying to get to ; Do you find it hard putting on performance after performance ?

Usually no, it kicks ass !! But it happens. It's interesting to document what happens inside the performers head - when you do interviews typically you are not being real as it is so posed. In a way - I give more of myself - like interviewing myself."

So have you got to know any of your touring partners well ?

"We recorded a song with Gomez in Los Angeles called 'I Donated Myself to the Mexican Army' which came out really well."

The new album in entitled 'Welcome to Where I'm From' so it is only right that I should enquire into where Joseph is actually from !

"I used to live in London so it's strange walking round as you see a lot of ghosts. I had a life here. I'm from Ohio originally from but live in New York now."


So....."The album is like an invitation . I am experimenting with being open as opposed to experimenting with being closed which I did before - but that didn't work. I am trying to connect with people but that is very dangerous to do as people often resent it when you try and connect with them. Some people resent it - some people appreciate it. The people that do try and connect are usually very sensitive and so when they stumble upon the people that resent them trying to connect they sometimes get hurt. So it's dangerous to try and connect. But you only live once."

Well one thing is for sure - Joseph is fond of the word 'connect'. Maybe I'm on to something ?! Maybe it is time to turn the conversation around to philosophy. So what is your outlook Joseph ?

Nonplussed in the slightest he points to a hanging picture behind us : " Roses embalmed in gold pictures." Errrghhhh ? " I think that means I'm trying to value life. I'm just kidding !!....I'm trying to trap life into it's value.I believe in god. I don't think that he is particularly punishing. I do sacrifice lambs though !

OK right, so who do you look up to ?

"I don't have any heroes except for anybody ! I listen to a lot of Miles Davis, Nirvana, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Beatles and I love Andy Warhol and De Kooning in terms of art."

Well that was reasonably straightforward. Music or art - one choice please ?

"I get obsessive about the music and the painting at different times. Music is more my wife and paintings are more my girlfriend on the side........... not that I condone that sort of behaviour.. I'm not suggesting that !"

Joseph Arthur was recently nominated for a Grammy for the packaging to his previous release. Did you enjoy the Grammies ?

"It's fun. I should have start writing the tour journal then. It was a gas. I didn't expect that we would win, to get nominated it was just sheer outrageous. I knew in my heart there was no chance we could win - well 95% sure... I didn't prepare a speech - it's daytime - no one really cares. It was late and we were dressed up as we were going to the parties afterwards any way. It was funny though as we found out after about 5 minutes that we had not won so we left as there was no other reason for us to really be there. And then we went to eat some Mexican food and went to the parties. It was an honour. I didn't really think of it until I saw the programme and then saw how much attention they had given it. It wasn't til after we had not won that I felt honoured by it."

What got you in to it in the first place ?

"Some way to redeem my life.....I was full of terminal self- hatred right from Kindergarten on. I just remember like being really heavy when I was really young I never was a kid. I was just really young but I was always an adult. I think I had a strange upbringing but I think that I am just a strange person with a strange upbringing but then I think everyone has a strange upbringing. They're all fucking nuts ! Mine was no exception to that rule but I think there was something a bit strange to begin with like with my mind - a bit unusual .."

Time was nearly up but I had to ask the seemingly obvious....Do you take drugs?

"I don't take drugs. I used to take drugs but then found out that they are really bad for you. Somebody said "Hey they are really bad for you" so I thought "Shit, I better stop taking them".

Finally after the most surreal but engaging 20 minutes I asked what he had got up his sleeve for the rest of the year ?

"I'm gonna go to New York and see if she'll go out with me (points to girl on magazine).... If my girlfriend sees this I'm just kidding !... I'm going out on the road forever...I've been on the road forever which is why I'm so scattered and weird.."

At the end Joseph asked if we could take out the bit that he had a strange mind. For someone that had been stranger than any one that I had ever spoken to I found that really endearing. Joseph Arthur composes music, poetry, sculpts and paints all with a depth that someone with just one of those skills would be willing to accept the artist's sufferance for. If that meant that Joseph Arthur is in turmoil I wouldn't like to say - using the foil of abstract comedy I was kept well away from his true persona. But you can draw your own conclusions from his notes from the road.