Up Dated: 11/21/02

Duncan Sheik is currently on Tour for his newest release Day Light on Atlantic Records. Here is an interview for the album Humming.

You've all heard Barely Breathing, the tune from Duncan Sheik's first album that's been burning up the air waves. Well, now a second CD of songs has come out much to the delight of his many fans. And just like his music, a chat with Mr. Sheik found the man to be thoughtful and articulate. Read on for insight into this talented song writer.

Highwire Daze: In the song Alibi, what are you hiding from that it's so important to have an alibi for?

Duncan Sheik: (laughs)It's a bit of a metaphor for when you feel like the whole world is against you and you need that one person who you know is always going to be on your side. It wouldn't be anything specific -- but more just a general feel of being chased down and beat upon -- and then that desire to have that person who always going to be there to stand up for you no matter what. I would Alibi is one of the very few love songs I have on the record -- or maybe the only one really.

HD: Unconditional love maybe?

Duncan: Unconditional love? You know, that's a big thing. I think I would be presumptuous to say that I knew so much about unconditional love. It certainly is a nice ideal.

HD: In Bite Your Tongue, sometimes we all find ourselves biting our tongues in something we may have said. Is there something you many have said that you wrote this song about?

Duncan: Is there something I may have said? I mean, I complain about things all the time that I should shut up about. And that's kind of what's the song about. It's more a song that asks people to face up to the fact that the things that occur to them in their lives are a reflection of their own life -- and they're not things to be blamed upon outside forces. And in fact, doing that is a big, colossal waste of time.

HD: There's a lot of slower material on your record. Do you feel that material gets as much attention as your more poppy material?

Duncan: It's funny -- most critics seem to go to the tracks that have the most trenchant ideas and that break away from convention the most. People like the intellegencia in terms of music listeners. The first tracks that they'll go to are Varying Degrees Of Con Artistry or A Body Goes Down or let's say maybe And That Says It All just because of the references -- and that those are songs about ideas as opposed to just being songs about falling in or out of love. Yeah, they get paid attention to, to some degree. But how much they get paid attention to out there in the marketplace -- it's wishful thinking. I realize and understand that, but I don't have any desire to compromise on that stuff. Of course I'm going to write a certain number of songs understanding the fact that there are certain parameters which you must record a song if it's going to be on the radio at all -- but I'm not going to make a whole record that way by any means. Frankly, I think if people are really listening and paying attention to a record, they don't want to hear that formula or convention either.

HD: I was reading in your bio that you listened to some of the material of Talk Talk and was inspired by that. What inspired you to write the material you do now?

Duncan: Definitely those late Talk Talk records are really important. And I don't know if you've heard Mark Hollis' solo record (former vox of Talk Talk), but those things are very inspirational for me. It would be commercial suicide for me to go make a record exactly like that. And as much as I love that music, I'd be acting a little bit in bad faith because that's not exactly who I am. I do want to appeal to a fairly large number of people only because I have ideas I want to communicate. And believe me, it's not out of any sense of self aggrandizement because I'm not even comfortable with that kind of intention. But I do want the music to get heard. So I do make it in such a way that hopefully it reaches some more or less universal part of the listener.

HD: So do you try to reach for the inner psyche, for the soul of the listener?

Duncan: Yeah, of course. That's the only thing that's really interesting to me.

HD: Do you have a fan club yet?

Duncan: I think there is an Internet oriented one, but there isn't an official Duncan Sheik fan club yet, I think maybe on purpose.

HD: When will your tour end up in Los Angeles?

Duncan: We're playing at The El Rey Theater towards the end of November.

Duncan Sheik's new Atlantic Records release is called Humming, and it's in stores now.

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