Newton Faulkner

Interview réalisée le 09.11.07 à l’Elysée Montmartre de Paris

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English :

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Hello ! Could you start of by giving us a little presentation of yourself?

Okay so I’m 22. I played guitar in strange ways for a lot of time, and I think I started with flamenco, but then I adopted many styles. Then I began to go in that style.

Which people, or musicians mean the most to you ?

Cool ! Eric Roche is a massive influence. And then about writing ways it’s people like… It’s a mixture of two different strengths : it’s people like Joni Mitchell, then people like Cornelius, an electronic stuff, and then like the Presidents of the United States of America, Green Day, and all people like that make a strange mixture.

On the third October you did a show here, how was it ?

Awesome… That was really, really great and we had a lot of fun.

What do think French people thought about you and the show ?

Well, the people at the show reacted very well, it was quiet a strange night. So when I first started, everyone was waiting outside, and there was a big hall in the middle, I was like “WOOOH!”. And by the time I’d finished, everyone had come in, and there was a proper crowd of friends.

It was the first time you were in France ?

Hum no, we’ve already been somewhere else, but I can’t remember the name...

What were your influences for your last album ?

That was the stuffs I mentioned before. Well, what was I listening to when I was recording ? Hum… When I was actually recording, I was listening to very little stuffs, because I was recording all the time. But you can link it up to the stuffs I mentioned.

Why did you choose to cover massive attack’s Teardrop ?

It came about that I was on the radio when i was asked to do the cover, which is like : “WHAT ?”. I started to think about “teardrop” half way to the second day. So I just spend the next days pretty much thinking only about it. The song is made up of four parts. It’s the base hum… Okay let me show you, let’s go. […] And there aren’t many tracks that you can cover and add stuffs on. But because this one has a simple concept, you can really do what you want, and imagine. But actually, if I didn’t have more time to think about, I wouldn’t have touched it. If I didn’t have 6 months to think about the song, there’s no way I would have done that, because I would have been too scared. I mean, such a kind of loved track, and the fact that people really like it that way, it’s a very dangerous thing to be messing around with.

There is also a track called “UFO”. Do you believe in Aliens?

Hum, i think i believe in probability. I mean, it’s quite unlikely that there’s nothing else. You know that they found a new planet that is the most earth-like planet they have come across yet. There’s like a whole kind of system. And I think there’s water, and land, and oxygen on it.

Yes that’s right, there’s water on this planet. I think there’s liquid and ice on it, so, that’s why they’re believing that…

Great!

… There could be life on it.

(rires)

I studied science so…

Woh, cool! What kind of science ?

Biology, physics and mathematics.

Right, that’s nice !

But now I changed and i study English so !

(rires)

Okay so, back to “UFO”.

What did we say ?

Why “UFO”, why the name of song ?

It was actually my parents who were really strange. But they never stopped talking about it every now and then, it can also sound weird. And then, there was my brother watching tv and it came on again, it was like a small renaissance of alien stuffs. And so we thought “why don’t we write a song about it ? No one wrote a song about aliens”. And i had the melody that was like... And there was actually my brother who said “hang on! UFO... Allo!” “Brilliant!” And then we had the song.

In France, critics have often compared you to John Butler. What do you think of his band ?

John Butler Trio is a wicked band ! He’s a wicked player. We go on very well. We spend a lot of time jamming. We had a cuple of exchange, because when he does the kind of stuffs he does that goes like this, he told me how to go, and I told him how to go. And so yes, I think he’s wicked, they actually do.

I saw them, it was a month ago I think, in my town, in Montpellier

Oh! Wicked!

And it was just awesome! But i think you’re really different, even if it’s the same kind of music, but there’re lots of people comparing you too, and we were wandering if you’re annoyed by that.

No it’s cool, I mean people have to compare the sounds just for their own minds, and I’d rather it to be like a Jack Johnson or John Butler Trio or kind of any of that crowd, I mean it could be much worse, they could be saying “he is like Britney Spears but with a guitar”, I mean, it makes more sense with those things, but people have to compare the sounds just to say what wasn’t brilliant and what was.

What do you think Of France ? Did you visit some places ?

Hum, i can’t tell you the places i’ve been through... Hum... I came here for hum, i can’t say it was for 3 or 4 days. Hum, i’ve been somewhere else in France, but no one can remember where it was. But hum, we actually had a good time. Yeah, we went somewhere. I can’t remember that, it was when i was really tiny and absolutely no one can remember where it was! And my parents are like “where did we go again ?”

So you never visit Paris ? Eiffel Tower!

I did, no, I saw it, I did those “okay it was huge” and then go up. But i looked at it!

How did you come to know The Fray ?

Hum, I think it was... I don’t really know actually how it came about. Actually, there’re lots of things that are kind of bubbling away, that Sony is like “okay you’re doing this!” and i’m like “Okay”. So hum, actually, i met them for the first time yesterday, really nice guys, definitely cool.

Okay thanks a lot dude, bye

Thanks !

Interview : Damien et Julie Lapeyre

Plus d'infos :

Genre : Rock / Alternative / Acoustic

Pays : Angleterre

Pour les Fans de : John Butler, Tom Waits, Massive Attack

Label : Ugly Trouth Records

Site Web : www.newtonfaulkner.com

Myspace : www.myspace.com/newtonfaulkner

Site du Label : www.myspace.com/uglytruthrecords