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With Tracker, Mark Knopfler delivers a superior album that looks more like his work with Dire Straits than his previous solo cd's. Soundz had the opportunity to speak to the legend in his own studio in the English Chiswick.
West London has some beautiful neighborhoods, en Chiswick is one of them. Although, you wouldn't notice a big recording studio in a small street called British Grove. Even the neighbor doesn't know that there are superstars on daily base. 'I saw some expensive cars around, so I thought there was a car dealer'. At the door stands, Knopfler's manager Paul Crockford, a nice relaxed bloke, who takes care of Knopflers business for years. Above Knopflers stands waiting with a big smile. Jeans, black t-shirt and a shirt on top of it. Showing of isn't something for him. 'What do you think of British Grove?' are his first words. His blue eyes twinkle. Knopfler looks good. Hij points to the door of the studio. 'The Who is recording a new album here. Next week Eric Clapton comes for recordings. Until my accountant says that it's not profitable anymore, I just keep going on.' We sit down in the beautiful relax room of the studio and Mark looks through the last edition of Soundz and reads the traveling story from the south of North America. 'Wow. The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. I've had some great moments there..'
That is a part of North America that seems to attract you a lot, isn't it? Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama.
'I've known the Muscle Shoals Studio and Alabama for the first time when Bob Dylan asked me to play on his record Slow Train Coming. He came to one of our first shows in L.A. and asked if I wanted to join. The record was made with producers Barry Beckett and Jerry Wexler, two legends for me. When there was decided to record it in the MSS in Alabam, it was too good to be true: recording with your idol in the most famous studio in the world. A young boy from Glasgow can only dream of that. The sessions were great, but there is one thing that stayed with me forever: Barry and I went out for dinner in the town Muscle Shoals. In a steakhouse. Barry is not a small guy, but he took a steak as big as my upper arm. Then a barge with fat grit en then he ordered a lot of ice, and emptied a bottle of coke over it. Everything went it really fast.'
Anyway there are some regions and countries where you like to come often. The Netherlands as well?
'Abolutely. Where are you from? Bergen op Zoom? I know that region: Breda, Antwerp... I love to travel with my wife through The Netherlands. I was in the '70's and '80's a lot in Hilversum, where of course where the Philips label and wisseloord studios. In that office and studio was always a great atmosphere. It sounds like a cliche, but the people are different there. Really friendly.'
Also on Tracker observations of places and people are central. I understand you really like the North west of England.
''Northumberland is the most beautiful part of the country. It looks a lot like France in terms of nature. Durham, Westmorland, and the Scottish Dumfriesshire. I already get emotional when I talk about it. I really like to come there and drive through it with my oldtimers. It also is a terribly inspiring surrounding, where I came since I was a kid. That's why my lyrics are so English. I really understand that people from outside England are having difficulties with my lyrics. There quite detailed.'
The album also goes about freedom of the individual. The song 'Skydiver' is a good example of that.
'As an artist, on a certain moment, you make the choice to live outside the society, not conforming to that what all other people do. I try to get into the heads of other characters. I love individuals who go completely there own way. And I'm really not only talking about musicians or artists. Someone who drops his bombs down and doesn't know what kind of damage occurs beneath him, lives also outside the normal life. 'Dive Bomber In The 2.15' I sing. A fighterplane has to drop his bombs at 2.15 km to be accurate. But the song also is about gamblers, who don't follow the rules'.
You are inspired by people, the landscape but also old cars and art.
'Do you see that enormous painting over there? It's from John Bratby. He was the most celebrated painter from England in the sixties. The called his style Kitchen Sink Realism. This is from 1959. When two years later the lines and circles became popular, it was done with his succes. I think that is fascinating. Look, I got really interested in the lives from artists in the last years, but also in the live from normal people who have a normal job.'
Basil also is an track which springs in the eye. Tell us something about your relationship with the writer Basil Bunting.
'At this age I can bring up much more understanding for the behaviour and thinking of Bunting. I was 15 years old when I met Basil for the first time. I had a job on saturday at the newspaper for which he wrote en he fascinated me. But if you're 15 you only care about yourself, so you don't understand his grumpy behaviour. At that age the world is at your feet and you've never heard of sarcasm. Basil was clearly unhappy. If he wanted a cup of coffee you heard a miserable dark voice 'BOY COFFEE!' He absolutely didn't fit in his surrounding. Later I read his autobiographical poem. That is actually a meditation at a young life and throwing away your dreams.'
River Towns can relate to anything. What is it with you and city's which are next to a river?
'A few years ago I've read Rising Tide, a great book about the floods from the Mississippi. They call the river The Old Man, in that region. The power of the water from the Mississippi is unknown. I find that region and the towns Natchez, Hastings and Memphis very mystical. Also this nummer goes about a person in a book, this time from Breed D'J Pancake, a writer of short fictious stories. It's about a crane operator who works in the haven and terribly lonely, but doesn't really care about that. Pancake killed himself when he was 26. Loneliness is a problem in the current society, that hardly gets any attention.'
The first single is called Beryl. That's about the writer Beryl Bainbridge.
'There was a period in England when a writer was only taken serious when you studied at Oxford or Cambridge - or Oxbridge, like we called it- but Bainbridge came from working class, and didn't study at all. Nowadays, writers can come from each layer of the people. Beryl was nominated five times for a big prize, but never won one. Only from the nineties she became commercially popular, when she started writing historical fiction. She really inspired me.'
With the opener Laughs and jokes and drinks and smokes you put the listener on the wrong leg. Do I hear Dave Brubeck?
'Haha, sure! Brubeck, what an hero! My drummer, Ian Thomas, came up with the idea. In my eyes he's the best studio drummer in England. This nummer came very naturally. I really have a fantastic band with Guy, Glenn, Phil. Besides I could use a great violists and flutists. It's my job to make the right decisions. How do I fill in a song? Who plays on it? It really is like choosing the best school for your kids.'
I saw some great vintage amps and instruments. Am I sitting in front of a collector?
'Guy and I really like old instruments and amps. At home and here I have a great collection. We can go on for hours with searching the right guitar for a piece. Then the instrumental filling in comes, do we take an accordion or an harmonium? Are we going to do it acoustic or a part electric? Trakcer is recorded with complete freedom. Some tracks were on tape in a day but for other songs I took a lot more time. I've been very productive the last years. In the current tour we don't do more then three gigs after each other. Not because I can't take it anymore, but I want to create and write in between.'
Can you live with your own limitations?
'Look, I know in which I'm good at. Writing songs, and making a good album. I'm not a singer in the literal way of the word. I've never been. In the beginning years with DS I got a lot of critics about it, but now the low voice seems to work haha!'
You fill the Ziggo Dome without doing musical concessions. Still the biggest concerthall in The Netherlands.
'Isn't that the hall from Leon Rademakers, the old boss of Mojo Concerts? We have been friends for years. It's funny that guys like Leon and Herman Schueremans are still on top of the business. I don't forget these things. For some things I have a very good memory. I was 18 months old when I first sang Rudolph the red nose reindeer. A bit lisping though. I sang a lot with my mother and all those children songs, I can still sing them for you now. I have a kind of scrapyard in my head.'
All your studio experience which is in your scrapyard now comes back in the BG studio.
'Certainly. You know, a recording studio is just a nice and noble tradition. Not only in England, also in America and France. I had to do it a lot earlier, but I'm sometimes a bit slow in understanding. When I started with the studio in 2006, I had a lot of idealistic motifs. I learned a lot from people I worked with in the past: Barry Beckett, Neil Dorfsman, Chuck Ainlay, Bob Ludwig. All of that experience, I wanted to put in the BG. All those people helped me realising this. We can do really anything here. We have the EMI REDD Desk standing over here. With that you can make recordings like in the sixties.'
You are playing with the best musicians in the scene, were the big steersman at DS and now you are the boss again, although you are very modest. It seems like a contradiction to me, or am I wrong?
'Nee, you are right. My musicians let me walk away with a lot of things. That happened in the time of DS and still is now. Like Keith Richards said one time: 'The singer is always right.' I didn't start with this to make money. I'm a songwriter in the first place, and then a guitarist. That's different for the guys who play in my band, they earn their money with playing. Because I've been in the studio since 1978, I learned a lot and I know what I'm doing. From who I learned a lot? From everybody actually. When I did Making Movies with Jimmy Lovine, he brought Shelly Yakus with him. That man did the technics for the most famous albums from John Lennon, Tom Petty, U2 and Lou Reed. Those are almost intimidating people, because of their knowledge. So good! I really like to hang out with such genius people.'
But the times of nights in the studio are gone?
'Yeah, now they are. But I look back to it with happy memories. I know we were recording love over gold in 1982 in The Power Station in NY. I was young and had so much energy. After a studio session with my technician Neil Dorfsman I drove home on my bicycle at four in the morning. Then I already saw the garbage trucks. Manhattan just before sunrise is so beautiful. I could go on forever and there was no brake on it. Those were great times. With Neil I did Brothers in Arms later on. That album we made here in the AIR studios and on the island Montserrat. That was also really great.'
Is that where Laughs and Jokes is about?
'Certainly, but the song goes back even further. As a teenager I didn't have any money. But I didn't care at all. So I couldn't buy an nice Fender or amp. We drank and have uncomplicated fun. I did a lot hitchhiking and was good at it. I discovered Scotland and England by hitchhiking. I had only one dream and that was having a band. You really have to want that badly, otherwise it won't work. My old bassplayer John Illsley, was my mate already at that time. He still is my best friend actually, a great human! His last album was recorded here.'
Now you've made more solo albums than albums with Dire Straits. How important is that history for you?
'Still very important. I wrote some nice tunes in that time. I still play those. We recently played in America TR and SFA en I still play them with the same intensity as 30 years ago. I now have a band that plays the songs from DS better than the original group. That is logical by the way. Also I became a better musician and performer. The Netherlands stays a special country to me. In 1991 we played three times a sold out Ahoy and now again in the Ziggo Dome. We've played there before actually. It was one of the better gigs we played in that tour. De atmosphere in your country is different and the fans know all songs. That gives me a very warm feeling.'
END.
So, there is the full transcription of the interview. Please mind that English is not my native language, so there could be mistakes here and there.
