You had very little accompaniment at your show last year. Can we expect the same at Rock & Roots?
I’m bringing a different setup with me this time. Someone will be playing the drums and the guitar, and there’s this lady called Daisy who plays the cello. It’s amazing what three people can do on stage.
You mentioned before that you were going to work with a voting system so your Singaporean fans can get to hear their favorite songs. How’s that going?
It’s been quite a successful system so far. We can’t do anything like get a local musician on stage now because we’re on tour and there’s no time for practicing and all. So that won’t happen. But it’ll still be great.
What are the songs that everybody seems to want to hear?
“Hide and Seek” and “Speeding Cars” are always up there on the list. Close after it is “First Train Home” which is really nice. “Just For Now” too, but not the one that people hear on the record. They’ve seen the performance that I did for a radio station many years ago, which is up on the web. When fans vote for “Just For Now,” they’re thinking that version, not the studio recorded version, which I think is nice.
Describe your songwriting process.
When I’m working on a song, I often don’t have a clue what I want it to sound like. But I will have its dynamics, personality and character. I’ll know what colors it needs to be and whether it’s got teeth or big puppy dog eyes. When I sit in the studio, I listen to the whispering in my head very intently and go through all the different manifestations of what I think it should be, before the song realizes itself.
Timbre Rock & Roots Music Festival is on Apr 15-16, 6pm at the Marina Promenade, F1 track behind the Singapore Flyer, 6338-8277. $70-200 from Sistic.
