Robbie Robertson, who came to prominence in the ’60s as a founding member of The Band, recently released his first album in over a decade, How To Become Clairvoyant. This brilliant release is a collection of tunes much more personal than any in Robertson’s past, referencing the events over the course of Robertson’s long life and career more directly than anything that came before it. In this FMQB interview, Robertson talks about collaborating with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Trent Reznor, Tom Morello and others, about the new record, what inspired him to make it now, and his thoughts on touring.
Robbie Robertson
By Jack Barton
After performing for the last time with The Band in 1976 (not counting the performance at The Band’s Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction), Robbie Robertson has almost been busier than he was as part of one of the ’70s busiest bands. Over the last three-plus decades, Robertson has been busy producing, scoring movies, working as a music supervisor and recording a series of albums featuring personal songs that explore Robertson’s ancestry, the last one being 1998’s Contact From The Underworld Of Redboy. And then – except for work on other people’s records, some retrospective work on The Band’s catalogue, and his film work – Robertson fell silent; until now.
This year saw the release of Robertson’s first album in over a decade, How To Become Clairvoyant. This brilliant release is a collection of tunes much more personal than any in Robertson’s past, referencing the events over the course of Robertson’s long life and career more directly than anything that came before it. This also features some mighty impressive collaborators, including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Trent Reznor, Tom Morello and others.
Robertson recently spoke to FMQB about the new record, how it came about and his thoughts on touring.
It’s been quite awhile since we heard from you as a recording artist. How did this record come together at this time?
It came together because it was a clairvoyant thing; I could see it, I could feel it and it was just time to make it happen. I didn’t know whether I was going to be making any more records really, just because everybody is just so confused and down on the record business. Why does anybody want to make a record? But I do things according to inspiration, and if I’m inspired to do this and if I think I could do something special, then I’m in.
What made you feel this was the time that you could do something special?
One of the things was I wasn’t doing other stuff. I’d just been busy doing other things for the last few years, and when the air cleared on the other projects that I’d been working on, I just had a yearning and I think that when you are passionate about something, there’s a better chance of you nailing it than when you’re doing it out of habit or because someone says you’re supposed to. So that’s one of the things I’ve learned over the years.
You mentioned how everybody is all down on the record business, so what kind of expectations did you go into this with?
You know, I had such a great time making this record. It was really one of the most enjoyable musical experiences I’ve ever had. It was a feeling like when you say, “Oh my god! The stars are aligned or the gods are on our side!” One of those things applied to it that when I was done making this record; I thought I’d been paid in full here. The rest of it is just the bonus.
Can you quantify what made you feel so great about this record when you were done?
Yeah, I can. The songs I was writing gave me that certain feeling that’s not really describable in words; when you take something out of the air that doesn’t exist and make it exist in that feeling of creation, and then you think, “Aha, I’m on to something here.” I’ve written a lot of songs over the years, and a lot of times you feel like, “alright, that one’s done.”
But on this record I really had a great feeling of fulfillment in writing these songs, and then in the process of recording everything. I was able to achieve what was in my imagination and more. Usually what you do is you try to set your sights high and get as close to it as you can, and I got beyond that, so I just felt because of who I chose to work with and in which way. These things can work or not work, and for me it was just like casting a movie, in that I was saying “who can play this part better than anybody else in the world?” And that’s how you look at things when a director’s making a movie, and because I was going between movies and making this record, I guess I was still in that zone, and I tried to apply it in a healthy way to what I was doing.
The people that I worked with on this, regardless of their being well known or anything, it wasn’t really about that. It wasreally about who can do this better than anybody. When I was working on this piece that I wanted Trent Reznor to do this treatment to it, I thought, “He can do this better than anybody can.” When it was Tom Morello or Robert Randolph or Steve Winwood or Eric – any of these people – I know they’re well known, but it was really about just serving the music in the best way we possibly could.
It’s interesting, because you mentioned a lot of very prominent guitars players in there, and it’s not like you’re a slacker on that front.
You know it’s interesting. It’s one thing when people get together to jam; this was not getting together to jam. This was getting together to get an emotional feeling and to take you inside a story. I knew the stories that I wanted to tell, and when I would express this with the people that I was working with, just so they would know what are we trying to do here, it all became real clear, and the way those conversations went back and forth was an extraordinary experience. I’ve had a few extraordinary experiences over the years so I’ve got things to compare it to and, I don’t know, just sometimes this stuff happens.
You just forced me into a question I never ask anybody. Tell me what experiences you would compare this to?
You know it’s hard to beat the feeling of the concert we did for The Last Waltz with everybody, just because it was like your feet were hardly touching the ground at a time like that. And so many more too; making the early records with The Band and working with Bob (Dylan), and all of these things, and this is up there as high as any of those experiences I’ve ever had.
You mentioned that you were trying to tell stories with this record, some of which are very personal. Talk about those stories a little bit.
Well, it’s a different kind of thing. I’ve always been more comfortable telling fictional stories, mythical stories, and turning the truth into fiction. I like that angle of storytelling, and this time it became just more of a firsthand experience and I didn’t feel a necessity to disguise anything or not just step up. I could have called this record Here’s What Happened. It’s that blatantly personal, and at the same time I found a way to do it that I didn’t feel self-conscious about. Because, you know, other people who write about themselves and are so fascinated with themselves, I’m not comfortable with that particularly. But some people can do it good.John Lennon could do it good. He could write songs and say, “This is what happened to me today,” and he’d figured out a way to get that across. But I just find that stuff ends up being kind of self-conscious.
So anyway, I figured out a way that I could write about these things, and not have that self-conscious feeling that I’m expressing.
You talk about the personal aspect, and there are songs in there like “Straight Down The Line” and “Axe men” that make reference to names that are familiar to everyone, but apparently, were people in your life as your career was developing. What kind of emotional impact have these people had on you over the years?
I always look at these things as it’s all a growing process and a gathering, and the better I am at gathering and learning the better I feel. It’s just a healthy thing for me, and these people were really brilliant at contributing to that in either one of those songs. All of those people that I crossed paths with, I felt like I learned something from them, and hopefully put it to good use.
I do want you to talk about one person who worked on the record with you in a little more detail; how did Eric Clapton fit into all this?
We started this together. It was something that’s had been in the air for a long time, and we’ve been talking for years about, but we’ve never done anything like this where we really just rolled up our sleeves and got dirty. Eric has just been a great supporter and a great friend in this record. He helped launch this just by saying, “Come to London. Let’s go in the studio and see what happens.”
That’s the kind of thing that really lights a fire under something. So I thought if we’re going to do this, we better get down to business, and it really prompted me for wanting to do something above and beyond.
A lot of what you talked about here – that it was such a joy about making the record, the musical conversation between the musicians, and the spontaneity – is a lot of what draws people into loving live music. Is there ever a time where you think it would be great to be back on the stage and do this in front of people?
You know I don’t mind the stage, it’s getting to the stage is the part that I’ve got a problem with. You don’t want to break out in hives and then have to get up in front of people. It’s something that I put behind me a long time. I did it for a long time, and I never felt an obligation to be going on the road.
When it turns into just feeling like a business, which there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s no longer really a learning process to me. I feel like I’m in the same place for the rest of my life. You know that feeling, it’s like Yul Brynner in The King And I, where every night he had to go out and do that same dance. I’m just not drawn to that.
And also, in doing The Last Waltz and making that statement… I’ve felt like that was a pretty loud statement to make, and then to come back and just say, “Oh, just kidding.” I didn’t think that was right either.
[eQB Content by Jack Barton]
