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Intervju: Claudia Scott/Kevin Welch

Vår danske korrespondent Lars Mikael Døring har slått av en prat med Claudia Scott og Kevin Welch.

Lars Mikael Døring 

Del på Facebook10.11.08

Some music, and some voices, makes a lasting impact from the very first moment you lay your ears on it. How, and why, one really is able differentiate often just in seconds I could not say, maybe it is as subconscious as creative process that led to the songs at the first place, maybe not, and a obvious question is if it matters at all? Not to me.

No. To me it matters much more that a given singer/songwriter is able to move me, to touch me, without knowing me. In the past years especially two artists have done that; the Norwegian songbird Claudia Scott and the American country-rock singer Kevin Welch – in Denmark probably best known for their collaboration with the humble pop-rock-icon Poul Krebs. They have created more magic moments than one would think possible, both on their own and (even more so) together. Some voices just fit and suit each other beyond explanation. I caught up with them, following the release of the record Home and a very successful tour, both under the banner Song Island Revue, to find out how they found way to each other, musically, what inspires them and how they keep the flame alive.

MUTUAL ATTRACTION: How did it all begin?

Claudia: He is totally focused and just draws you in
Kevin: It was Emanuel’s Secret and I was floored

- The very first time I saw Kevin perform with just a guitar he was so communicative and real. He is totally focused on stage and just draws you in. But it took years for us not to be shy and play new songs or ideas for each other, but when we did, when we really got to know each other as people, we found that writing together was the easiest we had ever experienced with anyone.

- Claudia has a lot of information to draw from. She grew up playing in her father’s band from the age of ten, playing country music, and even though I grew up in Oklahoma she still knows more about this stuff than I do. She also went through the trouble to listen to everything else after that and I did not. I just loved hearing her belting out her rockers and the sweet way she sings her slow stuff. You could hear all the Appalachian melded with English rock and Bakersfield and, well, you name it, and speaking for myself, I really got it the first time I heard one of her records. It was Emanuel’s Secret and I was floored. I played it for everyone I knew and they felt the same way I did.

- Kevin is probably my favorite person to write with.

INSPIRATION: Is it myth or fact?

Claudia: I would say fact
Kevin: It is recognizing patterns; patterns knock me out

- Okay, for one thing Claudia always asks me, if I want to write a song and that is a big deal for a lazy man. Furthermore she is fearless and never restricted to anything at all; if I had to tell you her coordinates, I would say, she is on the corner of The Carter Family and The Clash. Claudia will listen to the radio, if I am not around. She gets her ideas from everywhere like that. I never would, unless it was talk, or maybe a blues station.

- I would say fact, but sometimes I also have to ask myself where the music, the melodies and the words come from. I am always terrified, that I have stolen my ideas from somebody else, but I guess good songs always have a recognizable element of content or melody, maybe even subconsciously, to be able to stick in people’s minds. I like listening to all kinds of music (depending on my mood, of course, everything from classical music to country, jazz and rock). But inspiration really comes from living, from observing people and life, but also from films, art, literature, poems, travelling etc., and eventually there is music in everything, whether it gives sound or not. Music is the feeling, and I think that might be the reason why it is a lot easier to write about the dark side of life, because the emotions seem so much clearer than when you are happy, although laughter also is music to my ears. But music is also a way to express a feeling, and we express different feelings or hear different expressions in the various genres and styles. Music is the soundtrack of life, which is what makes Kevin such a great songwriter. He has the ability to put his feelings into simple words people can understand and relate to. That is true talent.

- I am inspired by everything that resembles the truth; see, inspiration is only recognizing patterns; patterns knock me out. But where it all comes from we do not really know, no matter what anybody says.

INFLUENCES: Music through music

Claudia: We both grew up listening to a lot of the same music
Kevin: I do not like a lot of racket

- When we are together we usually listen to Chet Baker, Hoagy Carmichael, Billy Holiday, mostly old jazz and occasionally also some old country. Personally I love to relax to old 30’s and 40’s jazz. We both grew up listening to a lot of the same music, e.g. bluegrass, country and rock ‘n’ roll, but my parents really love all kinds of music and I have heard it all, from Hawaiian and Malaysian folk music to blues, jazz to classical, yes even Swiss Yodel music.

- I do not like a lot of racket, so we can agree to play Hoagy about anytime. We both like old stuff, Sinatra and all the other greats, plus 60’s and 70’s rock, all the usual: Beatles, Kinks, Stones, etc., etc. However Claudia knows everything about pop and rock in the rest of the 70’s, the 80’s and the 90’s as well, whereas I have no idea who anyone is/was. I also think she knows more country songs than I do.

SONGWRITING: Aspects of …

Claudia: To move you in some way
Kevin: Telling the truth, clearly

- I like all the aspects of music and would miss one without the other.

- When I work alone it is usually late at night. When I work with Claudia it can easily be while we are cooking, for instance. She often comes up with the melody while we are writing the words, whereas, when I am alone, I do not worry too much about the melody until the words are about done. Then you record it, just a simple demo for starters.

- After demoing it, I like to listen to it a few times and then put it away for a while, before getting back to it to hear/see if it holds. My criteria? I want to move you in some way.

- For me the most important aspect of songwriting is telling the truth clearly. I call it: communication while grooving.

- Yes, the process can be a little different when working with a co/writer. I like to start with a lyric when I am on my own and then mess with the melody later, but (e.g.) with Kevin I will often play a riff on the guitar or fool around on the mandolin, then he looks for a lyric or finds a piece he has begun and we will see if it fits. Other times I will play him an idea, that be a verse and/or melody and lyrics and we will take it from there.

MAGIC MOMENTS: How to keep the pot boiling?

Claudia: Mutual respect, loyalty and honesty
Kevin: Breath in, breath out

- You want to go on because it is fun, because it is interesting. Plus we have had some results.

- The song “The Belle of Singapore” means the most to me. It is about my grandmother, whom I was named after. It tells the story of her life.

- I could not know or say which song is my best, but I guess there are some that seem to hold together over time. “Something About You” is one that people ask for a lot. I like “Early Summer Rain”, “Some Kind of Paradise” and “A Patch of Blue Sky” which Claudia and I wrote together, but this would probably be a different list tomorrow.

- Personally? I hope to continue learning and doing what I do, writing songs and make a living as a writer and musician; it is in appreciating what we have, our health and lives, the luxury to choose a meal from a menu, to be able to make a living, doing what we do, love and be loved, giving without expecting to get anything back in return, that everything glows and grows.

- Breath in, breath out!

- Mutual respect, loyalty and honesty.

Bilder: Stian Andersen, Morten Heckman, Bent René Synnevåg, alle for Claudiascott.com