Thanks to babzee:

BLOC Interview CD transcript:

Q: Where did the phrase “Bastard Life or Clarity” come from?

RC: (taking a deep breath) Well, actually, it was a number of different conversations I was having with the guitarist, Dean when we were talking about … because this time around I want to kind of put a title on the whole project, you know, and it was around November of ’99 that I started putting the dates and stuff together because I’ve got to schedule things quite a long way ahead these days with the day job taking up so much time. So, it was actually a choice that I gave him, I said to him, ummm, you know, we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do that, we’re gonna do this, and he was kind of, you know, questioning various things, and I said, “Well, so what do you want? Do you want, you know, bastard life or clarity?” And he said, “Both.” (chuckle)

Q: OK. It’s interesting that the record is actually produced by Kerryn Tolhurst. During the early 70’s Kerryn was in a band called The Dingoes, (RC: Um- Hmm) who were sort of fused country, folk, and rock and barroom blues (RC: Umm-Hmm) Uh, were you a big fan of his?

RC: Uhh, I was definitely a fan of that song, “Way Out West” and I had, umm, I had the album that that came off, and then, probably three or four or five years later I got sort of a greatest hits compilation, so yeah, I was a fan of that, but also, I knew Kerryn’s name, because he’s credited on Paul Kelly’s "Post" you know, which is, one of my favourite, all time favourite albums, you know. I actually drove through Death Valley, about uhh, eight or nine years ago, something like that, uhh, at six o’clock on the morning, with that album on, and I tell ya what, you know, it might have been written and recorded in Melbourne, but it really suited that environment well (Q: Yeah, exactly) Umm, so, you know, there was a number of things that uhh, that seemed to be good, good indicators that he was the right fella for us, Umm but I actually left that decision to Dean, you know, umm because the way our band works, if we’re going to be working with a producer, you’ve gotta get on with our guitarist or (laughing) it’s just not gonna happen. Ya know, ahh, he’s a very ahh, ya know, umm, he’s very self-assured in, about, umm, the way he likes the songs to be interpreted musically, you know. Umm, I pretty much write all the lyrics, but umm, when it comes to the music, he’s, you know, he’s got very specific directions in mind. So I left that decision up to him. In fact, I didn’t even meet Kerryn until the beginning of pre-production in London. I didn’t even talk to him on the phone, cause, I, you know, I said to Dean, you know, I’m used to going from one work situation to the next work situation and having people in, you know, in creative positions, you know, and melding with them, but you know, to me, it was like, if he wasn’t completely happy then we might have some problems but the two of them seem to get along really well.

Q: Would it be fair to describe the band, in spirit at least, as a barroom band, with, you know, all of its rough edges …

RC: Hmmm, yeah, I mean, there’s you know, there’s… I think 'pub rock' is a much maligned, uhh, style of music, you know, but if you’ve toured pubs, and ya know, you know uhh, the immediate needs of the audience, you know, uhh, so that means that even with your slowest songs there still has to be a, you know, umm, definitely some kind of rhythmic force to them, uhh, for them to translate across a bar room, you know. And, I love the attitude of playing music for people when they’re out to have a good time, you know. You know, of course, there’s negatives and stuff with all of that, umm, and I think one of the things that we … You know, we stopped touring for a while, uhh, you know, this year, instead of, sorry not this, last year, 2000, instead of going on a tour for a couple of months, when we did have some time, we, uhh, we just spent it rehearsing together and playing together and writing, ya know, and doing little shows for friends and stuff, ya know, umm to actually get us off that, umm, the pub mentality, and, perhaps explore some other rhythms, you know, for a while (chuckle). So, uhh, but at the same time, I don’t, I don’t see that as any negative whatsoever, I think, uhh … I mean, uhh, if all you’re doing is playing you know, cover versions of other people’s songs, or if you’re some kind of concept band, you know, that’s when I think it’s stupid. But uhhh, you know, being brave enough to stand up in a bar full of people who are out for a good time and sing your own songs, I think is actually, is a real cool thing.

Q: What’s been the most wildest or the most magical show yet?

RC: Umm, for me, uhhh (pause) we’ve done a lot over the years that have been a lot of fun. I think probably, actually, the second night at Stubbs’s in Texas when we were on, like, I think it was August 11, it was just one of those, you know – it was a fantastic night. You know, there was a huge crowd, two and a half thousand people, and it was the first time, I think that we, we really experienced how, ummm, how deep a .. deeply people have taken, you know, fans of the band have taken these songs in. You know, that’s the very first time, for me, where I’ve taken the microphone away from my mouth and heard two and a half thousand people sing the song back at me, so ahhh, it was a pretty, pretty good experience. You know, uhhm, we did a show earlier in the year in London as well, at the Borderline, which sold out in 45 minutes, which took us all by surprise. I mean, we were having a, you know, umm, we were having bets on how many tickets we’d sell in Texas, you know. And I think, I think the largest bet was about a thousand tickets and uhh, somebody else was about a hundred and fifty, you know. We sold 4000, or six, no 6000 in a couple of hours and set a new ticket-selling record for the, for the venue. So we were, uhh, all a bit shocked by that. You see, we’ve had that website now, operating for about five years. We just refurbished the whole thing earlier this year umm, and uhh, set it going again, because it was just getting a little dreary, I suppose, ya know, some of the things had been up for quite some time and we just wanted to bring it into line with uhh, the technology. Umm, but I think, for us, ya know, we’re uh, we’re so far outside the mainstream, when it comes to music, umm, you know, we’ve never had any kind of radio relationship apart from, you know, the odd independent station here or there, who’s got into a certain song, um, so for us, having that, the website is the way that people get into the song, into the music there. They might get there because of some other reason, but once they’re there, there are all these little MP3 things and they, and then they’ve got the choice, it’s completely theirs, and they’re not being hyped at anything, they’re not being, you know, hearing some song, you know, 10 times a day so they get into that automatonic response and go and buy it. You know, they get to sit back and consider whether they want to spend their hard-earned money on that, and so when they buy a record that way around, ya know, it’s much more satisfying to me. And, uh, as I said, you know, to then go out into the big wide world with the band and experience exactly, uhh, how far that’s now come, you know, that website’s had over 3 million hits. That’s uhh, that’s a big potential audience, you know.

Q: The band’s uhh, expanded to be a six-piece (RC: Umm-hmmm) after a long time. What sort of umm brought that about?

RC: Well, I was unhappy with the, the, the vocal abilities of the band, you know, at um, certain levels. In the studio is one thing, but you’ve still got, you’ve got to be able to, you know, if you spent X amount of time on three and four part harmonies, you’ve got to be able to pull that off live. And umm, really what it came down to is only that, only Dave Kelly, the drummer, umm, had that kind of power in his voice. And, and the bass player, Garth, is much comfortable just sitting there playing the bass, man, you know, he’s just more comfortable and he’s a better bass player without having to have that extra tension, you know. Umm, so how it came…, the expansion of the band was always intended in terms of the trumpet player. Uhh we had another fellow before Stewie, ummm who actually uh (chuckle) rang me one night and said “I can’t make the rehearsal. I’m gonna sent this other bloke along, and we basically have not seen the other fella since, cause Stewie, just, you know, not only is he a great player, he’s got a wonderful voice, you know. He’s a very nice bloke but he himself is also really passionate about our songs. He walked in when we were writing a song and was actually blown away by the, the way that I do it, and the way I do it with Dean and the way the band was involved with it, you know, umm, cause we really like to write on our feet. We like to be all together playing around with a particular idea and then I like to sort of, you know, use a sort of stream of consciousness when I’m writing the lyrics.

Q: In your other job, um, you know, the characters you seem drawn to portray are either antiheroes or people who are not exactly loveable. Um, is it consequential that many of those types seem to inhabit the songs on this record?

RC: I don’t think that I think about it in those terms, you know. These are just the stories that I write. And um, these are the things that have become apparent to me over X amount of time or whatever, and they’re the things that inspire me, you know. Umm, but uhhh, I think it’s you know, that particular level of objectivity about it, that’s for somebody else, that’s for, you know, somebody else when they’re up, uhh, thinking about the songs. You know, I think the title of the album is applicable to every single song. You know, I think, uhh I think that that’s for us, I think that’s the first opportunity that we’ve had to make what we consider to be a real album, you know, where we went to the one place, for, er, a good amount of time. Every song that’s on the album is recorded in that same place. Umm, we uh, we mixed in Los Angeles with two different blokes because we picked two different guys specifically because of their, their sonic relationships, you know. And uhh basically put them in competition with each other to get the best snare sound (giggle) across the hall from each other, at Henson studios in LA. Um, yeah, I, to me, I don’t set about to write, or now I’m going to write a sad song or whatever, you know, it’s just ummm, a particular series of images or whatever will will come along, you know, or I’ll meet somebody and they’ll stay in my mind for a long time, you know, there’s a song on there, it’s called “The Night Davey Hit the Train” which is, uhh, basically about a conversation I had once with Daniel Pollock, who was an actor who was in “Romper Stomper” and umm, you know, there’s three different people mentioned in that song, uh, Dean Cochran, who’s the guitarist in this, and Ben Mendhelson, who’s another, um, another actor, but with all three people individually, we’d had the same type of conversation, which was about suicide. And umm, you know, I think, uhhh, it was probably, coming up to ten years after Daniel had died, and I was still finding myself you know, obsessively going over that relationship and you know, the things that … and I know it’s an arrogance but it’s what happens when you, you lose somebody in that kind of situation you know, you think what could have I have done, what else could have I said, how else could have I phrased things, you know, maybe I shouldn’t have closed the door that way.

Q: And Barry Kable was actually a real live docker that your guitarist used to … (RC: Painter and docker) Yeah …

RC: Yeah, well, Barry had this uhh, incredible history of being involved with the Painter and Docker Union, he was a strong arm man, and he was, by all accounts, not a very nice chap, you know. Umm, and by the time Dean met him, he’d been affected by uhh, umm, a number of violent incidents, and uhh, he had a metal plate in his head and, uhh, Dean was working for the Sydney City Mission and he’d pick Barry up pretty much every day uhh, and when he was intoxicated Barry was very hard to handle. But when he was lucid, he would start telling Dean these stories about his live and how he’d got to that point of being a man who sits and drinks a couple of bottles of port a day on a Sydney street. And I think it was an eye-opener for Dean because it, probably it was the first time that he’d really seen that these people that he was working with, you know, every day, umm, were just like … him, you know. That by the grace of God goes he, you know. And uh, he would, he had Barry talk about moments in Australia’s political history that Barry a part of, you know. And, uh, all the people that he used to know and knock around with and all that sort of stuff. And, umm, for me it was a great point in Dean’s songwriting because, you know, Barry would go to the Gaslight Hotel there on Crown Street, which now is not one-way traffic but it used to be, now it’s uh, now it’s two-way. But he would, he’s go to the Gaslight Hotel, buy a bottle of port and he’d walk across and sit in front of the Post Office on Crown Street there and he’d drink it. And when he finished it, he’d get up and go and get another one. And Dean came up with the line, “He crossed that road like a river.” And that was uh, for me, you know I think it was, we were on tour somewhere, umm either in northern New South Wales or in Queensland or something, and he played me that line and I was like, man, you’re, you know, you’re really starting to understand a metaphor, and you know, for me that was a really big moment in his growth as a songwriter.

Q: My favourite track is actually “Memorial Day” (RC: Oh cool) Was that um, a personal incident or was it a news item that inspired it?

RC: No, um, my grandfather was, um, a cinematographer in the Second World War. He got a MBE for uhh, war photography. And, um, one of the worst things about my relationship with my grandfather is I learned more about what he did in his life after he was dead. And, uh, even though I had some kind of inklings about, that there was something important, because people would talk about it in hushed tones, whenever I asked him, he would change the subject. He was a very reticent man and not, not very open, but I find myself, every time that, you know, the build-up to Anzac Day comes around in April, I start thinking about him and uhh, that’s what this song was about. I mean, he did, he achieved a lot of things in his life and uhh, you know, it’s just it’s a, it’s a tribute to him, but I think it’s also about Anzac Day in general, and it’s about how, uhh, Australians and New Zealanders uhh, particularly in my generation, not the generation before me, but my generation and the generations after, we’re really starting to fully appreciate the freedom that we were granted, by uh, a group of men who went and gave their lives and their efforts for us, you know.

Q: And he wouldn’t wear his medals (garbled)

RC: Wouldn’t wear them. You know, I got uh, when I got a box from my, my step-grandmother, and, I was looking through it and I came across all these tiny little wax paper envelopes that had the ribbons and other little wax paper envelopes that had the medals. He had never taken the ribbon and the medal and put them together, you know, uhh, because, for him, those medals represented destruction and they represented, you know, I mean he went to every theatre of war that Australian and New Zealand troops went to. He had a very active time, you know, became personal friends with, uhh Montgomery and a few major figures at the time, you know, umm, and basically they forced him to accept his MBE. But, uhh, he’d initially refused to because there was a group of Fijian soldiers involved in the same incident that he was involved in, and they were the ones shooting and he was only taking photographs and you know, with a movie camera, and they weren’t going to get acknowledged, so he said, um, “Well, if they’re not going to get acknowledged, I don’t want to get acknowledged.“ But in that sort of time period, um, you know, you don’t do that sort of thing and so he was uhh, basically put in the situation where, you know, he was invested whether he liked it or not. (chuckle)

Q: What sort of songwriters umm, inspired your love for storytelling?

RC: Well, I think you take any kind of, any singer-songwriter from the late 60’s through, you know…I really love a fella called Jim Croce, you know. I got uh, I was home sick once from school, I think I was about 11 or 12, and my mother bought me an album, you know which was like, really, sort of surprising, but she’s, you know, I mean, normally, if I was home sick as a kid or something, you know, she’d bring me some lollies or something you know. And (chuckle) um, she bought me this record, and you know, I open it up and on the front, you know it had one of those ‘on special, $1.99’ stickers, you know. And I thought, ‘well, typical, of course (chuckling) that’s why she bought it, because it was cheap, you know.’ But she said, “There’s a couple of songs on there that I really like. And I just thought you might like them, you know.” And um, I did, I was fascinated by the way he could tell a story and the way he could set up a situation. And strange characters inhabit his songs, you know, Roller Derby Queen and things like that, you know. But also his, his uh, his love songs are just beautiful. I’ve got, you know, since I’ve seen footage of him and I’ve heard interview, uh, stuff with him and he’s not at all the fella that I thought he was. I mean he was a tertiary-educated, uhh, bloke who started off singing in, uhh, folk choral groups in the late 60’s, you know, so he was totally outside of uhh, of popular culture when he started, but he umm, went from that to you, know having a marijuana leaf tattooed on his chest (chuckling) so, he sort of, you know, he uhh he had a little bit of a journey, and the tragic thing about him is, you know, the year of his greatest success he had three songs in the Top 50 in America, and, uh, he got on a plane and died, yeah..(Q: And of course, his son’s now recording ..) Yeah, I’m hoping I’m gonna bump into him one of these days. You see, you got guys like him, and you got people like Billy Bragg, I mean, you know, I’d seen Billy Bragg footage, I’d heard Billy Bragg songs, I’d never had any interest in him whatsoever. I was doing a training movie, for the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and that would have been about 87, probably, and umm, I was staying up at the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and the pastor who was making the movie had set the radio alarm on Triple J. And, uhh, I woke up to this, to that line, “How can you even … How can you lie there and think of England, when you don’t even know who’s on the team?” And I just immediately knew ‘Oh. That’ll be Billy Bragg. That’s why people like Billy Bragg, so I just started getting into him, you know. That album, “Greetings To the New Brunette” you know, or what is it now, “Talking to the Tax Man About Poetry” uh, the ‘difficult third album’ (chuckle) I think is the subtitle, umm, you know, that haunted for a long time. I mean, a great album like that, also, I think, puts you uhh, gives you a kind of a historical context as well, you know, and there were things that he mentioned on that album that I literally had to go
and discover what the hell he was talking about, you know.

Q: An intriguing track is umm, “Judas Cart.” Where did you find it, what did you like about the song and what did you add to that song?

RC: Well, it’s an instrumental called “Si Bheag, Si Mhor” umm and Dean was just learning it cause it was complicated. He does that every now and then, he’s one of those sort of fellas, he’s never, he’s very inquisitive, he’s never uhh, at ease with what he knows. And he was playing it a lot, you know, just as a sort of warm-up for himself at rehearsal. And umm, you know, my, my brother went through a particularly traumatic experience where he lost the custody of his daughter. And umm, I was the bloke that had to drive her away from the home that she’d had for you know, for uhh the first seven and a half years of her life. And take her to the mother that she didn’t really know. Umm, you know, before getting into that more deeply, let me say that everything’s fine. You know, uhh and there has been a balance achieved between both parents and she’s, you know, a, a lovely girl who’s in a very loving environment. But, I kind of wrote that from my brother’s perspective as we were leaving the house, I turned around, and I just looked over my shoulder and I saw him looking at me, and it was like, it was the loudest accusation I’ve ever heard in silence. And umm, but there was nothing that I could do about it. Somebody had to take that responsibility, you know, of being the person to drive. But it was a very, it was just a heavy day, you know, and I suppose the sound, the song itself is a little self-righteous, in a way, umm, but I think that fits with the type of music, you know, and so, you know, I wanted to write it so it sounded like it was written a long time ago. You know, that’s why it’s called the “Judas Cart” you know.

Q: The um, the video of the first single “Things Have Got to Change” was shot in a Texas junkyard. Any memorable incidents from that?

RC: Well, it’s actually not a junkyard. Umm, what it is is this bloke recreates signs, and collects signs, you know, umm, but, I mean, for all intents and purposes, it LOOKS like a junkyard. (laughing) but that’s not his, that’s not his, that’s not his intention. Um, yeah, I mean, we, I had a couple of um, film blokes that I’ve worked with on a number of projects with us in Austin, you know, uh, Duane Manular and Gary Jay who are camera crew for an Italian DIP called Dante Spinotti, who I’ve made three movies with, “The Quick and the Dead,” “LA Confidential,” and “The Insider.” So I consider them my very own personal camera team, you know. And we get onto a set and we work together in such a way there is just so much unspoken stuff that goes on it’s brilliant. So, uhh, I wanted to film the shows that we were doing in Texas, and the process of the album, but more specifically the shows. So I called on them to be around and, you know, that footage will come out at a certain point, you know when we finish playing with the actual concept. But I just, you know, Dwayne’s one of those guys, inquisitive, he’s proactive, and he was driving around and he found this place and he came and got me (chuckling) and he said, ‘You’ve gotta come and have a look at this.” So we went there, and we stood around and it’s like “How much you think we could get this place for a day’s shooting?” So I went and asked the bloke, I think we did the deal for about 350 bucks, right? Now, the stuff that’s in that place, we added it up, it would have taken us about $180,000 to $200,000 to put that set together, and there it was, just sittin there on a street corner, you know. And so we shot the video there.

Q: OK. You’ve been playing and writing with your guitarist, Dean Cochran, since 1984. As time goes on, do your guitar, has your taste become more similar or less similar. Are you turning yourselves on to new music or….

RC: Umm, I think, you know, we’re both obsessive in that we discover somebody and we really, really get into it, you know. We don’t like all of the same stuff. But there is … there is a kind of a … I’d say that there’s a big umm, kinda chunk in the middle, you know, which is like, exactly the same obsessions, you know that we dig. But you know, sometimes he’ll go off on something that I’m not necessarily into, and vice versa, you know. I tend to like a lot of , you know, I try to introduce him to Catalan bands and Spanish bands, and you know, guys like Manachow and stuff like that you know, and he gets it, but he doesn’t know how I do, you know? (Laughing) But you know, we’re a very fertile songwriting team, I mean, I just spent a couple of days and we wrote a song yesterday morning, actually. If we weren’t that fertile, I don’t think we probably would be still doing it together, you know. Cause it’s relevant to us because every time we get together we do something brand new, that we, now we’ve got, you know, a new baby to love, you know, so we stay together. I think the separation that we have, you know, some people think that’s unhealthy for a band, I mean, I know like Neal Finn has a concept that everybody should live in the same street, you know, and everybody should be in each other’s pockets, and that’s where you get that togetherness from, and the drive, you know. But for us, because we’ve been doing it for such a long time the separations, you know, make the heart grow fonder, you know what I mean? And so you kind of, when we get into that thing where we’re coming into a rehearsal period, by the time we get to Day 1, we’re just desperate to be there. We’re desperate to be there and be playing the songs and discovering new stuff together, you know. And we get into a recording studio, and we just start spitting them out, the song ideas come from everywhere. You know, we went to Austin with 38 songs. Now we ended up recording about 26, and on the album, funnily enough, is stuff that, there’s quite a bit of stuff that’s quite old, I mean, “Wendy” I think is gee, man, that’s 10 years old, probably, you know. But we hadn’t played it live or together for such a long time, you know, and we started playing it together and because we’ve matured and matured together and the band has grown, it just had a completely different vibe to it, you know? So, umm, the most difficult thing, I think for us was just staying, and I think this was the benefit of having a producer like Kerryn, just staying open to every possibility, you know, and not close it down and not say ‘No, no, these are the 10 songs we’re gonna do.’ We just stayed open about it and we recorded pretty much everything we had time for, you know. And we looked at it in the secondary stage of the mix, and gathered together the songs that had a connective spirit.

Q: Australia’s the only place where you actually allow the records to go thorough stores. (RC: Umm-hmm) Everywhere else you go through the internet, right? (RC: Umm-hmmm) Is that because the record companies will try and sort of cash in on your celebrity and sort of force you into something you’re not?

RC: Yeah, completely. You know, we were going through the process of um, talking to a number of big companies. I mean, you know, the biggest companies that exist, you know. And that’s what becomes very obvious at a certain point. They actually don’t really give that much of a fuck about what we’re doin, you know? They just want to get the record out before the Academy Awards, you know? And, uhh, that’s just stupid. It’s got nothing, that’s got nothing to do with it. And so, you know, we nearly did a deal with one company and then I, just at the last minute I said, “Oh, and by the way, you can’t release it til August.” And they flipped out, they go ‘ahh-ahh’ (small chuckle) Mate, because I don’t want one thing attached to the other, and I don’t want to give you opportunity of doing that. And um, you know, what you might see as, you know, missing momentum and missing sales is like, you know, this record, if it’s gonna sell, if somebody wants to buy it, it should be on its, absolutely on its own merits as the music, not because it’s hyped or because it’s got a good television campaign behind it or anything like that sort of stuff. And uhh, you know, I know that I’m privileged in that way, that I’m lucky that, you know, this is a passion of mine, so what it costs me is what it costs me. And there’s a particular way that I like to do things but, ummm you know, that’s as honest as it can be, you know, as far as I’m concerned, that’s as honest as I can be about it, you know, and I don’t want somebody else to come along and prostitute it on my behalf. If I was going to be that big a slut, mate, I’d do it myself.

Q: What sort of touring plans have you got? I mean, I understand you’ve got a movie, “Mystery Alaska” coming out in April?

RC: (sounding like SID) No, uhh. “Proof of Life” is coming out in April. “Mystery Alaska” is already out -- Mystery’s on video and DVD and all of that sort of stuff (Q: Right) Um, (cough) “Proof of Life” comes out in March, I think, in Australia. And then I start working with, um, Ron Howard on another film called “A Beautiful Mind”. So we’re not gonna do, like, the traditional launch gigs, in the same week, cause, you know, why should you? (Laughs) Six months later we’ll probably do a series of shows, you know. Umm, we’re looking around August, but, uh, and there is a concept floating around at the moment where we might end up playing in a whole lot of different strange places all around the world, but we’ll see how that goes. I’m just interested in seeing how the, cause, again, if we get on the road, then, that’s also a version of hype, you know? So, here’s the album, let’s see how it goes in the mix of all the other records that are available, you know?

Q: If you could get anyone, living or dead, to get up and jam with the band, who would it be?

RC: Wow. Gee whiz, you know, I mean, if I was to pick somebody, Dean would kill me, because he would come up with some (chuckle) somebody else. You know, I’m really happy with the band the way it is actually, I kind of just enjoy that. I wouldn’t mind, you know, singin a bit with some, with some people. Umm, actually one of the things that we really wanted to do when we were in Austin was hook up with a lady called Lucinda Williams, and it just didn’t come about. But that would be a lot of fun, cause, uhh, I think we’d be a really good backing band for her (giggles)
(Q: Great voice, isn’t she?) She’s got a great voice and a great attitude, man.

Q: And what secret ambitions have you got – become the host of the ??? show, or write a song for Johnny Cash or…

RC: I got a letter from Johnny Cash the other day.

Q: Is that right?

RC: Yeah (Q: And..?) Why, I sent him one back. (Q laughs) So now he’s going around saying ‘I got a letter from Russell Crowe…’ (Q laughs) Umm, what were the options? Sorry? (both laugh)

Q: Whatever options. I’ll leave it to you.

RC: Umm, ambitions?? I dunno, you know I just try to work on gettin good at things, you know? Umm, I’m starting to scratch my head a little bit with the acting thing, because I’m not uhh, not sure I’ve got that much ground to cover anymore, you know? And that doesn’t mean … I’m not saying that because you know I think I’m Super Flash or whatever, but I think there’s only a certain amount of characters you can play at a given age, and maybe I should just stop doin it for 10 years and wait til I’ve got some real, some lines of my own and a big fat paunch of my own, and you know, and some gray hair and stuff, and then do some more roles, you know? I’d like to explore the whole film thing a little bit deeper, perhaps from umm, you know, a different perspective. Uhh, I’ve already taken steps towards that, you know, I’ve got a couple of experimental films that I’ve made, that I’m still working on in my own time. And I’ve got uhh, some more serious projects coming up that would see me in a different position, not just as the uh, as the lead actor. But you know, I umm, I don’t really like to say those sort of things out loud, cause I think it’s a really important thing that whatever it is that you truly want to do, and, you know, for want of a better _expression, what your dreams are, I think if you, ….. if you’re ….. not careful, and if you say them too often, then the energy that you need to that thing has just been used. And once it’s up in the air, it’s dissipated. So, the things that I really want to achieve, I never really discuss. Because I keep it inside me and then it burns and then I have to get it done.

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