Ken Stringfellow – 11-10-2012

Interview with: Ken Stringfellow
By: Sabine van Gameren

Ken Stringfellow is an artist that has been doing really a lot of things during the years. Known for working with bands like R.E. M and playing in The Posies but also released some solo material. Recently a new album from his hands came into the world and we met up with Ken in Helsinki to talk about it.

Nowadays Ken Stringfellow is producing a lot of albums for other bands, it has been eight years since his last solo album came out. The fans have been waiting for it patiently regarding the filled venue he played this evening. As it seems this time he thought of everything carefully beforehand. Combining the studio time with the release of other albums of which he is also taking part is saving the costs quite a lot. He seems very impressed about the location of the recordings and sees it as an essential part of the album. “If I made it sooner, I could not have made it at the studio I really wanted to work in. It either got to be the best, or it is not worth doing, that is kind of my thing” he comments on it.
with all the time invested in it he seems to want it to be very precise which he confirms while asked for it.

Danzig In The Moonlight
The album has several themes, there is not one red thread throughout the album, but when he looks back on it the main thing that comes back is the experiences that he have had during the past years. “My album is like a blog” he starts telling. Many of the experiences are written there in code as it would take too long to get all into it he tells laughing. Besides the things he experienced himself the main difference also can be found within the players Ken worked with. “I had some really good players on my last album. I think that it is now even more, the players are even more advanced. My way of telling what I want from them is also more advanced”.
When going on about what he tries to tell with his songs we get into more darker material as it seemed at first. Two tracks are about the apocalypse and basically what comes after it. Ken’s view on what will happen seems to be quite positive. “Let’s be clear, I think it will look fantastic” he tells and goes on telling that the end of stars and planets, supernova’s are one of the most spectacular events in astronomy. “For me the apocalypse is not so scary. It’s part of a natural order”.
In another song he speaks about how sad it will be for god if there is no one to play with anymore. “He kind of has regrets in a way” he says with a bit of smile.

Other projects
Right when Ken released his album also another album is out, even though it is mainly a Dutch release. Dutch actress Carice van Houten has released an album that is co-produced by Ken. It has a couple of hits on and the song ‘Emily’ is on rotation at MTV. Though Carice did not seem to be into making an album just because she can. “She is so famous in Holland she cannot even walk on the streets by herself. She is very self-conscience about being over exposed” which is probably one of the reasons why she did not go for it earlier.
This does not mean that Ken sees it as competition to himself. “Can there be a better advertisement than having an album out with nr 5 in the charts? It is just more exposure” he comments.

For the future there are many things ahead. As it seems like there is no definite end to the tour yet. “I am touring in Europe until the end of the year. Then it is time to go to The States and Japan and all other places I can go to” he says but we also speak about a new album that will be very electronic. That is due next year but not too much can be told on that yet.

Links:
Ken Stringfellow Website