“And I believe in love. To me, that’s the engine that powers the universe and the moments when we feel truly connected are the moments when we feel love; when we come into harmony with the soul of the universe. ”
By Will McGuirk
Sometimes you only get a short time with folks you want to chat a lifetime with. One such is musician, the Waterboy himself, Mike Scott. We had email contact for his new album, ‘Good Luck, Seeker’ dropping Aug 21, 2020, but Scott is a fascinating character and deserves so much more recognition beyond a couple of chart singles back in the 1980s - the “Whole of the Moon”, “Fisherman’s Blues”, etc. His concept of Big Music back then was quaint in its pop-timism but now decades later is so on point, is so whole of the moon, so whole of the sun too, plus planets, galaxies, universe, universes, the whole of the whole of it. He sang then and sings still of the whole of the whole of it. And with an all encompassing music which sings to the voice of the people of this entire planet, a music at once indigenous and spiritual and unknown and resonant and familiar, that sings to the collective soul of humans and human history, a common gathering voice, - he explores a sound which creates a space, which is a place where all of it is home, where all of is present and all of it is always present and with a hook which makes it human, oh so human. Mike Scott had an epiphany and it has informed his whole being. And here we are in 2020 and season upon season of global sounds; balcony operas, street level violins and clanking tins and front step sing-a-longs for front-line workers, waves of sounds crashing into each others, the disharmony of voices, finding each other, embracing, harmonizing, becoming one huge wave, a vibration to challenge a virus and as long as one voice can speak, as long as one voice can sing, then the Big Music endures, the human enterprise will endure even as we head into the final seasons with all of their mythical resonance. The Big Music is the Big Hope and right now we need big hope, oh how we need big hope!
Slowcity.ca: You have been doing this a long time, why did you start and what are your thoughts on being able to pursue this very personal path for so long?
Mike Scott: “Music is my life. From the age of 9 I wanted to live inside songs, write 'em, record 'em and perform 'em. That's never changed.”
SC: I feel you explore similar territory to Nick Cave, the very rich history of art both traditional and contrived; whereas Cave has delved into the darkness you have a lighter step, a more optimistic, brighter treatment. Where does this come from and why is there so much joy in your music and songs?
MS: “I don't know where it comes from but you are right. It is there. My early awareness came from my reading, writers like CS Lewis whose fiction I found very inspiring, and from my favourite music. And I was a child of the 60s, that inspirational decade when everything was possible. Later I found that it's up to the individual to find their path, and that everything is still possible, but we have to make it happen ourselves and not wait for society or the culture to do it. And I believe in love. To me, that's the engine that powers the universe and the moments when we feel truly connected are the moments when we feel love; when we come into harmony with the soul of the universe. I can go to dark places in my songs, and even have some fun there, but I will never stay. If there is one keynote in Waterboys music, I think it is a sonic/lyrical reassurance that love is the secret and everything is gonna be all right in the end. I've had personal experiences of spiritual oneness that have proven this and though I come back down from them, sometimes for years, I never forget what I've seen and understood. “
SC: The traditional culture of a place is important it seems to your music but you marry it with the modern. How has it been living through the deep changes Ireland has undergone and how has it affected your music or is there an inherent sameness in the culture you have been able to draw upon? To reference Yeats whom you covered - is Romantic Ireland dead and gone?
MS: “I delved into Yeats for the ‘Appointment With Mr Yeats’ album, and I live and work and write in Ireland, but I am not so deeply connected to Ireland's spiritual karma. I'm not Catholic, wasn't brought up Catholic (or religious at all in that sense), and Ireland's emergence from oppressive Catholicism isn't my story, though I empathise with it and have felt deeply angry when revelations (like the Ryan Report) came out. Recently my daughter's school, which is non-denominational, held its Christmas choir event in a Catholic church. I was dismayed by the opulence it contained, and couldn't square that with the centuries of cruelty, the tearing of babies from their mothers, the paedophilia and abuse. I walked out.”
SC: The press release provided says this album is the final piece of a triptych - Did you plan on making three albums in this way, how did you order the songs as they came to you, and what are the themes to each and the common narrative of all three?
MS: “No. It's just the way it happened. Nothing is planned except that ‘Out Of All This Blue’ would be a double. The next two albums were almost accidental! There is no common lyrical narrative but there is a musical thread, with everything arising from my mashing up of beats and band music for the last 6 or 7 years. The next album will be quite different (already finished).”
SC: The album title suggests you are staying put and waving on another; How has your own seeking gone, have you found as someone one sang what you were looking for? And what was it, for after all a quest without a prize is just a walk, to quote another?
MS: “I've heard the big music, Dude, and I'll never be the same.”
