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(Continued
from Page 2...)
We talked
about your upbringing in Argentina a little bit, about the sixties,
and maybe we should move from one genius writer to another one, Jimi
Hendrix.
Hearing Jimi Hendrix changed my life completely, and actually at that
point that I was kind of defenceless in that I knew I had to be a
musician. That was the point that I knew. I was eleven. I think he
died in '71 which makes me whatever it makes me. My next door
neighbour came round to my house when I was eleven years old and he
played me a Jimi Hendrix album and I thought 'Who is this guy, how
does he do that!' I'd heard The Beatles, I'd heard the Stones but
there something about the way Jimi Hendrix plays which made such a
huge connection with me and I thought this is what I want to do. I
want to lean to play like that and I want to learn the electric
guitar. The sight of an electric guitar after that just used to give
me goosebumps. And it still does. Whenever I hear Jimi Hendrix I get
the same feeling that I got in my head when I was eleven years old. It
doesn't go away. There is no other guitar player that does that for me
in the same way. There are some that have a big effect with me but
Hendrix is the 'guvnor'. As an instrumentalist he's probably the
Paganini of our times.
So you
were familiar with the sixties music and that was the time your family
moved away from Argentina? You moved to the US to the American
Midwest. Do you any recollection of what that felt like?
Yes, we moved away in '71 or '72 and it was like landing on the moon.
I landed in Wisconsin which a lot of American's consider the worst
place to be but for me it was just unbelievable. First of all,
everyone spoke in English which I wasn't used to and just the American
dream... the cars. It was just a fantastic place to arrive at and you
know that it's strange because now that I think about it I was only
eleven years old but I felt like I was on some kind of big journey. I
wanted to be a musician, I knew then that I was going to be a musician
and it was just a matter of how and when. And so I felt that this was
kind of like part of my world tour - I'm coming to America, and I'm
going to be famous and I'm going to get an electric guitar. I'm going
to do all the right things. I just love the memory of arriving in
America but now I'm been all over the States and I've been to more
places in America than most Americans have and I can now see that the
place I ended up - Racine, Wisconsin - was not necessarily the most
beautiful place in America, but whenever I'm in the Midwest now I get
that same feeling. I still think it's the best place to be. That's
where I'm from, as well.
What made
your parents move there?
My Dad worked for a company, he's a business man and the company he
worked with stationed him in America.
And so you
went to an American school?
Yes, it was a great experience. The great thing about going to school
in America is because I came from Argentina we were really into sports
and athletics and soccer. I realised I was more advanced than the
Americans were in that area except in basketball because that's what
they do. But it just goes to show how athletic Argentina is really as
a country. It's very outdoors and I realised I could beat everyone at
running and hurdles and high jump and long jump and soccer. I was a
bit of star. It was my first taste of stardom because I was from
another country.
But you
were British after all?
Well, I don't really know what I am. That's another problem we could
get into. I mean I have an American father, an Irish mother and I was
born in Argentina...
So what is
your nationality?
I'm British. I have a British passport but I also have an Argentine
passport which I actually carry around with me just in case there are
any problems on a plane. Because being British and the world climate
being the way it is it's not such a great thing to have British
passport so if there's any problem, I eat the British one and I show
the Argentine one.
Some very
famous music came out of England in the sixties and here's one
track... (plays A Day In The Life). How did that effect you?
You were living in the States, had spent your childhood in Argentina
and this music came from England. Was that a kind of universal sound
for you?
Yes, The Beatles were a global band at that point and it was a
completely universal sound. I don't think there was anywhere on the
planet that didn't identify with that in some way because they were
the soundscape of the sixties. Them and the Stones. It was great to
listen to it.
What
attracted you in particular to The Beatles?
Not so much the music, but the look of it, the image, being in a band,
being in a gang. It was so important to be in band. I had a band. My
friends... we couldn't play any music but we had a band.
What did
you do?
I used to play on my Dad's Spanish guitar, just a few chords. A
combination of some bossa nova chords and some power chords, I don't
know what it was. The drummer was using buckets. As long as it looked
like a band.
That was
in your Dad's garage?
Yes, or the front room, or the garden. I had to be in a band - there
was no question about it - and I had to get my neighbours involved,
just to pretend to be in a band.
So it was
sports and music for you?
Yes, sports and music.
That was
very popular with the girls presumably?
Well er... (Laughs) I also realised that one of the only ways to get a
girlfriend was to be in a band. I thought, that's very important to
increase my chances of having a relationship with someone. If I'm in a
band... there's a romance attached to be being a musician. I want
that. It's like being a pirate or something. Not being academic... I
was terrible academically but I wanted to be popular and have friends.
Are you
still attracted to this romantic image. I mean look at the cover of
your 'Shapes' album. There you are with a guitar case, alone on a back
road walking into the distance...
I suppose so. Actually it was an art director that put that together
but I suppose that's who I am. There is a romance attached to being a
musician there's no doubt about it. That was important to me then, but
now I suppose there's still a part of that that I still identify with
but now it's much more the actual music itself. But that's the thought
process that got me into all this trouble I suppose. Being a musician,
and it kind of went downhill from there.
But this
was not serious, playing with a makeshift band?
No, it wasn't serious at all, but I really believed that I was in a
band.
But had
some talent, you must have realised that?
I had a little bit of talent but I knew that I had to be a musician
and it was just a matter of time. I remember getting to the age of
about 12 or 13 - it's an age of reason I suppose when a boy reaches
that kind of age - and thinking 'Now what?' I thought 'How am I going
to do this, how am I going to pull this off?' That's when I realised
that I had to raise my game a little bit and I started taking guitar
lessons and I realised where my shortcomings were. And I've been
realising them ever since. In fact, I realise them more and more every
day and that's why I'm studying music today more than I did them. But
that's when I took guitar lessons and thought now it's time to get
serious. I always had very good ears. I used to rely on my ears to
learn. I used to put a record on and figure out how to play it which
my peers around that time couldn't do that. They had to be taught how
to play it. But I've always done that, and I've always been able to do
that and I still do that. Now I can read music a little bit which
helps me but my ears are better than my reading. But I took guitar
lessons round about that time. I actually moved to England if you want
to talk about that and got a really good guitar teacher and we studied
classical guitar because that's really where it's at. I thought if you
are going to be a guitar player do the hardest thing and so I started
learning the pieces by Fernando Sor and Villa Lobos and thought wow,
this stuff is different. I knew I was never going to do it, I thought
I'm never going to play this stuff but at least I can play classical
guitar and show my neighbour that I can do that. So it was important
to me. That's when I really started developing myself as a player I
suppose.
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