Ian Fisher Interview
Ian Fisher Interview „I don’t expect any new experiences“
Ian Fisher im Interview beim Soundkartell
Ian Fisher kommt auf Tour und das Soundkartell hat ihm einige wichtige Fragen gestellt.
Es ist mal wieder soweit. Ian Fisher kommt für einige Shows nach Deutschland. Er ist einer der besten Live-Songwriter, die es derzeit gibt. Er zehrt besonders von den Erfahrungen, die er bei seinen unzähligen Reisen gemacht hat und wirkt auch sonst sehr reflektiert. Blickt aber nie auf andere und beurteilt sie.
Das Soundkartell spricht mit ihm über seine Erfahrungen. Vor welcher Erfahrung er im Speziellen Angst hat, wieso er Jack Garratt nicht kennt und darüber, was er von sich selbst erwartet. Das lest ihr jetzt hier:
Soundkartell: For me a suitcase is something like a symbol for the young people like me. Always on the run, we never want to say “Ok this is the place I want to stay my whole life”. Why do you think this “image” is deceiving?
Ian Fisher: Like a few million others in this little bubble of the middle class Western World, I’m in the very rare and fortunate position to have most of my basic needs met. Usually my need for food, shelter, etc… are fulfilled. The only need left to fulfill is that of happiness. It sounds easy, but that’s a pretty abstract and tough one to fulfill. I guess it’s especially hard when you don’t have the distraction of trying to fulfill your other basic needs with hunting or farming or protecting yourself from harm on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining that I don’t have to do those things. Concerning the “Koffer” or suitcase, I’ve used that image as a representation of this search for fulfillment that I’m talking about. In attempt to find what I truly want and need, I’ve traveled all over the world. People have been doing it since the dawn of time. Some cavemen might have been looking for better hunting ground, some pilgrims might have been looking for religious freedom, and I might just be looking for some cities with good mass transit systems, governments with good social systems, secular people that don’t have guns, and some audiences that listen to my music. The search for that isn’t deceiving. It’s one of the most basic themes we humans know. I would even go so far as to say that that search can be quite fulfilling in itself. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard to know what you’re looking for when your goal is always changing. The end is deceiving, not necessarily the means.
In writing new songs you seem to be tirelessly the last couple of years. In which way this could be risky for you and your creative processes?
I’ve written around 1300 songs now. A few of them are good. Most of them aren’t. I guess that if there is a risk in writing so much, then it could be the risk of losing the ability to evaluate which of the songs to keep and which songs to leave behind. Some artists just have a few songs and they stick to them their entire career. They know what they have to work with and they grow to really “own” their songs and their artistic identity. I, on the other hand, change. I write a lot of different things. Some of them grow into my life for awhile and I like them because they jive with who I am at that moment, then a few months later I just don’t get the song anymore, because I’ve grown into a different person. It’s not a bad thing for me, but it might be a bad thing for people who want to hear songs from a person who I am not anymore.
To be honest, I don’t expect any new experiences. I’d just be happy if some people come to the shows, the venues treat us well, no one in the band gets sick, and we don’t get any speeding tickets.
Would you agree that in the last couple of years your music gained more “mass appeal” but not in a negative way?
I think that a few more people know about my music now. The more the merrier. It’s hard to tell though. You just have to do it anyway.
Over your last release you received a lot of positive resonance and praise for what you are doing. In which way this is difficult to classify it correctly when you only earn positive resonance in the magazines, blogs and radiostations?
I’ve received some good reviews over the last year for the release of my last album “Nero” and my new album “Koffer” that will be released on Nov. 18th. It always feels good to hear that someone likes what you do. It’s also good to get a bad review every now and then. That makes the reviews feel less like attendance prizes and more like an honest attempt to evaluate your work. Sometimes journalists just give bad reviews to build up a facade that they are actually critically listening. That’s like someone writing songs to build up the facade that they’re an artists. Those people should get out of the way and get a different job. For the most part though, reviews don’t change that much for me or any real artists. What matters to me is my audience. I care much more about the people who come to my concerts and buy my albums than I care about journalists. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without my audience. I’d probably be just about the same without journalists.
You are starting your tour for nearly four weeks. Is there any new experience you want to gain during this tour again?
I’m on tour all of the time. To be honest, I don’t expect any new experiences. I’d just be happy if some people come to the shows, the venues treat us well, no one in the band gets sick, and we don’t get any speeding tickets. Of course I’m looking forward to playing a few news songs with some musicians who I’ve never played with before too. We’re playing with an Icelandic bass player. I guess it’ll be a new experience if I’m able to pronounce his name properly by the end of the tour.
Ian Fisher im Interview beim Soundkartell
The source of your inspiration are your experiences you make while you are on tour, living in Berlin, Munich and Vienna. This is always a very personal piece of yourself in your songs. Is there any experience you are afraid of that you will make and you have to handle with in your songs?
I haven’t written about the death of anyone close to me in a long time. I hope that I don’t have to write about that again anytime soon.
A few years ago you told me that “the path you took to become a professional musician was a long and blurry one. How difficult is it to be really thankful to all the good things that happened to you since the last couple of years?
There’s still such a long way to go. Yes, some good things have happened over the last few years, but nothing happened that I didn’t work my ass off for and nothing will happen in the future if I don’t continue to work for it. Maybe I’ll realize one day what I have to be thankful for if something substantial changes in my career for the better or worse. It’s mostly subtle changes though. It’s often hard to tell you’re moving forward when you’re just taking baby steps. At least it’s forward though. I’m thankful for that and for the people who have helped and continue to help along the way.
I think Ian you are a perfect example for an artist who has a very individual way becoming a musician in comparison to other artists like Jack Garratt where everything went very straight ahead. When you look back to younger artists: Are you afraid that the individuality will get lost?
I don’t know who Jack Garratt is. If you say he has some kind of Hollywood script of a musical career, then I’m fine with not knowing who he is. My guess is that, like all major label artists, a PR company embellished the hell out of his story. I bet my clusterfuck of biography would sound like a fairytale too with a few hundred thousand dollar press campaign behind it. I’m not afraid of artists losing their individuality by the way. If they don’t have individuality, then they aren’t artists.
What is your personal “recipe” to conserve the fact that “Ian Fisher” will keep “real Ian Fisher” without getting rigid or something?
There’s no difference between the “me” on stages and in my songs and the “me” that’s sitting on this train writing this interview and I’ve lost faith in any form of recipes for anything. I’ll change. It’s human. I’m fine with that.
Mit dem Laden des Videos akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von YouTube.
Mehr erfahren
LIVE
präsentiert von ByteFM, Kultmucke, Intro, Tape.TV & AskHelmut
19.11. Dachau – Dachauer Kulturschranne
20.11. Timelkam (AT) – Bart
24.11. Wattens (AT) – Gasthof Neuwirt
25.11. Steyr (AT) – Röda
26.11. Wien (AT) – Bluebird Festival
27.11. Waldviertel (AT) – Salon Ditta
30.11. München – Feierwerk / Hansa 39
01.12. Dresden – Ostpol
02.12. Halle – Brohmers
03.12. Berlin – Badehaus
05.12. Hamburg – Kleiner Donner
06.12. Erfurt – Museumskeller
07.12. Darmstadt – Frischzelle
08.12. Michelstadt – Unterholz
09.12. Köln – Blueshell
10.12. Mainz – Schon Schön
11.12. Bielefeld – Falkdendom
