It’s hard to solo when you’re walking around, especially when you’re in Michael Jackson’s presence. There are easier things in life to do.
I just assumed the world was full of solo percussionists. I couldn’t find sticks or music or anything where I was, but that was expected because there was nothing there anyway. And I think that was possibly the greatest asset for me, just not knowing.
As a boy soprano in the high school choir, I later sang a solo during the carol service at Canterbury Cathedral, but I was too young to secure the Freddy Eynsford-Hill role in our production of ‘My Fair Lady’ – and far too timid to have thought to audition for it.
That’s what my music… I’m working on a solo record right now, it’s gonna be more hip-hop than anything, like electronic hip-hop, futuristic hip-hop. I’m probably gonna be rapping on it.
The solo years have been more meaningful to the audiences than the Smiths years, but the press in England only write about me in relation to the Smiths era.
I definitely have been nervous, but often I get more nervous performing with the corps de ballet than doing a solo. There’s so much pressure doing a group number because if you muck it up, you’ve ruined it for everyone.
I have a solo deal with Columbia Records. So it’s about, do I want to release an album, when can we do it, what kind of album should it be, how should it be released and marketed and what’s the right timing? Do I have time to do it? It’s all about questions.
In 1994, to motivate me to complete my pilot’s license, my good friend, Gregg Maryniak, gave me Charles Lindbergh’s autobiography of his solo flight across the Atlantic.
The way I look at a solo project is, I create what I want with whoever I want.
I see myself as a composer who plays music and likes to play with other people, and not just as a solo artist.
I played a gig at the Montreax Jazz Festival once – and on a song called ‘It’s All Gone,’ I had to do free-form slide solo. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done – because I wasn’t thinking about it.
You can remember almost every Elmore James solo by heart because he was playing songs. Nothing’s wasted. Nothing’s throwaway.
I’ve always toured solo acoustic.
Jazz is something that’s constantly changing. Its sole purpose is to let people improvise, to let them solo differently each time they play. And that’s always been what I like best.
I do some solo, acoustic stuff, but I also like plugging in my electric guitar and playing loud with a band.
I think the real exciting part about becoming a solo artist is that you get to really decide on what your new sound and what your new message will be.
I auditioned for a solo in church and got it. I was about seven and I sang a song called, ‘Jesus, I Heard You Had a Big House’ and I remember people standing up at the end and me thinking, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to like this.’ That’s how it all began. Sounds funny to say you got your start in church, but I did.
I did make a solo album in my house when I was there. And because I was just afraid of flying, I wouldn’t promote it, and I wouldn’t tour. Actually, it wasn’t a very good album anyway – it got buried underneath the pits of Hell, I suppose.
I didn’t win any bunch sprints. But I won in solo breakaways, I won time-trials, I won in the mountains.
And I’ve always loved playing solo.
As long as I know what key the solo is in, I try to kind of empty my mind and not think about anything. I just play without thinking.
I really value what Closed Sessions is doing to build the Chicago music scene and am excited to partner with them for my first solo project.
The only thing that’s better in a group versus being by yourself is the companionship. You have to do a lot of thing by yourself as a solo artist. But it’s cool. It’s worth it.
I think a guitar solo is how my emotion is most freely released, because verbal articulation isn’t my strongest communication strength. My wife thinks that I should do interviews by listening to the questions and playing the answer on guitar.
