Rock um Knuedler: Interview Sharleen Spiteri

(ADW) It was a packed Place Guillaume on Sunday night when an estimated 18,000 people turned out to watch Texas, the climax of Rock um Knuedler.

All day people had been enjoying local music of varying styles on three stages and discovering the array of rock and pop music the Grand Duchy has to offer.

Before Texas hit the stage, singer Sharleen Spiteri spoke to the Luxembourg press in what was a cosy conference in one of the Rock um Knuedler festival tents.

“You know what?. This is such a beautiful place, its great to be here this evening, and we're really excited about playing and looking forward to getting on stage”, the first comments that Sharleen made.

One of the first questions posed to the Texas singer related to the state of the music industry, a subject she is passionate about and had a lot to say:

“These are very uncertain times in the music business right now, it's very hard for new young bands to break through, especially as record companies are run by business people, but not music business people. People who look at figures and stats... Stats don't work in music. It's your heart and what you feel in music. Some people think that there's a recipe for it. There is no recipe for music. Artists need to be allowed to make the records that they want to make to grow and find different paths.

Basically song writers and musicians make songs for the public who don't know they want them yet. So record company executives need to stop thinking that a record should sound like a certain person or another a different person. It then becomes messed up and everyone's making rubbish records and its all about production and producers and not about great song writing. Great song-writing is what creates catalogue and if the major labels don't have catalogue any more there will be no music industry. What will happen is musicians and songwriters will release music on their own via internet”.

I heard your family roots stretch across Europe.. Your name is Maltese and your grandmother is French. What are your actual roots?

I'm a gypsy I don't care. I want to be a pirate and love my life everywhere. I feel really lucky. I'm Scottish and brought up in Scotland. For me, where your friends are and where you laugh the most is where you’re from. I've lived in London now for 15 years, I still have a house in Scotland, before that I lived in Paris for about three years and I don't know what's next. It depends where life takes me.

Luxembourg maybe?

It's really beautiful and green, and the architecture is lovely and people very friendly, but to be honest I only got here at 5.30pm today and tomorrow I leave at 9:30am, unfortunately the great shame is I don't get to see much of Luxembourg. We are very lucky because we get to travel all over the world but never get to stay very long.

You haven't released a record for some time, is it hard to re-enter the music industry again as it's moving so fast?

Difficult to say. For Texas, the first record was massive the next not so big, you can never predict what people will like. You just have to make a record that you want to make and hope that it works.

Yes the music industry has changed and is faster, but what everyone needs to get with, is to allow it to change in its natural form within the music industry not with everyone trying to break it into pieces and genres. The music industry is a jigsaw puzzle that doesn't fit together right now and will take another eight to 10 years to get right.

How did you manage your solo career and the band at the same time?

The thing is, even though I did do solo records, I wasn't going out on a solo career, I was still in Texas. As we weren't making records at the time I released two solo records, something I really wanted to do and with the support of Texas. So the band is part of what I do.

Did your experience as a solo singer bring something new to the band?

I think that when any of us go off and do separate things with different people and get different experiences you always bring back stuff that comes into Texas.

Do you think your fans changed over the years?

Yeah they're older. We've got fans that have been with us from the beginning, we've gathered new fans over the years. Last night there was an 11-year-old boy in the audience shouting at the front. He'd never heard our music but just loved it, so it changes all the time.

When on tour what do you miss?

My daughter. But I tend to go away a couple of days, then home then away again, but it's not difficult. My daughter's about to turn nine years old and she's fine with it and knows this is what I do.

What happens after Texas?

I know there will come a day when I'm not in Texas and will do other things but it will always be in the music industry. I manage two bands already, so we are helping to develop new bands. I have no interest in being famous but I have a great interest in music, so for me if you never see me again... I have no problem with that.

Final Sharleen Spiteri quote:

"There's a massive contradiction in life: You don't understand what risk is until you're older. When you're young risk means nothing and you think you are a punk, but you’re only punk when you're old, because only when you become old you truly don't give a BEEP".