Chris Isaak: Blue Mood

The Melbourne Herald Sun
08/02/96 By Nui Te Koha

Chris Isaak would rather remember the bad times than bury them. Nui Te Koha speaks to a singer constantly in touch with his emotions.

Chris Isaak wants some fashion tips. The last time he was here - winter last year - he was able to wear his ghastly Hawaiian shirts only in a place where ghastly sights do not seem to matter that much: Queensland. Now it is summer and Isaak has been tipped off that his bright hibiscus prints could - with his reflective songs and cool haircut - go on a national tour. He is excited and concerned.

"We�ve been goofing around in this interview and stuff - and that�s fun," he says. "But I want a serious answer to this one: if I wear my Hawaiian shirts will people go, �look at that dumb, American tourist�?" No, I assure him. They would probably say: Hey, that dumb American tourist in a Hawaiian shirt looks like Chris Isaak. "Oh, so you�re saying there�d be recognition," he says. "You know, I�m gonna wear that stuff anyway, it�s all I�ve got. I suppose I just want to know whether I�ll get laughed at."

Isaak, 40, is in a playful mood, an emotion at odds with his six-month-old album, "Forever Blue", an extended letter of heartbreak to his former long-time girlfriend.

For this meeting, his humour is twisted and sharp, more dry wit than sarcasm. He has just recorded an MTV Unplugged session, will work on two musical contributions for films and a soundtrack after his Australian tour. Isaak - cool Californian drawl, slick hair and wonky, grape-shaped nose - is in good form. Which is not entirely surprising. "Forever Blue", which could have choked on grief and longing, had more emotions than just slow and melancholy.

It opens with a rock�n� bluesy "Baby did a Bad Bad Thing", keeps the momentum on "Don�t Leave Me On My Own", but the underlying intention is loss, so the strongest tracks are the recent single, "Somebody�s Cryin� and the tearful title track.

"As a record, as a piece of work, as business, I�m real happy with it," Isaak says: "It said what I really wanted to say." "On a personal level, when I look at it, it will always be a reminder of a tough time - and it still is: I can�t believe it�s been as long as it has been. It�s always difficult to look back on something you didn�t want to let go of. It�s a drag."

But surely Isaak, in documenting his misery on the "Forever Blue" album, has set himself for a constant reminder for the rest of his career.

"Yeah, but I would rather remember things than forget them," he says. "To me, the tragedy is that you can�t hold on to your feelings, they are transitory, ephemeral, and then they�re gone. The fact that you can remember things make them seem, to me, valid."

"Your first girlfriend," he perks up, asking himself a question. "Do you remember what she looked like - �no� - well, that�s not a good thing. Me, I probably remember too much." "People remember numbers, dates; me, I remember things about love."

Have women taken the unintentional, but glaringly obvious, subplot of "Forever Blue" - that Isaak is a free agent - as a license to try to seduce him?

"The same as always," he smiles. "Anybody, in any kind of rock band, whether you�re playing in the corner bar or on TV, you have people who want to go out on a date."

"Do you get Siskel and Ebert (a largely unattractive movie review team in the US) over there?" he asks. "I�m sure there are women trying to chase them, you know what I mean? You put them on TV and there�s probably some broad going: �Ebert, he does it for me. He smokes me. I�m hot. I see him, I want him.� "I�ll bet you it�s true. I�ll bet you he hits the hotel and there are flowers from somebody. You can�t take it too seriously," he says, straightening up. "You just can�t".

Isaak made five albums up to "Forever Blue": the imagery of the first two - "Chris Isaak" and "Heart Shaped World" - and his brooding vocal and stratospheric falsetto set up shallow comparisons to Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. But it was the 1991 single "Wicked Game" - used by director David Lynch in "Wild at Heart" and promoted through a steamy video of Isaak and model Helena Christiansen making what he describes as "MTV love" on a beach - that established his fame and style.

He was also one of the first of the new breed to do the movie/singer crossover. Though admittedly - and Isaak seems slightly embarrassed about it - his movie roles (in David Lynch�s "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me", Bernardo Bertolluci�s "Little Buddha" and the new Tom Hanks flick) have been bit parts.

"Somebody once told me: �Oh, I let my kids watch your videos, but I tell them they�re not real�, he says. "And I�m like: �what?� And they say: �The kids think you�re having sex, you know?� And I�m like: �I wish�."

Isaak lightheartedly rattles off a list of his tamer videos, sensing an observation that his music clips consistently feature half-naked women.

"You said �raunchy�," he says. "I just know you�re gonna use that word."

He recalls the shoot for "Don�t Make Me Dream", an under-the-doona assignment with a Los Angeles-based French model.

"So we�re in this bed making MTV love," he says. "I�m not touching her breasts, I�m not touching her butt, I�m touching her leg or her arm. People, if you make love based on MTV, you will never get pregnant." "Anyway, I�m lying in bed, 20 people are around us filming. I�m making jokes in between, I�m nervous, she�s nervous, all of a sudden her boyfriend comes in and he�s freakin� out, yelling at her in French and she starts crying." "I�m just lying there saying, �What an idiot, man. We�re makin� a movie. It�s not real�. Talk about a jealous little guy."

Helena Christiansen in "Wicked Game", he concedes, was a fluke. At the time, she was an up-and-coming model and a friend of photographer and video director, Herb Ritts.

"If Herb ever asks you out on a double date, trust me: just go. He knows a million women just like Helena," Isaak says.

In his next video, for "Graduation Day", Isaak stars with Jim Carrey�s fiancee, Lauren Holly.

"It�s a very pretty video, lots of clouds and landscapes," he says. "There wasn�t any reason to have Lauren Holly in a bikini." "Actually, it�s funny, Jim Carrey kissed me backstage at the MTV Movie Awards and I have to kiss Lauren in this video. I would have to say she�s the better kisser."

Isaak plays Uncle Bob, a recording engineer, in the new untitled Tom Hanks movie about a 1960�s rock band getting a one-shot chance at the big time.

"If I was Tom Hanks, I wouldn�t walk any place. I�d get carried around on a big chair made of gold," he says. "I�d wear a turban and I wouldn�t dress. I�d just wrap a big sheet around myself and, yeah, I�d get a constant massage." "I would go nuts if I was Tom Hanks, but he�s kept himself together. I like that."

In "Little Buddha", Isaak played alongside Keanu Reeves. Is Keanu as one dimensional as critics suggest?

"Oh boy," he laughs. "What a question. I�m probably the wrong person to ask about Keanu because I knew him only through this movie and he was really nice to me." "I can tell you he walks that way in real life - he has hip injuries from playing hockey. But no, he borrowed my guitar and brought it back with no broken strings."

So do we blame YOU for Dogstar?

"Well, you can thank me, I guess," Isaak says. "I didn�t like hanging around Keanu too much. He�s tall, good looking. I don�t wanna hang around people like that."

Where did the story about Isaak dating Paula Abdul come from?

"I don�t know, but it�s not true," he says. "I should be happy: once in a while people think I�m doing something more exciting than I actually am." "I was in the paper the other day and they�d cropped the picture to look like I�m going out with Bridget Fonda, which isn�t true. But at least I�m in the paper with a cute girl."

What do you think about your nose? "I can�t help it," he says. "Somebody else did that to me. Too many boxing matches. You know, I used to have a nose like Dean Martin."

"But I figure in 10 years, five years, TWO years, people aren�t going to look at me forever. I�m waiting for the day when I get old and I can say: �Gee, I used to be really good looking�."

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