HENRY DOSS interview - continued...
YOUR SONG 'MARS' IS AN ANTI-WAR SONG. IS THE FUTIILITY OF WAR A COMMON THEME IN YOUR SONGS, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE WAY BUSH & BLAIR HANDLED THE IRAQ SITUATION LAST YEAR?
First, war is not a common theme for me. Love, fear, loss, hope, wonder, mystery . . those are more things I write about . . .particularly love and loss. What prompted 'Mars' was simply the notion that what's so intractable about war (and in the case of "Mars" I was specifically thinking about the Middle East) is the seemingly unending commitment on the part of hostile nations to ABSOLUTES! That is "I'm right; you're wrong." It's this crazy absolutism that shuts out any chance of peace, reason, rationality, concord and discourse. "I'M RIGHT AND YOU'RE WRONG." That is the fundamental cause of all conflict, and the more I reflected on the Middle East, and conflict in general, the more I wanted to capture the irrationality of absolutes, and how an absolute position almost dooms a person or a country to insanity.
Second, no. I do not believe for a minute that Britain and the US handled the situation in Iraq at all properly. Bear in mind that irrespective of what you might read in the press, I'm pretty sure that I represent a majority point of view in the US. We should have gone to extraordinary lengths to work through the United Nations; we should have thoroughly exhausted every single diplomatic channel possible; we should have exercised responsible sanctions; we should have been patient. And so on. And look at the result of not doing so.
I really wanted to come to London last year for the protest (a close friend of mine in the UK was going), but we couldn't get over there for it. I wish now we'd tried harder. But you can rest assured that there is a strong and growing US movement against a war-prone, force-driven administration here in the US.
HAVE YOUR MICHIGAN SURROUNDINGS HAD MUCH INFLUENCE ON THE MUSIC YOU MAKE AND THE LYRICS YOU WRITE?
Hard to say. I've certainly had a lot more leisure up here than I'd previously had in my life. But most of what I write tends to be stuff that is reflective on the past, and has little sometimes to do with where I am. I think a lot about my childhood, my own children, my life, my friends. And the surroundings don't seem to have a lot to do with what I write about. (When I first started writing music, almost every lyric I wrote was on an airplane, since that was one of the very few places where I could get a few moments of uninterrupted peace and quiet!) But being up here in this beautiful country doesn't seem to hurt!
YOU RECENTLY COLLABORATED WITH EMMA RUGG, A COLLABORATION THAT CAME ABOUT VIA THE BBC'S 'RAW TALENT' RADIO SHOW THAT'S BROADCAST FROM HULL, WHERE EMMA HAILS FROM. HOW DID ALL THIS GAIN MOMENTUM AND WERE YOU PLEASED WITH THE RESULTS?
Working with Emma has been the single most satisfying experience I've had in music. Emma is a person of wonderful, remarkable talent. She is a highly creative person of the first order. She has a work ethic that will stop at nothing. She has the voice of a siren. She has a remarkable intellect. And, most important, she has the soul of an artist. What more could you ask for? Working with Emma was and is a great honor for me.
It happened simply because somehow, Alan Raw heard my CD, and liked one of the songs on it. He played it and I did an interview on Raw Talent. Emma heard the song and sent me an email complimenting me. I emailed her back. Then one thing led to another and "POOF!" we were in the studio here in Michigan recording two songs. Those were released here in the US to radio stations east of the Mississippi. We got good air play on 19 stations, and every single person who's heard those two songs has really thought they were something special. I did, too.
Emma and I are hoping to do another, even bigger collaboration this year. For me, that would be wonderful.
But irrespective of that, I'd advise anyone to get a hold of her debut CD, 'Isolated Impressions'; visit her web site at emmarugg.com; and be on the look out for this artist. She'll be a force to be reckoned with. Count on it.
IS THERE MUCH OF A MUSIC SCENE THAT YOU ARE AWARE OF IN MICHIGAN?
There's a pretty good music scene up North here, and a really dynamic scene in Detroit, as you'd probably guess. The real challenge here . .. as anywhere . . . is creating an audience for all original music, particularly as you start out. If I could change anything, it would be to have more places to play where you have an audience that is looking for "new" music. Not covers. But I think all in all, the music scene here is fairly good. But I have to say I think the UK music scene is more accepting of new music and tends to be a little more dynamic than here. At least it seems so to me.
YOU ARE PRETTY FOND OF THE UK AND TRAVELLING AROUND THE UK. HAVE YOU CHANCED ON MANY UK BANDS THAT YOU REALLY LOVE THE SOUND OF?
The UK in general is one of my favorite places in the world, and my wife and I have spent quite a bit of time there, particularly Northern England and Scotland . . . the Highlands. There are literally dozens of really good, new bands that you could name (just listen to Raw Talent on Thursday nights; I do on streaming internet connection). One that I'm particularly fond of, just because I've been exposed to them is Riley. And of course Emma Rugg. Maybe the right way to answer this question, so that I won't leave someone out, is this way. Give me an unsigned, energetic, guitar-driven, loud band from the UK with something to say (musically or lyrically) and I like that better than commodotized, industrial rock generated by the MTV machine. How's that?
YOU CLAIM BE TO AIMING TO ONE DAY RECORD 'A BREAKTHROUGH ALBUM.' IN WHAT RESPECT?
I wish now I hadn't said that. But here's what I meant. I believe that somewhere, in all of us, lurks the seed of a great creative moment. Just one. Somewhere in your life you will have the opportunity for a great work, and you will have the means to follow through. I think this is true for every single person. The difference between those who follow through, and capture, that creative moment has something to do with "belief" or a willingness to simply be open. When you do "believe" then sooner or later -- assuming you're willing to work at it -- you will be in a position to do "something" that will be a break with the past, and that will be a work that people listen to and mentally say "I didn't see that coming." What I hope to do in the next few years is go into the studio and come out with something, about which people will say: "That is really and truly 'new'."
The best way to keep up-to-date on anything and everything HENRY DOSS-affiliated is to visit, re-visit and visit again his fab website, to which there is a link HERE where you will find full details of all his releases, gigs and any other relevant information for both hardcore and casual followers of this remarkable man with one hell of an original muse...