June 10, 2026 • 45 mins
On this week's In Service Of Struts' frontman Luke Spiller joins host Steve Baltin to talk about balancing life as a rock star frontman and emerging singer/songwriter solo artist. In this in-depth talk Spiller talks about why he is in the prime of his career enjoying the best of both worlds.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey to Steve Balton and welcome to in Service up
this week. Really honored to be joined by Struts front
man Luke Spiller to talk about his new solo stuff
as well as of course the Struts. We talk about
the balance between being a singer songwriter being a rock
(00:27):
front man, all about songwriting so much more so. I
hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did.
It was a lot of fun, very interesting conversation, and
at this point in time, Luca's got a lot going
on and has a lot to say about how much
fun he's having making music and why it's better for
(00:48):
him than it's ever been. Thanks. We know many many,
(01:08):
many mutual people, but where you came up? Most recently
I did an La Time story on sun Rose and
I was talking to Mike Garson. Oh really, Yes, you
work with him quite frequently.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I'm actually seeing him this weekend with he's doing another
Bowie in spite of performance in Santa Monica, which I'm
going to be a part of.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Oh nice, we're in Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Do you know what I can't remember?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
That's all right, I can find out. I mean, were
you how much fun is it to do those shows?
First of all? And I mean we'll talk about your
stuff in a second. But you know, it's funny because
I was talking with Mike about those at length, and
I mean, Mike's is one of those people who's got
a million stores. But more than that, I mean, he
absolutely loves music. M So for you, how much fun
(02:08):
is that? See you know someone who's been doing it
this long who still is that excited by it.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, I mean, gosh, Mike's story is not only really inspiring,
but I think I think back from when I first
started playing shows with him, probably about four, well three
to four years ago now, and I've just learned so much,
(02:40):
so so much. I mean, I think by the time
I did my first couple of shows with him, I
kind of saw myself as it's quite a a well
adversed performer to an extent.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And singer as well.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And yeah, it became quite apparent as soon as we
started doing those first couple of shows that I still
had a lot to learn, a lot to learn. It
was a very different type of performance, and Mike plays
in a very specific way and it requires a completely
different part of the brain from rock and roll music.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, and I mean for you. You know, that's part
of what allowed him, as we talked about, it's what
allowed him to work so on someone like Bowie who
could kind of do everything. So for you, one of
the favorite Bowie songs to do. I'm a fan, I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I love doing changes was That's one of my favorite
Bowie songs of all time. And I love the way
that me and Mike do it.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I love.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
M Let me ever listen, let me think. Moon Age
is always great, super fun. It depends as well. It
depends kind of like how we're doing them. I've done
a few shows where it's literally just me and Mike
playing for two hours, and then we've done performances where
we have like a big band around us. So interpreting
(04:20):
the songs can also sort of lead to different favorites.
I love doing life on Mars and him as well.
And we also do like a whole array of Bowie
connected covers, like we do Perfect Day from Transformer, which
(04:41):
was you know, produced by Bowie, and then we'll sort
of dip our toes into other people that Bowie loved
as well.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So yeah, those songs, just to name a few, very cool.
So for you.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I mean, yeah, it's funny. I was looking at your
Instagram and were you were talking about how surprised you
were by the response to when I Died while I'm
miss living and I'm curious on many levels because I
have theories about that, you know, having talked to every
songwriter in the world. But I'm curious too for you,
(05:25):
like why were you surprised?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I think I was surprised because by the time I'd
finished it, I and I'd been playing it on a
little solo tour. To be quite honest, I was kind
of like over it, and i'd also and I'd also
(05:52):
heard some sort of feedback which I guess in moments
i'd kind of taken personally regarding my solo stuff, which
had come from like a lot of immediate Struts.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Fans where they were very much.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Like getting a bit sick of me doing introspective slow ballads,
and the solo record had already been alive and existing
online and physically for about a year by the time
when I Die came out, so I was kind of
(06:28):
expecting people just to you know, be like, oh gosh,
you know, fast forward, like can you sing about some sex,
drugs and rock and roll and make it fun and.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Upbeat, and yeah, I was really sort of taken back.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I was sort of given a lot of testimonies and
stories that you know, to be quite frank, I'm not
really kind of even qualified to respond, like genuinely difficult
moments in people's lives that they they wanted to share
with me, which again I found very touching.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
And which was which was attributed to hearing the song itself.
So I was quite surprised.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
That's fascinating to me because you know, like you mentioned,
for example, a perfect Day, and to me, that is
a perfect song. And the similarity is I've always found that,
you know, from talking with writers, the simpler and more
vulnerable song is, the more people connect with it, you know,
(07:33):
Like I look, for example, like I did a book
called Anthems We Love Right, where I talked to twenty
nine different artists about how their songs evolved into being
an anthem and you know, people like Tom Waits and
Brian Wilson and The Doors and you know, mega songs,
you know. But like what was interesting was finding that
(07:56):
two of the songs Our House by Graham Nash and
Sarah Smile by Darl Hollan John Oates were written about
one person each, and yet somehow people still resonated so
deeply with those songs because they wanted the feeling. Even
if only Graham Nash knows what it means to live
with Jonny Mitchell, people still wanted the feeling of intimacy
(08:19):
in that song. So when you look at it that way,
I mean, I've always again like I look at like
in my life by the Beatles, right, that's probably my
favorite Beatles song. John Lennon, to me, was as brilliant
as anyone who ever lived. And what made that song
especial is you look at that song and you feel
like anybody could have written it, and then you realize, yeah,
(08:41):
but only John Lennon wrote it. And it's such a
simple sentiment that it seems obvious when I die while
I miss living, it's funny, it feels like, I mean,
so when you think about it, does it become less surprising?
Is it something like when you look at it, like
(09:01):
when you hear it from people, it feels very fucking universal?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Hmm yeah, yeah, I mean I after getting the initial
feedback for like the last three weeks, I do I
do understand after reading like people's messages and stories like
(09:27):
how it does sort of resonate with people and whatnot. Yeah, again,
going back to sort of like my own personal experience.
I mean, you hit the nail on the head where
you said, sometimes the more stripped back and personal like
a song is, the more universal it becomes. And I
guess I was sort of I was reflecting on the
(09:50):
experience that I had with the ten tracks from the
solo album before this song. I had like a couple
of moments like this, and they weren't received in the
same way, maybe because they were album tracks That probably
also has something to do with it. They weren't sort
(10:12):
of like focused songs like when I Die. It's like
a song single and to itself. But yeah, I can,
I can. I can kind of see it. I see
the appeal now after reading everything that I've read about
the song.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
So I'm gonna guess. And again, I have no way
of knowing this, but you know, from having talked with
so many songwriters about the idea of music being channeling
and songs coming from nowhere, this feels like a song
that came to you very quickly.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Oh yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, I have these I
have these phases where I either I spend the mornings
like at the piano or on a guitar, and I'm
just sort of really fishing, so to speak, for the
(11:11):
first couple of hours of my day. And then sometimes
I go for these phases where I flip that and
I don't even touch an instrument and I just sit
and I really have a new fand appreciation for just
carving out like a great lyric.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
And this was one of those moments when I was.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Back for the Christmas holidays in the United Kingdom, and
of course coming back, I had like terrible jet lag
for the first three to four days, so I was
up at about six am wintertime in the UK, so
there was like no sunlight, and I would just sort
(11:55):
of spend about two or three hours watching the sun
come up, essentially, and I just sort of like sit
there with coffee and I was just, you know, I
just sort of like just doing what I did. But
I was in one of my lyric phases, and I
was reading a lot of Billy Collins, the American poet laureate,
(12:16):
and and I feel like if anyone's kind of familiar
with his work, you'll sort of see how that really
inspired the subject matter and the lyric. He sort of
has this way of making the mundane and the every
(12:36):
day into something not quite like heroic, but more of
a he can he can turn it into a beautiful
philosophical thought and feeling.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And I remember just.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Sort of thinking of that phrase and I thought, oh gosh,
you know that's that's so.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
That's so Billy Collins.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
You know, I can imagine him so of like signing
off a poem in that way.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And I just sort of ran with the idea, and.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I think I wrote about five different stanzas with that.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Line being the cadence.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And then and then I just started like hearing this
this kind of very basic melody in my head as
I was kind of writing it out. And that's why
it was. It happened so quick. I just picked up
a guitar and I thought, oh gosh, you know it's
going to go here and this is where it goes.
And it kind of all fell into place like perfectly.
(13:39):
And then and then I lived with like the bare
bones of it for a few months, came.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Back to LA and then.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And then kind of took it to my producer John
Levigne and my friend Nick Perry, and we just sort
of like jammed it out a bit really and then
it was done really quick, super quick.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Nice. So when you go back and look at it, like,
is it a song where you kind of, like so
many times people will tell you, you know, with writing being subconscious,
when they get done with the song, it surprises them.
So is there an elements of it that surprise you
or like that you know kind of that you know,
(14:25):
did you feel the Billy Collins influence right away or
was it something that you sort of saw in hindsight.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Uh? I guess I think I saw it right away,
and I was sort of like going through this moment
where like Billy Collins, for instance, like what makes him
so good is that it's so beautiful and simple but yeah,
(14:54):
extremely frightfuling intelligent at the same time, and it's done
with such an but it's kind of so simple, deceivingly simple,
where it almost makes you think for a moment in
time that you can do something like that. It's like
super inspiring in the same way as I guess Kurt
(15:14):
Cobain's core progressions are also really inspiring to a lot
of young musicians because it is so simple, so I
was kind of going through this moment of where I
was contemplating of I was trying to sort of build
a body of work to eventually bring out my own
sort of body work of poetry or fancy lyrics as
(15:37):
I call it, And so Debilly Commons thing was a direct,
notable sort of like a tip at the hat, so
to speak.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
But then again, it's funny because.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I might look back on this song and it's lyrical
content in about another year's time and I think, gosh,
you know that that was really that was really quite good.
You know, in hindsight, Will I be able to beat it?
You know? Can I can I sort of like create
something that grabs people as much? But said in a
(16:14):
slightly different way, I don't know. I think time will
sort of come to tell if if I could do
something like that again.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
You know, Well, it's so funny you say that, because
when I was doing my book that I mentioned, I
talked to like Robbie Taper from the Doors, for example,
(16:45):
and we were talking about by My Fire and he said,
if I knew how I did it, I would write
it a million more times. And Steve Went said the
exact same thing about writing give me some love and
sometimes you just see these songs that again, they come
from the universe and you'll never do them again.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, and I think that's good as well. I don't
think there's any I don't think there's anything to be
gained about trying to write something over and over again.
I mean that was also something that was special about
this song because with my with the solo record, I
(17:25):
gave myself the constraints of.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Writing an entire album that.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Was based on my own experience of love, sex, and heartbreak,
and I worked within those constraints, and that also meant
for a very long period of time that's all I
was writing about. And When I Die was sort of
like the first moment where I kind of broke away
(17:52):
from that and it was sort of leading me to
somewhere else where. I thought, oh, you know, this is
a this is a bigger idea then your your sort
of typical love song, even though by the by the
third verse I managed to sort of make it into
a love song essentially. But yeah, this was me kind
(18:14):
of like breaking out of the restrictions of that sort
of put upon myself consciously, and I was I guess
subconsciously I was trying to get away from you know, so.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I always had to ask the obvious questions, but I
have to why did you decide in writing the song?
Like did you were you able to answer the question?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
What was the question against? S?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Were you able to answer the question? The title boses, right.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I mean, yeah, I guess.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I guess if you look at it through the lens
of the song itself, yeah, you would be, because it's
playing with the idea of you actually still being still
able to consciously observe life and and have a new
(19:16):
found appreciation for it. Now that being said, in terms
of brand's answering the question, I mean, if we are,
as spiritual beings able to do that, then I guess yeah,
we we would, wouldn't we?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
It would be hard not to.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
You know, you you you only you only miss what
what you've once had, which I guess is kind of
like a scary thought, but it's also something that kind
of prompts the the action of waking up and really
appreciating every single day that you have on this earth.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
You know, interesting self real. You know it's why because
I know you saw what I saw on your Instagram,
I should say that you're also doing Struts after dealing
with like the limitations you put on yourself and the
heavy thoughts. It's funny. I mean, I've talked to so
(20:14):
many artists who you know, enjoy the balance of like
the bigger thing and the more intimate thing for you
are looking forward to going back to the sex, drugs
and rock and roll for a moment, just to kind
of balance it all out.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah. I mean, I've literally just got back from Nashville
a week or so ago and we've completed the The
Struts fifth album, which, upon reflection and reading through everything,
I'm actually in the process right now of typing out
(20:52):
all the lyrics for the DSPs and of course like
the album booklets and stuff, as it's sort of like
getting being it's getting ready to be mixed properly. And yeah,
I can say for certain that none of those ten
tracks on the album go anywhere close in terms of
(21:14):
sort of the asking the big sort of questions that
we tend to ask ourselves in our sort of, I
guess say, more introspective moments. It's a completely different hat
that I put on when it comes to the band, and.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I like that. I think it's good.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I think it's good it helps me to apply these
different skills I have in different ways. But yeah, the
strutch stuff is kind of more like rock and roll
poetry in the sense of, you know, like someone of
my hero is, like Bond Scott, for instance, And the
(21:56):
solo stuff is way more lyrically driven to a sense
where I think you could sit and read the lyrics
and they would read pretty well, you know, if you
were to save them in a monologue.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
What's funny? Do you see that as like a balance
or something that one is kind of progressing into it
more than another. And the reason I ask is I
always think of Chris Cornell as a friend for a
long time, and we would talk about it.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Obviously he started with Sound Guarden and there always was
that element of him, but ultimately, at the end of
the day, he really you know, we talked about the
fact then he really wanted to be Neil Young or
Tom Waite like for him, so much more interested in
exploring the singer songwriter stuff. So do you find as
you're getting older that one side kind of starts to
(22:53):
progress in Yah?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, totally totally, it really has.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
And I think I think there was a moment in
time that my interests were beginning to create like a
attention within the band, and I think I think even
at times it was it was almost to it was
almost to the Struts material. It was a detriment to
(23:21):
the Struts material as well, because I was sort of
trying to I was trying to imply, like the things
that were inspiring me in my personal life and my
own my own goals onto the band. And when it
(23:43):
comes to like a collective like the Struts, you know,
we have like a really dedicated hardcore fan base that
want and love and expects like a certain thing. And
for a while, before I had my own solo platform,
I was beginning to become like extremely frustrated. Whereas an artist,
(24:06):
I didn't want to keep trying to repeat myself, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
But now I have my own outlet, it.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I'm sort of I'm sort of able to turn up
as my absolute best version of Luke Spill, like the
rock star as I can, because I'm able to explore
things that inspire me outside of like rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
So it's it's a good thing. It's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
But yeah, I mean, as I've got older, my interests
have gone musically like way beyond what I was interested
in ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Totally.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
So do you see yourself continuing to evolve into like
something totally unexpected, like, I don't know, not necessarily a poker,
but you know, just that like thing that know whatever
expect from me.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Yeah, totally totally because I can and I think.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
I would hate to sort of look back on my
life and my career.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
And sort of see one of those people that just,
you know, just doing the same thing over and over
and over again. You know, I really want to just
to keep myself interested, if anything, being able to have
that freedom and have like my own audience where they're
(25:41):
there may be a bit more sort of like open
minded into what I can sort of create and give
to them. And yeah, I want to continue to keep
doing what I feel when I feel.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
So you when you look at like and it's funny,
I think of like a band like and Stones are
not even my favorite band, they never were, but I
do appreciate and respect certain things. But why I mentioned
them is you think of how they started and then
you know, I really love the ballads that came lay
to the Amgi the wild horses and dead flowers and like,
(26:22):
are there people that you've really admired for the way
that they were able to evolve. Like I mentioned Chris
being a friend and suck you know, in the artist
that he was interested in. You know, obviously there are
so many people who you know, over the years, like
Neil young Be for example, like that has done every
(26:43):
fucking thing in need superiors to do.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, certainly.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I mean one of the my biggest inspirations for about
five years was was Scott Walker and his and his
journey and being able to have a really healthy string
of hits with the Walker Brothers, which were great songs,
(27:10):
and then being able to have like the self belief and.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
The balls.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
To go off and create this new sound which has
become like really iconic for a lot of people who
who love that, who loved that kind of music with
heavy orchestration and a beautiful baritone voice. And yeah, I
(27:42):
mean even even having sort of like the audacity to
take Jacques Brell's biggest selling songs in France and have
them translated and him do them himself, I thought was
like super ambitious and and should be kind of respected.
(28:05):
So I love artists like that, And you know, you
mentioned you know, those other.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Guys as well. You know, I think I'm always.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Even someone like Rod Stewart as well, being able to
to break away from a band like The Faces and
become a fantastic like interpreter of of great songs. I
mean I've heard, I've heard Rod Stewart like reinterpret Tom
(28:41):
Waits Downtown Train, which I thought was was great, and
it's something only that Rod could do. You know, I'd like,
I'd like to do more stuff like that as well.
But I'm currently working on a new collection of solo
songs which is completely different, completely different from from the
(29:02):
ten songs that I did for my solo record, And
of course, you know, going back to Mike Garson, I mean,
it would be silly not even to mention the evolution
of an artist like Bowie, for instance. I think that's
also something to kind of really take seriously as an artist.
(29:22):
And in terms of I think, I think artists handle
the journey of longevity in a couple of different ways.
I think there are many people out there who are
completely happy with trying to reinvent what they've already done
(29:43):
and figure out like fifty different ways of doing the
same thing, and that's great, And I think to an extent,
maybe Aboud like The Stones, falls under that slightly, or
and Angus Young and like.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Brian Johnson and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
But then you have someone like Bowie, where I think
they build a career full of longevity by keeping themselves
entertained and inspired, and I think I fall into the
latter a lot more.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Well, Okay, wait before we move forward on this obvious question,
because for me, Tom Waits is my little favorite songwriter
of all time. What's the one Time Waits song you
would want to deal?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I would be Martha. I love that one. I know
it's like.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I know it's it's probably one of his more well
known songs. But there's a it's either Martha or there's
a version of I Hope I Don't Fall in Love
with You, which was not on the record. It was
like a different version of it with and it was
I think it was more one Night on the string
guitar driven, and I loved that version. So either two
(31:07):
of those, either of those songs.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
It's I love that you mentioned Rod Stu were doing
it because Rod's a friend. I spent a lot of
time interviewing him and he told me one of the
greatest stories of all time which is when he met
Tom Waits after doing Downtown Train. You know, he's always
a fan and artists are fucking fascinating with Tom Waits.
I've met everyone from Sammy Hygard to John by Jove.
(31:42):
He asked me about Tom Waits, but Tom Rod was
telling me a story about meeting Tom after doing Todd
after doing Downtown Train, and Tom said, yeah, thanks, you
brought me my last house.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Yeah. I mean, that's the power of of writing a
great song and being one of those artists like you know,
like Dylan kind of fools under the same sort of
umbrella as if Tom Waits for me, when you know
where they write these brilliant songs with their own voice,
and I think, I think singers with a lot more
(32:22):
range and say kind of skill can hear like the
potential in what they do and are able to sort
of make something completely different from these kind of genuses ideas.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
You know, absolutely, and I mean obviously, as much as
I love Tom, his version of Downtown Train was not
going to go top.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Ten, no, no, But it's the same with Dylan, you know,
like when Adele covered you know, make you Feel My Love,
it's like you can hear, you can hear the potential
in it, and then you give it to one of
the greatest contemporary voices in the world and and boom,
it's like, oh wow, there's that's the potential of that idea,
(33:11):
you know.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
So interesting for you and obviously you've had in stream success,
it's a little different. But for you as a songwriter
because like, for example, you know, trend Restaurant. I'm a
huge nine Snails fan, And he talked about the fact
that the you know, the greatest honor of his career
was Johnny Cash covering Hurt So for you, and Chris
(33:38):
Cornell told the same thing about, you know, like Johnny
Cash jing the Soundgun song, So for you, what's they cage?
Who would be like the dream artist to cover, you know,
like will I misliving when I die? Is there one
artist that you would love to hear what they would
do with it with their voice?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, I mean I'd love so.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
You know, I'm a big Lana del Rey fan. I'd
love to hear what she would do with a song
like that. I actually I would actually be confident that
she'd probably love that kind of idea. Yeah, I'd say
like her.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I mean, I don't really have a huge.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Collection of contemporary artists that that I kind of love.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
It's quite difficult. It's quite difficult. I think I would
just be.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Flattered and curious just for anyone to kind of cover
my music, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
But yeah, again, I mean it's probably that's something you
think about. But I mean, I'm just curious kind of
who the got instinct, you know. First answer is.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, definitely be Lanad. Alright, that would be that would
be a dream come true.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Very cool. So what's coming up next in the timeline?
The reason I asked because you saved the Brozolo songs?
Do you say the Struts record is done? That you
just finished in Natville? So is there, like, you know,
one direction you're going in next?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah? So the Struts are back out on the road
the first quarter of next year, and it's all going
to be Struts, Struts, Struts for the entire year.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
We've got a very busy year coming up next year.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
And I guess, yeah, And I've almost finished a five
song EP.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
From my own collection of like new material, and.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I guess in some ways, you know, I might be
able to do like a small solo run. I'm not
entirely sure at the moment, just because it's I'm going
to be so busy with the band, and obviously that
has to come first. But I'm also curious to to
see if my own solo music any has any other
(36:23):
sort of placement opportunities, like when I Di did with
Chicago med for instance. I think I've also found that
really inspiring, where I can write something which is so
not right for the band, but yet it can still
live and find its own place where it's relevant and
(36:47):
where it can really enhance a medium like television or
movies for instance.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
I'd love to do more stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
So what would be like the dream? Okay, this is
the way I've always asked the question to make it
more interesting. If you could live in any movie or
book or TV series and make music in that media
or in that work of art. If you could live
in any book, any movie, any TV series and make
music in there, what would be the one you would
(37:19):
choose them? Why?
Speaker 3 (37:21):
I mean, straight off the bat, I would say the
Bond franchise. I mean my first solo album was. I
remember reading a review where someone had coined the coined
like the review essentially saying that this solo album was
(37:42):
a an audition to write a James Bond either song
or multiple tracks. And I mean talking about Chris Cornell,
I mean his his song that he did for Cautino
Royale was one of my face of a Bond songs ever.
And I've always always wanted to write a Bond song.
(38:08):
I wouldn't even necessarily like be dying or chewing it
in a bit to sing it, but I could, but
I'd love I'd love to be given the opportunity to
do that, all right.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
So besides, you know my name, which was Kritsis one
of the favorite Bond songs because there have been so
many great ones through the years.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Yeah, I mean, I'm a huge Shirley Bassie fan, so
like Goldfinger for me is the quintessential Bond song. I
love that. And I love her voice. I think she
has the greatest voice of all time. I would say.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
That one gosh.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
I even loved the Tina Turner GoldenEye. I thought that
was quite cool. Of course, Garbages the World is Not Enough.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
That was another great one.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
I think, surely. I think all three of her ones
that she did I absolutely love and adored. I thought
they were brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, it's funny. I was just looking it up. I
kind of love also Carly Simon Nobody Does Better.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yeah, true, true, I love that one. I love that one, And.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
That one's quite a unique Bond song because it's kind
of it's like it feels like it's holding onto a
certain era of Bond, but yeah, pushing into a brand
new one at the same time. And it's funny, like
the production's really quite quirky on that. I also love
(39:57):
Paul McCartney. He's living Let Die. I mean, that's incredible song,
Absolutely incredible. I'm not a huge fan of the the
the later Daniel Craig songs apart from Chris is one.
I thought that one was the best, hands down. I've
(40:19):
had a new fan of appreciation for Adele's sky Fall,
but yeah, yeah, the Billie Irish one, I thought it
was okay. The Jack White and Alicia Keys one I
thought was bang average. Yeah, yeah, definitely like the older
(40:41):
ones for sure.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
There it's funny. I know what you're saying about the
Carly one. See, I love Carly and Yoha, but like
there is a feeling that when you hear Nobody does
It Better, it sounds like of a very specific era.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, yeah, it's funny as well, Like on the outro.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
It's weird.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
It kind of like modulates and sometimes it like plays
tricks with my ears. I'm like, wait, what key is this?
Like it does some really bizarre stuff. But no, it's
definitely a great one for sure.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Yeah. So all right, so you have the five song
EP coming next then next year's about to destruct. I
mean I found this so much from talking to people too.
You know, like you mentioned getting the best version of
yourself instructs. Are you just enjoying things more now, like
being able to have that.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Balance, Yeah, totally. I think he was eating away at
me for a very long time.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
For the best part of Like, I had started to
contemplate doing something for myself by myself from about twenty
twenty and and I did two more Struts albums before
I eventually like took that leap of faith and it began.
(42:12):
I began to become quite irritable and frustrated where I
just felt like I was being boxed in and people
were sort of expecting me to do one thing forever.
And it's been it's been a really liberating experience to
to get out and do something for myself. So yeah,
(42:36):
I feel I feel way more balanced and I feel
way more fulfilled as well.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Cool, Well, is there anything that you want to add
We did not talk about because we covered a ton
of ship.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
No, man, it's all good. I think we I think
we covered absolutely everything.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Yeah. Now I'm looking forward to talking to you about
the writing, because again, it's funny. I was talking with
Tomo the album I'm a big fan of.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Oh yeah, he's great.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Do you know the song Heil.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
No, No, It's just.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
This like very simple song, and we were talking about
it and it's like there are certain songs you hear
and like you just know they came from the universe.
Like Neil Diamond told me, right, he's like a sweet
Caroline came from God. But he said, Fie and I said,
one of us was gonna die writing that song. It
(43:30):
was so difficult. So there are certainly songs that could
be tough. But sometimes you hear a song and you
just know, like that was like just out of like
there was just a fucking lightning bolt.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, it's true, it's true.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
I'm a huge No Diamond fan, huge No Diamond fan. Actually,
you can put that on the list of people i'd
love to interpret my songs No Diamond, all.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Right, So what Neil Diamond song would you want to do?
Speaker 3 (44:01):
Oh, I'd love to do Brother Loves Travetion Salvation Traveling Show.
I think that's the title.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
I'd love to do. Dig In I'd love to do.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
I've covered Girl You'll Be a Woman at the sun
Rose quite a few times. I'd love to do like
a big version if I am, I said, you know,
like when it comes into the chorus, it just goes
like four huge big rock ballad, like massive sounding guitars.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
That'd be quite cool.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah. My favorite Neil song and one that no one
ever mentions, but it's such a brilliant song.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
It's hell yeah, it's what which one?
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Hell yeah? Like the ones with Rick Rubin, have.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
You No, No, I haven't heard that yet.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
The live version from Madison Square Garden. It's basically his version.
Like my Way, it's kind of an end of life song,
but it's so incredible.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Wow, I have to go ahead it for sure.
Hey to Steve Balton and welcome to in Service up
this week. Really honored to be joined by Struts front
man Luke Spiller to talk about his new solo stuff
as well as of course the Struts. We talk about
the balance between being a singer songwriter being a rock
(00:27):
front man, all about songwriting so much more so. I
hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did.
It was a lot of fun, very interesting conversation, and
at this point in time, Luca's got a lot going
on and has a lot to say about how much
fun he's having making music and why it's better for
(00:48):
him than it's ever been. Thanks. We know many many,
(01:08):
many mutual people, but where you came up? Most recently
I did an La Time story on sun Rose and
I was talking to Mike Garson. Oh really, Yes, you
work with him quite frequently.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I'm actually seeing him this weekend with he's doing another
Bowie in spite of performance in Santa Monica, which I'm
going to be a part of.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Oh nice, we're in Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Do you know what I can't remember?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
That's all right, I can find out. I mean, were
you how much fun is it to do those shows?
First of all? And I mean we'll talk about your
stuff in a second. But you know, it's funny because
I was talking with Mike about those at length, and
I mean, Mike's is one of those people who's got
a million stores. But more than that, I mean, he
absolutely loves music. M So for you, how much fun
(02:08):
is that? See you know someone who's been doing it
this long who still is that excited by it.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, I mean, gosh, Mike's story is not only really inspiring,
but I think I think back from when I first
started playing shows with him, probably about four, well three
to four years ago now, and I've just learned so much,
(02:40):
so so much. I mean, I think by the time
I did my first couple of shows with him, I
kind of saw myself as it's quite a a well
adversed performer to an extent.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And singer as well.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And yeah, it became quite apparent as soon as we
started doing those first couple of shows that I still
had a lot to learn, a lot to learn. It
was a very different type of performance, and Mike plays
in a very specific way and it requires a completely
different part of the brain from rock and roll music.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, and I mean for you. You know, that's part
of what allowed him, as we talked about, it's what
allowed him to work so on someone like Bowie who
could kind of do everything. So for you, one of
the favorite Bowie songs to do. I'm a fan, I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I love doing changes was That's one of my favorite
Bowie songs of all time. And I love the way
that me and Mike do it.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I love.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
M Let me ever listen, let me think. Moon Age
is always great, super fun. It depends as well. It
depends kind of like how we're doing them. I've done
a few shows where it's literally just me and Mike
playing for two hours, and then we've done performances where
we have like a big band around us. So interpreting
(04:20):
the songs can also sort of lead to different favorites.
I love doing life on Mars and him as well.
And we also do like a whole array of Bowie
connected covers, like we do Perfect Day from Transformer, which
(04:41):
was you know, produced by Bowie, and then we'll sort
of dip our toes into other people that Bowie loved
as well.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So yeah, those songs, just to name a few, very cool.
So for you.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I mean, yeah, it's funny. I was looking at your
Instagram and were you were talking about how surprised you
were by the response to when I Died while I'm
miss living and I'm curious on many levels because I
have theories about that, you know, having talked to every
songwriter in the world. But I'm curious too for you,
(05:25):
like why were you surprised?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I think I was surprised because by the time I'd
finished it, I and I'd been playing it on a
little solo tour. To be quite honest, I was kind
of like over it, and i'd also and I'd also
(05:52):
heard some sort of feedback which I guess in moments
i'd kind of taken personally regarding my solo stuff, which
had come from like a lot of immediate Struts.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Fans where they were very much.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Like getting a bit sick of me doing introspective slow ballads,
and the solo record had already been alive and existing
online and physically for about a year by the time
when I Die came out, so I was kind of
(06:28):
expecting people just to you know, be like, oh gosh,
you know, fast forward, like can you sing about some sex,
drugs and rock and roll and make it fun and.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Upbeat, and yeah, I was really sort of taken back.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I was sort of given a lot of testimonies and
stories that you know, to be quite frank, I'm not
really kind of even qualified to respond, like genuinely difficult
moments in people's lives that they they wanted to share
with me, which again I found very touching.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
And which was which was attributed to hearing the song itself.
So I was quite surprised.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
That's fascinating to me because you know, like you mentioned,
for example, a perfect Day, and to me, that is
a perfect song. And the similarity is I've always found that,
you know, from talking with writers, the simpler and more
vulnerable song is, the more people connect with it, you know,
(07:33):
Like I look, for example, like I did a book
called Anthems We Love Right, where I talked to twenty
nine different artists about how their songs evolved into being
an anthem and you know, people like Tom Waits and
Brian Wilson and The Doors and you know, mega songs,
you know. But like what was interesting was finding that
(07:56):
two of the songs Our House by Graham Nash and
Sarah Smile by Darl Hollan John Oates were written about
one person each, and yet somehow people still resonated so
deeply with those songs because they wanted the feeling. Even
if only Graham Nash knows what it means to live
with Jonny Mitchell, people still wanted the feeling of intimacy
(08:19):
in that song. So when you look at it that way,
I mean, I've always again like I look at like
in my life by the Beatles, right, that's probably my
favorite Beatles song. John Lennon, to me, was as brilliant
as anyone who ever lived. And what made that song
especial is you look at that song and you feel
like anybody could have written it, and then you realize, yeah,
(08:41):
but only John Lennon wrote it. And it's such a
simple sentiment that it seems obvious when I die while
I miss living, it's funny, it feels like, I mean,
so when you think about it, does it become less surprising?
Is it something like when you look at it, like
(09:01):
when you hear it from people, it feels very fucking universal?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Hmm yeah, yeah, I mean I after getting the initial
feedback for like the last three weeks, I do I
do understand after reading like people's messages and stories like
(09:27):
how it does sort of resonate with people and whatnot. Yeah, again,
going back to sort of like my own personal experience.
I mean, you hit the nail on the head where
you said, sometimes the more stripped back and personal like
a song is, the more universal it becomes. And I
guess I was sort of I was reflecting on the
(09:50):
experience that I had with the ten tracks from the
solo album before this song. I had like a couple
of moments like this, and they weren't received in the
same way, maybe because they were album tracks That probably
also has something to do with it. They weren't sort
(10:12):
of like focused songs like when I Die. It's like
a song single and to itself. But yeah, I can,
I can. I can kind of see it. I see
the appeal now after reading everything that I've read about
the song.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
So I'm gonna guess. And again, I have no way
of knowing this, but you know, from having talked with
so many songwriters about the idea of music being channeling
and songs coming from nowhere, this feels like a song
that came to you very quickly.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Oh yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, I have these I
have these phases where I either I spend the mornings
like at the piano or on a guitar, and I'm
just sort of really fishing, so to speak, for the
(11:11):
first couple of hours of my day. And then sometimes
I go for these phases where I flip that and
I don't even touch an instrument and I just sit
and I really have a new fand appreciation for just
carving out like a great lyric.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
And this was one of those moments when I was.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Back for the Christmas holidays in the United Kingdom, and
of course coming back, I had like terrible jet lag
for the first three to four days, so I was
up at about six am wintertime in the UK, so
there was like no sunlight, and I would just sort
(11:55):
of spend about two or three hours watching the sun
come up, essentially, and I just sort of like sit
there with coffee and I was just, you know, I
just sort of like just doing what I did. But
I was in one of my lyric phases, and I
was reading a lot of Billy Collins, the American poet laureate,
(12:16):
and and I feel like if anyone's kind of familiar
with his work, you'll sort of see how that really
inspired the subject matter and the lyric. He sort of
has this way of making the mundane and the every
(12:36):
day into something not quite like heroic, but more of
a he can he can turn it into a beautiful
philosophical thought and feeling.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And I remember just.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Sort of thinking of that phrase and I thought, oh gosh,
you know that's that's so.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
That's so Billy Collins.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
You know, I can imagine him so of like signing
off a poem in that way.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And I just sort of ran with the idea, and.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I think I wrote about five different stanzas with that.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Line being the cadence.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And then and then I just started like hearing this
this kind of very basic melody in my head as
I was kind of writing it out. And that's why
it was. It happened so quick. I just picked up
a guitar and I thought, oh gosh, you know it's
going to go here and this is where it goes.
And it kind of all fell into place like perfectly.
(13:39):
And then and then I lived with like the bare
bones of it for a few months, came.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Back to LA and then.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And then kind of took it to my producer John
Levigne and my friend Nick Perry, and we just sort
of like jammed it out a bit really and then
it was done really quick, super quick.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Nice. So when you go back and look at it, like,
is it a song where you kind of, like so
many times people will tell you, you know, with writing being subconscious,
when they get done with the song, it surprises them.
So is there an elements of it that surprise you
or like that you know kind of that you know,
(14:25):
did you feel the Billy Collins influence right away or
was it something that you sort of saw in hindsight.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Uh? I guess I think I saw it right away,
and I was sort of like going through this moment
where like Billy Collins, for instance, like what makes him
so good is that it's so beautiful and simple but yeah,
(14:54):
extremely frightfuling intelligent at the same time, and it's done
with such an but it's kind of so simple, deceivingly simple,
where it almost makes you think for a moment in
time that you can do something like that. It's like
super inspiring in the same way as I guess Kurt
(15:14):
Cobain's core progressions are also really inspiring to a lot
of young musicians because it is so simple, so I
was kind of going through this moment of where I
was contemplating of I was trying to sort of build
a body of work to eventually bring out my own
sort of body work of poetry or fancy lyrics as
(15:37):
I call it, And so Debilly Commons thing was a direct,
notable sort of like a tip at the hat, so
to speak.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
But then again, it's funny because.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I might look back on this song and it's lyrical
content in about another year's time and I think, gosh,
you know that that was really that was really quite good.
You know, in hindsight, Will I be able to beat it?
You know? Can I can I sort of like create
something that grabs people as much? But said in a
(16:14):
slightly different way, I don't know. I think time will
sort of come to tell if if I could do
something like that again.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
You know, Well, it's so funny you say that, because
when I was doing my book that I mentioned, I
talked to like Robbie Taper from the Doors, for example,
(16:45):
and we were talking about by My Fire and he said,
if I knew how I did it, I would write
it a million more times. And Steve Went said the
exact same thing about writing give me some love and
sometimes you just see these songs that again, they come
from the universe and you'll never do them again.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, and I think that's good as well. I don't
think there's any I don't think there's anything to be
gained about trying to write something over and over again.
I mean that was also something that was special about
this song because with my with the solo record, I
(17:25):
gave myself the constraints of.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Writing an entire album that.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Was based on my own experience of love, sex, and heartbreak,
and I worked within those constraints, and that also meant
for a very long period of time that's all I
was writing about. And When I Die was sort of
like the first moment where I kind of broke away
(17:52):
from that and it was sort of leading me to
somewhere else where. I thought, oh, you know, this is
a this is a bigger idea then your your sort
of typical love song, even though by the by the
third verse I managed to sort of make it into
a love song essentially. But yeah, this was me kind
(18:14):
of like breaking out of the restrictions of that sort
of put upon myself consciously, and I was I guess
subconsciously I was trying to get away from you know, so.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I always had to ask the obvious questions, but I
have to why did you decide in writing the song?
Like did you were you able to answer the question?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
What was the question against? S?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Were you able to answer the question? The title boses, right.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I mean, yeah, I guess.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I guess if you look at it through the lens
of the song itself, yeah, you would be, because it's
playing with the idea of you actually still being still
able to consciously observe life and and have a new
(19:16):
found appreciation for it. Now that being said, in terms
of brand's answering the question, I mean, if we are,
as spiritual beings able to do that, then I guess yeah,
we we would, wouldn't we?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
It would be hard not to.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
You know, you you you only you only miss what
what you've once had, which I guess is kind of
like a scary thought, but it's also something that kind
of prompts the the action of waking up and really
appreciating every single day that you have on this earth.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
You know, interesting self real. You know it's why because
I know you saw what I saw on your Instagram,
I should say that you're also doing Struts after dealing
with like the limitations you put on yourself and the
heavy thoughts. It's funny. I mean, I've talked to so
(20:14):
many artists who you know, enjoy the balance of like
the bigger thing and the more intimate thing for you
are looking forward to going back to the sex, drugs
and rock and roll for a moment, just to kind
of balance it all out.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah. I mean, I've literally just got back from Nashville
a week or so ago and we've completed the The
Struts fifth album, which, upon reflection and reading through everything,
I'm actually in the process right now of typing out
(20:52):
all the lyrics for the DSPs and of course like
the album booklets and stuff, as it's sort of like
getting being it's getting ready to be mixed properly. And yeah,
I can say for certain that none of those ten
tracks on the album go anywhere close in terms of
(21:14):
sort of the asking the big sort of questions that
we tend to ask ourselves in our sort of, I
guess say, more introspective moments. It's a completely different hat
that I put on when it comes to the band, and.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I like that. I think it's good.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I think it's good it helps me to apply these
different skills I have in different ways. But yeah, the
strutch stuff is kind of more like rock and roll
poetry in the sense of, you know, like someone of
my hero is, like Bond Scott, for instance, And the
(21:56):
solo stuff is way more lyrically driven to a sense
where I think you could sit and read the lyrics
and they would read pretty well, you know, if you
were to save them in a monologue.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
What's funny? Do you see that as like a balance
or something that one is kind of progressing into it
more than another. And the reason I ask is I
always think of Chris Cornell as a friend for a
long time, and we would talk about it.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Obviously he started with Sound Guarden and there always was
that element of him, but ultimately, at the end of
the day, he really you know, we talked about the
fact then he really wanted to be Neil Young or
Tom Waite like for him, so much more interested in
exploring the singer songwriter stuff. So do you find as
you're getting older that one side kind of starts to
(22:53):
progress in Yah?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, totally totally, it really has.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
And I think I think there was a moment in
time that my interests were beginning to create like a
attention within the band, and I think I think even
at times it was it was almost to it was
almost to the Struts material. It was a detriment to
(23:21):
the Struts material as well, because I was sort of
trying to I was trying to imply, like the things
that were inspiring me in my personal life and my
own my own goals onto the band. And when it
(23:43):
comes to like a collective like the Struts, you know,
we have like a really dedicated hardcore fan base that
want and love and expects like a certain thing. And
for a while, before I had my own solo platform,
I was beginning to become like extremely frustrated. Whereas an artist,
(24:06):
I didn't want to keep trying to repeat myself, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
But now I have my own outlet, it.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I'm sort of I'm sort of able to turn up
as my absolute best version of Luke Spill, like the
rock star as I can, because I'm able to explore
things that inspire me outside of like rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
So it's it's a good thing. It's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
But yeah, I mean, as I've got older, my interests
have gone musically like way beyond what I was interested
in ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Totally.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
So do you see yourself continuing to evolve into like
something totally unexpected, like, I don't know, not necessarily a poker,
but you know, just that like thing that know whatever
expect from me.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Yeah, totally totally because I can and I think.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
I would hate to sort of look back on my
life and my career.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
And sort of see one of those people that just,
you know, just doing the same thing over and over
and over again. You know, I really want to just
to keep myself interested, if anything, being able to have
that freedom and have like my own audience where they're
(25:41):
there may be a bit more sort of like open
minded into what I can sort of create and give
to them. And yeah, I want to continue to keep
doing what I feel when I feel.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
So you when you look at like and it's funny,
I think of like a band like and Stones are
not even my favorite band, they never were, but I
do appreciate and respect certain things. But why I mentioned
them is you think of how they started and then
you know, I really love the ballads that came lay
to the Amgi the wild horses and dead flowers and like,
(26:22):
are there people that you've really admired for the way
that they were able to evolve. Like I mentioned Chris
being a friend and suck you know, in the artist
that he was interested in. You know, obviously there are
so many people who you know, over the years, like
Neil young Be for example, like that has done every
(26:43):
fucking thing in need superiors to do.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, certainly.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I mean one of the my biggest inspirations for about
five years was was Scott Walker and his and his
journey and being able to have a really healthy string
of hits with the Walker Brothers, which were great songs,
(27:10):
and then being able to have like the self belief and.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
The balls.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
To go off and create this new sound which has
become like really iconic for a lot of people who
who love that, who loved that kind of music with
heavy orchestration and a beautiful baritone voice. And yeah, I
(27:42):
mean even even having sort of like the audacity to
take Jacques Brell's biggest selling songs in France and have
them translated and him do them himself, I thought was
like super ambitious and and should be kind of respected.
(28:05):
So I love artists like that, And you know, you
mentioned you know, those other.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Guys as well. You know, I think I'm always.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Even someone like Rod Stewart as well, being able to
to break away from a band like The Faces and
become a fantastic like interpreter of of great songs. I
mean I've heard, I've heard Rod Stewart like reinterpret Tom
(28:41):
Waits Downtown Train, which I thought was was great, and
it's something only that Rod could do. You know, I'd like,
I'd like to do more stuff like that as well.
But I'm currently working on a new collection of solo
songs which is completely different, completely different from from the
(29:02):
ten songs that I did for my solo record, And
of course, you know, going back to Mike Garson, I mean,
it would be silly not even to mention the evolution
of an artist like Bowie, for instance. I think that's
also something to kind of really take seriously as an artist.
(29:22):
And in terms of I think, I think artists handle
the journey of longevity in a couple of different ways.
I think there are many people out there who are
completely happy with trying to reinvent what they've already done
(29:43):
and figure out like fifty different ways of doing the
same thing, and that's great, And I think to an extent,
maybe Aboud like The Stones, falls under that slightly, or
and Angus Young and like.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Brian Johnson and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
But then you have someone like Bowie, where I think
they build a career full of longevity by keeping themselves
entertained and inspired, and I think I fall into the
latter a lot more.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Well, Okay, wait before we move forward on this obvious question,
because for me, Tom Waits is my little favorite songwriter
of all time. What's the one Time Waits song you
would want to deal?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I would be Martha. I love that one. I know
it's like.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I know it's it's probably one of his more well
known songs. But there's a it's either Martha or there's
a version of I Hope I Don't Fall in Love
with You, which was not on the record. It was
like a different version of it with and it was
I think it was more one Night on the string
guitar driven, and I loved that version. So either two
(31:07):
of those, either of those songs.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
It's I love that you mentioned Rod Stu were doing
it because Rod's a friend. I spent a lot of
time interviewing him and he told me one of the
greatest stories of all time which is when he met
Tom Waits after doing Downtown Train. You know, he's always
a fan and artists are fucking fascinating with Tom Waits.
I've met everyone from Sammy Hygard to John by Jove.
(31:42):
He asked me about Tom Waits, but Tom Rod was
telling me a story about meeting Tom after doing Todd
after doing Downtown Train, and Tom said, yeah, thanks, you
brought me my last house.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Yeah. I mean, that's the power of of writing a
great song and being one of those artists like you know,
like Dylan kind of fools under the same sort of
umbrella as if Tom Waits for me, when you know
where they write these brilliant songs with their own voice,
and I think, I think singers with a lot more
(32:22):
range and say kind of skill can hear like the
potential in what they do and are able to sort
of make something completely different from these kind of genuses ideas.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
You know, absolutely, and I mean obviously, as much as
I love Tom, his version of Downtown Train was not
going to go top.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Ten, no, no, But it's the same with Dylan, you know,
like when Adele covered you know, make you Feel My Love,
it's like you can hear, you can hear the potential
in it, and then you give it to one of
the greatest contemporary voices in the world and and boom,
it's like, oh wow, there's that's the potential of that idea,
(33:11):
you know.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
So interesting for you and obviously you've had in stream success,
it's a little different. But for you as a songwriter
because like, for example, you know, trend Restaurant. I'm a
huge nine Snails fan, And he talked about the fact
that the you know, the greatest honor of his career
was Johnny Cash covering Hurt So for you, and Chris
(33:38):
Cornell told the same thing about, you know, like Johnny
Cash jing the Soundgun song, So for you, what's they cage?
Who would be like the dream artist to cover, you know,
like will I misliving when I die? Is there one
artist that you would love to hear what they would
do with it with their voice?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, I mean I'd love so.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
You know, I'm a big Lana del Rey fan. I'd
love to hear what she would do with a song
like that. I actually I would actually be confident that
she'd probably love that kind of idea. Yeah, I'd say
like her.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I mean, I don't really have a huge.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Collection of contemporary artists that that I kind of love.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
It's quite difficult. It's quite difficult. I think I would
just be.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Flattered and curious just for anyone to kind of cover
my music, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
But yeah, again, I mean it's probably that's something you
think about. But I mean, I'm just curious kind of
who the got instinct, you know. First answer is.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, definitely be Lanad. Alright, that would be that would
be a dream come true.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Very cool. So what's coming up next in the timeline?
The reason I asked because you saved the Brozolo songs?
Do you say the Struts record is done? That you
just finished in Natville? So is there, like, you know,
one direction you're going in next?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah? So the Struts are back out on the road
the first quarter of next year, and it's all going
to be Struts, Struts, Struts for the entire year.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
We've got a very busy year coming up next year.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
And I guess, yeah, And I've almost finished a five
song EP.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
From my own collection of like new material, and.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I guess in some ways, you know, I might be
able to do like a small solo run. I'm not
entirely sure at the moment, just because it's I'm going
to be so busy with the band, and obviously that
has to come first. But I'm also curious to to
see if my own solo music any has any other
(36:23):
sort of placement opportunities, like when I Di did with
Chicago med for instance. I think I've also found that
really inspiring, where I can write something which is so
not right for the band, but yet it can still
live and find its own place where it's relevant and
(36:47):
where it can really enhance a medium like television or
movies for instance.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
I'd love to do more stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
So what would be like the dream? Okay, this is
the way I've always asked the question to make it
more interesting. If you could live in any movie or
book or TV series and make music in that media
or in that work of art. If you could live
in any book, any movie, any TV series and make
music in there, what would be the one you would
(37:19):
choose them? Why?
Speaker 3 (37:21):
I mean, straight off the bat, I would say the
Bond franchise. I mean my first solo album was. I
remember reading a review where someone had coined the coined
like the review essentially saying that this solo album was
(37:42):
a an audition to write a James Bond either song
or multiple tracks. And I mean talking about Chris Cornell,
I mean his his song that he did for Cautino
Royale was one of my face of a Bond songs ever.
And I've always always wanted to write a Bond song.
(38:08):
I wouldn't even necessarily like be dying or chewing it
in a bit to sing it, but I could, but
I'd love I'd love to be given the opportunity to
do that, all right.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
So besides, you know my name, which was Kritsis one
of the favorite Bond songs because there have been so
many great ones through the years.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Yeah, I mean, I'm a huge Shirley Bassie fan, so
like Goldfinger for me is the quintessential Bond song. I
love that. And I love her voice. I think she
has the greatest voice of all time. I would say.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
That one gosh.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
I even loved the Tina Turner GoldenEye. I thought that
was quite cool. Of course, Garbages the World is Not Enough.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
That was another great one.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
I think, surely. I think all three of her ones
that she did I absolutely love and adored. I thought
they were brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, it's funny. I was just looking it up. I
kind of love also Carly Simon Nobody Does Better.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yeah, true, true, I love that one. I love that one, And.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
That one's quite a unique Bond song because it's kind
of it's like it feels like it's holding onto a
certain era of Bond, but yeah, pushing into a brand
new one at the same time. And it's funny, like
the production's really quite quirky on that. I also love
(39:57):
Paul McCartney. He's living Let Die. I mean, that's incredible song,
Absolutely incredible. I'm not a huge fan of the the
the later Daniel Craig songs apart from Chris is one.
I thought that one was the best, hands down. I've
(40:19):
had a new fan of appreciation for Adele's sky Fall,
but yeah, yeah, the Billie Irish one, I thought it
was okay. The Jack White and Alicia Keys one I
thought was bang average. Yeah, yeah, definitely like the older
(40:41):
ones for sure.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
There it's funny. I know what you're saying about the
Carly one. See, I love Carly and Yoha, but like
there is a feeling that when you hear Nobody does
It Better, it sounds like of a very specific era.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, yeah, it's funny as well, Like on the outro.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
It's weird.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
It kind of like modulates and sometimes it like plays
tricks with my ears. I'm like, wait, what key is this?
Like it does some really bizarre stuff. But no, it's
definitely a great one for sure.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Yeah. So all right, so you have the five song
EP coming next then next year's about to destruct. I
mean I found this so much from talking to people too.
You know, like you mentioned getting the best version of
yourself instructs. Are you just enjoying things more now, like
being able to have that.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Balance, Yeah, totally. I think he was eating away at
me for a very long time.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
For the best part of Like, I had started to
contemplate doing something for myself by myself from about twenty
twenty and and I did two more Struts albums before
I eventually like took that leap of faith and it began.
(42:12):
I began to become quite irritable and frustrated where I
just felt like I was being boxed in and people
were sort of expecting me to do one thing forever.
And it's been it's been a really liberating experience to
to get out and do something for myself. So yeah,
(42:36):
I feel I feel way more balanced and I feel
way more fulfilled as well.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Cool, Well, is there anything that you want to add
We did not talk about because we covered a ton
of ship.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
No, man, it's all good. I think we I think
we covered absolutely everything.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Yeah. Now I'm looking forward to talking to you about
the writing, because again, it's funny. I was talking with
Tomo the album I'm a big fan of.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Oh yeah, he's great.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Do you know the song Heil.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
No, No, It's just.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
This like very simple song, and we were talking about
it and it's like there are certain songs you hear
and like you just know they came from the universe.
Like Neil Diamond told me, right, he's like a sweet
Caroline came from God. But he said, Fie and I said,
one of us was gonna die writing that song. It
(43:30):
was so difficult. So there are certainly songs that could
be tough. But sometimes you hear a song and you
just know, like that was like just out of like
there was just a fucking lightning bolt.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, it's true, it's true.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
I'm a huge No Diamond fan, huge No Diamond fan. Actually,
you can put that on the list of people i'd
love to interpret my songs No Diamond, all.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Right, So what Neil Diamond song would you want to do?
Speaker 3 (44:01):
Oh, I'd love to do Brother Loves Travetion Salvation Traveling Show.
I think that's the title.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
I'd love to do. Dig In I'd love to do.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
I've covered Girl You'll Be a Woman at the sun
Rose quite a few times. I'd love to do like
a big version if I am, I said, you know,
like when it comes into the chorus, it just goes
like four huge big rock ballad, like massive sounding guitars.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
That'd be quite cool.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah. My favorite Neil song and one that no one
ever mentions, but it's such a brilliant song.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
It's hell yeah, it's what which one?
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Hell yeah? Like the ones with Rick Rubin, have.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
You No, No, I haven't heard that yet.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
The live version from Madison Square Garden. It's basically his version.
Like my Way, it's kind of an end of life song,
but it's so incredible.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Wow, I have to go ahead it for sure.
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