Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at Me. It's gonna be stuck in
(00:28):
your head. There's no getting around that. Sorry, It's gonna
be stuck in your head probably the next forty eight
hours or so. I reckoned Yes. As the son of
jazz legend EAGLEI Cherry seemed destined for a life in
their creative arts, and this song Save Tonight is a
bona fide classic, absolutely stormed the charts around the world
(00:51):
upon its release. Eaglie Cherry leads a bit more of
a low key life these days compared to that of
the late nineties, but he is still writing and performing
music live. He's just released his sixth studio album, and
now he's set to visit New zeald And for the
very first time, alongside the legendary ub forty Eagle Iterias
with us this morning.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Calda, good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
It is great to be speaking with you, and fantastic
for all your fans in New Zealand to know that
soon enough you're going to be on our shores once again.
How is it to be on the road with you,
be forty.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I haven't gotten started yet, but I'm looking very much
forward to especially coming to New Zealand, because I've never
been there and it's been on my bucket list for
my entire life. So I'm really excited to come there
and get to play for my fans and to get
to hear you Be forty live, which I've never done.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You say you've never been here, and that is just
going to come as such a shock to many of
your fans because you have the distinction of having one
song of the year in New Zealand. I'm not sure
if you're aware of this, but we have Bird of
the Year, we have Athlete of the Year, and you, sir,
are the winner of Song of the Year.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
There was a lot going on back in those days,
so yes, I have a vague memory of that happening.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Actually, do you really? So there was a nine to
ninety seven for Save Tonight, And yeah, I suppose it
kind of. It kind of speaks to the like profound
impact that that that song had, right.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It sure did.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And I'm very thankful I stayed home that day when
I wrote.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
That song because I was supposed to go out and
play football.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And the sun was shining, and for some reason, I
stayed home, and I don't know if I think. I
started playing the guitar and I started coming up with something,
and I felt like, Okay, we got something going on here.
And I just stayed and put in a few hours
and wrote the song that conquered the world. Life is
just so bizarre, like that.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Isn't that funny? So tell us a bit more about that.
You were planning on going out and doing something else
with your time. This wasn't a dedicated writing session.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
No, it was just my apartment.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I was just you know, I had my record deal
and I'd made most of the album, and I needed
something that was a little bit more uptempo, even though
Saved Tonight.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Isn't a very much of an up tempo song, but it's.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Definitely more than the rest of the album. And came
up with this idea. And as soon as I started
getting when I got the line save Tonight and fight
the Break of Dawn, I knew, I knew what this
song is about, but I had no idea I was
writing a hit.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
See isn't it Isn't it funny? But you felt like
in the process you could you could tell when there
was a bit of a bit of magic.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, there was something there. And then when my girlfriend
came home, I said, I've written a song. It's I
think it's kind of corny, but I think it's good.
She said, she just said it's a good.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Song, man.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
But I U When we tracked it and I went
back to the apartment and listened to it on my headphones,
I could close my eyes and I kind of could
see people singing along in the audience. And then I
got to experience that many times over.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Ah, that's amazing. It's almost like you you're kind of
you're foreseeing it in a way.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, I mean I think I think, yeah, that was
kind of a moment of clarity.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So when it came time to pick the first single
for the album, that was a no brain.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I think it was a good call. How I mean,
how do you like reflecting on it? How do you
think Save Tonight changed the trajectory of your life.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
In every way possible? I mean, I am, I had
a different plan, and Save Tonight ruined it because my
plan was I you know, I have a sister, Nana Cherry.
She had this massive breakthrough hit with Buffalo Stands and
her record like Sushi, So I was hanging around a
lot backstage and behind the scenes, and I kind of
saw how incredibly intense it was and being on a
(04:59):
major label and how out of control everything went. So
I felt like, I think I want to do something
small first. Ended up signing to an independent label, moved
back to Stockholm, found a small label here in Scandinavia.
I thought I'd make an album for Scandinavia and then
I'd build slowly but surely and eventually. I definitely had
dreams of getting to travel the world and play my music,
(05:21):
but I thought i'd build it and then save Tonight
just had another plan and said no, no, no, we're
going for it now and had to just go for
the ride. So I really didn't expect it. But once
we got going, it was just an unbelievable journey and
where the way it just went off so all over
the place. But I still regret that I never made
(05:43):
it down to New Zealand on the first run.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, yeah, it was only the first run. This is
the great thing. I mean, you, you know, have written
such amazing music over the last three or four decades
now that it was only a matter of time even
if you didn't make it on that first run to
New Zealand. It was only a matter of time before
you did make it here. Tell us a bit more
if you can't eaga lie about your about your family
(06:08):
musical life. You mentioned your sister, but I mean it
feels like basically everyone in your family is an incredibly
talented musician.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It's a pretty serious family business we got going. I mean,
when my sister's daughter took off Maybel don't call me up,
I was like, oh man, so there's a lot of
us making music, and I think it's all very much
from the what our dad kind of planted in us
and his love of music and the way he did it.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
You know, he was a jazz musician and we grew
up on the road.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
He toured and brought the family with him and we'd
be packing our Volkswagen bus and driving around Europe. And
for me, playing live is that's the whole purpose of
what I do. For me, like the right, the recording,
everything is about getting on stage and making music for
the people and getting that feedback that you get when
(07:01):
you're on stage. So all that I think I take
for my father, you know, because that's what he was
all about.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, So what was that like as a kid, but
being on the road and seeing the world through the
lanes of a touring musician.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I mean, that was the reality that that I knew.
So it wasn't really until leasure that I really how
specially it was. And all the.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Legends that I met as a kid that would just
you know, colleagues of my father, and I just thought,
you know, who's this guy.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Oh later I realized that was Miles Davis. I've met him,
but it it.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Was it was a special time and to travel and
play music the way they did in those days, you
couldn't even do that today. It was just, you know,
a whole different time. And to have been part of that.
I mean when we moved to New York and got
a loft, our neighbors were the Talking Heads, three members
that are talking hands lived so every day I would
hear them rehearsing, and I was like a small kid
(07:57):
going down, hanging around listening to Psycho Killer over and
over again.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So so all that has obviously found its way into
into what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, you basically didn't have a choice. It's like, you know,
your your destiny was already kind of written and started.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yeah, I tried.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I started acting, you know, I went to drama school
and started working as an active First I tried to
do something else.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
But yeah, I realized music is a lot better.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah. Did you like jazz as a kid? You know,
I can imagine that. I think about my household and
you know, obviously not not nearly as musical as yours.
But there's the classic thing where the kids grumble at
mom and dad's music and then twenty years later they
actually love it.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
You know. The first album I bought was not a
jazz album. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I think the first time I bought was the Clash
London Calling Ah, and I got into the Ramones and
all that kind of stuff, but it was Yeah, I mean,
it was later when I really started playing music on
my own, and you know, you start really kind of
just realizing this is what you want to do. And
I then sat down and listened to the albums that
(09:01):
my dad had played on, especially the early stuff that
he did with Ornette Coleman and and and that's when
I kind of realized, you know. So, I wasn't until
I was maybe eighteen, nineteen year olds that I really
realized what the hell he was doing, you know, and
now I listen toe quite a lot of jazz actually.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
So yeah, it's funny. It's funny how life goes kind
of full circle with that though you know it. You
listen to Jack Tame speaking with Iglai Cherry, who is
coming to New Zealand for the first time, which is
extremely exciting. You say that touring is the thing for you,
or at least performing live is is the thing that
gives you that real that rush, the real sense that
(09:42):
you know you're getting real time feedback from an audience.
So tell us a bit more about that. Because you've
released I think like six albums studio albums over the
years now, so clearly you're still in the studio and writing.
What is it about live music that's still so special
for you?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
I mean, it all makes sense.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
It's it's like for me when I write, I'm always
thinking about what it's going to be live. You know
a lot of colleagues that are really into the whole
studio process and they love sitting in the studio and
they don't want to do anything else. But for me,
that's just a step to get to where we get
up on stage. So the last few albums that I've made,
(10:19):
I've been very much about writing the songs that I
need for my live show. So I get back into
it and I go, oh, man, you know, I really
like to have a song like this on the set list,
and then I write it. I have a song a
couple albums ago that's called I Like It. That's really
one of those tunes. And then it's so much fun
when you get up on stage and it works, you know,
(10:40):
so exactly what I wanted it to do.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
So that, yeah, that's all my whole focus.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And I think the thing I love the most about
live concerts, even as a fan, when I go to concerts,
is that that one and a half hour or whatever
the set is is a moment where everybody's in agreement,
when it's a really good show and we're all loving,
everyone's in agreement that this is the place to be
and everything else is out side of the door. And
(11:08):
there's not many moments in life that you get that.
You know, especially today, when the world looks the way
it does, It's like, how often do people get together
and everyone just kind of it's just peace and love.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Man, You're so right, there's something primal about today like
it's like something primal in the shed experience.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, exactly, and then when you got everyone singing along together,
it's just it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, well, I have no doubt that's going to be
the case when you're in New Zealand. And tell us
what can we expect from the tour when you hear
we're going to have all the dates and everything on
our websites. So you did not expected to remember all
of those, but what can we expect when you hear?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I mean, it's more of I'm curious to what I
should expect, you know. That's the thing about so great
about my job is you travel around the world and
you go to a place and hopefully that spot that
you're in that particular night is the best place to
be that particular night. And so often you get there
and you get the crowd and you're like, all right,
(12:03):
this is a good town. I need to come back
here and hang out, you know. So it's just about
getting into the groove, you know, and feel in the
room and see what happens. And like I said, you know,
it's really exciting as well to kind of get to
play with the band that I would listened to since
I was a kid, and we start the tour in
(12:25):
New Zealand, and I think that's a perfect place to start.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
We are just so delighted that after all these years,
you're going to make it here. I hope that they're
still going to be able to roll out the red
carpet and everything when you arrive. I'm not sure what
the procedures are for the Musician of the Year or
for Song of the Year, but Eagle Eye Cheriot's a
real pleasure to speak and have a wonderful time in
New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Won't you thank you so much?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
That is Eagle Lie Cherry. He's coming to New Zealand
alongside the legendary UB forty. Will have all of the
details for their tour dates and tickets up and available
on the News Talks. He'd be website for more from
Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live to news Talks
he'd be from nine am Saturday, or follow the podcast
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