gt.com: you first hit mainstream with
"Barely Breathing," which became a smash hit overnight. did you feel any
pressure going into the studio to record for your new album?
DUNCAN: Well, since this is my fourth
album, not really. If you put out your first record and then you have a hit song, you feel
like that's what happens. I think in a way I was probably completely naive about what it
takes to make something become a hit. And frankly, when I made that record, hit songs were
not what I was trying to achieve. I mean, I was glad that people liked it and happy for it
to be on the radio, but all my musical influences weren't really pop artists. So, I
assumed my career would take a different path than it did and it happened much faster than
I thought it would happen.
gt.com: did you find choosing the first single easier or more difficult
than from albums of the past?
DUNCAN: It's not really so much of my decision. At a certain point in the process,
the record company will focus on a couple of songs. And they'll say "Please make
sure these songs will work on the radio should they ever have the chance to be there."
So, once I've written a song, you know, I'm pretty happy with what the song is on its own
terms. And then it becomes questions like how you dress it up. It has a lot to do with how
it works on the radio station. So, it's partly my process and partly their process.
gt.com: interesting! speaking of
your single,"On a High"....what is the synopsis behind the lyrics?
DUNCAN: The song is meant to be a short story of a guy who is kidding himself that
everything is great and he's really happy when in fact his life is a disaster area. And,
as the song progresses, there are more and more admissions and more realizations start to
happen. At the end of the song, he's fully admitting that he's royally messed up and that
maybe it's more difficult than having the sea and the sky to be happy!
gt.com: can we be safe to assume that it's based on your life at one point
in time?
DUNCAN: Well, everything to some degree is based on certain sets of experiences. I
certainly wouldn't say that my life is a disaster, but there have been moments where I've
felt like that.
gt.com: some of your songs give
the impression that you're a hopeless romantic. is that the case or are your songs purely
descriptions?
DUNCAN: Even the most fictional fiction you can imagine is based somewhat on
reality. Yeah, certainly, I would say I have that aspect in me and that manifests maybe
more than occasionally. But, sometimes I'm not that way at all. So, part of being a
hopeless romantic is really never obtaining what your goal is. I have a girlfriend, it's
pretty great. So, the total hopeless romantic part of me in a certain way is not so much
in the forefront. But, I like the emotion and it's a cool thing to write about. It's nice
to tap into it when you can.
gt.com: absolutely! the media
has compared you to John Mayer, and I know you toured with him before. do the comparisons
drive you crazy, or do you find them strangely concise?
DUNCAN: I have only played a show with John Mayer one time last year. It was before
his record came out, and he was opening up for me. I actually thought he was really great.
I was very impressed -- and, I admit, I rarely am. However, we come from two pretty
different music schools. I think my influences have a lot more to do with English bands
and artists. I don't want to speak for him, but he seems to come from a more purely
American tradition, like the Dave Matthews Band. I have total respect for that whole crew,
but musically and stylistically, there are some different things about each one. So, the
comparison is only valid in that we are two white boys with guitars.
gt.com: the song "On Her Mind" was co-written by
yourself and Mick Jones. how was it working with the famous Foreigner?
DUNCAN: It was fun! It was kind of nonchalant, very by accident. I was producing a
record for his stepdaughter, so I was around Samantha Ronson a lot by working together.
One day, Mick had a guitar riff, I sketched out some chords around the guitar riff, and we
turned it into something real.
gt.com: that's interesting! take us back to when you first
decided that being a musician was the path you wanted to travel. what was the first thing
you did to start your career?
DUNCAN: I started playing music at a pretty young age. Not in a "I'm going
to go take a guitar lesson" capacity. At a very early age, I was doing rock-band
oriented stuff. When I was a teenager, I got into four track recorders, drum machines, and
synthesizers, and I started producing instrumental music. It was really a continuous
process that brought me to this place.
gt.com: wow! when you finish writing a song, do you test the waters and
ask friends, family, or producers what they think? or, is it set in stone and ready to
record by the time you hit the studio?
DUNCAN: I don't know....I'm actually very interested in other points of views.
Ultimately, if I'm really moved by something, it's going to go on the record and that's
that. I'm like, damn the torpedoes! There are very many times when I am psyched about it,
but I do want to get others impressions, two cents, or advice on where to take it in an
earlier stage.
gt.com: you are very vocal about your religion -- how vital is Buddhism to
your career and life?
DUNCAN: It's enormously vital. Because of my Buddhist practice, I'm never lacking
for inspiration. There might be a day or two where I kinda feel like I don't want to write
a song, but then inevitably, the day after that I'm always like "Oh, this is a
cool idea!" I think that creative energy definitely comes from the process of
chanting and connecting to the larger universe out there.
gt.com: how about touring -- do you enjoy or dread it?
DUNCAN: I used to dread it, but I really enjoy it now. As you saw, [referring to
a nearly two hour soundcheck], there are certain things that are really fun, and
there are certain things that are always a struggle.
gt.com: completely understandable! how would you compare
"Daylight" lyrically to your other albums?
DUNCAN: On my third album, I didn't write the lyrics, (it was a collaboration
with a playwright), so that doesn't count. My second record was all about big ideas
-- I was trying to make big statements about the culture, about life. I think in a certain
way, I was a 27 year old kid with a guitar. It was like, "Who cares what you
think about life?" My first record, in a way, was more charming. It was more
personal, more like romantic confessions. Again, it was still naive, but at least it
wasn't biting off more than I can chew. I think with "Daylight," I
wanted to, in a way, be more modest and simple about what I was writing. My process of
writing lyrics was extremely and purely descriptive. I would write down events at what I
thought was the most poetic way possible, without trying to insert too many ideas into it.
And let the descriptions of the events determine what the song was really about. More
often than not when you do that, there's a really interesting idea that comes out of it,
whereas if you start and say "Oh, I've got this interesting idea, I'll write
about world peace!" It's impossible, it ends up being unpoetic and not working.
gt.com: definitely, kind of like "On Her Mind" was -- very
descriptive and made the listener feel as though they were witnesses to the lovestory.
DUNCAN: Right, it's a very simple story. A certain point in the song, I get to a
lyric where I say "I want peace, but I don't make it, I want love, but I don't
give it, I want hope, but I can't find it, and I want her to heal me." And, it's
a truth of what I'm feeling. It's a very basic idea, you get what you give. I probably
wouldn't have found such a good way of saying it if I had decided from the beginning to do
it this way.
gt.com: all's well that end's well! so, what would you say is something
that people don't know or realize about you?
DUNCAN: Good question. I guess there was this kind of brooding, dark, sensitive
singer-songwriter that was tapped on me. For a lot of people, I guess that means you're
really tortured all the time or something. And I'm not. There are certain things I
struggle with and that make me very angry, and there are so many things about the world
that I would love to change. I don't think it's efficient or productive to be negative
about everything in your environment and be totally dark. I think a lot of people affect
personas, whether it's Eminem's "I hate my mom," or whoever it is, it's
like a persona. And I guess it's entertaining to a lot of people, but it's not interesting
to me.
gt.com: speaking of Eminem, what do you think of the current state of top
40 music?
DUNCAN: In about 1998, there was this reemergence of bubblegum pop. The music
business really start to market music to an extremely young audience and not pay attention
to more sophisticated music. And they started to pay no attention to the over thirty
market. So I think that it had pretty bad repercussions, I guess it turned a lot of people
off. People who were real music aficionados, and certainly in my case, it was kinda like
well, I don't understand what's going on in the world of top 40, so I'm just going go off
and do something that's pure and may be self-indulgent, but at least I know I like it.
Now, I think you're beginning to see a little bit of a backlash against that kind of
manufactured sound, and maybe some kinds of organic music are becoming popular again. But
we'll see if it's the real thing or it's just temporary.
gt.com: very true, only time will tell. what do you want fans to know
about the new release?
DUNCAN: I guess the thing is is that you need to listen to it about five times
without judging it, and then make your determinations. But listen to it kinda closely
about five times, and I think there will be certain things that will manifest that you'll
enjoy.
gt.com: been there, done that. thanks for your time, duncan!
 clearly he's a genius -- find out why
at his official site: www.duncansheik.com!
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