The Goo 1
Interview is released, I’m actually getting feedb
ack on it. One guy I’m talking with toured with Daniel, his name is Don Goede, he paid me the biggest compliment by saying he knows Daniel would have loved this record. The reason being, although known for his lo-fi styles, that wasn’t always what he wanted to put out. Sometimes it's all he could afford to do, he wasn’t always able to book a 14 piece orchestra. That was a real eye opener, and very complimentary to the record. Do you remember your first time listening to a Daniel Johnston track? I remember hearing about Daniel in the 90’s. We did one festival in Europe with Emotional Fish which I’ll never forget. It was Pukkelpop 1991, Nirvana opened before us, The Pogues, Sonic Youth and The Ramones, we were in great company! But we saw Nirvana 6 months before they became huge, then, I saw Kurt Cobain wearing a Hi How Are You t-shirt, I watched the documentary ‘The Devil In Daniel Johnston’ by Jeff Feuerzeig. I’ll never forget his passion, and how he survived by it. I wanted to use music as my therapy. Daniel was a major influence for me, I was quite punk, I remember Mic Christopher and Glen Hansard telling me I was the angriest man they had ever met. I think it’s always in you, that artistic passion. Writing music is commonly therapeutic. Did that come through with the creation of this record, even though you were not writing new songs? I do think Daniel spoke to me in that way. He dealt with his problems far more directly, my lyrics used to be more vague. Please hear my cry for help and save me from myself, I mean, it doesn’t get more direct than that. I guess I didn’t have the same demons as Daniel, but we’ve all got demons right? PAGE 20 Most of his songs are about the artist's journey, that’s what I’m on, that’s what speaks to me. I always consider Daniel to be a musician for musicians. Well definitely an artist for artists. I think a lot of Daniel’s songs weren’t very complicated or difficult to play. Whether you’re an artist, a creative or a musician, Daniel can speak to you. Talk to me about Hi How Are You Day. How did you get involved? I remember the night John Lennon died, but for some reason I was really struck on the night Daniel Johnston died. I had already recorded ‘True Love Will Find You in The End’ so I played it on the night he passed and just knew I had to release it as an homage. When I released it, Tom Gimble got wind of it and asked if I would operate Hi How Are You day in Dublin. Daniel died in September, I was asked in October would I run it for them in January. It was an extremely quick turn around. But the night sold out, it was an incredible event and we’ve run it since. I really built up a strong relationship with the Johnston family. What did you learn from Daniel making this record? I’m lucky to be working with his friends and family and now the album Speaking of 14 piece orchestras, were you conscious of being creative but also respectful to his art? We tried to keep it very natural and not push it in any direction. It needed to find its own flow. I guess one thing we didn’t do is throw any weirdness into it for the sake of making it weird. Even before I hit the recording studio, songs like Peekaboo to me sounded like it came from the great American songbook, a song that an orchestra could play. Interpreting him was a lot of fun. You could hear the cogs going in his brain, the melodies bursting to get out of him. What’s next from the perpetual project that is Dreaming of Daniel? Well, I’m always on the road. That’s my bread and butter, Daniel has given me the title as the Sorry Entertainer, that’s who I am. I’m looking forward to getting back to my circus but this has opened up a new world for me. For the first time I really want to get back into the studio and make records again, it’s been very exciting. Dreaming of Daniel can be streamed and there are still some signed vinyl in Tower Records and Spindizzy. Hi How Are You day is taking place on the 26th of January in The Grand Social in Dublin. For more dates to catch Jerry this year, check out Jerry-Fish.com