HE'S JUST A REGULAR JOE WITH A REGULAR JOB
An Interview with John Taylor
Terroristen @ The Fenix

A Column By
Charlotte Bosarge

It's 5:45 and I'm spawning into the exodus traffic of downtown Seattle, trying to wind my way closer to the Fenix. My mission: an "alleged" interview with John Taylor. I say alleged because you never know if this type of thing is actually going to happen or not-- the vagaries of celebrities are unpredictable-- but you prepare anyway, making sure your recorder is working, sharpening your pencils (and wits), and getting your other little happy tools in order to signal to the interviewee that you actually are a Serious journalist writing a Serious piece for a Serious publication. Right. The erstwhile bassist of Duran Duran and new frontman for Terroristen has agreed to meet with me after soundchecking for their sold-out show at the Fenix. No pressure.

I had a few minutes to lurk around before John came in and was introduced to me by his very nice assistant. I immediately presented the thank-you cake I had bought for them at my favorite place, the Erotic Bakery. It was a sordid pastry to say the least, the kind of first impression that pretty much forces someone to get an instant dose of the giver's personality. John's response was to raise an eyebrow and say jauntily, "well, THAT was very forward of you." I wasn't worried about offending him, as you might guess it's hard to imagine anything being forward to John Taylor, someone who has seen, done, tasted and felt it all.

John chose to do the interview outside and we settled into a pair of the fine plastic lawn chairs in the Fenix's 3rd Avenue patio area. There were few pedestrians and no traffic, just warm Seattle breezes brought in by a super-buttery sunset. I started off by asking about the band, Terroristen (their self-titled EP is available exclusively through John's website @ www.trusttheprocess.com). John said they've "been together for about eight weeks," even though he has been friends with the guitarist Gerry Laffy and the flutist/saxophone player John Amato for years (Laffy and Amato played on John's first solo album). "It's crazy, but, you know, I'm just taking it day by day and working with this band and getting a feel for (live performance) all over again." He raises his chin in mock pride adding that they were excited because, "It's our first gig outside of California." He also seems glad of that fact. "When you're on the road, you cease to function in any other way. Just the getting around, pretty much your energy is used up. I gotta get one of those phones installed in my brain."

Technology seems to be a pastime of John's. For several years now his website has been offering a "creative forum" for people who want to say something about music, fashion, architecture, sex, religion, and art. From time to time he hosts live poetry discussions and there is a 24-hour chatroom going where frequent visitors exchange thoughts on books, music, art and film in such rooms named "Reading is Funkdamental" and "The Big, Brown, Ugly-Ass Couch." The site is called Trust the Process or TTP.

"I like the internet as a marketplace first and foremost," he explains. "I like it as a dictatorship. It works as a fan club, magazine, and it works as a store. I committed to keep that going. The potential is exhausting-you could be updating every minute."

A few months ago, Taylor's record label, B5, signed its first band, Three Alarm Fire, whose debut album will be available by the end of the year. John, though, says he is not all that interested in hands-on producing. "If I have the money I don't mind executive producing, but I'm in a place where I feel I need to develop my own writing and singing style. I'm just realizing what a huge task the idea of having an independent record label is." B5 has also released two solo albums from John, Feelings Are Good and Other Lies (1995) and the much further-evolved Autodidact (1997), though he said he didn't worry about their success because he was just "diving in" and "on a sort of anti-commercial kick and didn't really care if the records sold or not. I want to be doing this for a long, long time and I need to develop a number of skills I haven't had up 'til now."

I ask if he has reconciled his public image with day-to-day life, if after over twenty years in the music business (and most of that in the limelight), he still gets up on the stage and gets shocked at the adoration.

"It's insidious, you know," he offers with a wry smile. "It gets at me. I go up on stage and do a few dates and then I'm like, 'no, no, I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm back in the real world and then a few days in and I'm snapping at everybody and then I'm like 'whoa, what are you angry about?'" Being on the road, he says, is "such an ego trip. It's all about you, you know, you're in this little capsule and the crowning glory on that is all the lights and all the people looking at you."

I ask why it's difficult to live without that feeling. "I think it's just missing the buzz. I'm sure it gets to all 'serial performers'. I've tried my damndest to just be like, 'well, I'm coming down now and I'm gonna be cool, I'm gonna be nice to everybody. But it doesn't matter if it's a place like this or the Rolling Stones performing (pointing yonder to the Kingdome), the concept is the same. There's all this attention being focused on you and then coming off that and being a regular Joe, playing with the kids. To get the best out of that is tricky."

For anyone cognizant on the planet the previous decade, there was a time Duran Duran reached a point where success of any release was pretty much guaranteed. MTV's sun rose and set according to their presence. I ask if the distance from that megalomania has given him any perspective and/or if he has gotten more critical of himself as a musician in recent years.

"I am," he says. "I can be very critical of myself. I hate other people being critical of me (smiles). I can do something and say that's absolute shit but if a journalist says it wasn't very good I'm going to be much more upset." John says that he has avoided putting himself under pressure to write a hit because he says, "for me, it's been enough to get here, today. To go from being a bass player in a pop band to fronting a fucking incredible group." Then he adds, "Musicians and artists can always find a reason for approving of their own actions, but I didn't care if I didn't have a hit because I was singing-I didn't care if my albums only sold a thousand copies 'cuz I pressed them myself." Freedom and control, I take it, are worth their weight in record sales.

John's last official effort with Duran Duran was in the 1997 release, Medazzaland. In the years preceding, however, he embarked on many side projects like the Neurotic Outsiders album and tour with the awesome ensemble of Steve Jones, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum. Through it all, he acknowledges the value of his core audience.

"It's scary enough, you know, but then being a part of all the things I've done it would be sort of weird not to have some kind of core audience, given the chart action that I've had and the fact that I always had projects coming and going. The fans will always be important. I think Nick and I always had a very strong two-way relationship with our fans and I sort of nurtured it as a safety net."

"What do you think most people want to ask you?" I ask. Without hesitating, John answers, "What was it like? What was it like being an icon? Most people, you know, when they have a couple of drinks, most guys will say (adopts a lazy slur) 'all those girls, yeah, what was it like?'"

John's current obsession is Saving Private Ryan which he has seen for the first time just a few days before. "It blew me away. I thought the movie was brilliant. Perfect. I can't stop talking about it. I was afraid because it is a Spielberg thing, but I knew I had to see it, because I have World War II issues... with my father." We talk a little further and he reveals that his father fought for Britain in Africa and was actually held prisoner there for a couple of years at the age of 21. He pauses and looks away. "I can't even talk about it without getting choked up," he says, but rapidly composes himself and continues. "We talk about it now, but growing up we didn't talk about it in my house. There was very much the 60's kind of anti-war sentiment that caused a lot of anger. I grew up in that environment. Lately I've been reading the memoirs and letters of Churchill and the more I learn, Hitler had to be stopped at all costs, and thank god the Americans were there. It's just more of what I get from America every day."

As far as contemporary music, he says he has learned not to listen to any at length because then he "gets so much into their thing that I put my own stuff down." His vices these days are "cigarettes, coffee, good clothes, and good food." Then, with a sweeping motion of his hands, reiterates: "Enormous, massive amounts of good food." He is really happy in Los Angeles because "people take care of themselves, and musically, it's what's happening. There isn't anywhere else in the world like L.A. for music. You can find anything you want musically. Since I've been there I've already hooked up with two amazing bands."

One of the things I am really interested in is John's opinion of the growing 80's revival movement that seems to be happening, with films like The Wedding Singer, Gia, and Studio 54 and the cornucopia of tours from prominent 80's acts like Culture Club, Siouxsie Sioux, Flock of Seagulls, The Fixx, Bauhaus, and even Rick Springfield. Can it can only be a matter of time before day-glow colors and CHOOSE LIFE shirts come back? John takes issue with this type of thing, saying "the problem with revivals is that they always turn kitsch. When the 70's came back there were all these afros and bellbottoms and disco, but the 70's were more than that. There was better music that wasn't revived. There is this kind of bringing back of the surface things, like the hair and clothes, but you forget all the other stuff. And, really, the music in the 80's wasn't that good. Except (he grins) of course for "Don't You Want Me?" and "Planet Earth." And you look at things like the Culture Club having to cancel shows and I'm grateful I can sell out a hundred and fifty tickets."

When you talk with John Taylor you get a sneaking sense that he is a philosopher. The weird thing is that he's a tease with it. As soon as you catch on that he's getting deep, he kind of mentally dances away into the distance and you're left to decide whether you're going to follow after him or take what you can get-prizes and punishments await either choice. I suspect the maneuver comes from years of image-futzing with the media, not wanting to be misunderstood, and just plain not wanting to bare his soul anymore than he already has. It is apparent that I am dealing with a consummate celebrity, one who tells me exactly what he wants me to know, and no more. I'd say it was a prerogative he has earned; the ride for John hasn't all been first class, tits and vodka, though he is the first to say he "took a lot of holidays when I was in Duran Duran. But now I feel it's time for me to work."

I ask what the hardest thing is about being John Taylor: "The hardest thing, I think, is to look at every day life and not think of it as being mediocre. Not be angry for no reason." We agree that most people don't know how to do that, and John adds that he is aware that he has it good and that he feels obliged to be thankful.

I go back to the Fenix later for the Terroristen show. Despite the true talents of openers Buckethead and Pleaseeasaur, this crowd has only come to see one thing. The couple-dynamic was enjoyable as well-there are many boyfriends who have brought their girlfriends just to watch THEM watch the man whose face adorned their walls and fantasies a dozen years ago. And just for the record, John's looks have held up very well. "I love you, John!" was blurted out more than once. Many high fives were exchanged. Perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed as I surveyed the crowd was the melting pot he has for an audience: all races, colors, creeds, orientations, and ages were represented. It struck me that there are not many times in life you can stand between a 40-year-old Afro-American man and a 18-year-old Asian bombshell in a dress so small it looks more like a belt.

The show featured songs from Terroristen, Duran Duran, Power Station, John's solo projects and some cover tunes as well. They opened with a medley of the Duran Duran hit "Rio" and the Power Station hit "Some Like it Hot." The screams at the beginning were reminiscent of that Hanson concert here less than a month ago. "Sin of the City (Duran Duran/Terroristen)" followed, then a selection from Autodidact, "Anon (One Day at a Time)" in which John sings "I get a good feeling from the kids I meet / I get a sense of fun from them." "Better Way" from the Neurotic Outsiders has been amped significantly, had keyboards added, and the lyrics tweaked ever-so-slightly. Co-written by John and Steve Jones, "Better Way," reveals a little about John's past, "How come it's so hard to climb and so easy to slide? / How come it's so easy to fly and so hard to drive? / It's easier to lie / To turn a blind eye." The two new Terroristen songs that followed were good solid rock music, tightly played. The second of the two (and the most moving one in the show) John introduced as one "about going home" and was a beautiful ballad. The members of Terroristen, Gerry Laffy (guitar), Michael Railton (synthesist), John Amato (flute/sax) and Larry Aberman (drums) work so well together you'd think they had been on tour with this show for a year-and the flute turned out to be an exceptionally nice touch that added dimension and balance to the heaviness of the guitar and bass.

The next song, "Hey Day," is on the Terroristen EP. John introduced it a "country stomp," and it does indeed have an infectious groove that is also a picture of Duran's history and the 80's as John lived them: "we made a fortune / we blew a fortune / we lived in hotels / we lived on cocktails / All I wanted was / A friendly atmosphere / All I wanted was / To learn a whole new approach." And the harsh hook of the song: "we married nice girls / That turned to werewolves."

A lifelong fan of Bryan Ferry, in yet another side project John recently put together a Roxy Music tribute album. Two of many contributors are the unsung musical genius Brian Setzer and Deveaux (Duran's drummer, Roger Taylor's, current band). Terroristen played "Just Another High" from that album. I think John knows where his vocal range is, and it fits in perfectly with that song as well as with songs like "Better Way," "Lonely Child," and "Hey Day." I think when he pushes for volume, his voice loses personality and precision. But hey, when I've gone multi-platinum I'll have a leg to stand on.

After the anthem "Can You Deal With It" (Duran Duran/Terroristen) and "Bang a Gong" (Power Station), the band rolled into another medley, this time with "Planet Earth" morphing into "Good Times" (Chic) then barreling into another song off Rio, "My Own Way". As an encore, they performed a heavy version of "Hold Back the Rain" from Rio. It was a great finishing piece, and the crowd was thrilled. Terroristen gave the crowd exactly what they paid for and John Taylor knows how to work a crowd. He was always a good showman, but now he's a good performer committed and focused on getting even better, which I'm sure he will. He knows the rule: Noblesse oblige.

Click here to go back to the articles page.

Click here to back to the front page.

Report Content · · Web Hosting · Blog · Guestbooks · Message Forums · Mailing Lists
Easiest Website Builder ever! · Build your own toolbar · Free Talking Character · Email Marketing
powered by bravenet.com