Daniel Merriweather is fast becoming one of the best singer/songwriter-esque musicians on the scene at the moment, and it was a honour to be able to steal a couple of minutes with him last week to find out just what makes this Aussie tick.
Hello there pretty, how are things going in your lovely world?
They’re good yeah, I’m just in the studio and then we’re going to Spain to play a show over there.
That’s unfair, I want to go to Spain!
You should come!
Put me in your case! To anyone who hasn’t heard of you yet, how would you describe your sound?
I’m influenced by a whole bunch of different stuff, like I grew up in the ninties and I’m influenced by things like, the first CD I bought Boyz II Men, which is a guilty pleasure of mine! But as I got older I’ve listened to a lot of different songs but as soon as I discovered Jeff Buckley and Radiohead I decided this is what I wanted to do.
I just wanted to make an album that wiped the slate clean, started from scratch and let me make songs for making songs sake rather than just writing music to fit into a genre.
Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your foxy new record Red… we’re loving it, we can’t get enough!
The song is pretty much about a break up and a relationship coming to an end. We just shot the video for it in Brooklyn and it was funny because we were in this old warehouse and the guy told me that it used to be a paper factory, I didn’t think anything of it until I found out that they used to print pornography in this building!
I managed not to take my clothes off for the video or anything, that would be kinda strange.
No! Daniel, we would have liked that! So, if you could cover another musician’s song, what would it be?
If I cover a song I want it to be something completely different from what I do. Like for instance I hate it when you hear someone cover a song and it sounds almost exactly like the original. I did a cover of Let’s Ride and I sung all of the verses that he rapped. That was fun.
If you were going to give us just one song of yours to listen to so that you would become our new favourite singer, what would it be?
Well Cigarettes is probably my favourite song on the album. It’s about screwing up a relationship and having a little too much fun and coming home and your clothes smell like cigarettes. That’s my favourite song to play live too.
And can you sum up the Daniel Merriweather package in just five words?
Lots and lots of songs.
You know we’re having a bit of an economic crisis here at the moment, if people wanted to spend their last £10 on a cd this weekend, why should they buy yours?
Well I think music is the only thing we have to keep us happy at the moment. During the war that’s when Elvis Presley had his most record sales because people would want to go and check him out to take their mind off what was happening.
Aversion therapy, we like it! So, what bands would you have to headline your dream festival?
I’m a huge Jay-Z fan and I saw him at Wireless festival last year and me and Mark [Ronson] played a set beforehand and he was amazing. He’s been around forever, Reasonable Doubt is one of my favourite albums of all time.
If The Band was still together I’d love to see The Band live again, but I guess they’re all kinda old now.
What has been your favourite musical memory to date?
I think all of my songs are musical memories, when you write a song, that’s kind of what it is.
I love your interpretation of my questions Daniel! But if you could only listen to one CD for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Ah! I’ve actually been asked this before, me and my friend were talking about it and it’s one of the hardest question you could ever answer. He asked what five albums I’d take onto a desert island. You see one of my favourite albums is Talking Book buy Stevie Wonder but there are a lot of sad songs on there so you need something to brighten it all up.
So I’d either go for Talking Book or a kooky album, something with 15 minute songs on - that would be good because it would be a longer album so I‘d get more for my money.
I like the save you’re thinking! Okay, now we want to ask you some random questions; On an airplane you are talking pleasantly to a person of average appearance. Unexpectedly, the person offers you $10, 000 (£5, 000) for one night of sex. Knowing there is no danger and that payment is certain, would you accept the offer?
Wow, I’d probably try to push the price up a bit I think. You’ve got to drive a hard bargain, if you mind the pun.
I’d push for a million
I’m sure there would be a lot of people who would pay a million pounds.
To be honest, there are these shoes I’ve seen for £60 so I’d settle for that… but, moving on, tell me about an experience which features an animal that you will never forget.
I guess it would have to be when my friend got clawed by a kangaroo once. That was scary, they can be kinda violent and it’s sad because they’re so cute. But they can definitely pack a punch!
What one thing did you always want as a child but never get?
We never had a colour TV until I was about 13, and it was a tiny little portable one and we didn’t have a remote for it so me and my brother would push the couch close enough to the TV so we could use a broomstick to change the channel.
It’s funny because now I don’t really watch TV so it’s sorta like me paying pack the TV land for not giving me one when I was younger.
We ask everyone we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview, and The Fray want to know; “Would you do it for free?”
Do what for free?
We don’t actually know, they were trying to be mysterious.
Okay, well yeah, why not.
Yeah, try anything once! Can you come up with a question for the next person I interview please?
Ask them this story; you’re travelling down a really long road in the middle of somewhere in the Middle East and along the way you pass five hitchhikers, now, after the fourth hitchhikers gets in the car, do you stop picking them up? Where do you draw the line?
Are you driving a bus, a car or a taxi? When you get to your destination, do you ask for a fee? It’s a very in depth question.
I love it, you’re very intelligent.
If you were asked that question what would you do?
I’d like to think I was in a big yellow American School Bus and I’d pick up everyone I could, then when we got to our destination we’d have a party!
That sounds like a great end to the journey, I like it!
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
Daniel Merriweather is fast becoming one of the best singer/songwriter-esque musicians on the scene at the moment, and it was a honour to be able to steal a couple of minutes with him last week to find out just what makes this Aussie tick.
Hello there pretty, how are things going in your lovely world?
They’re good yeah, I’m just in the studio and then we’re going to Spain to play a show over there.
That’s unfair, I want to go to Spain!
You should come!
Put me in your case! To anyone who hasn’t heard of you yet, how would you describe your sound?
I’m influenced by a whole bunch of different stuff, like I grew up in the ninties and I’m influenced by things like, the first CD I bought Boyz II Men, which is a guilty pleasure of mine! But as I got older I’ve listened to a lot of different songs but as soon as I discovered Jeff Buckley and Radiohead I decided this is what I wanted to do.
I just wanted to make an album that wiped the slate clean, started from scratch and let me make songs for making songs sake rather than just writing music to fit into a genre.
Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your foxy new record Red… we’re loving it, we can’t get enough!
The song is pretty much about a break up and a relationship coming to an end. We just shot the video for it in Brooklyn and it was funny because we were in this old warehouse and the guy told me that it used to be a paper factory, I didn’t think anything of it until I found out that they used to print pornography in this building!
I managed not to take my clothes off for the video or anything, that would be kinda strange.
No! Daniel, we would have liked that! So, if you could cover another musician’s song, what would it be?
If I cover a song I want it to be something completely different from what I do. Like for instance I hate it when you hear someone cover a song and it sounds almost exactly like the original. I did a cover of Let’s Ride and I sung all of the verses that he rapped. That was fun.
If you were going to give us just one song of yours to listen to so that you would become our new favourite singer, what would it be?
Well Cigarettes is probably my favourite song on the album. It’s about screwing up a relationship and having a little too much fun and coming home and your clothes smell like cigarettes. That’s my favourite song to play live too.
And can you sum up the Daniel Merriweather package in just five words?
Lots and lots of songs.
You know we’re having a bit of an economic crisis here at the moment, if people wanted to spend their last £10 on a cd this weekend, why should they buy yours?
Well I think music is the only thing we have to keep us happy at the moment. During the war that’s when Elvis Presley had his most record sales because people would want to go and check him out to take their mind off what was happening.
Aversion therapy, we like it! So, what bands would you have to headline your dream festival?
I’m a huge Jay-Z fan and I saw him at Wireless festival last year and me and Mark [Ronson] played a set beforehand and he was amazing. He’s been around forever, Reasonable Doubt is one of my favourite albums of all time.
If The Band was still together I’d love to see The Band live again, but I guess they’re all kinda old now.
What has been your favourite musical memory to date?
I think all of my songs are musical memories, when you write a song, that’s kind of what it is.
I love your interpretation of my questions Daniel! But if you could only listen to one CD for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Ah! I’ve actually been asked this before, me and my friend were talking about it and it’s one of the hardest question you could ever answer. He asked what five albums I’d take onto a desert island. You see one of my favourite albums is Talking Book buy Stevie Wonder but there are a lot of sad songs on there so you need something to brighten it all up.
So I’d either go for Talking Book or a kooky album, something with 15 minute songs on - that would be good because it would be a longer album so I‘d get more for my money.