Mark Knopfler Interview-Mark Knopfler

[00:00.20]new live album about to be released and [00:03.39]unveiled why another live album please [00:07.29]well what I mean actually when I was you [00:13.88]know when we were originally talking [00:15.98]about it I suggested to the record [00:16.10]companies that put some new things on [00:18.90]and said no no no it's everybody wants a [00:20.78]souvenir of the tour so I said fine in [00:24.39]and and that was the companies all [00:28.99]around Europe and apparently that's what [00:33.80]people want they want to have a souvenir [00:37.90]they want to it's just the same of the [00:39.50]film the video of the of the show they [00:42.40]just want to have a souvenir reminder of [00:46.79]what it was like to be there on the [00:47.39]event but shouldn't a live album be like [00:51.79]when I think back to the sort of [00:52.50]Frampton Comes Alive albums and he and [00:54.38]the best of the film or and and like you [00:56.09]know things like that and I think that a [00:59.00]live album should be an item within [01:00.80]itself should be something that even if [01:03.10]you weren't there you can still enjoy [01:04.69]the atmosphere of the event well I think [01:06.68]yeah Minister I still think that I mean [01:09.89]it's relevant as a recording just [01:12.09]because you know when you once you start [01:14.49]going out live you're changing the songs [01:17.88]about I mean as soon as you start [01:18.00]rehearsing which is my favorite time [01:21.00]actually and because you know you're [01:23.50]putting new pieces in here knocking [01:25.20]things out yeah slicing and cutting and [01:29.50]sticking pedal steel solos in and this [01:33.40]that and the other and it's just a [01:35.88]different thing from the record and [01:36.88]you've got different people to you've [01:37.20]got different drummers and you've got [01:41.69]percussionists and this that and the [01:44.10]other so it's it's a different [01:45.29]experience altogether so it's worth [01:47.89]having just from that point of view I [01:48.59]think it's it's it's a different entity [01:51.19]from a live record from frustrate from a [01:54.80]studio record you know we certainly [01:57.88]weren't being slavish about being [02:00.59]retentive about album parts necessarily [02:05.09]I'm part of the fun is being able to do [02:09.50]it in different ways you know they moved [02:11.40]to take the songs and [02:13.50]change them about and and I mean if you [02:16.48]take something like : Elvis it just live [02:18.70]it just became something else that's [02:23.39]what happens with crowds that's what [02:25.99]happens with rehearsals you have to put [02:27.50]endings onto things and all the rest of [02:28.00]it you're making a show you make it [02:30.10]something flow so it becomes the show [02:34.90]itself in a way becomes something with [02:37.18]its own life made up of different songs [02:40.09]and the order that they were on and so [02:43.90]on and so forth you eventually call me [02:45.09]Elvis now it's been elongated to [02:47.09]enormous proportions west about ten [02:49.19]minutes something how do you justify [02:52.90]that then because surely that could be a [02:54.00]collection of long solos and how do you [02:56.39]also say to yourself right calling our [02:58.39]son any good like this but in rehearsal [03:00.20]wouldn't it be nice to do this how do [03:02.00]you how do you pick out those songs that [03:03.89]you think would suit the extensions that [03:05.78]you very often give them life you can't [03:07.89]justify it I think you just say it's [03:09.19]nothing nothing really short of [03:13.39]indulgence and time-wasting and you know [03:18.89]you the only excuse that I could [03:21.99]possibly make would be that it gets [03:23.29]everybody played in at the beginning of [03:24.70]the set you can drummers can bash away [03:29.80]and percussionists can hit everything [03:31.39]that they've got as loud as possible and [03:34.79]as so the sound people can get a chance [03:38.80]to get the PA sorted out and we get [03:41.50]played in I mean that's a way of getting [03:42.40]warmed up really well played in and we [03:46.79]have had quite a lot of fun with it in [03:48.30]rehearsal because I just found myself [03:50.09]adding bits and it's just a failing of [03:53.70]mine really I think it's just something [03:54.80]that happens and I have no excuses [03:56.39]really whatsoever apart from the playing [03:58.00]in aspect and getting any getting the [04:00.89]oil warmed up if you like I was nice to [04:04.69]be honesty and a musician it just says [04:06.59]well I just having a bit of a go really [04:07.80]Charlie galette gave you an opportunity [04:10.39]many many years ago and I actually [04:13.69]remember the broadcast which is quite an [04:15.79]amazing situation to be in um and and [04:18.39]there was just such a good feeling about [04:20.80]that now he gave you an opportunity do [04:22.49]you now have the opportunity to give [04:25.29]our younger musicians a chance do you do [04:27.29]things for other musicians in the [04:29.80]position you're now in you do just by [04:31.28]being successful I mean that's that [04:32.19]happened that started happening straight [04:34.28]away in fact in 77 78 when first of all [04:40.29]that the the record company gets to be [04:44.59]in a very healthy position cause it's [04:45.98]got a number-one album all over the [04:47.89]world and that we'll all the kind of [04:51.90]signings that they make but apart from [04:53.79]that what happens when you go out on [04:55.39]tour for example you take people out on [04:57.09]support and this and that when you know [04:59.88]you've begun by supporting opening for [05:02.99]other people and so that the chain goes [05:04.49]on down and then you start producing [05:06.40]people and you start there's a [05:09.39]circulation of music that goes on after [05:12.79]a while if you show an interest in any [05:15.49]particular musician the fact that you've [05:17.88]shown interest generates an interest in [05:22.80]turn you know through the game through [05:25.08]the music game and that's what happens [05:27.89]really it's just a it's a natural [05:31.10]impulse I think you certainly don't feel [05:34.68]threatened by I certainly never have [05:37.60]felt threatened by anybody else coming [05:40.40]in the first when you hear something [05:42.80]great the the natural inclination is to [05:48.38]rejoice because it's such a refreshing [05:51.08]thing you're so happy to hear it [05:54.38]and you can't ignore that and certainly [05:56.10]you you know the idea of the idea of not [06:00.10]and not encouraging it was repugnant to [06:03.00]me not encouraging somebody or not [06:04.69]trying to help somebody along the same [06:06.99]thing happens with with the business [06:09.80]side of it I mean not me but my [06:10.40]management people help young managers a [06:14.29]lot demands a lot to be said for that [06:16.59]and in fact for years I've been pressing [06:18.99]IDI [06:19.60]my manager and Porter former managers [06:21.78]association so that can help young [06:24.80]managers to find their footing I mean [06:26.78]when ed started with us he thought that [06:27.78]mechanicals were something to do with [06:29.80]cars and he would be quite happy to tell [06:31.28]you that so you have to knife and fork [06:33.38]your way through a lot of these things [06:35.10]and if you can [06:38.69]put somebody on it on it there ain't [06:40.79]millions for instance you might get [06:41.90]somebody from America calling up wanting [06:44.30]to know which promoter they should deal [06:46.59]with which venue should they play so on [06:48.00]and so forth and in fact a lot of ends [06:50.29]time was spent really it's like you know [06:53.99]dr. ed you know helping out people that [06:56.39]happens quite a lot and there is a [06:58.50]network of like-minded people who [07:03.80]because of the problems that they've [07:05.18]encountered they become in a way [07:09.70]committed to leaving the business in a [07:11.79]better state than they found it [07:13.58]excellent and the serious thing well the [07:16.70]arguments you said that they put some [07:18.00]money back into the record company which [07:19.30]there means they can develop new acts [07:20.89]that's one of the arguments now the [07:22.59]record companies are saying for the [07:23.79]price of CDs and yet your management and [07:26.49]yourself are very much against the costs [07:29.29]of CDs at the moment doesn't that isn't [07:32.18]that sort of a reverse argument in there [07:33.49]somewhere [07:34.79]well possibly and just in terms of the [07:36.60]amount of money that they say that [07:38.90]they've got available for X but in terms [07:41.90]of the CD theme and I'm talking I'm [07:43.90]talking before CD even this was in 77 or [07:46.59]whenever it was that were the first [07:48.10]album you know did so well around the [07:51.49]world CD thing has been I think as I'd [07:56.29]puts it the great North Sea oil of the [07:58.70]record companies and anybody who really [08:05.00]has studies the figures and has a look [08:09.70]well no I mean part of the reason why [08:13.49]had got involved in all of this is [08:15.49]because of the galling experiences that [08:17.18]we've had with compactus you know in [08:20.49]terms of new formats coming in the only [08:23.59]thing that I could would say really I [08:27.89]mean because it's a massive subject but [08:30.29]and not nearly as important as Bosnia [08:32.18]but it's a small thing in some respects [08:36.79]but if you were asked or if you were [08:40.00]told by your employers that a new [08:42.90]broadcasting format was going to [08:46.69]necessitate a 50% cut in your salary [08:50.00]for an indeterminate period I should [08:54.40]imagine it'd be for some fairly loud [08:55.99]squeaking from your direction followed [08:58.30]by a search for new employment and you [09:03.70]know it's it's a fairly complex business [09:07.10]but there seems to be absolutely no [09:08.10]question whatsoever that that the [09:11.78]figures that the record company they're [09:12.58]BPI have been putting out incidentally [09:15.80]they haven't put any figures out for the [09:17.39]past three years since the consumer [09:19.89]Council which magazine or whatever it [09:21.40]was got on their backs about it though [09:23.90]the figures are questionable to say the [09:25.99]least [09:26.19]and that what they say that artistic [09:30.09]royalties that they said that artists [09:32.39]were getting for CDs fictional and even [09:39.70]though I'm I know that that Edie has [09:42.69]renegotiated our situation to the point [09:46.10]where we're probably getting a higher [09:50.69]rate than a lot of other artists are for [09:52.60]CDs it's still way under what they say [09:55.30]all artists are getting and you can bet [09:57.00]that that we are getting a heck of a lot [10:01.90]more than Bo Diddley or somebody like [10:04.28]that only you can I wouldn't mind [10:06.19]betting that Bo Diddley with all respect [10:07.50]and all love that I do have for his [10:09.90]music is getting Diddley and it so in [10:17.90]that sense they've they have been [10:18.29]cleaning up interesting you mentioned CD [10:21.50]it was I remember going to try and get [10:23.00]my first CD play and I said well there's [10:25.39]only one album you should listen to on [10:27.60]CD and the album that sold millions do [10:31.20]you think possibly that may have with [10:33.50]the great respect to yourself inflated [10:35.19]the sales of the album but what it did [10:37.20]do was it brought it to the ears of a [10:39.90]lot of people who may not have been into [10:41.70]the band before that point I really [10:43.60]don't know I think it probably has more [10:45.40]to do with singles hits that you get off [10:47.90]albums and what happened was an American [10:51.20]that money for nothing and and walk of [10:55.80]life were both top five hits or whatever [10:58.60]they were [10:59.30]I think I have no idea actually where [11:02.60]they got to you'd have to help me on [11:04.40]that but that's really what makes the [11:07.39]big sales differences is whether you [11:09.50]have these kind of singles hits and I've [11:12.70]never set out to make a single just do [11:15.20]records and I think that's that had a [11:20.80]lot to do with it also the fact that it [11:22.90]was early in the technology that the [11:24.69]record came out early in the technology [11:26.00]of of CD it's just luck I don't I don't [11:36.30]think it's because it was a particularly [11:38.40]outstanding record it's just happened to [11:40.60]be in that place at that time and to do [11:44.90]with the singles successes that it came [11:46.50]off it had pushed up album sales in [11:49.90]America I mean obviously did an awful [11:52.59]lot better in America and then you know [11:55.79]other records that we made that beat [11:57.00]simply because of the singles and the [11:58.29]radio the radio do you I mean - tracks [12:05.69]really have made an art form and a [12:06.29]touring and when you spend so long [12:08.00]touring and it's it's a natural [12:09.29]progression there should be a live album [12:10.29]I you know in danger [12:12.99]two things one burning yourselves out [12:15.00]completely we're spending so much time [12:16.09]on the road because it is a pressure [12:18.29]thank you to the circular saw okay I [12:24.00]danger a burning your cells out and also [12:26.79]saturating the market in that there [12:28.20]could be too much of dire straits at the [12:30.80]moment it's like dire straits tickets [12:32.89]are you know one of the most [12:34.19]sought-after things people want to try [12:36.70]to find out when you're gonna play what [12:37.29]you're gonna do but if you keep touring [12:39.50]at the level you have been touring those [12:41.19]two factors could come into play and [12:43.39]that the week too much of a good thing [12:44.99]oh yeah I mean I wouldn't do it to the [12:48.40]same extent as we have done anymore now [12:51.20]I mean it just seemed like the best way [12:54.30]of doing it at the time and playing lies [12:57.30]a very important part of being being a [12:59.69]musician I think I mean other people can [13:01.50]think what they like there's nothing [13:03.40]like being there playing to a crowd [13:09.20]and it's a very important part of what [13:11.40]it is it's what you dreamed about when [13:13.00]you were kid it's a and fans around the [13:16.20]world let you know how happy they are [13:18.00]that you've bothered to turn up that's [13:23.10]oh that's really all I would say about [13:26.00]it I mean I don't I never think about [13:28.29]saturation or anything else like it I [13:30.40]mean you know just you just plan a tour [13:33.29]and go off and do it and if you're gonna [13:34.90]do it you might as well do it properly [13:37.89]you have got an obligation to people but [13:42.80]when you see it when you actually go to [13:45.50]France and see it or go to Germany and [13:47.19]see him you realize what it what it what [13:51.20]it means to people so there's a [13:54.49]relationship that's set up if you like [13:56.89]that you have to put a value on you know [14:00.10]do you think when you see these holes [14:02.20]full of people and you think that I mean [14:04.20]there's a tremendous responsibility [14:05.60]there that yeah these people have [14:08.39]welcomed to see and you've got to play [14:09.50]well that night it's it's got to be a [14:11.59]good night you've got to do your job [14:12.90]does that give you a pressure or just [14:15.19]being happy being a musician does that [14:18.29]come across on stage do you see what I'm [14:20.39]getting at yeah I used to feel pressed [14:22.69]for a lot more than I do now and I think [14:24.20]that just comes from time spent in the [14:26.10]driving seat really that the more you do [14:30.00]it the more you can pay attention to [14:32.10]other things that are going on and you [14:35.70]can't you're not just caught up in in [14:38.40]the performance itself or in what you're [14:40.09]up to yourself and that's just that that [14:44.00]sort of thing comes with time spent [14:45.49]doing it but it's an interesting thing [14:47.70]pressure people always ask me about that [14:49.60]and when I was a kid I used to get to me [14:55.09]a lot more when I was 15 and I went to [14:59.00]see Chuck Berry at City Hall in [15:00.39]Newcastle I thought that I thought the [15:02.89]City Hall was was the biggest place I'd [15:05.00]ever seen it seemed like a cathedral to [15:07.40]me yeah a few years later you know you [15:10.90]go back and look at it and it's it's [15:12.29]like it's just like a little it seems [15:17.89]like a small room to you so you grow [15:19.39]into the big places without [15:23.20]without realizing it is just time spent [15:26.00]you grow into and you got to be able to [15:28.50]do to handle bigger crowds without going [15:34.80]over the top and or changing anything [15:36.79]too much and altering what you would do [15:38.30]too much just to still make it somehow [15:41.20]intimate at times without without it not [15:46.00]that too much of the expense of the of [15:49.09]the of the show you know the performance [15:53.29]have you had anything on to this because [15:55.50]it must be very tempting if you're [15:57.40]listening to a live hour think I was [15:58.40]just a dreadful no that was awful [16:01.90]if you docked it I'll play with it at [16:02.99]all or is it as it happened oh no you [16:05.79]have to know I mean with but I think [16:07.50]that one of the problems apart from [16:09.59]anything else is that when you're [16:11.99]recording a band that is a little as [16:13.79]loud as that one was on this last or [16:16.90]they get leakage coming in and all sorts [16:18.80]of problems coming in from monitoring [16:20.10]and certain the other and you do end up [16:23.00]with live albums I mean all live albums [16:25.89]have have to be repaired here in there [16:27.50]and and you can do that the the [16:31.90]important thing is to try to preserve as [16:33.79]much of the of what really happened and [16:36.60]mistakes you know after a while mistake [16:39.99]start sounding right like chat cans [16:42.90]I was once doing a an interview with [16:44.50]Chet and we would we were talking to the [16:47.50]interviewer together and I'd said [16:48.00]something about how on the every street [16:51.80]album I tried to get the whole band to [16:52.90]play together and if and if I had a cold [16:56.90]or something [16:58.20]it didn't you just had to learn to live [17:00.80]with it or there was leakage a lot of [17:02.00]leakage from because I was playing a [17:04.30]guitar and singing into the same mic I [17:07.80]into in same booth and you know one was [17:09.49]leaking onto the other which can be an [17:11.40]engineer's nightmare [17:12.79]I like leakage and I like mistakes on [17:15.20]recordings and something comes to the [17:18.90]air when you're all playing together [17:19.99]which is I think it's worth having on [17:23.40]records if you can get it and so and [17:27.30]I've made all my mistakes in public you [17:28.30]know before that we'll the separation [17:30.79]and everything else and [17:34.99]so mr. mistakes if you have a mistake [17:37.79]that doesn't really matter too much then [17:39.80]just just leave it in and it's like Chet [17:42.90]says for a while then mistake they start [17:44.09]sounding right I'm interested to you did [17:48.40]you ever get to produce a never leave [17:49.80]others album good today [17:51.10]because the writ this is really strange [17:52.30]connection now is that Albert Lee plays [17:54.50]guitar with Everly Brothers and he [17:56.69]played setting me up on a live Clapton [17:58.49]album so there's a real weird because I [18:01.20]think Albert Lee is just one of the [18:02.80]great musicians and that he now plays [18:04.60]with the ever least did you get to do [18:05.39]the Everly's album no I haven't managed [18:08.90]to get that up laughs talked to the ABS [18:10.30]about doing a record at some point and [18:14.39]I'm making a little list of possible [18:16.90]things that we can do and I don't know [18:19.40]when it could could possibly be actually [18:21.29]I'd I'd love to get stuck in it [18:24.90]something like that I mean the Everly's [18:25.60]was so important to me you know I mean [18:31.60]when I started playing I had a little [18:33.59]friend Vince and he was he was done and [18:36.50]I was filled I suppose or the other way [18:38.69]around I think he got higher than I [18:40.09]could and it was so it's a it's all very [18:46.49]but I didn't know then that Chet had [18:47.30]made those records and it was wonderful [18:52.79]arrangements on those records but it's [18:56.90]it is important to me and we have talked [18:58.59]about about it and I would love to that [19:01.00]you know they would like permitted to [19:04.20]get something going I think their [19:07.19]management recently wanted them to [19:09.90]rerecord some of their old hits which i [19:11.90]think is a big mistake and I hope I hope [19:14.90]fervently that they don't that they [19:18.90]don't go that route I think they should [19:21.70]be doing new things which still have [19:28.90]that very special color and that that [19:34.20]only they can get you varied country [19:37.30]music and you talk about country music [19:39.90]and yeah I I just think that a lot of [19:42.70]your arrangements a lot of your songs [19:43.60]could be countrified if you will [19:45.40]you could actually [19:47.90]but a country arrangement that waka lie [19:49.50]for example could have a country rose it [19:50.60]is getting there [19:52.00]have you ever thought you know you might [19:53.28]like to do just a country album or doing [19:55.08]it with very strong country feel to it [19:57.09]well I mean if we've just been talking [20:00.89]about the Everly Brothers I mean they [20:01.30]that's country music really in a way it [20:04.90]just becomes something else here and [20:05.69]there and you have R&B elements and the [20:10.19]Blues is really is how I came up with as [20:13.78]well so a lot of my songs have been [20:18.58]recorded by people in Nashville and but [20:22.28]when you hear them sometimes there's a [20:24.90]lack of attitude I mean if you hear a [20:26.39]country version of the buck or something [20:28.09]they've taken the R&B out if you hear a [20:31.00]country version of walk of life they've [20:34.09]taken the R&B out and things can flatten [20:38.50]out quite a bit I mean my only criticism [20:41.19]of a lot of the current Nashville music [20:44.50]is is in fact that that kind of digging [20:52.29]in and R&B attitude is missing but there [20:57.19]you know then again some things that get [20:59.60]recorded there are recorded there are [21:01.38]absolutely great still and on and on it [21:04.80]goes I mean a lot of a lot of country [21:06.88]so-called country artists are making [21:10.08]records now that are very bluesy and [21:12.19]rock influenced if you like so this is [21:16.90]if it's all a bit of a jumble really you [21:18.28]know just listening to the new wynonna [21:22.59]judd record the other night and you know [21:26.80]you can hear all these influences coming [21:28.60]in there's getting to be a lot more R&B [21:30.48]influence to say and it's great you know [21:34.39]that so that's somebody like Bonnie [21:35.19]Raitt is influencing somebody like why [21:38.38]no never it's a it's a wonderful thing [21:40.09]it's a beauty to be happening so I don't [21:43.28]really know how to and listening to John [21:46.80]Anderson's new record that well you know [21:47.39]John recorded one of in Nashville John [21:51.58]recorded know one of the songs from [21:53.48]every street record listening to his new [21:57.88]stuff as well you can hear them more and [21:58.70]more R&B [22:00.90]creeping into so-called country music a [22:05.30]lot of country artists have got to be [22:06.70]quite careful over there because country [22:08.80]radio which is probably where they get a [22:10.39]lot of their bread and butter from is [22:12.30]quite a conservative setup and they they [22:15.89]can't really you know they'd get people [22:17.29]saying things like you know where's a [22:23.69]pedal steel guitar you know ain't no [22:25.39]fiddle in that song so you've got to be [22:27.70]quite careful how they approach things I [22:30.69]mean there are people who really come [22:32.90]from more of a rockabilly background [22:35.90]like mark calling and people like that [22:36.50]but then they're in some ways that maybe [22:39.30]being forced into a more well behaved [22:44.19]area just in order to get played on the [22:46.69]country radio stations there are so many [22:49.10]of them around the country and that [22:51.40]doesn't happen to rock and roll acts and [22:53.59]I certainly never happened to me you can [22:55.90]please yourself really the way that [22:57.60]should go again you know if you're doing [23:00.79]something in a country ish kind of vein [23:02.10]I can put a big heavy distorted guitar [23:04.09]over it and that so that wouldn't really [23:07.30]wash with country radio which was why [23:11.19]you know they wouldn't my version [23:12.70]wouldn't really be played over there and [23:17.59]they would want something a little more [23:19.20]well behaved you say these people are [23:22.09]adhering to the country format and the [23:24.40]country formula that you have been [23:25.60]accused on various occasions of playing [23:29.90]safe of sticking with a tried and tested [23:31.79]Mark Knopfler formula now do you feel [23:35.99]that valid criticism or not absolutely [23:38.40]no I mean nobody's ever I've never done [23:41.19]anything you know for the radio in fact [23:44.40]I mean one you know all of my songs [23:47.29]usually far too long or don't you know [23:52.80]fall into that radio ability at all and [23:57.29]in fact I remember one time and being [24:02.00]told that you know I think we can get [24:04.90]this they can get this song down to [24:05.69]so-and-so so-and-so minutes [24:08.90]and it works because because they've [24:11.50]done it you know and you just have to [24:16.20]say no one I mean I wrote it that way [24:18.79]and I don't want to edit edit ate or [24:22.69]shortened to the regulation length I [24:25.60]mean there are all kinds of horror [24:27.20]stories and you can go over there and [24:29.00]hear your record being played faster to [24:33.60]get it into timeframes and all the rest [24:37.50]of it no I don't think I mean I don't [24:40.98]think that rock and roll has been [24:42.69]subject to to let anything like as much [24:49.80]as country artists have that kind of [24:52.90]control I mean there are lots of [24:55.80]drawbacks to to entering into this [24:59.00]particular arena you know you find that [25:02.90]radio is because of these radio [25:06.69]consultancies so-called over in America [25:08.19]and playlist that DJ's have now become [25:10.60]just puppets who who play what they're [25:14.90]told to play they have a playlist and so [25:15.10]on and so forth but now I got used to [25:18.00]that fairly quickly in a way and I [25:20.69]remember when they wouldn't play [25:21.60]something to swing in England for for [25:24.90]ages it was it was a hit all over the [25:26.90]world but it was the last place it was a [25:28.00]hit was in England because there was a [25:29.58]committee then with a woman called Doris [25:32.00]or something at the head of it who said [25:33.90]it had too many words which is properly [25:37.79]write it properly does but it was just [25:39.89]the way that it was it was then and I [25:43.89]think it only really became a hit in [25:45.00]England after Paul Gambaccini was [25:47.80]playing it as part of his an American so [25:50.19]people heard it and realized eventually [25:52.50]that it was a British you know effort [25:55.00]and it sort of took off in England but [25:59.90]it took off in England miles behind the [26:01.99]rest of the world do you find a lot of [26:03.10]these situations that you build up okay [26:05.00]make you quite rebellious people might [26:07.90]think you were quite arrogant because [26:09.09]you do stand up for your music like you [26:11.80]just said it's a speeded-up artists bit [26:13.50]to cut out of thing and people might get [26:15.79]the wrong attitude about a guy who just [26:17.80]believes that without sorry but that was [26:19.69]the way it was recorded and that was the [26:21.00]way it should be her [26:22.29]no I mean you can't be too you can't be [26:24.80]too pleased with yourself about any of [26:26.29]that but the only reason I think that [26:28.29]I've been allowed to meander about [26:31.90]relatively unscathed is the fact that we [26:34.49]were successful from the beginning I [26:35.19]think for acts who who have a more of a [26:42.69]borderline thing happening for them at [26:44.60]the beginning can be subject to a lot [26:47.80]more bullying from record companies [26:49.99]people who don't really know what [26:51.48]they're talking about and that's when [26:55.90]you get damaged when when when I think [26:58.68]when people are telling them what to do [27:01.20]instead they can't just necessarily [27:02.90]follow their heart so at that point I [27:07.90]think when that starts to happen you [27:08.59]lose sight of the truth and what [27:10.48]actually moves people ultimately is some [27:13.79]kind of truth isn't it it's something [27:15.28]that reverberates through the artist in [27:18.80]to them and they don't necessarily sit [27:24.38]around and analyze it they just like it [27:25.70]there's some kind of recognition of [27:29.90]something and the more you start messing [27:32.50]about with that and trying to push it [27:36.89]into some formula for radio or for [27:40.28]whatever you can run into you can run [27:44.48]into problems but I do think that one of [27:47.90]the diseases that there's been allowed [27:49.78]to happen is energy I mean it probably [27:50.90]would apply to me now if I was starting [27:52.78]off now is that a lot of artists [27:58.80]encouraged to write everything [28:00.78]themselves you know this doesn't happen [28:04.09]in Nashville and so that you get [28:06.29]probably more good tunes on a record and [28:09.90]then you get with a lot of rock and roll [28:11.38]records I think a lot of kids are being [28:15.48]encouraged to write everything [28:16.49]themselves now whether it's its [28:18.09]financial it's partly that they can get [28:21.29]publishing money to bolster their [28:23.68]recording money in order to stay alive [28:25.68]that can be part of it that the [28:28.78]publishing advances can look quite [28:30.00]attractive to them or it's the idea of [28:34.09]being an artist you know [28:35.40]I'm an artist I do all my own writing [28:37.19]and I think some people you can see that [28:40.90]some people have actually suffered for [28:41.69]for that whereas there's a far less [28:44.19]pretentious atmosphere that goes on in [28:47.59]in somewhere like Nashville where people [28:50.79]just take songs and that they don't [28:52.00]really care who's written them so when [28:54.88]they die strikes last record somebody [28:55.80]else's song well I know I mean it [28:57.39]should've actually I think you're quite [28:59.69]right I mean I think I think I could [29:05.78]have made better records half the time [29:08.80]by by sticking in songs by other people [29:10.70]for that to be quite honest with you I'm [29:14.90]interested too about the track listing [29:15.90]you said that you know it's all stuff on [29:17.19]there and who do you think a bit more [29:19.69]upset if and walk of life and [29:22.09]brothers-in-arms were not on this live [29:24.20]album you the fans or the record company [29:28.78]well I wouldn't mind bob was on it [29:35.59]or you know or not on it really I mean I [29:38.79]don't I don't know what the record [29:41.00]company would say because I don't I'm [29:44.00]just informed occasionally of what they [29:45.69]think through management company it's [29:50.79]it's kind of a fan thing really I mean I [29:55.40]had a couple of little kids in I went [29:58.49]him see a couple of little kids in the [30:01.59]office management office the other week [30:05.19]got cancer and stuff and and and anyway [30:09.90]I'm showing them some of the some of the [30:12.29]video that we've done and showed him a [30:15.48]list of songs I said well would you like [30:16.78]to would you like to see and they both [30:18.09]said at the same time money for nothing [30:21.50]now I mean I for me too [30:26.78]I'm you know I don't really have much of [30:30.40]a an emotional attachment to that [30:32.90]particular song it's so but there's a [30:37.98]sense when you see that you know there's [30:40.38]a sense in which you think well it's [30:41.69]they wanted they wanted that amount of [30:44.30]it [30:46.50]bless them it's that I miss the only [30:48.79]thing you think yeah I really wish that [30:50.49]was because you obviously had to listen [30:51.20]to hours and hours of tapes for this [30:53.20]thing you must have done with all the [30:54.69]showers and things is there anything you [30:55.20]thought well you know I really would [30:57.69]have liked to put that on there but [30:58.19]maybe it's a little bit off the wall [31:00.39]well there was a couple overcome the [31:02.40]things I mean I would have liked to have [31:03.90]had a sultans on there but I never [31:05.90]played one that I thought was any good [31:07.59]and that was my I was just down to me I [31:09.20]mean I just didn't think I played one [31:11.39]that was worth particularly that people [31:15.00]would particularly want to have and also [31:19.10]we did this little thing where we made [31:21.80]it a four piece for quite a lot of this [31:24.10]song and we're little drum kit that came [31:26.00]came down onto the floor behind so it [31:29.79]was a bit like playing in the original [31:30.39]club band but the sound off that kid was [31:34.70]so bad he we couldn't actually was a big [31:36.60]too big a problem to record it that way [31:40.00]it was good fun playing it live but we [31:42.90]couldn't really get anything that would [31:44.00]I decided I just thought I never played [31:46.99]one that was any good so so that's [31:51.90]that's and also you know people have got [31:53.69]live recordings of it anyway so I [31:56.90]thought maybe not that and so that's why [31:58.40]that's not on there but that's all and [32:02.00]you can't listen to all I mean I I [32:04.29]literally would couldn't face listening [32:07.50]to all the recordings so we're about ten [32:10.80]of them ten different nights and I just [32:13.19]couldn't so i i i i slid out of it and [32:20.79]sneaked it off and got guy from the band [32:24.30]and and the endorsement to do a lot of [32:27.90]listening to to that sort of thing i [32:29.30]mean in the end i mean i I suppose I had [32:32.00]to listen to a fair bit of it but I'm [32:34.20]not very good at I mean if you've saw it [32:37.50]so in other words I haven't really been [32:39.90]involved in this album anything like as [32:41.90]much mean I know it really to two guy [32:43.40]and Neil and more than anything else I [32:48.50]haven't actually put much time in on it [32:49.80]I've been nipping off really and riding [32:55.89]my motorbike I haven't been a very good [32:57.90]boy on it [32:59.00]come in you know late and even see is [33:02.60]everything going alright cross my [33:03.30]fingers and hope that nothing was too [33:06.39]far gone but I can't actually bring [33:09.20]myself even back with alchemy I couldn't [33:11.79]listen to the tape in 84 I think it was [33:13.70]I couldn't listen to the tapes I started [33:16.90]doing it and after 10 minutes as I can't [33:19.90]listen to 10 nights of this arena so I [33:21.80]said wow what was the good my Saturday [33:24.00]night seemed a pretty good night I was [33:26.00]in the hammersmith odeon and we'll just [33:29.90]do that just take it from that but and [33:32.49]it was literally just laziness and if [33:34.40]I'd been really retentive about it I [33:37.89]would have probably waded through a [33:39.69]conscientious I would have probably [33:40.40]created through it all but I just [33:42.69]couldn't face it did you get easily [33:45.50]poured these days for things do you find [33:47.40]that you you really would love to be out [33:51.69]like so producing an Evaline album or or [33:53.60]you know just it it's a bit too much of [33:56.80]a drag sometimes yep yep I know actually [34:01.49]I'm sure that my attention span as has [34:05.00]gone off as certainly as far as my own [34:07.49]stuff is concerned it certainly has and [34:11.39]I don't what to do about that I really [34:13.30]don't know I mean I I just like to have [34:16.18]a sofa in an acoustic guitar and please [34:19.48]myself not playing a bit of mandolin at [34:21.70]the moment I can't get that excited [34:24.29]about about what I've done already in a [34:31.49]way and I mean it's the same it's the [34:34.19]same with rehearsing really is the most [34:38.99]exciting time for me writing is very [34:40.10]it's exciting when you've got something [34:42.39]and then it's exciting rehearsing it and [34:43.49]it's exciting recording and you've got [34:45.19]to really want to do it obviously I mean [34:47.99]you wouldn't be able to take these tours [34:49.00]on a few unless you loved it and you [34:51.39]really wanted to do it I suppose I'm [34:53.19]lucky in a sense that I like of all the [34:56.20]bits of the cycle if you like but I'm [35:02.00]always looking ahead to the new thing [35:03.60]really that's what turns me on is then [35:06.70]is the the thing that you want to record [35:09.70]and the other thing that's coming up or [35:12.00]yes I mean a a Nashville session or a [35:17.69]blue session a Buddy Guy thing or [35:20.10]something like that it's great just to [35:22.49]go off and and just do a one-off like [35:26.40]that I'm you know the things coming up [35:28.29]I'm going to play with the Chieftains so [35:33.49]or maybe get stuck into another film or [35:37.50]thinking about everything from uilleann [35:42.90]pipes to fiddles is is exciting to me [35:47.29]talking to somebody about a theatre [35:49.90]production it's exciting to me because [35:51.89]it's different I think when you come off [35:53.30]these long tours that you need a variety [35:54.69]to keep you alive to it or you know to [35:58.69]keep you excited about it all and it's [36:02.39]I've got some good friends around the [36:04.50]place and I'm one pal of mine in [36:06.40]Nashville them sends me these he's got a [36:09.19]huge record collection and he's a [36:11.00]songwriter over there and he sends me [36:12.70]these little care packages of cassettes [36:14.69]with them with music on from it's got [36:18.10]and he has these lovely titles and more [36:21.39]cool stuff or all sorts and this and [36:27.59]that and there's Appalachian music mixed [36:34.59]up with obscure hillbilly rockers [36:38.30]jukebox hits blues R&B thinks Cajun [36:45.30]music French stuff anything you name it [36:48.49]just things that turn him on and that's [36:50.09]what keeps me alive that kind of spread [36:52.59]and that kind of involvement were the [36:54.70]roots of music as well as I mean as well [36:56.89]as it as well as new stuff so it's a [36:59.89]good time as well when you're away from [37:01.70]the tour to get back and enjoy music in [37:06.50]that direct way and it reminds you to [37:09.49]that it reminds me certainly that a lot [37:12.00]of my favorite music really it comes [37:14.90]from however complicated you might end [37:17.80]up getting that my favorite stuff is [37:20.10]really very simple music so after 16 [37:25.90]years then is [37:26.00]it's time to say well it's been all very [37:28.60]nice and very good but you know now I [37:30.19]think I'd like to do something else for [37:31.69]example work a lot more with Brendan [37:33.80]Croker I'm not quitting I mean I'm gonna [37:41.00]make records and just play with yeah [37:43.90]different outfits and and go on with it [37:47.50]all it's a it's an endless thing and I I [37:50.19]love it and a very lucky boy to be able [37:53.69]to do it and that's all I can tell you [37:57.80]I'm still just as in love with whole [37:59.99]thing as always was I wouldn't I [38:04.90]wouldn't tour again or anything like the [38:06.29]same length and I mean that's not going [38:08.00]to help me anymore but you just get to a [38:11.70]stage when you know that that's your [38:13.00]last shot around the world in a way at [38:14.10]that level that kind of intensity so you [38:17.20]might as well go and do it properly but [38:19.20]that's not going to be happening now [38:21.00]there are too many other exciting things [38:24.00]to do do you think if you weren't in the [38:27.00]band you just be if we go back many many [38:30.60]years we used to be a strolling minstrel [38:31.80]just going around and playing a guitar [38:33.09]or mandolin or whatever and that would [38:36.69]give you similar rewards to what you're [38:38.39]getting now oh yes absolutely I'm better [38:42.10]in some ways I think yes I think that's [38:46.60]exactly what the deal would have been [38:51.20]that's exactly what would have happened [38:53.89]and in a way that's what you still are [38:56.19]and it's a lot of the things that that [39:00.60]you end up doing it's you're just going [39:03.80]off to play the blues it's basically [39:04.20]what you're doing and a lot of the rest [39:10.49]of it is nonsense and outside people's [39:12.69]perceptions things that become confused [39:17.30]with that I mean that there for example [39:20.90]a success yes I love I'd recommend it to [39:23.19]anybody but Fame which is a is a [39:27.99]completely different thing from success [39:29.89]has nothing to recommend it whatsoever I [39:31.30]mean fact in fact if there isn't an [39:34.80]equation you could say that Fame is the [39:38.19]price that you pay for [39:39.39]says Fame itself doesn't have anything [39:42.40]particularly to nothing in fact I can't [39:45.00]see anything personally I can't see [39:47.40]anything [39:47.89]that's that great about that but success [39:50.90]or love I mean success is great because [39:52.00]it's I've been able to meet so many [39:55.80]fabulous people through it and to share [39:59.50]their music and to you know to have [40:02.90]their friendship so and that's that's [40:07.59]what's important to to you I mean that's [40:11.59]one of the success and you know being [40:14.69]able to move around the world in that [40:16.69]way has been able to and to be able to [40:18.29]buy a tape machine that you need or [40:21.50]something like that as is what and to or [40:26.29]to work with a Paul Franklin for example [40:28.59]or something like that is this is [40:32.30]never-ending source of joy to me you [40:34.39]know but but but ultimately there's [40:37.69]there's no difference now you know what [40:41.00]we're feeling now is when I'm sitting in [40:44.00]like I was last week with Steve from the [40:46.90]the hillbillies and were just sitting [40:49.49]playing to an audience of one or an [40:53.30]audience of two in our case and laughing [40:57.00]and drinking and playing I mean that is [40:59.00]there's not enough of that [41:01.90]when you're out on the road on tour and [41:03.49]that's what you hunger to get back to [41:05.49]and that never goes away never will go [41:08.19]away in strength and there's one [41:11.69]interesting M edit possibly on the album [41:13.50]that heavy fuel and to Romeo and Juliet [41:15.49]sort of goes boom and then it comes and [41:17.30]I think I wonder if that was the same [41:19.80]night it just it doesn't seem to work so [41:21.09]well well it was just one of those tough [41:24.69]corners that you have to negotiate and [41:26.40]we did that it did go that way in fact [41:28.79]that's how it went on on the stage yet [41:31.59]and in fact I think it might well have [41:34.00]been from the same night and if it [41:39.00]sounds like a mistake I'm sorry that's I [41:45.60]mean we why isn't it a mark knopfler [41:47.70]solo album when you've done the sound [41:49.60]tracks you've produced why isn't the now [41:51.00]Sullivan do you need that band we [41:53.80]all the songs are written by you and so [41:55.90]we read anyway the credits are always [41:56.60]you so why not a solo album why do you [41:59.10]have to have that band I don't actually [42:01.69]I'm gonna do one that's good question no [42:05.30]I mean you know I love bands because it [42:07.90]grew up wanting to be in a band and I [42:10.20]mean to make a solo album I'll have to [42:13.50]get a band together to make it so you're [42:16.60]doing the same thing really it's just a [42:18.00]name and that's all it is and I like the [42:22.20]idea of hiding in a band in a way you [42:28.00]you just it's a way that it's a [42:31.39]childhood schoolboy thing you love bands [42:34.10]and you wanted to be in a band you [42:36.00]wanted to have a band and but I'm gonna [42:43.49]do what I'm gonna do a record just the [42:46.70]same the nice thing about I think about [42:51.00]you know probably being able to go into [42:53.20]your own record to xik and you can play [42:56.09]about with the personnel a lot for [42:59.60]different songs and that's really what I [43:01.09]want to be able to do [43:02.29]would you also play about with the songs [43:04.20]would you do other people's material [43:05.69]because that would give you the [43:06.49]opportunity to do that wouldn't it yeah [43:08.40]it would be able to do that too or that [43:10.20]I'd actually actually some point I'd [43:12.90]really love to do a record of entirely [43:14.00]if but you know other people's things [43:17.10]and it's a I'm forever - I mean that's [43:20.40]what I what I do when I'm at home I was [43:22.69]just playing other music so I eventually [43:27.39]I'll get something like that together [43:29.90]you know like it covers kind of a kind [43:33.29]of thing or aversions I swing at an [43:37.70]attempt be great actually when you went [43:41.19]if you went to this that's all it is [43:42.69]so it would be fun you know if you go at [43:44.19]the theater and you're seeing Macbeth [43:45.40]would be great if somebody came came out [43:48.10]and said no good evening ladies and [43:52.80]gentlemen we're about to have a swing at [43:54.69]Macbeth you know we're taking a stab at [43:57.20]King Lear or something that's all it is [43:59.09]it's just when you record anything or [44:02.19]attempt to play anything that it's only [44:04.30]there's no such thing as a definitive [44:06.60]just it's just an attempt on the on the [44:10.69]day Charlie glass sell on the sleeve [44:14.30]notes to the honky-tonk demos which has [44:16.90]got the original thing he he made a [44:18.60]little comment about the band where he [44:20.09]said he felt a sense of responsibility [44:22.10]when you said you'd given up your [44:24.40]previous careers and would commit [44:26.49]yourself to music and these note was [44:29.90]especially with the name like dire [44:30.50]straits I mean do you feel it's been [44:33.39]worth it oh yeah of course and I was and [44:38.89]the music was pushing so hard you know [44:40.80]for me to do it I was I was in I had to [44:44.40]do it there and I couldn't go back to [44:47.89]anything else it's it's a wonderful [44:53.99]thing to be doing the thing that you [44:55.70]like to do more than anything else it's [44:57.39]what I would say to any child or to any [45:00.30]kid is is matter I know because I spent [45:06.50]a lot of years doing the opposite is you [45:11.19]you know to play safe is it's not the [45:13.50]way I think you have to find what it is [45:17.30]that you like doing more than anything [45:18.90]else and then try to do it as well as [45:20.10]possible and if you can make a living at [45:25.49]that that's that's great the thing about [45:27.99]music is you don't have to be a [45:29.00]professional musician I mean you it [45:31.30]looked at the thing about music and or [45:33.50]the guitar or something it is that it [45:35.99]will be a friend to you all your life [45:37.80]and when other things can let you down [45:40.60]or other people might even let you down [45:45.20]it will be there for you [45:48.79]it's a great source of comfort to you [45:53.00]and the other thing is of course that [45:56.00]you never get to the bottom of it that [45:59.10]you realize that you've only just [46:05.90]tickled it really that there's a a [46:07.39]universe of of of material earth of [46:13.50]information there that you you never [46:15.10]really will be be part of it it's an [46:18.69]endless thing [46:19.69]you said you the Urim and about on you [46:22.70]are at motorbike it doesn't want it [46:25.89]privilege to know what type of motorbike [46:27.39]this is without making a wild stab it's [46:30.10]a triumph Trident so it's not the [46:35.70]holiday recently brilliant I keep my [46:40.40]enough well thank you very much your new [46:41.69]thank you