Interviewdatum: 21. November 2010.

„Wil Seabrook hat sich entwickelt, positiv entwickelt. Seine Musik ist viel ausdrucksstärker und glaubwürdiger geworden. Auch seine Person hat einen riesigen Sprung nach vorne gemacht, privat als auch beruflich. Alles wirkt viel echter aber auch ehrlicher. Das hört man nicht nur, sondern das spürt man auch in jeder Zeile. Es läuft einfach gut, denn seine Musik hört man mittlerweile sogar schon in Filmen und im Fernsehen. Er bietet alles was einen großartigen Künstler ausmacht und das nicht zu knapp.“

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INTERVIEW!
OBZ: Es ist jetzt etwas mehr als vier Jahre her, das wir Sie interviewt haben. In den letzten vier Jahren ist sicherlich so einiges passiert? Erzählen sie…
SEABROOK: In the last few years more than anything else I’ve been finding my own voice as an artist, figuring out the kind of music I really want to be making and how I want to share that with an audience. The business continues to change so drastically that it’s hard to get your head around sometimes. I have been exploring different ways to connect with fans and seeing what actually works and what is just hype.

OBZ: Hat sich in der Zeit auch Ihre Musik stark verändert?
SEABROOK: I think it’s more about stripping away the things that I feel like are not me, not so much consciously changing my style of music but really deciding what it is I like most about creating songs and recording them and focusing on things that I love to listen to myself.

OBZ: Gerade erst ist ihr neues Album „Exit To Temple Street“ veröffentlicht worden. Worum geht es in den Songs und wie sind die Texte entstanden?
SEABROOK: I tend to write from either my life experience or things I observe. In the last few years especially I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on the things in my life that have gone the way I wanted them to but even more about the things that have not gone as well as I would have liked. I’m at a point in my life where I’m not a kid anymore and I’ve lived and made choices and decisions and that has led me down certain paths and created a history. It’s interesting to be at a point where so much of my life is still ahead of me and yet I’ve had enough life experience to draw some conclusions about the way the world works and why people behave the way they do. I don’t feel wise yet but I do feel like I know my own place in the world a bit better. I know who I am and I’m able to make decisions that I’m proud of. All of that comes from life experience and even more so from the mistakes I’ve made and learned from. A lot of the writing on this album is about that kind of hopeful but honest reflection.

OBZ: Oft hören wir auch von der Wil Seabrook Band. Ist das ein Projekt von Ihnen oder haben Sie neben Ihrer Solokarriere auch noch eine Band gegründet?
SEABROOK: Whenever I put a group together to play live shows it’s my natural tendency to want to let the world know that it’s not just me making all that noise! I love the process of creating with other people. There’s nothing like having a conversation with other talented players onstage through the music. So more often than not if it’s a set group of players then „the Wil Seabrook Band“ gets picked up and used to describe that live situation.

OBZ: 2010 ist in Deutschland der Film „Mein Vater, seine Frauen und ich“ (The Six Wives of Henry Lefay) auf DVD und Blu-ray erschienen. Im Soundtrack sind einige Ihrer Stücke zu hören, die sogar die Geschichte des Films voran treiben. Wie kam es zu diesem Soundtrack? Und wie fanden Sie selber den Film?
SEABROOK: One of the producers of the film contacted me about contributing some music for it. I got bits and pieces of the story and saw some individual scenes but to this day I still haven’t seen the completed film which is kind of funny to think about. I love writing for film and TV because it offers a lot of freedom as a songwriter. It was a pleasure to work on this project especially for that reason.

OBZ: Ist Filmmusik auch etwas, was Sie in Zukunft weiter machen möchten?
SEABROOK: Yes definitely. I am working on some new music for television in the US right now and would love to work constantly on music for film. It’s a fantastic creative outlet as a songwriter because I don’t have to worry so much about whether it sounds like „my“ song or if I have to write a whole album around that sound or that theme. I got into music to tell stories and to help tell a story that’s being beautifully told on film is a genuine pleasure for me.

OBZ: Im Jahr 2000 haben Sie die Single „You Do What You Have to“ veröffentlicht und nur ein Jahr darauf auch ein Album. War das Ihre erste Arbeit?
SEABROOK: That was my first official album and single, yes. It’s fun to think back to that time. There’s nothing like hearing your song on the radio for the first time. I haven’t played that song in years. Time to bring it back I think!

OBZ: Auf dem Cover trugen Sie eine Brille und Schlabberhemd. Wie unterscheidet sich der Wil Seabrook von früher mit dem von heute?
SEABROOK: I think I’m much happier now because I have more of a sense of who I am and what I know to be true in life. When I was young I had all the passion in the world but not really a stable framework to think with. Now I have the passion and also some life experience and perspective to know what to do with it, so I know when to be fired up about something and also when to relax and have fun and go with the flow.

OBZ: Dank Amazon und iTunes können Sie Ihre Musik auch bequem übers Internet im MP3-Format anbieten. Legen Sie trotz allem noch wert auf den Verkauf von CDs und Vinyls. Gibt es Ihre Album auf Vinyl? Und was hat der klassische Tonträger (CD/Vinyl) für eine Bedeutung für Sie?
SEABROOK: Sadly you can’t buy anything of mine on vinyl at the moment. One of my earliest memories was lying on the carpet with one speaker of my family’s stereo on either side of my head, listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s „Bridge Over Troubled Water“. There is something soothing and beautiful about the sound of a record player that the most state of the art digital medium just can’t compete with. I’ll be recording new music soon which I think would be perfect for vinyl. Maybe I’ll have to see what can be done about that…

OBZ: Wie wichtig sind Internetplattformen wie Facebook oder YouTube für Sie? Und warum?
SEABROOK: The beauty of social media is that you can introduce yourself and your art to anyone anywhere in the world who has an internet connection. I have been way too slack about posting content online but I am hoping to change that drastically in the coming year. Sites like Facebook and Youtube remind us that the vast majority of people out there are good people trying to do the right things and live their lives well. To me better and more dynamic forums for communication are always a good thing.

OBZ: Sie sind verheiratet. Unterstützt Sie Ihre Frau bei Ihrer Arbeit? Ist Sie eine Inspiration?
SEABROOK: My wife is a remarkable person and serves as inspiration, support and comrade for me on many different levels. There was a lot of bullshit early on in my career from managers, producers, labels, etc. to promote myself always as a single, „available“ guy. The irony is that 95% of the biggest artists in the world are married and most have been for most of their long and successful careers. Marriage is not easy. You make a choice every day to get up and create it and make it real and make it a priority. But it is one of life’s most rewarding relationships and it’s something you can’t really experience with any other kind of relationship. At a time in our culture where I think there is so much focus on the individual I am grateful to be with someone who is as committed as I am to existing not just as individuals but as a couple and as people who want to make the world around them better with what we do. She is also an actress and filmmaker, a painter and singer and she makes beautiful jewelry. She makes me look like a total amateur hack!

OBZ: Wann können wir Sie mal in Deutschland begrüßen? Werden Sie in nächster Zeit mal in Deutschland auftreten?
SEABROOK: I would SO love to be there again. I haven’t been back to Germany in so many years I’ve lost track. I lived there for most of young life and I miss it very much. I need to figure out how to tour there so I can come back often!

© Wil Seabrook
© Dewey Darko