calgary interview

SINGER'S NEW ALBUM GIVES HIS VERSION OF THE WORLD

Author: Nick Lewis
Source: Calgary Herald (url)
Date: November 10, 2003

Name: David Usher

Age: 37

Bio in 50 words or less: Singer, former frontman for Vancouver post-grunge rock act Moist. Touring his third solo record, Hallucinations. Scored big on Canadian charts with single Black Black Heart off last CD, Morning Orbit. Also big in Asia (he's part Thai) and Europe (born in Oxford, England).

Currently lives in: Toronto

Gig: Performs at the Whiskey tonight with guest Pilate

Tickets: $23, available at Ticketmaster

Q: Congratulations on becoming a father this year. While we know you don't partake in the "rock star lifestyle," how has it impacted what you do?

A: It's been amazing, it's a matter of just trying to find balance. I've been fortunate in that I haven't been touring too much since. I'm just heading out on tour now, but I've been at home. Even though I'm often at the studio, I work at home as well. Being a father definitely gives you a different vision of the world. Suddenly, the little things seem so much more.

Q: I have to admit that Little Songs, recorded in your kitchen, was your best record, while its two successors, Morning Orbit and Hallucinations, have been more produced. Was that a sound you intentionally sought out after Little Songs?

A: I don't really seek things out, I always try and make the process different. And make the recording process different for me so it'll be a different record. The last thing I want to do, for better or worse, is have the same record over and over again. I try not to predetermine what the end result will be, but just sort of redesign the improv so it will hopefully be different in the end. Even with the process I have an idea of what I want to do, but I sort of script and rescript it and try to keep it as organic as possible. Let the songs figure out what they want to be.

Q: The album cover for Hallucinations is cool, with you walking into some warped, Donnie Darko-type forest. Firstly, was it your idea and how does it lend itself to the idea of Hallucinations?

A: Yeah. Myself and my manager. I definitely didn't want to put my face on the cover this time, and this had an organic, twisted sense to it. It seemed right for the record. Hallucinations, conceptually, is about the idea of bridging realities, that one individual's reality and sense of truth and self may be completely different from someone else's. And the idea that there is no universal morality. In other words, there is no universal truth. The way a toaster looks to you is not the same as it looks to me. I don't know, did I answer your question?

Q: Yeah. My favourite song on Hallucinations is your cover of the Manic Street Preachers' If You Tolerate This Than Your Children Will Be Next, because it's a much bleaker version.

A: I love the song, I wanted to do a version of it, but make it different. Because I love their version, their rock version, and this is an ambient version with a different arrangement. It's a beautiful lyric, especially the chorus. It's one of those songs that very much sums up an idea perfectly. I think it's pretty self-explanatory. That's one of those songs that, in very few words, sums up where we are in the world.

Q: As an artist, when you cover a song, are you secretly wishing you had written it yourself?

A: Of course. We always want to write the great songs.

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