How to talk about music?
How word could reflect the feelings caused by a melody or the trance induced by a rhythm? I didn’t choose to make music, it chose me.
I guess I was attracted to creation at a very early age, when I would craft games and toys, always carrying some pencils and papers to draw whenever I could.
Music came through my parents’ radio, Sunday morning discoveries where The Police or Supertramp would wake up the house.
Then my father introduced me to Queen and I fell for it, discovering the flamboyance of Mr Mercury just as his flame left, alas.
From then on, I became obsessed with the royal band and it grew into an education course: The Freddie Mercury Tribute gathered everybody from Metallica to Robert Plant or Lisa Stansfield and it widened my scope.
Their musical journeys, shifting styles from song to song, inspired me when I started to write my own songs.After that came ‘Achtung Baby’ by U2, that deeply moved me and still do to this day. Then Bowie, Björk, A-Ha, Nine Inch Nails, Frank Sinatra, you name it: No style, no frontier, just feelings and boundaries pushed.
It’s been nearly twenty years since my first live show as a drummer and I’ve lived many lives since, leading bands, creating concepts, learning mostly, through the highs and lows of the peculiar field.
Music is still what drives me, I need to create things, whatever they may be, and my guitar is never afar. It comforts me, soothes the aggressions of the outside world through its vibrations and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.
In 2015, I needed a change so I created a new alias and a new concept: Clint Slate. A first album was released, ‘Before The Dark’, where I did everything, from songwriting to mixing, playing all the instruments. This was a milestone, setting new grounds for what I could effectively do, so I decided to thrive inside new challenges: This solo album was played on stage in a theater, with a band, and a stage design involving projections on frames and a voice over. Why? Why not!I tend to get bored quite easily so I need to challenge myself with new goals, always in order to learn and discover, endlessly.
Clint Slate’s second album needed to be a departure from the ‘solo concept’, so I decided I would record it in a theater, live on the Internet and... in a single take! Obviously, I needed to have a full band and guests including a jazz saxophone, an accordion and a choir. Otherwise, where’s the fun? ‘Woodn Bones’ is now on its way to the world, available now, 2017. Ten songs that are as human as they can be, with their strengths and flaws, and I cherish them like a postcard of what we were all up to during this special hour.
I could have done it the ‘normal’ way', spending months in a studio to achieve sonic perfection. But the goal was to push ourselves to the limit and see what was there. It is a defining moment and a memory that will endure.
So now I’m already working on another solo album, this time a concept one, and I intend to give it the time it needs. But I may have another crazy idea in between, who knows? My only wish today is to go on creating things that move me and, I hope, others.
I want the songs to reach other ears, to grow and live their own lives.
We’ll see what the future brings, but I’m sure it’s going to be a very enjoyable long and winding road.
Links
WEBSITE: http://www.clintslate.com/
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/ClintSlate
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/ClintSlate
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/clintslate
