WEBVTT - Podcast update, and a chat with Patrick Wolf 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.840 Good evening to all of you. Midnight Chats were Wolves. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:06.080 It's been a little while, hasn't it. Stue here with 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:09.160 a little bit of an update on the podcast, something 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.040 that's a bit of a bonus and something that I 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:17.480 hope will will intrigue you with something else that I'm 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:21.360 doing right now. Midnight Chats is still on hold for 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:25.560 the time being. No sign of it coming back just yet, 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:27.960 but it's not the end of the world because there's 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.680 so many episodes of it that I'm sure there's ones 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.760 that you've missed, for better or worse, so please do 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.519 keep listening to those, and whenever we have more information 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.800 on bringing back Midnight Chats as it was, I'll let 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:45.199 you know here on this feed. But there is a 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:49.480 new podcast that I've been making simply called the Loud 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.160 and Quiet Podcast, and I wanted to share one episode 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.000 of it here in the hope that you like it 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:00.160 and then you give it a follow wherever you're listening 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.080 to this. By just putting in the Loud and Quiet 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.080 Podcast and giving that show a follow, it's not a 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:11.920 million miles away from Midnight Chats. It's often a conversation 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.960 with a musical artist, this one that I'm about to 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.840 play you is with Patrick Wolf. It's part one. Part 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.520 two is also out today, but I won't drop that 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:22.840 here in the Midnight Chats Feed. We're going to keep 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.600 this the Midnight Chats Feed, but if you want to 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.760 listen to part one you can do that here. But 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:31.800 Part two and Part one and some other stuff is 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:35.080 on the Loud and Quiet podcast Feed. Please do check 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.280 it out. You can subscribe, as I say, wherever you're 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.759 listening to this on Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.360 to your podcasts, or you can also subscribe to it 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.680 on the Loud and Quiet substack, which is just Loud 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.520 and Quiet dot substack dot com. But for now, here 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.240 is an very interesting conversation I had with Patrick Wolf 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.400 as you're here. It's it's like a good old fashioned 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.480 midnights in many ways, lots to get into with Patrick Wolf, 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.600 and I won't tee it up now because I'm about 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.840 to tee it up in two seconds time on this recording. 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:12.240 I hope you've all been doing well. I hope twenty 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.160 twenty fives going to plan so far, it's been an 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:21.120 absolute dustbin fire for me so far, and Greg's faring 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.480 much better. It was his birthday at the weekend, his fortieth, 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.320 and that wasn't even enough to dampen his spirits. Meanwhile, 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:33.440 my life is on fire. Please do enjoy Patrick Wolf 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.040 here on the Midnight Chats feed and then give us 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.480 a follow. Keep following Midnight Chats, but give us a 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.880 follow on the Loud and Quiet podcast wherever you get 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:59.120 your podcasts. This is the Loud and Quiet Podcast. I'm 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:08.240 Stuart Stubbs and today I'm joined by Patrick Wolf. Patrick 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:11.680 is currently aged forty one years old. He was born 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.840 and grew up in Southwest London, and in two thousand 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:19.360 and three released his debut Albumlyanthropy. Since then, he has 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.960 released five more albums and a few EPs. His music 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:28.880 usually consists of violin, piano, keyboards, ukulele, accordion, mandolin, guitar 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.240 and bass, giving a baroque pop fill, but it also 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.240 features elements of what became known in the mid two 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:40.440 thousands as folktronica. Patrick sings in a very deep croon 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.280 and I have been a fan of his since the beginning. 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.400 Really two thousand and five is when I started doing 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.280 Loud and Quiet in its original form as a printed fanzine, 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.760 and around that time, we had him on the cover 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.640 of one of our very early fanzines, something that I 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:03.120 took to him when we recorded this interview and presented 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.920 to him, so stay tuned to hear his reactions. I 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.560 think he took it quite well. In two thousand and 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:13.320 seven Patrick had some major label success with his third record, 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.360 The Magic Position, and in the same year he also 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.760 modeled for Birbury. But over the last ten years Patrick 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.120 has experienced some of the most traumatic and dramatic things 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:28.200 that anyone can go through, including addiction, grief, financial and 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:32.240 legal troubles, and serious injury. I had a great idea 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:35.720 for us to do this, walking along the Kent coast 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:41.200 with the sea dropping away to our side, beautiful sunshine, 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.400 seagulls in the air. But on the day of recording, 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:46.960 when I got to our meeting place a little earlier, 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.640 just to see what conditions were like, it was clear 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.320 that that was a terrible idea. So I carried on 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.280 driving to Patrick's house where in his garden he has 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:01.640 got the most incredible garden studio that I've certainly ever seen. 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.360 It's in a converted double garage and in this one 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:11.120 room he has four corners as most rooms have, but 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.160 each corner has been set up with a different station. 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.960 He's got a writing area and a library. He's got 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:23.599 a TV studio that he uses for his Patreon concerts. 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.000 He's got his recording studio of all of his instruments 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.800 in one corner, and then in this final corner where 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.400 we're going to start this conversation, he's got all of 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.080 his clothes and his stage costumes and the sewing machine 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:36.200 that he makes them on. 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.800 In the other corner is the recent edition. I got 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:46.520 rid of my bicycle because I've never cycled since I 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.600 moved down. There are too many cliffs and hills and 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:56.840 it's my costume making area. So I realized how much 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:01.760 I was making, especially for the album artwork. I you know, 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:03.400 I don't have any of the connections I used to 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.200 living in London, and I kind of don't want them. 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.480 So in terms of, you know, stylists or calling up 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.760 designers for pieces, I can't call Alexander McQueen's studio anymore 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.479 because I think they probably think I'm dead, you know. 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:19.480 So I decided to get back to what I. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:20.920 Used to do, was make all my own clothes. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.320 Yeah, are you enjoying that? You enjoying getting back in time. 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:24.159 I'm really enjoying. 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:28.880 It feels very If I'm furious about something then although 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:31.000 the sewing machine is not the place to take your 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.600 anger up because it registers it and everything goes wrong, 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.799 but there's something about I think I have to calm 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:39.600 down in order to be productive there. It's a very 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:43.280 very holistic area for me. Yeah, very pragmatic. Sure, it's 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.840 either gardening or sewing gets me into get some of 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.159 the rage out of me of the modern world. 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:55.919 So it's like the perfect perfect space. I think, like 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.560 you've got these four zones. It's a beautiful garden. It's 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.520 a lovely day. We're in rams Gay. How long have 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:02.120 you been here? 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:04.200 So it's coming out to like five years? 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:04.719 Okay. 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.279 I was thinking about it when I got When I 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:13.520 got sober was in June twenty twenty, and then I 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:18.960 was here by May May the first, the year after, 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.400 and then I moved into this house on Halloween. 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.840 Kent as an area, I know it's because Kent, Kent. 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:25.800 I'm very specifical. 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:27.200 Okay, Yeah, why is that? 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.560 Well, you know, like Middle Kent is like Tunbridge Wells, 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:38.080 North Kent is getting I like Medway I'm not saying 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.280 I don't like these places. I just feel an affinity 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:45.640 with something about you know, East Kent goes I don't know. 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.600 I don't know that even like the local folklore changes 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:51.600 when you get to East Kent. There are some very 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:56.360 specific things about the border land of East Kent, of 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.080 seeing France on the other side of the cliffs of 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:07.360 the of the the rhythm here. It's not Tunbridge Wells. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.600 it is very different than Tumbridge and and Medway has 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:18.560 that slight dystopian paradise about it. 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.600 It's interesting actually because I'm from Essex. I'm from South 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:26.360 End in Essex. And you know, people talk about Essex 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.760 probably in a similar way to the way they talk 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:30.960 about Kent and by lumping it all together. But you're 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.480 dead right. You don't actually have to travel far within 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:38.200 a county like Kent or Essex to realize how different 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:42.280 places are. Like the north of Essex is completely unrecognizable 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:44.400 to where I grew up. I know this place is 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.240 has become really special to you, But what what made 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.080 what drew you to? What made you move here? 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.720 So like I live between Ramsgate and broad Stairs. So 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:58.080 actually the name of the place where in between. It's 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:03.480 quite unfortunate has the word dump in it, so so 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:07.160 I live in the dump right So, but but Broadstairs. 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:07.680 I saw a. 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:09.920 Clip of it on. 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.800 The Alan Bennett film Lady in the Van. There's a 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:16.400 bit where she gets in the van and she she 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:21.320 vanishes and he finds her on Broadstairs and and I 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:25.360 just loved there was something about the about about the bay, 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.000 and I just was like, I need to find where 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.199 that is and I need I need to go. So 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.880 my partner and I then we we would make it 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.400 our escape out of London because so it was only 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:36.599 felt like an hour and a half and it just 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:38.760 became like a romantic place to come to. 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:41.240 And then and then. 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:47.880 The the week that I was declared bankrupt by by 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:54.640 the court, then I am I was pretty shell shocked 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:59.280 and and my partner took me down to Broadstairs and 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:00.880 there was just a sense of like a feeling of 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.760 like this is where I start again. I don't know, 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:05.280 I don't know what I felt, but I just remember 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.559 staying up all night and watching two seagulls fight. 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:13.479 Over like a bottle of beer or something like outside 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:15.719 and just watching that and watching it was it was. 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:22.880 A January January, and it was on January February really 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.600 really bleak, and I just felt at home. I just 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.000 felt like in this out of season. And the strange 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.120 thing is like on Wind and the Wires, my second album, 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.480 I had imagined I had a lover down in who 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:40.680 had a family in Penzance and Hail, and the whole 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:43.679 mythology of Wind and the Wires was based around this. 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:47.920 Really, I wouldn't, I wouldn't. 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.840 I'd say it was too hardcore for Thomas Hardy, but 0:10:50.880 --> 0:11:00.319 it was like this very tragic romantic relationship in set 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.880 in this area. But that set off my imagination to 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.800 into out of season. And I say imagination because it 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.240 was i'd grow I grew up in Wandsworth, but I 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:16.679 started to I think I was using the imaginary the 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.760 places I saw on the train trips down there, like Tigemouth, 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:23.600 the ferris wheel on the but I don't even know if. 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.080 There was a firest wheel, but I was. 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:29.280 I was sketching out this how I felt, but using 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:35.920 out of low season England to tell that story. And 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.120 then when I and I think it was like that 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:40.640 always felt like home wherever that was where I was describing, 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:43.439 and then it wasn't until I did my first winter 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.319 here that I realized there's a song called This Weather 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:52.520 and it basically like like prophetically describes what it is 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:54.640 to do a winter here. And I just was like, 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:58.840 I think I kind of wrote about this place, and 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.079 I'd like to say it was a prophecy. Yeah, do 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.960 the wise that was I was describing where I needed 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.000 to to I was going to live one day. 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:09.760 Yeah, and now you found it. Was it just that 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.880 you were sort of bored of London? Did you just 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.080 need to change it up? Did you want to quieter, 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:16.080 quieter existence? 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.240 No, I was, you know, I was very ill and 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:27.199 am tired of London. I I guess in a way, 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:31.600 I felt like I had spated me out and and 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.920 strange like luckily I always lived in central London, so 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:45.320 like I lived in Southwark opposite the Tate Modern, like 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:50.199 in this very you know, like very bougie penthouse apartment, 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.000 and then moved to this little mewse house and I 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.120 lived like a really like I lived in central London 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.120 and I lived in Bloomsbury for like four years and 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.120 and yeah, I know, but like for a flat that 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.760 was eight hundred pounds a month, like rent like old. 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:06.880 It was like it was an old Art Deco building 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:11.120 that was for that was built for single it was 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:16.319 like a feminist architect who built it for single women. 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.920 And and for some reason, the rent had just stayed 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.400 really low. So I stayed there on about about eight 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.160 hundred pounds a month during the period that I was 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:30.760 bankrupt as well, so you know, And and then my 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:36.640 mother died and sorry, that's just some some great, great 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.640 positive moments in my life, just to draw a dump 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:44.080 on everybody, but the yeah, but basically I was like 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:46.440 I had when she died. I had a lump sum 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:52.319 of money and I was like, well, I'm going to 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.319 try to stay in London, which led me to buying 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.920 like the literally the cheapest flat you could could in 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.080 London on right move. I was just like, okay, because 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:05.120 it's it's my last last chance of holding on here 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.319 financially if I can stay, And it was just the 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.920 it was like it was I really spiraled there mentally. 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:15.480 And where was that flat in. 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.680 Perry Vale? And you might you might Lewisham, you said you're. 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.880 From, I'm living in Lewisham. Now yeah, where right? 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:25.160 Yeah? 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:31.760 So it's like between sydonym and Catford, and it's like 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.560 it's like a small area in between there, but it 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.720 was and it was like I moved in there three 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:40.680 months before the pandemic hit, on an eighth floor of 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:45.680 the of a tower block. And and the thing, like 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.960 romantically I I all I saw was this view over. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.000 I could see across the whole of London from a distance, 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.720 and on the other side I could see in my head. 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.560 It was like this liminal world where I could like 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:00.680 wander and wonder. And and. 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:07.880 When I actually started exploring, like in so there was 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.080 London that side, I was like, okay, I've lived here. 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:11.880 I'm like, how old am I now? I'm like thirty five. 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:13.920 But in the distance, I was still looking for one. 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.000 I was looking for something that would inspire me to 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.440 work and to come back to life and come back 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.920 to what, come back to writing. And I thought I 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.360 would find it there, but you know, I would just 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.360 wander and I couldn't get and keep on walking and 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.560 walking for like hours and I just end up in 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:36.520 Bromley or Beckenham or and I just felt like completely 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.120 trapped by this city. It just was like endless and 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:40.760 just got and I was like, well, how do I 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:43.520 get inspired by this area or research people that you 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.560 used that lived or made stuff here. And so I 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.480 ended up discovering like the Bromley contingent and listening to 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.040 Susie the Banchies for the first time and like really 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:53.560 getting into that. 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:54.560 But it really didn't help. 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.360 It just it just made me feel it, like to 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.640 get darker and more anxious and like, you know, it 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.480 was like the most inspiring thing I could find was 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.560 Sir Chiselhurst Caves, you know, And I said, oh, I'm 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:07.160 going to make an album in the caves and I 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:08.000 got permission to. 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.320 Do it, and and. 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.600 The pandemic happened, and I realized I was had gone 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:22.400 from getting clean in twenty sixteen to becoming a full 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:28.760 blown alcoholic. Like what do they say some people use 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:32.360 the word functioning, like but whatever, the opposite of functioning is, 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.080 you know, so deathly and when. 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.200 You weren't funk, you weren't functioning. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:38.000 No, like malfunctioning. 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:42.120 Yeah, and and and very ill, and the whole the 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.800 whole building just became possessed in that in that way 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.600 before me and London just felt like I had reached 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.160 completely not the end of the road, but I've been 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:55.720 kicked off the road, you know, And and I just thought, 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.920 there's no way back there, and and I don't want 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:03.800 to go back, and and and I knew that if 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:05.359 I was going to be sober, then I needed to 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:11.800 be I needed to every day have something that I 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.920 didn't put in my body that gave me a sense 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:20.359 of wonder. And for me, that was an element bigger 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:24.720 than me. So for me that's always been the center 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.080 of a city can feel like bigger than you. That's exciting, 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.720 you know, being in the desert, being up a mountain, 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.840 being in a huge forest, lost, having something as a 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.520 human being, it's really important to have to not. 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:37.920 Feel like you're on top. 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:42.000 Of it, like you're bigger than everything, or you're too 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.120 big for this space. To have something that completely makes 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:46.480 you feel small. So I needed to be by the sea. 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:52.280 I realized that, as Patrick's already alluded to, there's been 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.520 a long gap between his last album and what is 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:57.680 going to be a new album that comes out later 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.920 this year in June twenty twenty five. It's been thirteen 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.400 years since he released Sun Dark, River Lights in twenty twelve, 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.760 which was an album that celebrated his first decade in 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:13.119 music by reimagining old songs. It was sort of a 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:16.720 best of that boiled some of his songs from previous 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:21.159 albums back down to more traditional folk songs. But between 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.639 its release and where we are now in spring of 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:29.800 twenty twenty five, this man has experienced one tragedy after another. 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:35.359 It includes addiction to alcohol and hard drugs. In twenty eighteen, 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.520 his mother died, he was involved in a hit and 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.440 run accident where he was a pedestrian whilst in Italy, 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.720 and in twenty seventeen he was declared bankrupt after it 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.919 turned out his manager and accountant had been failing to 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:50.960 pay his taxes. 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:58.720 I have a theory that chaos begets chaos, you know, 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:04.680 so if you are you know, at the at the 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:05.280 heart of. 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:11.920 All of this stuff is is somebody without any self control, 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:16.879 without any healing of any raw nerve, all the all 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:24.040 the nerve endings like like you've you've wider plug and 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.600 put the earth in the but all the different colors 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.480 in the wrong places. And and there is a sense 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:35.359 of responsibility that that I take for all of those. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:35.920 Things that happened. 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:40.160 I the bankruptcy came through financial abuse through a management 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:41.920 system and accountant. 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:43.760 For eight years of my life. 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:46.679 I you know, at the end of the day, the 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.040 only person that could ever have found that out was 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:53.760 somebody that that decided to take a little bit of 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:57.159 responsibility for their financeing and investigate these things. But of 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:59.879 course they should never have done those things in the 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.040 first place. But at the end of the day, it 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.760 didn't stop until I. 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:05.360 Wised up a bit. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.240 I'm sorry those things happened to me in one way, 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.200 but I also believe that things got that those things 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:21.560 stopped happening when I decided to to change my behavior. 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:23.919 You know, yeah, I do know. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.119 You know, there is there's a pattern of people entering 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.600 rock bottom that It's not just that they can't stop 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.280 drinking or they can't stop using. It's that they're losing 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:38.840 their relationships, their house, they're breaking their mobile phone every week, 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:43.879 they've lost their ten passports like me, like they like 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.119 I used to go through a phone every month, you know, 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:48.400 and I kin't and I. 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:50.760 Am from from what from just drop. 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.080 Drop, dropping it, running it over, putting it in the bath, 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.159 just like you. You know, I went ten passports. I 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.800 had the government people warning me up saying you're not 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:02.960 allowed another one. We think you might be committing fraud, 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:05.040 you know, like I haven't lost a passport since I've 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:07.719 got since I've got sober, I haven't. I still had 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:09.879 the same phone, you know, there's and and if you 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:12.119 look at that on a macro scale, of course, it 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:16.119 were most likely that I would get run over or 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:18.160 or you know. 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:21.119 So even even that, even like being hit by a 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:25.680 car in Italy, you take a certain amount of responsibilief. 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:28.399 I take it as a big warning sign that you 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:30.800 know as well. But you know, I had to romanticize 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:33.199 it because like on one side at the end of 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:39.399 that road was where Byrons it was a beach in 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:45.280 Lago del Puccini in Via Reggio, was where Byron's body 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:47.200 was washed up on the shore. You know, some like 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:49.600 romanticizing it at the time, you know, and still like 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:52.719 and it's like, yeah, you know, it's like near it was. 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:57.760 It was all quite like, you know, kind of glamorous 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:03.000 and felt like part of ye know, I didn't take it. 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:06.000 I just didn't take it very seriously for another few years, basically, 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.160 but I saw it that that I do take it. 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:10.960 I do take it as a one of the many 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:14.240 things that happened because I was a bit of a 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:17.040 vortex really, Yeah, as a black hole. 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:19.879 Way back when that last YEW came out, we actually 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:21.920 spoke on the phone for an interview for the magazine, 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:24.720 and I think, I don't know if you were just there, 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:26.280 you just happened to be there. But were you living 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:28.800 in LA at that point and you spoke to me 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:29.400 from LA? 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:32.119 That would have been terrifying. 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:34.600 Okay, yeah, that's not a great place for me. 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:37.080 Was that it was? But you were there at that 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:41.040 point around that time they're releasing that record? What was 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:45.040 the sort of plan? Obviously it's you know, thirteen years 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:47.600 between records, obviously very long time. It's a lot's happened. 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:50.760 But when you think back to that time of twenty twelve, 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.560 was the plan to put out that record, tour it, 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.040 promote it, and then make another record within you know, 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:00.400 as you normally, you know, as an art as normally 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:05.480 would within two or three four years. Can you remember 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:09.000 what you what? What was the plan back then? Or 0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:09.680 was there not one? 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:15.320 I do remember because I had started to work out 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:20.720 that there was something very dark sided happening with my 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:28.439 management and perhaps with my accounts and I and I 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:32.080 needed to get out of that situation, and because I 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:34.040